The morning call., 1894-11-10
A NOTABLE CASE.

On Thursday the Superior Court at Los
Angeles dismissed the case OF the People
against r chard Heath. Tor the murder OF
Lewis 3. McWhirter. So ends case
which has been one of the most famous on
the criminal calendar of Southern Cali
fornia.
Lewis B. McWbirter was a lawyer,
politician and a Southerner. BE had
taken an active part In the local political
slrifes of Fresno County, in which he
lived. He had made enemies and had
more than once engaged in barroOm
brawls. On the night of August %. 1892.
he went t. bed in his own house. AT
about 3 in the morning he heard noise in
his back yard and went out to investigate
its causes. A few minutes afterward his
wife heard pistol shots. On descending to
the yard she found her husband lying on
the ground. dying. His pistol. from which
three shots had been fired. lay beside him,
and near it another pistol, on the stock
Of which cross and the initial H. had
been roughly carved with a knife. OF
this weapon also three chambers were
empty.
On these facts the public formed two
theories-one that McWhirter bad COM
mitted suicide. the other that he had been
murdered by a political foe. and opinion
gradually fixed upon Richard Heath as
the foe. Like MeWhirter, Heath was
active in politics and a man of convivial
habits. He belonged to one tOlitcal
faction. McWhirter 10 another. Each had
been heard to speak harshly of the other.
That Heath should have been returning
from boon party at in the morning,
more or less excited by liquor, and with
his gun in his pocket, seemed natural &c
those who knew his habits. On this theory
he was arrested. Meanwhile the suicide
theory was adopted by the insurance COM
| panies, which stood to lose SIS, 000 by Nc
Writers death. and it was not till the
widow sued for the money that they aban-
doned their contention as unte1able.
Heath was tried twice, and the ablest
counsel in the State appeared for the peo-
pie and for the prisoner. The county Of
| Fresno had offered a ward. and the widow
another. Volunteer witnesses sprung up
on every side. and contradicted each other
with such positiveness that the volume Of
testimony, pro and cor. was prodigious.
Both trials resulted In a disagreement of
| the jury. A change of venue was taken
and a third trial was ordered at Los
Angeles, but the case had already cost the
| county Of Fresno 100000, ard the District
| Attorney, feeling that enough had been
| done for justice ana that the prospects of
conviction were slim, acquiesced in the
dismissal of the prosecution, which took
place on Thursday.
At the time McWhirter was killed, and
before the trial of Heath had begun, but
when suspicion was beginning to fasten
on him, THE CALL took occasion to warn
the criminal authorities of Fresno not to
follow blind trail. At that time 1t did
not appear that the circumstances could he
reconcled with the theory OF Heath's
guilt. 1t seemed wild notion that if
Heath had intended to kill McWhirter he
should have reused him out of his bed at 8
o. clock In the morning and made a clatter
in his yard to get him out of his house.
He could have got the drop on him at any
hour of the day or evening, and might
have shot him under conditions which
would have enabled him to ioterpose a
plea of self-defense, if he had not made
bis escape after the shooting. On the
other hand, MeWhirter's house lay in The
road of belated roysterers who were stag
gering home after debauch at one of the
many barrooms which were open at that
hour. 1t is very easy to conceive that one
or TWO Of these entering the yard with no
felonious purpose made noise enough in
climbing the fence and stumbling over OBJ
stacles to wake the man in bed upsiair, ::
that he, reused from his sleep and angered
in consequence, may have impulsively
opened fire On intruders whom he found
on MS premises; that they may have r.
turned the fire with fatal results, and the
moment they realized what they had done
may have made their escape. This seems
more rational theory than the one which
was adopted by the prosecuting officers of
Fresno County.