Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-09-12

" NIHsSI nary trial of L. M.
\ A1IER hniseley, charged
NQYSNE with shooting j. A.
~ nFSl Hall, Monday, Sep
tember 2, at HoisiI gton. He found
the case the all absorbing topic of con-
versation and it was found necessary
to hold court in the opera house to &C
commodate the crowd. The State was
represented by County Attorney
Nimocks, assisted by F. V. Russell of
this city. The defense had retained
D. A. Banta of this city. The witness
es for the state were called, sworn,
cautioned and separated and the case
began. The first witness called was J..
A. Hall, the man whom Kniseley shot,
and his testimony was as follows:
My name is Joseph A. Hall; l know
the defendant; saw him on September
2 at, or near, my livery barn; he was
walking around the building with a
shot gun on his shoulder. 1 asked him
what he wanted and he told me it was
none of my damned business,"I told
him it was my business and pushed
him from me, when he fell down: he
got up and took the gun by the muzzle
and struck at my head. 1 caught the
gun on my arm Showed bruise.) 1
took the gun away from Kniseley, but
gave it back to him, telling him to go
away. Saw Kniseley again at the
Typer House after dinner. He came
in and demanded that go with him;
he produced no warrant, nor told me
he had one. l then went up to Justice
Lytle's Office and gave myself up, and
then went in search of J. Is. Prose as
my attorney. Coming out of Peaugh's
barber shop 1 saw Kniseley coming
down the street fiourishing a revolver.
He was followed by John Johnston; l
told Kniseley 1 had given myself up
and was then looking for lawyer and
would be ready in few minutes; Knis-
eley pushed his head under my chin
and began abusing me, when 1 pushed
him from me, he landing in the mud of
the gutter. When he got up he still
had the revolver IN his hand and struck
me on the left side of the head with it;
l again pushed Kniseley away from me
and he fell against the barber shop
door; while down, Kniseley snapped
the revolver three times before it went
off; the shot struck me in the breast;
at the time John Johnston had hold of
my arms from behind and was forced
down over Kniseley. who placed the
revolver almost against me; my shirt
was powder burned. In my opinion
Kniseley was intoxicated and could
hardly stand up; the revolver was 80
calibre, 5-shot, double action; we had
previously been on friendly terms; 1
never struck Kniseley until after was
shot. I am 46 years old and weigh 166
pounds.
George Bagley was the next witness
and his testimony was substantially
the same as Halls. He said Hall had
one hand on Kniseley's shoulder when
the shot was fred; thought Kniseley
was drunk; Hail was held by Johnston
when the shot was fired.
L. G.. Shaw's testimony did not
materially differ from Halls in regard
to what happened at the barn and
Typer House; Shaw did not see the
shooting.
Amos Bell was the next witness. He
saw the alteration in front of the bar
ber shop and it occurred practically as
above stated: couldn't say whether
Knlseley was drunk or not.
j. A. Knight testified that he arrested
Kniseley; allowed KniseleY to go home;
while there Knlseley went to the cup
board and poured some whisky from a
bottle into a glass and offered it to
Knight; he did not drink and would
not let Kniseley drink it.
jim Buffers evidence was the same
as the previous witnesses, as was that
of W. G. Lindsay. Tom McMahan ac-
knowiedged that he did not love Knis-
eiey-liked him best at distance, and
had remarked that he thought hanging
too good for him: thought Kniseley
was drunk.
G. L. Koch gave technical descrip.