The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-03-16
"BAT" SHEA, MURDERER.
His Victim Had Fallen Before the
Shot Was Fired.

The Murdered Man Was Unarmed and Had
Fallen in His Struggle With Shea
Then the Rufiian Deliberately Fired at
His victim-Testimony at the Inquest
Into the Election Crime at Troy.
Troy, NY, March 15.-The inquest
in the case of Robert Ross. murdered at
the polls on election day, commenced
this afternoon at the court house before
Coroner Collins. Several doctors testi-
fed to injuries received by the murdered
| man, bat" Shea and McGough.
John Ross, brother of the dead man,
testified that he was inspector at the So
called Republican caucus in the 18th
ward on February 8. He was secretary
of the board of inspectors. John H.
Boland and John McGough were in
| spectors ard .Hanoox and Dunlop the
| candidates. The witnesses said it was evil
| dent that men were voting who were not
entitled to do SO. William and Robert
Ross objected to the illegal votes being
| deposited and fight ensued. McGough
struck Boland and then drew revolver.
| threatening to shoot Roland. The
| witness grabbed McGough and forced
| him back Hearing the breaking of
window glass, the witness looked around
and saw man, whom he afterwards
| identified as "Bat" Shea, coming from
the rear. An attempt was made to stol
| the intruder who drew a revolver and
| held it against the head of one of the
inspectors asying 's1'll shoot the -
Tod ndJ Ia
sake, don't shoot man like that The
| tness went to the polling place at 3 a.
| m. Robert and William Ross and John
Boland, all residents of the 18th ward,
| appeared at about the same time. The
| only policeman present on duty was
| Special Officer Murphy. Officer Kane
was present but did not seem TO be on
| duty. Up to ten there had been no
trouble at the polling place. Then Shea,
McGough, Cleary and Keefe appeared.
Shea started the trouble by striking
| VIM Ross. Later the gang went away.
Then Officer Kane said as things were
| quiet he thought he would go and get
| at noon, Cleary, Keefe, McGough and
| Shea came back to the polling place.
| Later, men whom the witness could not
| identity, marched into the polling place
despite the protests made. Hayner was
| struck by Shea and the witness saw
! MC(IOugn SGrlko Wlllldul IeoSSs - no
! crowd was swept into the street. There
i McGough was the first to draw revol-
ver. When the witness first saw Robert
Ross, after coming out of the. crowd,
| Robert was holding on to the hand of
Shea, with whom he was struggling.
Shea held pistol in his hand. John
was struggling toward Robert. when the
| latter fell, as if his ankle had given
out. The witness was about six feet
from Shea when the latter fired the
| pistol. The witness swore positively that
he saw "Bat" Shea shoot Robert Ross
while the latter was prostrate on the
! ground. Shea was at the time about
| four feet from Robert When John got
| to Robert, he lifted the latter's head in
his lap and said IF you're American
| citizens catch that man." meaning
| Shea. The first man to reach Robert
after John was John H. Boland. Mr..
| Ross testified that neither he nor his
| brothers had firearms at the polling
! place. The witness could not say
| whether Mr.. Boland had a revolver. Mr..
Ross testified that he had never before
| been assaulted in polling place, but
his brother had been assaulted before In
the polling place in Che 18th ward.