The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-09-26

fear the militia and thought the danger
was from the pistol shots. I saw the
crowd on the west side was very tur-
bulent crowd. Demonstrations were
being made against the Jail, so much so
we left them. They were certainly not
body OF law.ablding citizens. The
first intimation 1 had that the crowd in
front was disorderly was the great num-
Der of pistol shots fired.
II certainly think If there had been
any firing from the muskets in front
before the pistol firing was going on
around l certainly could have known
1t. was in line with the range of that
fire II 1t had taken place. That firing
couldn't have taken place until l moved
away. Until the pistol shots were
fired. l could see their flashes and the
arms OF the persons holding the pistols.
said to my friend we must get out OF
these pistol shots. 1 went on the ground
and compared my position then with
the spots Of blood left on the street
car track. The pistol shots was almost
simultaneous with the firing on the
west side.
~ heard the demonstrations against
the door. | heard very severe blows.
s. II. GRAVES ON THE STAND.
Hamilton Graves-"On the night of
September 90 1 urged several friends
not to go up there to the Jail. 1 was
sitting in my Office window. Could only
see about to the jail About o'clock
shots were fired down the street. Then
twenty-five or fifty men rushed up to-
wards the Jail and l heard knocking up
there like it was on the door. The rst
shot I-heard fred was from a pistol at
corner Of courthouse yard saw man
near Walsak's fire four or FIVE shots
back into the crowd"
w. Il. Blackwell-"I WAS on the COR
ner of Campbell and Commerce streets;
then / went up to the front of the Jail
door. The crowd commenced gathering
rear of the jail. Directly afterward
shotswere fred on the rear side by
parties on the inside. 1 thought they
were blank cartridges. l was more
afraid of shots on the outside than from
the military company. Pretty quick it
was general thing. l heard no orders
l didn't sec Mr.. Trout. A man fell by
me. Part Of the militia were standing
on the front steps. i was standing in
front of them, saw the blazes and didn't
get hurt Most Of the men who were
trying to get in were on the back side
had been standing there hardly two
minutes before the firing commenced.
have since examined the door, and it
shows Indications of having been bat
tered with stones"
Frank M. Bell--"At the time the
shooting occurred I was between the
street car rail and the curbing. The
boisterous crowd seemed to be on the
west side. was twenty feet from the
jail. There was some throwing of
stones against the door. I heard the
breaking of glass and firing immedi.
ately begun from the window. l moved
down this way. The first shot followed
the breaking of the glass on the west
side. The flash lit up q couple OF
countenances.
81 saw Mayor Trout. I didn't soc
him speaking to anyone. didn't hear
any warning by any body. l met Judge
Gooch going homo. He said it was
their orders to shoot. said you came
near shooting me for you fred directly
at me. He told me in the presence Of
my wife then he was simply obeying
orders. He was placed in front near
Campbell street. He's short man and
was standing on the steps said you
came near shooting me. Why did you
shoot powder and bullets? His answer
was we were simply obeying orders
| saw no one trying to dispense the mob
Plenty of US would have went IL we had
thought there was any danger OF being
hurt.
1.-The reason thought it was Judge
Gooch who shot at me was / saw his
gun pointed that way and saw the fash
said that in joking way and there is
no reason to believe he would try to
hurt me. Nearly all that crowd were
boys"
DR. Gray here asked the stenographsr
to put this down and lay particular
stress upon 1t.
81 don't think there were over fifty
people in the actual mob and most OF
them were boys. Ali the crowd l saw
on Campbell street were good natured
people joking. | could SEQ the flashes
but couldn't tell whether the shots were
straight out Cd diagonally. I looked
back after the street was cleared. They
were still shooting. 1 saw Mac Morris
but didn't see him do any shooting, but
he Rugged Up against the wall. / think
they fired into the good citizens and the
mob stayed where they were"
Question by Juror Williams-"Could
any of the militia, without getting out
of the window, shoot into the mob?"
Answer-"One man might, but saw
three guns shining out and none OF them
twisting around. / didn't hear word
to dispense from any living soul. II Cap.
tain Bird had put his head of the win
dow and spoke could have heard 1t.
l don't think any such orders were
r.sx