The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-08

outside of tie lawyers and newspaper
men. the case cxcites not even passing
interest.
Moreover. tic case is tho frat one
tried under Il new statute enacted into
law by the last assembly February :.
1880, and will be !; precedent for all
time to come.
Shortly after midnight. on the lst day
of September, ls9c, Sarah \. Wcrten,
who resides mar the brewery. which
had just commenced operation, was
awakened hy y shcc'i whcl, amazed and
awcd her, inasmucl as she heard no
noise. Til, shuc.l was almost iinmc-
diately followed by u loud explosion
and another shock.
These schCc'l5 were the resul. OF OK
piosionS of dynamite pluc, ii uitlrr the
foundation of her house and Gust upon
Ii porch by some one with evil intent
Some ii teen or wv MY minutes later
y man was c'pturcd hy Il volunteer
Pc $50, some / yards from the SC II of
the explosions. asleep or &C, ceaird in
sUmr weeds Or bushes u the north OF
the dummy line tr;.ck.
That man vas .lohu 7. Boyd, and he
now depends, upon the opinion and jud,-
mrnt Of twelve go / m-n and uue
whether Il Shall lc sent ;or,h - the
world a Ir,'e man. immurpd in tho State
p nj. ntiary anywhere between N and
eighteen years. ur hlngcd by Tho neck
until ne shall be 4, I'D
An jnlicln,nt was found against
Boyd at Tie Cclober term of the iius-
tinss Court. charging him with lat
tempting To destroy the DWELLING housc
ol The aforesaid Sarah y. Wurtcn With
dynamite or some other explosive
the ctSo continued with the present
term Of the court. l.ansbrough ~ Viii
lian5 and Il. 'mc Y iiogc We're retained
by Il I'D TO defend his interests, whlle
Roy H. Smith drew the ind cimcnt and
prO,t Gates thc case. whica will prov. Il
G .usv CT tbre III criminal annals, IN that
IL is th. TEST OF It's Kind.
At IL uclDc.l the task Of securing u
jury was entered upon, ard thG follow
ing wr.c sci, std without djncRlty j.
il. ol DAN, foreman: j. ". Cook. John
Rains, g. =. blount, John Pollard, j.
II. Ward, c. 4. Watson, l.. il. Uevellc.
/ Pryor Woudson. f.. Il. Taylor. K; 4.
| Pollard and Randolph H. llayne.
Roy T. &rlith opened ,ie case for the
commonwealth, IN which Lo briefly out
| lined The case exp; ctvd to be proved Nv
him, and was followed Ivy Col. Hans
/ borough, VINO joined thc Issue with Mr..
| Smit;l in bat one particular, which was
the very tSscntal one that his client
had not committed the foul decd.
The taking of testimony WAS at once
! pr, crcGto With, and was substantially
as below, with horc and there Il nash Of
hu;nOr, Il tourney between counsel on
! POINTS of law. or !. dissertation upon
what Constitutes leading questions.
! One witness cJnvulSud juc court by Z
| rci0imder To Col iiansDrough's question:
! What eli, ~ would Two or three hours
sleep have upon u man who had been
/ drunk -
| Witncss--"l don't know, sir; have
! never been th;to way
And this Was from, Il brewery cmployc.
shDrn OF it's vGrbagc, tho tc>Liuuny
was as follows:
John +. boyd had been paying alton
ton rather more tnan the iiA,on c to
| Sarah ~ Worten, ana thcy qumrle ed,
| with the result that Sarah bldu .lohn
/ depart her premises and never return.
! TINS was about the middle ot Augu> /.
On the night ut the 3ist OF August
| Boyd IL c,ulc intoxicated. and was sc II
! III that condition as Iato rs 9 p. M.
About | "a. m, thu mkt morning. some
| employees OF the Nirgini;. brewing Com
/ panY were startled by an explosion,
which seem i TO shake the very build
ngs OF the brewery, AMI they FASTENED
To the front gate. When the" got there
they SAW the f!ckering OF Il match, Il.
flash, an explosion and a. man emerge
/. ON the gate of Mrs. Wortens house.
This man crossed the dummy line
track, went down the road ABOUT lis
yaids AMI disapprar, d in some bushes.
Thinking some iIurriblc c inc had been
commi,t,d. the wi,c.Crs went back into
the brewery, armed then Ives some.
what AZ was Fal>taff's army. and went
in scare of the man III, y SAW /. Ike 10
the bushes.
At about the point at which hey lost
sight of the man-havng III the mean
time been ~, n:oic d by Two young
men from Mrs. Worlons partially
VIZ, elk, d houst they heard rustling
in the bushes and ds mandcd that who
ever was there conceal come forth.
70 this there WAS no resp Use, and
tn, y they thcrcnpun fired Il vulicy into
or over the undcrbrush To this pyrO-
/ chnic order there WIS rcspoa, by
John 4. Boyd appearing, who WAS sur
round. hy the posse and taken into
Custody.
Il. yd was conveyed, via the brewery
(whcrc he noncuaiantly asked for IL
tankard OF beer. to the mayors Ollie ,
where it was discover, d that he WAS
aimed with br.cs oi Smith IL Wesson
rcvolvers.
These facts are not controvcrtcd by
the d. tense, VIII Oh bases its plea for
acquitted on the denial ri BIyd that he
WAS the party who dld the deed.