Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-26
Jury in the Matthews Case Listening
to the Lawyers.
IMPORTANCE OF A SCRAP OF PAPER
The Strong Point Made by the
Prosecution.
STORY OF THE PRISONER
Special Dispatch 10 The Evening Star.

/
LA PLATA, Md. November 2s-yb.,
court convened this morning for the fourth
and probably the last days hearing in he
| trial of George Matthews for the muriar
OF James Irwin the prisoner seemed 70
| fully appreciate the fact that his fate uas
soon to be decided. A. the same time Re
| showed that he had been greatly relieved
py reason OF having been on the Witness
stand yesterday. He hoped that his story
| oi the candy having been taken fror, his
POCKET py Mrs. Irwin had convinced the
| jury tnat the paper in which the CANDY
was wrapped had been used by her as gun
| waddirg.
| AS this trial draws to a close interest in
the womans case increases. for unon ,ha
| result In the mans case depends the urso
the state will pursue in the case Of Mrs
| IRWIN. Gen. Wilmer. who was injured
tuesday night was able to be in court and
| cution. AZ ''ie Pr"se-
Mr. Posey made the opening argument
LOT the state. The prisoner he held had
aufhitted with brazen efrrontery the illic,t
| relations which existed he-waan NJ.
| Twin the dead mans wife and hinself
| a,, me nrst step In the case, and shows
ena eeaiiy me motive for the crime. Refer
| ence was next mace to the letters uri,..,
| 10y tne prisoner to Mrs. Irwin ..You'u soon
se,5 oe rid OF your troubles he told her. he
MI Mitchell. interrupting. asked ~ bo
| mad not said he hoped she would sao. ne ne
| rid OF her troubles? oon get
Everything one day will be all rich, %
thare .ne me prosecutor from the letter. lis
mere any expression of hone in mis- - -
| asked. What was all wrong?' Ae
| Sounsei owelt at length upon tho ,r,n
S,ns S,aue up the Wicomico river on that fatal
Sunuay, ana argued that the circumstancac
| were consistent with the clair, a..
went aii the way to Aleln's Fresh and ra-
tnrned home In the morning.
ha,ro Iiuic dIed the assertion that Matthew'S
borrowed the gun TO protect bis tra,rs
Ihen ne proceeded to the strong noin, 20
| the prosecution punt ot
we have the pieces of paper founa IN
| tne DEAD mans brains those found ON ,ha
prisoners floor, in his trousers nocLo, anS .nS
ene le1t-hand barrel of the gun. and thav
| ~ ~ 50 .hat we can read the paragraphs OF
leads tpg,s' ~ ms paper. An this. gentlemen,
| man VINO had the paper and the gun load.
81 .he gun and fired that piece of paper
| INTO James Irwins brain" H''
Argument for Defense.
Mr: Stone. for the defense, followed the
states attorney. He stood before the iury.
tore paper in several pieces and asked n
ne should be convicted of SO serious crime
| as that charged in this case simply because
a piece of the paper had afterward been
found in the brain of a murdered ma, ~
discussed the evidence at length ana ar
gued that 1t was consistent with the inno-
cence Of his client
The Prisoners Story.
AFTER the recess In the Matthews triaI
yesterday afternoon a number of witnesses
We're called for the defense, with a view of
aiuiiis Mattnews to establish his alibi. The
PROOF was by no means conclusive Alton
Hayden, George Jenifer, Fenwick Forrest
r. w. Matthews, Charles Proctor Ricb.ra
Swann, sydney Swami. James welch. Ru
ius Perry, Robert L. Cooksey and Josenh
Johnson testified for the defense
Iesumony regarding Matthews VOLUNTARY
return TO jail was ruled out because of its
1ncompetency. VI 'o
The prisoner, Matthews, then took the
stand. he looked little more composed
nah usual, and related the story of his
whereabouts on the night of the tragedy
In Straightforward manner
on the Sunday of the tragedy, he said.
ne had remained about his shanty untii
about two hours before sundown. and fben
ne went out thinking he would row up the
WicomiGo as far as Chaptico and meet
A,toh s hayoen. he noticed a black cloud,
ana rearing II would rain he got his gum
coat and woolen coat and ''chucked" them
In the boat. When he got opposite tho
Cnaptico wharf he saw one and SO ne
returned. The sun had gone down when
he left Chaptico and started back down The
river When he reached home he got cut
OF the boat, leaving the oars In 1t He also
left his coats in IL.
Il went in the shanty," he said. ..struck
nght and put 1t on the stove Soon after
getting home went to bed, and didn't SET
up until about the crack of day There was
little light and 1 went out to look for the
boat. L saw something dark near Dick
Norris shore and discovered II was INV
boat l waded out and showed it down as
far as the old wharf"
Then he said he took the coats ont of the
beat and went back to the shanty ON his
way John Stein passed him. He then got
ms barrel bait and net ready and went
WEn fhar
when crabs stopped biting. between 10 and
Il O'Clock, he went ashore. When he re-
turned to the shanty he started to cook his
dinner and when he was about ready 10
take up the dinner Len. Smoot and Com
stable Howard appeared. The former cues
toned him about grabbing. and then How
ara walked In and said: Mr. Matthew'S
you may consider yourself under arrest"
The prisoner asked why he was arrested
and the constable told him he had a writ
Charging him with killing Jim Irwin
When told who had sworn out the war.
rant the prisoner said he would make trou-
BILE for him and would make him pay dear
ly Tor It. Then he objected to being tied.
until Howard told him ne was obeyine or
ders when he made no further objections.
Howard also said he had orders 10 search
the shanty. and the prisoner told him 10
stable looked through the shanty and when
ne found letter he said that was Just
What ne wanted, but that he would not
read 1t. Smoot he said, made the remark
and the prisoner said to them: You all
know / ain't killed Sny body"
They met Captain DAILY at the store and
defendant handed him his keys and asked
him to take charge OF the shanty. The
prisoner gave minute description of his
shanty. repeating that his coat got wet In
the boat. while he had wet his trousers
wadihg
"A great deal has been said about ,he
gun You borrowed from Charles Goode,"
said counsel. Tell the court why You
borrowed it,"
II got the gun to make people let my
things alone My boats were mere play
things, and my crabs In the box were there
as q matter Of accommodation"
He explained that he did not clean the
gun as he had promised he would but
the day after he got the gun he loaded
It,. In one barrel he put large shot, while
he put small shot In the other barrel
After swapping several caps on the gun he
flushed out one barrel with powder
And what about the boatr'
THAT was q slow boat" he answered,
after giving . description OF It. and
there was moss On its sides."
The Condemning Paper.
Nov. Mr.. Matthews. what about this