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

morning promptly at 10 o'clock, when
the sixty-f,rs Juror had been examined
in the Srown-Wesner case, the prosecu-
ton passed the jury. John s. Duncan,
Browns attorney, looked inquiringly at
his client. who said. IT am satisfied to
be tried by that jury" in a low tone.
The jurors were then sworn and their
names are as follows: David Custer,
James Profit, James H. Benefited. w. A.
Jones. William II. Butner Henry Cobb.
]. NJ. Dye. Ben Hur, Samuel Wiley.
James Nicely, Thomas Shaw and
James II. Jones. The jurors come from
the extren1ities Of the county, are all
that all except one are in the forties
Brown.
The states Case.
Upon the jury being sworn, Mr.. T. j.
Cofer of Danville made the opening
statement for the prosecution. in which
he said that they would prove that the
murder was premeditated and that II
was murder in the first degree and that
the shooting was without provocation;
that two shots were fired, that Brown
called Wesner a coward, that Wesner
said, Brown, you know am no cow
ard; know you have a gun, but you
know am no coward that Brown fired;
that when Wesner was dying he
asked those present to remem-
Der him to his family, to his
wife and children and especially to one
Of his little grandchildren, and he said
to Mr.. Ralston, Sam, 1 want you to
tell them that 1 say God bless little
Ruth, as I am dying"
The defense reserved its statement I'M
til close of states testimony.
The First witness.
The first witness examined after the
conclusion Of Mr.. Cofer's statement was
DR.. M. G. Parker Of Danville: was
called to the court house. and when got
IN Mr.. wesner said, There is DR.. Parker
and he said, L am dying, DOCTOR I felt
his pulse and told him was afraid he
was; was there when he died; exam
ined the body. One bullet went in about
an inch to the right of the lower part of
the breastbone, ranged downward and
was stopped by the skin in the back
about five inches below the point that 1t
entered in front, having passed entirely
through the body. Another bullet had
struck near the wrist of the left hand
and came out at the elbow; think he
died from internal hemorrhage.'
Court Room Measurements.
The next witness was George c. Har-
vey Of Danville. A photograph was pro-
duced Of the courtroom at Danville and
identified by the witness. The witness
had measured pretty nearly everything
in the court house and its distance from
everything else and he gave the meas
urements: when the court dismissed the
jury i saw Mr.. Wesner come down by
the table. He had a handkerchief in his
hand and saw him wiping the perspira-
tion from his face. l went TO the table
that Wesner had occupied In the trial
and Mr.. Wesner came up. was on the
east side of the table and he was on the
south. Mr.. Brown came up and said TO
Wesner: My reputation at Lebanon is
as good as yours and you would not talk
about me as you have done except in
the court house, and you are a id
coward Wesner said: Cooley Brown,
you know / am no coward; you id
skunk. know you have pistol; pull II
and use IT. Mr.. Brown Jerked the pistol
out Of his pocket. Mr.. Wesner made a
lunge at Brown and Brown fired. and
Wesner. / thought, was going to fall.
reached to catch him and Wesner said
He's got me, d-n him. and / will kill
him. and somewhere in there Mr.. Wes-
ner drew his knife. The scabbard fell on
the floor. He raised his knife In the air
and 1t looked as II he was trying to
strike Mr.. Brown with II. Mr.. Brown
went down right south of the clerks
table and Mr.. Ralston or someone else
said: Put up that knife. Mr.. Ralston
rushed out and got Mr.. Wesner by the
right hand and gave his hand a twist
IN such a shape that the knife fell out
OF his hand and went over into the cor
ner, a distance of eight or nine feet.
had Mr.. Wesner by the left arm and
Ralston had him by the right, and
said: Sam, are you hurt?' He said:
I am shot through and through Then
Wesner was put upon chair; his head
dropped on his breast. / put my hand
10 his forehead and IT was covered with
cold sweat. Then DR.. White came, and
Judge Hadley came up from the side.
Mr.. Brown had his revolver yet in his
hand and the judge told him to give the
revolver TO the sheriff. Brown handed
his revolver TO the sheriff, and Wesner
said; Take that man out OF here The
sheriff took Brown out OF the side door
In a few minutes, az there was a good
deal OF feeling IN the court house and a
good many threats were being made"
wesner Wanted Revenge.
'sDr. White told wesner he was going
10 die. and wesner said that the only
thing that he wanted was he would like
20 live and get revenge, but he was not
afraid to die Right at that point he
asked them to take off his boots; that he
didn't want to die with his boots on. and
John Towies took of his boots. Then
they placed him upon a mattress upon
two tables. / was standing close by.
had a lemon. but DIR. White told me that
IL was too late for lemons. 1 went UP
TO Sam. He had hold OF DIR. Harland's
hand. He took me by the hand and he
came over here gand shot me down like
a dog without giving me any show. and
I want you 20 track him 70 hell He
said that he did not draw the knife un-
I'll after he was shot. He died in about
forty minutes after he was shot"
On cross-examination, this witness was
asked II Wesner did not request him to
hound Brown TO hell and II he had not
stated that he meant to do Il. The wit
ness replied at first that he did not but
finally said that he did not remember
that he had so stated.
The students story.
The next witness was Fred Moore OF
Everton. He testified that he was a
student at the normal school at Denville
at the time Of this occurrence: Went into
the court house and heard about seven
minutes Of Mr.. Wesner's speech; saw
Rrown talking with a hio man. he an