The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-10-25

AVOIDED
him to avoid telling what 1 knew about
the trouble, and also avoided the states
attorney"
Not with HIS Boots On.
The next witness was John NJ. Towles.
He testified: II was passing along the
street by the court house on the goth of
May, when heard two shots very close
together up in the court room; when I
got up there they were just putting Wes-
ner In the chair and he asked me to
pull his boots of. and we did so; I think
he said he didn't want to die with his
boots on. He said to Harvey: You
seen all this Hound him to HE'LL wes-
ner was an intimate friend of mine"
The Jury Isolated.
The court room is not only crowded
but the stairways at noon today were
packed, and 1t was impossible TO even
get near the door, so great is the inter-
est OF the people in this case. This
morning in fnstructing the jury, Judge
Stevenson said that he had decided TO
Keep the jury to itself under the charge
of the sheriff during the trial. The
judge said in instructing the jury:
There Is perhaps good deal Of inter-
est in this community in reference to
this case. 1t will be talked about on
the streets, doubtless, a great deal and
In the court room and in other places.
The parties were prominent and lived
here and it is natural for the people to
take great interest in the outcome of
this trial and in its progress; andsit Is
for this reason that Ii becomes of high
est Importance that you should not hear
any conversation In reference to il. 1t
might not influence you in any way. but
then fG he
OF the law that Jurors. If they are hon
est and upright, shall keep themselves
free from hearing any conversation with
reference TO the issues in an important
trial like this"
An Interested Spectator.
Mrs. Brown, handsome, tastily at
tired lady, together with Mr.. Browns
three children, is present and at his side.
The ordeal Of this trial is a trying one
for the little woman and tears start to
her, eyes at times but are repressed. over
with the prosecution is Mrs. Wesner, her
son, the son-in-law of Wesner. Dr. Frank
Van Mugs and his wife, Wesner's
daughter, together with little baby Ruth,
of whom Wesner spoke in his last mo-
ment, God bless little Ruth" The
dence tomorrow. The defense has not
announced what ii will maintain, but
IT will be self-defense probably. One of
the attorneys for the defense said to a
reporter of The Sentinel today that all
they asked was a suspension of judg-
ment until they have presented their
side of the case.
LEBANON, Oct. 19-SpeciaI.-The
Brown Wesner trial commenced this
morning with the court room packed.
A great many ladies are in attendance
and they took possession Of nearly all
the space inside of the railing. There is
a difference of statement as to where
Judge Hadley was at the time of the
homicide. One witness places him in the
judges box, another in the little room
back Of the judges desk, another just
leaving the judges box and others leav-
ing the court room. The judge win be
present in the morning TO testify.
The first witness this morning was
Thomas McAninch of Hendricks county,
a juror in the case on trial on the day
or the homicide. Il passed Brown, who
was talking 10 Ralston, and heard him
say: He is a liar Brown had his hands
behind him and under his coat, also that
Brown looked pale. AS 1 went to the
south door 1 noticed Brown walking
across to the south side with his right
hand in his front pocket. When he got
within five feet of Wesner he stopped"
From this time on witness corroborated
Harvey, the witness of yesterday.
The next witness was K. G. Wills, cor
oner of Hendricks county, who came in
at the front door and through the large
crowd that had assembled. Mr.. Wills
was dressed in blue and wore a grand
army badge and carried a large satchel.
nearly large enough to bring a load of
corn TO town in. The crowd parted and
Mr.. Wills took the witness chair, setting
the satchel down in front of him. Upon
examination he said that the satchel con-
40 kA - he lou
and the. weapons which he had taken
possession Of in the court room. Upon
being requested TO do so, the witness UNI
locked the satchel with the key hang
ing to the side of II and produced a
long black coat, pants, vest and under
clothing which he said were taken off
OF the dead lawyer. In the sleeve of the
coat near the wrist was bullet hole.
The bullet that struck Wesner in the
breast had not penetrated the coat. but
passed through the vest. The revolver
was produced and proved to be No. 30
Smith & Wesson. The witness stated
that the revolver was exactly in the
same condition as II was when taken
from Mr.. Brown. That he had not re-
moved the cartridges. Mr.. Adams, at
torney for the prosecution, suggested
that it would be better TO remove the
cartridges. The. coroner said that he
didn't know how to take the
cartridges out and he fourished
the revolver around and some
OF the jury looked like they wanted to
run out Of the house. The coroner hand
ed the revolver 10 the prosecutor, Mr..
Dutch, and Mr.. Dutch got scared and
handed IL over TO John s. Duncan, the
well-known attorney of Indianapolis, who
said he thought he could manage IL, and
Mr.. Duncan took IL over by the window
where he had plenty OF light. but for
some reason or other Mr.. Duncan had
lost the combination. Finally a hard
ware man OF the city OF Lebanon came
to the rescue and the pistol was unload
ed, there being in II two loaded car
tridges and two shells. One chamber
contained nothing. The coroner then
dived down into his satchel again and
produced a leather scabbard and drew
from the scabbard long dirk knife. the
blade of which was seven inches long
by actual measurement and an inch and
one-eighth wide, the whole knife was
eleven inches long, the handle being OF
bone. 1t was an ugly-looking knife and
one farmer said that he thought the
knife would be dangerous IL II would
fall on a mans foot. After the coroner
was through testifying the attorney
said they would like for him TO leave
the clothing and the satchei at the court
house, but the coroner objected to leav-
ing the satchel as he said that he had
borrowed IT especially for this occasion
and he wanted TO take 1t back with him.
However, upon being assured that the
county OF Boone would be responsible
for the preservation OF the satchel, the
coroner of Hendricks said that IL might
remain, together with the key. The coro-
ner also produced ten No. ~ cartridges
taken from the clothing OF Wesner.
Mr. f. Kennedy was another juror In
II a..