The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-11-15
FRED JOHNSON CONVICTED.
CASE WITH En-
-TRAORDINARYL LYING.


somewhere Four Witnesses Positively
swear 10 Admissions from All Posi-
HE sources that the Whole charge -
I,ie-But They Came from West ca'
msicn and Jury D .s,.s~ ,vns Cider
Drunk-.sVVil Testify as Want or III
cut Their Hearts out ana hoa" LII
ON COals"-Such Defense C
the (uide of the States Testimony
n The county court was occupied an
the week with the case against FREQ
johnson for murderous assault on ms
Is year old brother Leon, last May. as
detailed in the Reformer at the time
The case went to the jury at ~
o'clock Wednesday and an hour later
the verdict was brought in. Ii was
guilty Of assault with intent to XII.
At the conclusion of the evidence the
counsel for the defense raised claim
of defect in the indictment in that 1t
didn't allege assault with dangerous
weapon. it was phrased' with
pistof'-and that it should have
alleged that the pistol was loaded,
and they asked submission to the jury
for assault only. The court held the
| indictment to be erroneous in this
particular. and so submitted it to the
| iury to determine whether 1T was
simple assault or assault with intent to
kill.
The penalty is imprisonment for
not over 10 years. With the
.dangerus weapon kclement, it could
not be less than five years and might
be for life.
| There was little delay in empanel-
ling the jury, five or six being ex,,
cused because they had formed and
expressed an opinion after reading the
newspaper accounts of the affair. The
| first witness was Leon johnson. the
boy shot, who testified that he lived
at his fathers, Lewis Johnson's. in
the edge of Jamaica, mile and half
| from Wardsboro village, that early on
Sunday, May 9TH, his father and
mother went to Pike Falls, about s
o'clock his brother Fred, the respond
emf, came to the house, and about 10 his
other brother, Ed left to go to church,
leaving him and his sister Jennie. II
years old, alone with Fred. He and
Fred played cards, High Low Jack. y
while his sister did the work in the
kitchen: they had some cider; finally
Fred told him to go out doors and
threatened. if he didn't, to kill him.
and then took hold of him and put
him out, and grabbed Jennie and
carried her from the kitchen through
the parlor to the parlor bed room. He
heard her scream, went and opened
the door and saw them on the bed :
Fred ravishing her. Fred came out
and Jennie ran out and around the
house: Fred chased her and kicked
her back into the house: while they
n II IL IL
the loaded revolver and was holding IT
in his hand when Fred grappled with
him and Jennie ran out doors again;
Fred took the revolver from him.
seized him around the neck. held the
revolver up close and said he was 60
ing to shoot; Leon replied "shoot your
brother if you want too:' Fred pressed
the revolver to his face and fired, then
released the boy who ran out. noticed
blood trickling down his face; he and
his sister ran down to Silas Mays, =
mile distant, where they met their
brother Ed returning from the village.
told about the affair and Ed and Mr..
May went on to the house.
On cross examination Leon admitted
that he drew a two quart pitcher of
cider which they drank while playing
cards, and he half of it, enough so
that he vomited on the kitchen floor.
On the direct examination he said the
shooting occurred in the pantry but
on cross stated that he was in the
kitchen. He also admitted that he was
out of doors while part of the tussle
was going ON with his sister.
DR.. c. b. Doane of jamaica said he
saw the wound within two or three
days after it WAS inflicted, removed
the bandages. and probed 81, inches.
but didn't know whether he reached
the ball or not The course of the
bullet was upward and backward. He
found no powder marks on the face
but there was blackening II the
course of the wound
Jenninc Della Jcnnson. - years old,
the girl assaulted. testified as Leon
did about their being left alone except
that she said it was about 9 O'Clock |
when Fred came. and she told of |
Fred's shaving himself She said she !
was up stairs doing chamber work |
while they were playing cards. After
Fred had driven Leon out of the house,
he seized her. ana carried her. kicking. |
struggling and screaming she weighs |
about $50 in his arms through the two
rooms to the bed room. opening on the |
way two doors that were closed. threw |
her on the bed, tore off her under |