The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-01-09
QUESTIONS .
Witnesses Continue to Testify
Against John Briggs.
LENGTHY EXAMINATIONS
The Counsel For the Defense Directs Most
of its Attention to the Firing and Grab
bing of Briggs Gun-The Main Point of
the Case.
special to the HERALD.

the Case.
special to the HERALD.
PoTTsvLLE, Jan. S.--The defense in
the case OF John Briggs, charged with the
murder Of James Parft, and now on trial at
Pottsville, is pretty well outlined. 1t WAS
practically set forth in the testimony given by
Richard Amour on Friday last Mr.. Brumm
is devoting most of his cross.e examination to
shake the creditably of the witness of the
Commonwealth and lead them into an admis.
sion that the shot by which Parit was killed
was from Briggs gun, but that the weapon
was discharged when Briggs and Mahony
were struggling for It.
In this the defense has not been successful,
but it succeeded yesterday in getting one of
the witnesses, Charles Kern, to admit that no
couldn't swear whether or not the fatal shot
was fred before Or after Briggs and Mahony
had their struggle. All the rest of the wit.
nesse who claimed to have any knowledge Of
| the struggle declared it was after.
DIR. D. S. Marshall sworn.-I am the
Coroner of Schuylkill county. was called
to hold post mortem examination on the
body of James Parft and assisted Dr. Enter
! line in holding it. I found gun shot
wound. Itpenetrated the right. hip bone.
There was a compound, comminuted fracture.
We found the lungs and intestnes in .
healthy condition. From my entire examin-
alton of the body believe the cause Of the
death Of James Parft was due to shock,
superinduoed by the injury and its effects.
The injury was caused by gun shot wound,
l found no other marks of violence on his
person, The thigh bone was shattered. 1t
was broken about the middle of the centre
portion Of the bone to an extent of about an
inch. found the back bone shattered about
two inches to the right of the CENTRE The
lower portion of the bone was shsttered-the
end of the spine. All the intestines were
sound, except the major colon, which was
perforated. From the injuries and course of
the wound l would regard that it was
necessarily fatal.
CROSS EXAMINATION.
Q. If Dr. Enterline swore that the
injured colon was not penetrated, but only
cut little on ono side, and he was there
when the examination was made do you still
say you are correct?
A. Yes, sir; am positive.
Q. And you say the same as to the spinal
column?
A. Yes, sir. The bullet entered the body
about an inch above the right hip bone. At
the entrance the wound was from to Il
inches in diameter The exit was from Il to
II ia diameter. 1t looked to me that the
victim was leaning forward when he was
shot, not standing upright.
REV. JOHN RICHARDS
Affirmed am Methodist minister Of the
Gospel and resideat GilbertOn. I saw part of
the difficulty on the night of August 2lst.
On that evening had class meeting As
| was passing from the parsonage in front Of
the church | saw a crowd on the street and
noticed people tearing up the track. That
was about o'clock / stood few minutes
and then went into the church. After
church | came out and stood two or three
minutes and then went back to the parsOn-
age. At about 10 o'clock / retired. ! had
been in bed about half An hour when [ heard
I
head out the window. Just as ! did so the
first shot was fired. saw a man coming
from the inside Of the car. As he got in the
front of the car he shot Immediately, and l
saw man, after the shooting go down as if
he fell. l didn't recognize these parties be-
cause was not near enough. l saw other
shots fired and that is about the result Of
what ] saw. L remained at my window
during the time of the shooting and with
drew after the shooting ceased | knew my
brother was somewhere ON the streets and
1 went down TO inquire for him. l was about
l50 feet from the shooting. The window was
next to the street ON which the shooting oc.
Cured. There was an electric light in the
street and there was a light in the car.
couldn't tell how many people were in the
Car. The man who fell was about from to
8 feet from the car. When the shot went OF
it created flash. / didn't know at the time
who the man was who fell, or the one who
shot, The rest of the shots came from the
car. / really couldn't say that shot came
from any other direction, | didn't see any
l could see the fire from each shot Of course
there were likely couple of shots fired at
the same time. Up to the time | saw the
shot fired and man drop | had heard no
shooting at all. From where was couldn't
tell whether or not anybody interteIed with
the man who came out ON the car I can't
tell whether anybody was ON the platform
with the man who shot Ididn't see anybody
else have hold Of the gun. From the posi-
tion ! occupied 1 could have told if any other
shot went Off
! CROSS EXAAuNATION.
! l don't think l could see all of the dinkey,