Los Angeles herald., 1890-09-17
THE MOODY ASSAULT.
THE CHARGE AGAINST CAPTAIN
LAWSON DISMISSED.
Dick Colver Tells His Version of the Affair.
Other Witnesses Testify-The Case
Taken Under Amusement.

The preliminary examination of A. B.
ing on the night of the Sth inst. as
saulted Captain l. n. Moody with intent
to commit murder, was resumed before
Justice p. E. King, sitting for Justice
w. G. Lockwood, shortly after 10 O'Clock
yesterday morning, in the presence of
large number of interested spectators.
The complainant, Captain Moody, was
put upon the witness stand for cross
examination, and after the usual pre-
hminary questions had been put to him,
an effort was made by the defendants s
counsel to 60 into the past life of the
witness, claiming that he could prove
that he was man not to be believed
by the court. The prosecution objected,
and after long argument by counsel,
the objection was sustained.
r. j. Colver was then sworn and tes-
titled substantially as follows: "On the
night this affair took place. about 8
O'Clock, was in the Parlor saloon, and
met A. B. Lawson. He asked me if |
wanted to do some work for him.
replied, yes We then went outside
where he had horse and buggy stand
ing. His brother, Charles Lawson, was
sitting in the buggy. 1t was the first
time | had ever met him. We got in
and drove around some time, when Law
son suggested that we go to his office so
he could give me the details of the mat
ter | was to work upon. Just as we
passed the United States hotel, Capt.
Lawson spoke up and said there is Capt.
Moody. looked and observed the Cap
tain standing on the sidewalk directly
in front of the stairway leading up into
the Lanfranco block. AS soon as | saw
Moody felt around Capt. Lawson to see
if he had any gun upon his person."
"Why did you do that ?" asked Mr..
Munday.
81 will explain" said the witness.
''On the evening of August 31st | had
some business with Captain Lawson,
and called at his office. When l entered
Moody and Lawson were sitting in the
private room and were talking to each
other in an angry manner. took aseat
on desk, not wishing to interfere.
Pretty soon Capt. Peabody came in, and
as he did so Moody rose from his chair
and started for the door. AS he did so
Mr.. Lawson asked Peabody for the key
to the desk / was sitting on. / thought
he wanted to get out some paper. He
unlocked drawer and took out a gun,
and pointing it at Moody said, Now 1
propose you shall stay here. | grabbed
the gun and kept it. Moody then went
out, and in about half an hour | met
Moody, and in conversation that fol-
lowed he said, If it had not been in his
office l would have killed them both, }
but | did not intend to kill Lawson
there and then have you and Peabody
swear my life away. But if he ever
makes that play upon the street 1 will
kill him.
knowing the above trouble" resum-
ed the witness, and not wishing to see
any blood shed, l made search for gun.
1 found none. We drove up, and as we
did so man came running up the street
followed by three others, and as Captain
Lawson jumped out of the buggy he
said, Moody, why didn't you stop that
man?' did not hear Moody make any
reply. Then A. B. Lawson stepped up
to Moody and asked him about the Ian
guage referred to in Moody's statement.
| said that is no way to talk, it is only
breeding row. Then Moody drew his
grabbed it and fell on it. There was
some scuffie, but before l got up Moody
was out in the street, and as he crossed
the street car track ne fell Captain
Lawson was on the sidewalk. did not
hear Captain Lawson cry out, 'Killhim.'
/ saw no weapon only the one of Cap
tain Moody's. l did not see the knife
until it was shown me at the police
station"
Alfred Sanders, salesman in the en-
ploy of his father, B. Sanders, the cigar
dealer, testified to having witnessed a
portion of the trouble from behind a
telegraph post. He saw the flash of
some kind of weapon, but could not
tell whose hand it was in. He was pos
tive he heard Captain Lawson cry out,
"Kill him." three times.
At the close of Sanders testimony, a
recess was taken until 80 O'Clock p. m.
At AS O'Clock the case was resumed,
and John F. Swift was called to the
stand. He testified that he was a sales
man, in the employ of B. Sanders, the
cigar dealer, at No. 2l6 North Main
street. On the night of the Sth instant,
at II :15 O'Clock, he was standing near
the entrance doorway of the Lanfranco
block, talking with Alf. Sanders and
Captain 1. N. Moody, when A. B. Law
son and two others, who he had since
learned were Dick Colver and Charles
Lawson, drove up in buggy. A. B.
Lawson got out of the buggy on the
street side, walked to the horses head,
which was turned toward the Plaza, and :,
after standing there for about half a
minute, came round and confronted
Moody, on the sidewalk. Colver also
got out of the buggy, and approached
Moody.
A. B. Lawson then addressed Moody,
saying, "Did you call me ---
-" Moody said, "Who told you
so?" Lawson repeated his former ques-
ton, placing his hand upon his hip
pock ct as he did so. Moody replied,
tits none ofyour damned business, and
pulled his pistol from his pocket. Cul-
yer then said, ''Yes, it is his business, "
or words to that effect; whereupon
Moody turned to him and said that it
was not. At this juncture the witness
not being very anxious to catch any stray
bullets that might fly round should the
men shoot at each other, walked away
and stood in the doorway OF
Heinzemann's drug store. When he
next saw the men, Moody was down on
the sidewalk with A. B. Lawson and his
brother on top of him, scuffiing. Culver
was standing near them on the sidewalk
looking on. Presently Moody shook the
two men off, and getting up on his feet,