The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-02
WALKER THE FIRST ON TRIAL.
THE KILLING OF STEPHEN OWENS
BEING INVESTIGATED.


| Severance, which Was Allowed by
the COurt-The Tall Man With the
Light Overcoat Cuts a Prominent
| Figure, But He Has Not Been Fully
Identified - Considerable Conflict
in the Testimony So Far-One Wit
ness Asserts That walker Did the
shOOtIng-The Case to BE COntin-
ued To-day.
D. P. Walker. who was indicted with
J. z. Connolly. z. L. Guest and Fred
| Floyd for the murder Of Stephen Gibbons
on the night OF Feb. IS beyond West Sa-
vannah. near Jasper Springs. was put on
trial in the superior court yesterday.
| Ex-Gov. John c. Sheppard Of South Car
olina appeared in his behalf. and Messrs.
| A S. Way. T. S. Morgan. Jr.. and J. c.
! Slater represented Walker as well as the
other defendants. Solicitor General W.
W. Fraser for the state, asked for a sew
erance Of the cases, and the trial OF Walk
er first. as the indictment charges him
| with being the principal in the killing.
There was some strenuous objection to
this on the part Of the attorneys for the
| defendants, as they had decided to have
the defendants all tried together in order
that the matter might be disposed of at
once. The state. however. referred to sec
ton 1892 of the code. which gives defend
ants the right of severance where two or
more persons are indicted for the same
offense, but which also in the closing
clause gives the state the same right. Sew
eral authorities were cited pro and con
with the result finally that the court de-
cided to have the cases tried separately,
and on the allegation that Walker was the
principal his case was called first.
Then there was some question as TO the
indictment. The dead mans name was
given as Stephen Gibbons. whereas it was
claimed it was Givens and his father so
stated. The defendants, however, did not
! object to this technical error, and allowed
the amendment making the name stephen
Owens alias Gibbons.
After the arguments upon the severance
of the trials and the question as to the in
dictment the work of securing a jury was
begun. Four panels were sworn, the state
struck eight, the defendant fourteen and
| three went off for cause. The jury was
| finally secured as follows: NJ. 5. Lebey,
! John J. Leonard, Thomas J. Beytagh, John
/ ]. Stevens, Samuel II. Tarver, Thomas A.
| McGrath. Edward NJ. Heagerty, Edward
| w. Lane, Henry NJ, Ward Frank q. Bo-
| han, Clifford c. Hill and Harry w. Hof-
DR.. B. F. sheftall. who attended Givens,
| testified as to the wounds and the cause
Mr.. William o. Fletcher, the operator
| Of the county dredge, was the next wit
ness. He was a passenger on the car
| and intended to get off at West Savan-
| nah The conductor, he said, told him
| that he had been having some trouble with
| the negroes, but would have some men
| get on up the road to help him out. The
men got on and he rode on to the end of
the line, the conductor having agreed to
bring him back. one of the men who got
n ba - hogan collecting
on the back platform. After reaching the
end of the line the men and passengers
left the car He heard i've pistols shots,
and shortly afterward the men came back.
Three of them showed him their pistols
The lights in the car were turned out and
were not turned on again until after he
left the car in West Savannah.
Thomas Owens, the father of the dead
man, said he lived about two and a half
miles beyond the end of the street car
line, on the Augusta road. stephen, he
said, had been working in the city, but
| lived with him and usually came out every
night. He didn't know whether he came
| in town Saturday nights to have a good
| time or not.
Ishmaei Givins, the older brother of the
dead man. said he was on the car, and at
the end of the line was talking with Ed
WAGON. One of the white men, tall man
with light overcoat on, had some words
with stephen, knocked him down twice,
after which short white man fired his
pistol in the air. Stephen started to rum
but was followed by the tall man in the
Overcoat and the short man. He heard
three more pistol shots and afterwards
found his brother shot He went on home
to tell his father about it. on the car
going out he was on the front end, he
said, and did not hear much of the talk
ing. At the conclusion of Givins' testi-
mony the court adjourned until A o'clock.
| The testimony of the states witnesses
was resumed at o'clock. The
testimony of Conductor Frank Granger
on car No. 2. on which the difficulty oe-
CURED, did not differ materially from that
| given at the coroner's inquest. He spoke
| of car Al having run off the track and a
number of men being sent out TO take
| Connolly and Floyd, he said. went out
with the wrecking car, though they We're
| not sent by the company. On the last trip
they went to the end of the line with him
! His trolley rope, he said, was cut about
100 yards from the end of the line, and
! the trolley slipped off the wire, causing
| some confusion among the negroes. At the
! end of the line he changed the trolley just
! before all the negroes got off the ear and
! when he went back inside the car to put
| down the number of fares he heard the
| shooting which he thought was about $50
yards away from the car. shortly after
! ward the four men came back. All OF
| them, he said, had pistols, but he could
not tell who did the shooting. None of
| the pistols were shot out but Guests
! Guest showed his pistol and he heard him
| say he had shot a negro.
When questioned with regard 10 Mo
torman Borders, he said Borders was
about the same size and hight as Walker.
Where is Borders now?" Mr.. Way
| asked.
II don't know the witness said. I
! haven't seen him since the coroner's in
quest. l don't know what has become of
! him"
when 1 told Borders I was going to
stay with the car, he went off. Borders;
! was the last one to get back. l heard
Guest say the negro was trying to shoot
or cut him, and that was the reason he
| shot him."
Granger said that none of the men under
| indictment We're in a position to cut the
/ 81 10 II
| of the negroes were nearest the car
Granger said these defendants made
| their first trip out with him about 10
| o'clock Saturday night. He collected no
fares from them. He supposed they were
going out just to take ride. He had had
some difficulty with the negroes the Sat
| urday before.
Didn't you or some one else get these
men to go out on account of this previous
| trouble?' Mr.. Fraser asked
= did not. sir" the witness renlied
| Whether anyone else did | don't know,
| 1 told Mr.. Charlton, the superintendent II
| was dangerous for any man to go out there
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