St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-29
GUN DISCHARGED BY THE SUN
A Marvellous Case Recalled bv n
Recent Accident in Ohio

marvellous Case Recalled by n
Recent Accident in Ohio.
Cincinnati Enquirer
| Last saturday appeared an account
OF a strange accident, in which a man
was killed by the discharge of a. s11n
Whlle lying asleep on g. lounge in his
room, the weapon being discharged nv
| rejected rays of the sun falling upon
the cartridge of the firearm. Since the
puollcatlon of the story a correspond
ent from York, Pa, writes concerning
| the accident, and refers to a similar
I case In which, through the efforts of
| clever Cincinnati lawyer, named c.
U. Wallis, the person accused of muir
der and sentenced to be hanged was
set at liberty, the circumstantial evil
, dence on which he was convicted being
entirely exploded by a witnessed dem
onstration as to how the accident real
; ly occurred. The York correspondent
referred to volume Is of the Criminal
Law Magazine, page 607, on which a
Iull account of the case appears The
case was that of the state of Tennessee
against Avery, tried in Henry county.
that state, and is one of the most re-
markable in the history of criminal
Jurisprudence.
cousin of man of the name of Avery,
was Killed in his room while lying on a
lounge, about o'clock in the after
noon. The weapon which caused death
was small rife, sending a 32-caliber
ball through Ensley's brain. No one
was in the house at the time but Ems
ley. An empty rife was found lying on
a. rack on the wall Of the room in which
the killing occurred, and the bullet fit
ted the tube.
Avery was arrested for the crime, as
he was the only living close relative
to Ensley, and by his death profited to
the amount of about 100000. Avery
was tried, pleaded not guilty, but was
convicted of murder in the first degree
and sentenced to be hanged. He APP
pealed to the supreme court and en-
gagged Mr.. Wallis to defend him. The
supreme court remanded the case back
to the circuit court on technical err
rors. Two mistrials were brought
about, and then came the strangest
part of the story. The brilliant Wallis
struck the keynote to the mystery. In
August, 1881, he had the rifle loaded
and hung on the wall. A white sheet,
with the form of a man marked on it,
was placed in exactly the position oc-
cupled by Avery when lying asleep,a and
a heavy cut-glaSS pitcher of water like
the one found in the room was placed
on the shelf above. The temperature
was 80 degrees in the shade, one of the
hottest days of the year. The pitcher
acted as sun glass, and the hot rays
of the sun shining through the water
were reflected directly on the cartridge
chamber of the rife. Eight witnesses
were in the room, and few minutes
after o'clock puff and a report oc-
Cured, and the ball struck the outlined
form back of the ear, in the exact To-
cation where Ensley was shot, and the
theory of circumstantial evidence went
to pieces. The incident being witnessed
and sworn to, readily explained itself
to the jury. number of attorneys
about the court house yesterday were
seen, but none remembered Lawyer
Wallis, who is reported to have so cum
nfngly and brilliantly conducted the
defense of the innocent man, with such
burden of circumstantial evidence
against him. Wallis was, during 1886
and 1887, a guest of the Grand hotel in
this city, where his name still appears
on the old registers, but has since
drifted to no one knows where.