Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-07-01

in the latter part of September, short
time before the murder The witness
said he had destroyed the letter but
that his wife saw and knew the con
ents. Mrs. Stratton is sick ana unable
10 attend court. but her testimony will
be taken
Mr. Dufur. formerly Of lola was am
other witness who was recalled. and he
said that one day when he was in Wau-
paca fl 1889 he heard f. G. Bronson
say that he could put his hand on the
men who killed Mead Bronson was
somewhat intoxicated at the time.
J. G. Hum testified that he saw Prior
in lola between , and g o'clock on the
morning Of the day after the murder.
This witness sud that William Hans
comb had a lumber camp at that time
about eleven miles southeast of lola and
that a man driving from Waupacl to
the camp would pass through lola. The
theory that The prosecution seeks to g
tsiblish is that Prior drove TO Hans
combs camp that night
Ben Patterson, who worked in Lit
tle's livery stable in October, 1SS2, tesd-
fled that Prior came into the barn
on the night Of the murder at
$40 o'clock and wanted to engage a
team for or o'clock the next morn
ing. Prior told him he wanted to take
home a hired girl who lived near lola
II. AOrdvi, who keeps a general mer-
chandise store in Waupaca, was . wit
ness He is doctor Of medicine,
though he does not practice his profess
sion, and can speak seven or eight
languages So that whenever a stranger
arrives in Waupaca who cannot make
himself understood he is taken to Nord
vi Although he is such a fluent lin
gust Mr.. Nordvis testimony was not
very important lie beard shots on
the night of the murder and on the
day following he heard Tab Prior re
mark, Il always thought something
would happen to the old cuss."
Important evidence was given by MIrg.
Conrad Wipf, Of lola, who testified that
on tie morning of October S, 1882, Tab
Prior drove past her house in lola
between and O'Clock in the morning.
He had a carriage and pair Of horses,
and Mrs Wipf's husband told her it
was Prior. She did not have amy per
souai acquaintance with Prior and when
he was pointed out To her in the court
re.4n she could not sag whether he was
the man she had seen in lola or net.
4 H. Dufur an old man and the
father Of J. H. Dufur, formerly district
attorney Of Waupaca county, also swOre
that he saw Prior in lola very early on
the morning Of October s. He was
very circumstantial in mis- statement
and said he spoke to Prior, who told
him lie had been taking home a hired
girl He described the team Prior drove
and fixed the time when he saw him at
about day-bre;fk
The testimony of this witness brought
out the fact That William Hanscomb,
who T. now in Jail on account of his
connection with the Mead case, was
then in lola and boarded at Dufur's
house. CrosSexamination failed to-
shake the old mans testimony as to the
time when he saw Prior lie said he
knew it was very early because he
had not been to- breakfast and he had
TO get up in time to milk the cows
before ms morning meal. Prior has al
ways admitted that he went TO lola on
that day, but claims he went at S or
Q o'clock IN the forenoon and returned
in the afternoon.
The arrest Of Abel Barnes yesterday
was somewhat If a surprise and no
body was more surprised than the ne
gro himself He was very much fright
/ ened and people who suspect him Of
I knowing a great deal about the case
! think he win tell all he knows. Barnes
7 has lived in Waupaca ever since the
I close of the war, when he was Brought
I to this state from the south by WiscOn-
sin troops who picked him up some
where in Dixie. He has never denied
7 that he loaned his gun on the night
Mead was murdered, but his first
statement when he was questioned
about it has always been that the gun
( was borrowed BY a man named Bob
Russell
He said that Russell took the gun in
the afternoon and returned 1t early in
the evening, having used it in the mean
time to shoot squirrels, Barnes claims
that after Russell returned the gun NJ
does not know who had it. on the
morning after the murder the gun, with
one barrel discharged, was found in a
wood box in the building where Barnes
barber shop was located.
Barnes waived examination at Gin
tonviIIe and was placed under S5OOt
bonds He was brought back to Wau
paca last night and is now in jail here
1t turns out that the Flgbert rifle that
figures in the case belongs to him and
that the gun is now in possession Of the
prosecution. 1t will be offered in eyi
deuce Barnes had been drinking heav
lily ever since the trial began on June .
There are now ten defendants in III,
ease. the three men now on trial, Clar
ence sherman, Alfred Lea, Rodney
Chcsley. David Holmes, Alfred Poll
Williams. Hmscomb and Barnes.
SNOTHERED TO DEATH