The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-01-12
SELECTED A JURY
GOOD PROGRESS BEING MADE WITH
THE CLYDE MATIOX CASE
Judge Williams Ordered 4 Night
Session to Save Expenses-The
Case Will be Holly Contested
on Both Sidcs-A List Of
the Jurors Drawn.
The trial of Clyde Mattox has com

The trial of Clyde Mattox has com
menced.
Mattox may regard it as an old story
this proceeding which has a moose at one
end and freedom at the other. His man.
ner would betray that he had been on
trial for his life fifty times and no, four
He sat in the whirliug offic.-cbair all
day yesterday with his chin resting COM
fortably between the points of his collar.
His forehead is smooth aud rather high.
aud his hair comes down upon it with a
genteel regularity. His mouth is de-
termined. clean cut aud slightly inclined
to a scornful curl. His chin is short and
receding and gives his countenance its
only touch of weakness This is not suffi-
cient, however, to make Mattox look
sinister, as his slight physique suggests
anything but desperate.
He sat immovabe and without a wave
OF emotion all yesterday. Without APP
pearing to take any but casual notice
of the testimony or the jury, he did not
devote SO much as a glance to the judge,
the surrounding court scenes or the spec
tators. His leathery complexion betrayed
| no emotion, nor did his manner show but
that he was an assistant lawyer in the
| case or a court bailiff.
Clyde may well pause aud consider the
result Of the present trial. There will be
no childs play in it and the government
| was never more serious in his prosecution
than now.
The fact is Clyde has cost this govern
ment something in the neighborhood of
S25 600. At least this is what the cour.
officers estimate it at. He has been four
times on trial for his life. three times for
the murder Of Mullen and once for the
murder OF another man.
His fate hangs on this trial and, as
stated before, it will be conducted along
the most serious lines.
The following is the jury that was sworn
in ct 4 o'clock yesterday: Robert Camp
bell. George A. Collett, j. NJ. Essich, II.
A. Barbee. Richard Richardson, John E.
Todd. S. NJ. Jackson, w. C. Campbell E.
| Z. Lambert, G. Rodgers. L. G. McCauley
and Amos B. Nolder.
The attorneys for the government and
the defendant stated their respective sides
of the case to the jury previous to putting
| witnesses ON the stand.
| On the 11th day of December. 1889, John
Mullen, colored man of medium age was
! killed while standing in the door OF his
| own house in Oklahoma City between
| and 10 o'clock at night. On that night
| two women were going home from a col
ored church, aud they were accosted by
| two men. One Of the women screamed and
| it was this noise that brought
John Mullen to his door. He called to
the white men to leave the women alone,
and this made the two men hot and they
| approached him. Hot words followed.
and one of the men fired two shots into
! the body of Mullen, while the second man
shot from behind the first man into
Mullen's body also. He dropped where
he WAS and died next day at o'clock.
Only two persons were present who saw
the shooting. and they were Tom Whit
man and Charity Whitman, his wife.
They were present, being attracted by
the disturbance. Charity Whitman did
not know the two men who did
the shooting at that time. but
Tom did. Tom is not present
| at the trial and his lips will never tell who
killed Mullen, for before tho trial year
ago two bullets were sent through Toms
head one night, and next morning he was
found dead in one of the side streets of
Oklahoma. The man who killed him
| thinks he is safe. but murder will out, and
his neck will stretch some day if some
well known government officers mean
what they say. Clyde Mattox was in Jail
ia this city at the time Of the murder of
Tom Whitman and, therefore, he cannot
be accused of doing that which sent the
principal witness against him out OF the
world.
At the time of the murder Mattox was a
town marshal in Oklahoma City. He
was soon afterwards arrested and brought
to the Wichita Jail. He Was tried for the
murder of Mullen twice. convicted once
and sentenced to be hung. His attorneys
secured for him new trial aud he WAS
admitted to bail. When the September
term OF the court convened be did
not present himself aud his bond
WAS forfeited. He was arrested
on the 9th Of December last at
Enid and that is brief history of his case
up to date.
AT 6 o'clock yesterday evening the court
announced an extra session for the pur-
pose of eXpedty the case and thus save
the government the cost Of keeping a
large number of witnesses here any longer
than could possibly be helped.
From the time the case was stated to
the jury till 1890 D. m. fully dozen wit
nesses were examined by the government,
incl uding Charity Whitman, the widow
of the murdered man who WAS the prlnci-
pal witness in tn case.