Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-08-10
TRIAL OF GOODMAN
FOR THE MURDER OF COL. III. c.
PARSONS.

PARSONS.
The trial of T. G. Goodman, G. & o
Ry. conductor, indicted for the murder O.
Col. H. C. Parsons at Clifton Forge, began
at Covington on Wednesday,. A jury wa'
easily secured. Mr.. r. L. Parrish of Gov
ington, B. r. Crump Of Richmond, an6
Geo. K. Anderson are for the defense. and
Commonwealth IS Attorney w. E. Alle1
and w. E. Craig OF Staunton, are for the
State. The interest in Clifton Forge ovel
the trial is so general that a stage has beer
put on to run from there to Covington il
the morning and return in the afternoon.
TESTIMONY OF THE CLERK OF THE
I From the Richmond Dispatch of yesterday
Mr.. Martin, clerk of the Gladys Inn, tes
titled that he was in the parlor raising d
window, when he heard some one say, in a
rather loud tone of voice, ''Come out Oh
the porch" He raised this window and
another, and then went out to see if the loud
talking meant trouble of any kind. AS he
entered the lobby he saw Captain Good
man (whUse back was towards witness)
near the door, holding some one with one
hand, and reaching for his pistol with the
other. He hurried forward to try and pre-
vent the shooting, but as he advanced, the
first shot was fired, and broke the glass in
the door. MI. Martin said he then got out
of the way, and several more shots were
fired, but he could not say how many.
Directly Colonel Parsons fell in or near
the doorway, witness ran up stairs and adj
vised the manager OF the inn, Mr.. A. E.
White. of what had occurred, and also call
ed some other attaches of the house. Col.
Parsons had only been in the Inn about ten
minutes. having come up from Richmond
on the train arriving about Z O'Clock.
Witness had not anticipated the trouble,
knew nothing of any unfriendly feelings
between Parsons and Goodman, did not
know who it was when he heard the Con-
ductor speak, and had no idea that it was
Colonel Parsons who was being invited out
in tone. that, while possibly not angry,
indicated excitement.
AS witness and Mr.. White came down
stair they met Captain Goodman in front
of the office counter emptying the shells
from his pistol.
Mr.. Martin remarked to Goodman:
captain, l am certainly sorry you did
this" but if there was any answer he did
not hear it.
Goodman went to the reception-room
and soon left the house with his satchel in
his hand, and passing not far from his dy-
ing victim.
Witness could not see Parsons hands or
what he was doing with them.
YESTERDAY PRoCEEDINGs-THE PAR
SONS LETTER.
BY telegraph from the V1NDIcAToR's Special
Correspondent
CONVICTION, VA, Aug 9.-The Court
met promptly at $50. On.the bench, sit
ting at the right of Judge Moore, was Rev.
DR.. Hatcher, pastor Of the prisoner, and on
his left Judge Mcdonald, of Bath. An
other ia ~ge crowd is in attendance.
The prisoner came in attended by his
wife-aDd daughter. Judge LOOMS. Of Par
kersburg, w. Va, brother Of Mrs. Par
sons, was also present.
The first witness was Henry Moody,
head waiter at Gladys Inn, who testified as
follows:
Was in the dining room about O'Clock
the morning Parsons was killed. Good
man came in to breakfast. Hearing talking
in the lobby, Goodman asked witness if that
was Col. Parsons. He said it was. Good
man then said, 81 have mind to go after
him." Witness asked what was the matter
Goodman said Parsons had written letter
to MI. Stevens about him. trying to get
him discharged. Goodman then got up,
went to the hat-rack, got his grip and went
into the reading room; then walked up to
Parsons and said: Here is this letter,
come out to the front, y and taking him by
the at-collar led him about 40 feet across
the lobby to the door. Did not see them
again till they came back in the lobby;
three times when the shooting commenced.
Saw Goodman take pistol from behind him
and shoot several times. Parsons ran
around towards the desk and fell. After
he fell prisoner snapped pistol at him once.
Could not see Parsons make any demon
stration although his right side was to-
wards witness. Prisoner then walked
back to the reading room. got his satchel
and passed out by the body of Parsons,
which was lying on the floor, but took no
notice of him.
On cross examination by MI. Parrish
witness acknowledged a statement which
MI. Parrish introduced and read as given
by witness to Nh. Martin soon after the
killing, in which no reference was made to
tine swapping of the pistol after Parsons fell.
Tom Branch, colored, waiter at the Inn,
also saw Goodman snap pistol at Parsons
after he fell and did not see Parsons make
any movement to draw weapon.
Ed. Brown, porter on buffet car, Harry
Burke, express agent at Natural Bridge,
and P. L. Wilson, baggage agent at Natu-
raj Bridge, introduced, gave no dditional
facts to what the VINDICATOR has pub
lished, except that Goodman was inquiring
for Parsons on his trip up the preceding
evening".
Col. A. c. Bryant's testimony has also
been reported substantially.
The Parsons letter is to be introduced
this evening and the following is a copy:
NATURAL BRIDGE, VA, June 7, '94.
G. ". Stepens, Esq.,, Supt. G. d 0. r. r.
Dear Sir:-Some time ago I called your
official attention to what deemed discourte-
GUS treatment of my daughter by conductor
of yours named Goodman; however stating
that he did not violate your rules except in