The record-union., 1892-03-17

said he came up from San Francisco
merely to see the election here. He had
done no work for two years.
SMITH on THE STAND.
George III. Smith, the defendant, was
called TO the stand. He testified that his
business was tracing horses.'', He has
been III Sacramento off and on for twelve
years; has voted in the First Ward here
Tor ten years; was never convicted of a
more serious offense than disturbing the
peace; neverE shot at anyone before; has
known Brannigan fourteen years, and
never had trouble with him. ;
lie met Brannigan at Third and X
streets; Brannigan was much excited and
said If he could catch the -- Drew
he would beat his head off. Witness adj
vised him to avoid trouble, and Branni-
gan said: Il would like to see the --
polIce arrest me, or you either, you -
-! p1 put you in the Norge before
nightr
After leaving Brannigan witness said
he was advised by every other man he
met TO take care of himself. Marion Will
son told him that Brannigan had pistol
in his right-hand pocket The Chinese
boy at Miller's saloon gave him the pistol
with which he shot Brannigau. Witness
| said he never owned a pistol, and go this
one twenty minutes before the shooting.
lie stayed away about an hour and did
not see Brannigan until he was within
| fifteen feet of him.
'Brannigan said, Here's the - -
Pm looking ior!' Witness tried to quiet
him, and said: II am your friends but
he replied, II don't know whether you
are or not - -!' and commenced
buttoning his coat. Witness could see he
had gun in his hand in his pocket.
Smith told him to go away, and Branni-
gan said, II will go when l have got
you J"
81 said, All right, then! and shot him
| three times. / shot him because he was
going to kill me. | thought some one
would interfere and take him away. l
think Scotty's gun stuck in his pocket,
saw pistol in his hand. l shot him
the third time in the head"
| Smith became quite demonstrative and
excited. and swapping the pistol rapidly
at his counsel, Mr. Jones, Showed him
the way he did it. He then said !:
After the first shot Scotty turned half
around. At the second he turned facing
me, and at the third fell on his back. He
was dead before he hit the ground. L
fired pretty rapidly. He never Telin-.
quished hold of his pistol.' @
Prosecuting Attorney-Did it not oc-
cur to you that you had better keep away
from Brannigan?
Smith, kept away for an hour until
some one told me Brannigan had gone
nome IN his cart. L did not think Patsy
would try to shoot mel had never had
any trouble with him. | was about five
feet from Brannigan, and did not lean
over to shoot him. When he was down
stopped shooting.
THE ARGUMENTS.
|. Mr.. Jones asked that the prisoner be
discharged, claiming that a clear case of
self-defense had been made out. The
court denied the motion, and allowed
two hours for the argument. Lincoln
White opened the argument for the pros
ecution, and was followed by Mr.. Jones
for the defense.
HELD WITHOUT BAIL.
Judge Cravens said he had given close
attention to the testimony i'll the case, and
that, while there was a great deal of it, it
| could be crystallized into very few facts.
He summed up the case about as follows:
The two men had words some hours be-
fore the shooting, and both went off and
armed themselves. The law of self-de-
tense must depend greatly upon the action
of a person after going off and arming
himself, and in this case he thought this
question was for a jury to decide. He
therefore believed the defendant should
be held to answer. and committed him to
the Sheriff without ball.
The Judge, in the course of his remarks,
reprimanded the officer who had found
Brannigan armed and heard him threaten
to kill the defendant, saying that the un-
fortunate man should have been taken to
Jail by that officer. If he had, the tragedy
IynIl1H haUQ