The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-26
IN COURT TODAY.
AWife Gives Strange
Testimony.
Henry c. Wood Is Tried for
Shooting Willis Sweet.
An Injunction Granted--Civil Cases
in District Court.

| The trial of Henry C. Wood, indicted
for an assault with a pistol on Willis 3.
Sweet on the Goth OF December last, was
begun in Judge Wilbur's court this morn
| Ing. Both parties who were in the row
that resulted in the shooting are peddlers.
| Willis s. Sweet testified that on the day
referred to he went to see bis wife and
seven children where they had moved to
| on Rondali street from Windmill Hill.
| His own residence at the time was at 2l9
Lonsdsle avenue. When he reached the
Gray block on Randall street he spied
some of his furniture on a wagon and
| then followed his ten-year-old daughter
| Ethel upstairs to the tenement his wife
| had moved into and as soon as he got
| into the front room Wood came behind
him and struck him on the back Of the
| head with the butt of the pistol. Then
there was scuffie in which a mirror was
| broken and Wood fired the revolver, one
| of the shots entering his left cheek. In
answer to question by the Attorney Cen
| eral he said he had been drinking. Ii
took AZ days treatment at the.bospital be-
| fore his injury ceased to give him pain.
| To A: Z. Pierce, counsel for the defend
ant, witness stated he was not drunk
when he went to.the Randall street house,
though he might have had five or six
| drinks. He went INTO the house by the
| front door on the corner OF Printery
| street, and had ordered the man in charge
| load. He did not see Mr.. " ood before he
| entered the tenement. After giving the
| order to the teamster not to unload he
went down street TO see Lawyer West and
| on. his return an hour later he. saw his lit
ff'tle girl in the doorway aud followed her
upstairs, where he saw three of his ctxid-
ren. He spoke to the latter, who were
| in enother room and the next thing he
| knew he was hit by the pistol, and heard
| Wood tell him to get out of the house.
| Witness denied threatening to kill the
| prisoner.
Sweet admitted that the address to
| which letters would reach him at present
| was the county jail, he having been con-
| fined there since the 2Sth OF last Febru-
ary. He did not leave his wife's home
| to go to jail for assaulting her, but he ad-
mitted he went to jail last September for
| assaultiug her.
DIR. Higgins, SURGEON at the Rhode
Island Hospital, testified to the wounds
Sweet was suffering from when he was re-
ceived at the hospital. These injuries. were
very severe.
Officer William GiIfoil testified that on
the Goth OF December last he was called
| to Gray's house on Randall street, about
o'clock In the afternoon, where he found
Wood and Sweet wrestling with pistol.
Wood had hold of the butt of the pistol
| and Sweet had hold of the barrel John
| Gray had hold OF both men and both of
the .men were bleeding, Wood having lit
tie scratch and Sweets cheek was bleed
| ing. The witness asked Sweet who shot
MIN and he said Wood, and the latter in
| reply to bis question. admitted doing so.
In answer TO questions by Mr.. Pierce
witness said Wood had apparently been
drinking as he smelled of liquor, but he
could tell Sweet had been drinking with
out getting close to him. The two men
were apparently very close to each other
when the shooting took place.
Officer Reynolds testified to being sent
| from the Second police station and cor
| roborated the testimony of officer Gilfoil.
| Heard the prisoner tell officer Gilfoil he
had shot in seif-defence.
Joseph VI. Nickerson testified he had
known Wood and Sweet for two years,
| and that he saw Wood in the Central
| police station the morning after he was
arraigned in the district court. Wood
| said he had been laying for Sweet aud
| had got the revolver TO fix him.
On cross examination, witness testi-
| fed that Wood had elso told him he had a
| hard tussle with Sweet, and that he tried
| once to do Sweet with 1t, before, but was
| not successful.
Chief Baker said that few moments
| after a o'clock on Jan. 20 Wood told him
he had had trouble with Sweet and had
pounded the latter on the head and he
not keeping still had managed to shoot
| him at close range.
| The State here rested and Attorney
| Pierce said that the defendant would
prove that the shooting was done in self
| defence.
DR.. Allen and another resident of Edge
wood, where Wood formerly resided, gave
| the defendant a good character for
| peacefulness and Judge Reuckert pro-
duced the warrant charging Sweet with
an assault on his wife.
Katie T.. Sweet, wife of the man Wood
shot, .swore that her husband was
L. os.I into hn
room where Sweet was the latter pushed
Wood up against q wall. the attack, she
was sure, was begun by her husband, and
the latter, she claimed, pounded Wood for
about five minutes. Wood, she .claimed,
said "for Gods sake go and get some one
or / will be killed." She did not run to
| get any one to help Wood, because she
was so badly scared that she was in a
| fainting condition. She bad heard her
| husband threaten to hang Wood to the
nearest post So far as Mrs. Sweet knew
| II would be immaterial to Wood whether
| there was license law or not,as he never
used Intoxicating liquors.
To the Attorney General she stated that
| Wood bad been boarding with her during
her husbands absence in jail and the rea-
son she nearly tainted was because her
| husband was IN n row and might he in
| jured. The reason the pistol was loaded
| was because Wood was afraid OF Sweet,
| the latter having threatened his life. Mrs.
weet insisted that her husband began
| the row and had no weapons. She was
sure her husband was almost helplessly
| drunk.
John y. Gray testified that Wood was
| sober and Sweet runk ,snd when he first
\ saw them both had blood on their faces.
VERDICT FOR THE PLAINTIFF.
The jury In the case OF Matthew II.
| Burnside VS.. George w. Spencer, Jr.,
brought in verdict for the defendant
| for $3.50 and costs. This was the suit
brought TO recover damages or alleged
FRAUDULENT representations made by the
| defendant as To the value OF certain shares
| OF the Warwick Neck Building Company.
i Tha trial OF The ind LET ment mint