Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-17
HANDSOME BELLE THE CAUSE,
George Ford on Trial for Kill
ing Daniel Sands.
Mrs K. House Secures Verdict
Against NJ. Meyers.
The Testimony Given In the Ford Trial.
Notes, of Cases in the Superior
Court - New Suits
Filed.

young colored man who shot and killed
Daniel Sands on the night OF October Sd
began yesterday morning in department
one of the superior court.
The case involves questions OF self
defense, and the prosecution is 80 evi'
IDENTIFY hampered by the reluctance o.
tha witnesses who saw the shooting tc
give the entire facts that conviction
is regarded as very uncertain.
1t will be remembered that the
trouble between the two men arose from
their relations with handsome colored
woman named Belle Oden, who had
been living with Sands as his mistress,
and who was in the hcuee where Ford
lived on New High street the night oi
the shooting, and that she was, in fact,
In the yard four or five feet from the
men when Sands was wounded. The
fact of the shooting was concealed from
the police until the next day.
When the case was called III. G. Grant
appeared for the defendant and Aesist-
ant District Attorney McComas for the
prosecution. A jury was obtained by
noon, the following gentlemen being
sworn: David J. Boynton, Oscar
Cheesebrough, Henry A. Draper, Isaac
v. Draper, N. H. Hughes. George T,
Hanley. James Quill, VIM. Rector, L..
M. Russell, Charles A. Robinson and d.
H. Turner.
Dr. E. 7. Shoemaker residing at No.
b25 Downey avenue was the first wit.
ness called, and related the circum-
stance of his being called by telephone
the night of October Sd, to the home of
the wounded man, on cross street near
the freight depot of the Southern Pacific
on San Fernando street.
When he entered the room between
10 and IL O'Clock at night he found
Daniel Sands lying on bed. He was
having hemorrhsge from the left ear.
The hair on the left side of his h. ad
was matted with blood, and he seemed
to be suffering from internal injury to
the head and brain. As the wound was
not bleeding he did not probe it, but
ordered compress with antiseptic fluid
placed on the head. This was all the
examination he made that night. The
doctor called the next afternoon, and
found that some one had shaved the
hair away from the wound. and that
blood and brains we're tricking from it.
not discover the bullet. The probe met
with no obstruction into the brain. He
ordered another compress and gave
Sands some medicine to quiet him. He
did not consider that he had any chance
for recovery.
At the time of his first visit the de-
fendant and Belle Oden were both In
the room, and a white woman. The
wounded man was not conscious at
either visit and died the second day
after he was shot.
On cross examination it seemed to be
the purpose OF the defense to attempt to
show that tho doctors treatment was
skillfully handled bis life might have
meet with much success. A bottle con-
tanning little of the antiseptic lotion
prescribed by the physician was identi-
fed by him, and he was questioned
closely as to his treatment but without
bringing out anything new, except that
the witness gave it as his judgment that
the shot was fired from revolver held
almost at right angle from the head.
DR.. E. A. Bryant, police surgeon, tes-
tilted with reference to the post mortem
examination of he deceased, held short
ly after he died. He said that upon
cutting open the ekull he found that the
bullet itself did not enter the brain, but
had driven two pieces of bone before it
into the brain, rupturipg large artery.
1t entered about three-quarters of an
inch behind aad level with the upper
tip Of the left ear, and if it had sufficient
force would have come out on the oppo-
site side just back of the right eye, from
the direction of the wound. The wound
he considered was sufficient to cause
death, and upon cross-examination the
doctor said that it was necessarily fatal
in his judgment. The bullet might have
been found if the physician had cut
away the scalp, and the pieces of bone
might have been lifted if hole had
been cut large enough, but that itwould
have helped the patient was very prob
lematical.
The prosecution fell down on the next
witness, white woman named Minnie
Brown, who was passing the house the
night of the shooting and cav Ford stand
ing in the doorway. She asked him if the
woman was hurt, and he replied: emo
body hurt; nobody hurt" Mr.. Nc
Comas tried to prove that he had re-
volver in his hand, but che would only
say that che thought it was handker-
chief, and the court would not allow her
testimony at the preliminary examina-
tion on this point to be used for i'm
peaching her.
Grant Douglass, colored man who
saw the shooting, drew diagram OF the
house and back yard where the shoot
ing occurred. He testified that he, Geo.
Carpenter and his wife. Mary Carpenter,
white people, Belle Oden, Ed .Whitson
and stranger from Santa Monica were
in the house the night o'ethe tragedy.
They were playing on guitars when
Sands knocked at the door. Ford
opened the door, and Sands asked il
Belle Oden was there. Ford said che
was and went back to call her, ehe
and Mrs. Carpenter having gone to the
back yard few minutes before. Sands
followed Ford, and pretty soon Belle
Oden could be heard calling out:
Don't, Sande, DON'T"
The witness went to the back door
and as he stood tsere he heard Sande
say: "I'll kill the - -" III
saw Sands and Ford together, Sands
having his left hand in Ford's collar
while bis right was at his hip pocket
Belle Oden was standing near by, crying
out. Sands had hardly said what he
did, when he eaw Ford's right hand ur
and heard the shot. He did not see 8
Grave Mistake.
Physicians FRI queptly make mistakes in trea
ment of heart disease. The rate OF suddeI
deaths Is dai y incrs asing. Hundreds becnm'