Mexico weekly ledger., 1895-02-14
Hinton a Free Man.
THE JURY DECIDES THATHE WAS
JUSTIFIED IN KILLING
HOMELAND.
"A verdict Rendered in Less Than an
Hour After the Case Was Submit
ted History Of the Trial,

Hour After the Case Was Submit
ted History of the Trial.
Inc trial of Henry I. Hinton for ,hs
kiinng OF w. E. Houghland took place
d > Week In the Circuit Court here.
VIII be remembered that the kill
ing Took place on the night of Sent. /
1884, while Houghland, a druggist q,
benton City, Mo-, was on the premises
Oh hinton, near Benton City, this
county. The Coroner's inquest d.
Vuiged the fact that HouehIand had
Deen paying attention to Miss Violet
hlnton, who "fa then living with her
brother, and the purpose of his visit r.
the house that night was unknown r.
Hinton. Hinton stated that he had
been aroused on two or three p~reyious
nights by someone attempting to effect
an to his house, and on the
night OF the killing he had laid awake
IN a summer kitchen for the intruder
ana wnen he attempted to effect an
entrance through the window of Miss
Unions bed room he fred, with fatal
results.
The State attempted to prove that
anton a previous knowledge of
the relations existing between his sis
ter and Houghland, and that he had
detained Miss Hinton at his house and
obtained information from her as to
when Houghland would again call on
her, and then laid in wait to kill him.
The defense tried to establish that
Hinton had no knowledge of improper
relations, and when he fred the fatal
shot he did not know the intruder, but
supposed he was the burglar who had
been attempting to secure entrance to
his house on the previous nights.
There were twenty-three witnesses
for the defense and about fifteen for
the State. Prosecuting Attorney ]. g.
Trimble, George R~obertsoneand d. H.
Mcintyre Represented the State and 1.
w. Boulware,asof Fulton, and Edmond
ston & Cullen af thls City, the defense.
Since a few weeks after the killing
Miss Hinton has been serving as a
waitress at the Windsor Hotel in this
city.
Hinton told a reporter: son Friday
night before the killing we had been
aroused by someone attempting to get
in the house by a back window. The
first disturbance was about 10 O'Clock
and between 8 and 4 in the morning
we were aroused again. The house
fronts south and contains two rooms.
My wife, my two little girls and myself
occupy the front room and my sister,
Violet, was occupying the north room.
The north room has a window about
three and a half feet from the ground.
A summer kitchen is located 80 that
It's south end laps the north end of the
main house, leaving a passageway five
or six feet wide between them. The
about four OF five feet north of the
north line of the main house, SO that
you readily see that anyone at the
north window from the west kitchen
window. The house is about 100 yards
from rne mann was sntfsf1eu
the person would again attempt to en-
ter the house, and I was determined to
find out who IL was. Saturday night
made a pallet on the floor in the sum
fner kitchen near the window. Invent
to the kitchen about s o'clock, taking
| with me a 32-caIber rife. The window
sash was raised sc / could put the gun
| through if l found it necessary to
shoot.
"About 1915 l heard a noise at the
north window as though someone was
trying to remove the sash. | raised up
| off the pallet and saw the outlines of a
man at the window. 1t was very dark
and / could not recognize him. He
seemed to be working at the window.
| picked up the rifle and stuck il
through the window, and in doing sc
made a noise that startled the man
| He started to run and | pointed the
gun in his direction and fired. He
haliooed and l opened the door ane
ran out into the yard. l could heal
him groanipg. My wife and sistel
came out of the house and we all wen
together to search for him. He wa
found lying. about thirty feet from
where he was shot, on his left side
face downward and grooming. | turned
him over on his back and saw it wa
Houghland. He did not speak. W.
carried him into the kitchen and thel
went and found his horse hitched abou
$50 yards from the house. Never ha'
any trouble with Houghland. w
were good friends. He had been at m.
house on Monday evening and aske'
to see Violet, but she was not at home
| and he sat and talked to me and M
wife for about half an hour. Thursday
| evening he called again, and remained
| about half an hour with Violet and
! left.m
Hinton's attention was called TO tn
| fact that Houghland had been shot Il
\ the lett side, the ball entering Jus
above the hip bone, ranging upwar
and landing near the right ear. IT.
had been shot from the kitchen win
| dow as he was running, it would have
been impossible for the ball to ave
entered the left side or rangedupwafo
passing through the heart n iodgin
near the right ear. From the cours
of the bullet it would necessarily seei
: that he was lying down on MS flgi
!. side with his head and shoulde
l slightly elevated, or 10 wouid ma
e been possible for him to have taRe
n this course if he was in h act OF pas
ing through the. window, with ms ie
foot and the upper portion of his bod
: inside the room. Just under the nor
window a dry goods box about thr'
,eat souare was sitting, and anoth
theory was that he was lying on h
right side, tapping on the VIRGO
when he was shot.
Miss Hinton said: al WAS IN the q
/, of retiring when the clock struck !
and it was not over five minutes az y
r ....; tho shot was fired. Nv