Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-06-18

-~+uk Nesbitt for State-Four
witnesses Examined Yesterday.
a small Attendance,
trial Of the case Of State vs..
rm Eaton. indicted for the arson
9Th. building No. 1902 Main street,
february 18th, last. was commenced
..-s Criminal Court Judge Hugus, at
o'clock yesterday morning. Coun-
rr the State were MesSrs, Howard,
.~~erville and Nesbitt. while MeSsrs.
.--.t and Boyce appeared for the de-
/ ans. The attendance was small, most
s-ese present being insurance men.
~e Jury selected, the work of which
as .lmpleted at about noon, consisted
passrs. a. NJ Hanna, Allen Neu-
nm Thomas b. Moore. Otto II. Auber,
lanes r. MCGEE, Joseph Lutz. A. L.
r Jacob Pfefferman, J. N Will
.r Thomas Clark, William Hess,
and Nicholas Baird
SIR Nesbitt opened the case for the
and was followed by Col. Arnett
the defense. The latter had not
Included when Court took recess, at
mo o'clock. until two. soon after the
hitter hour Court reasse embed, and Col.
srrs-t resumed and concluded. He
MAS followed by Mr. S0mmerville, who
closed the opening statement for the
state
The list Of witnesses for the State
was then called as follows: Fred NJ.
Wells n. G.. Morgan, J. V. L. Rodgers,
~ r. Rice. b. F. Caldwell, R. T. De
v-ies Jr. w. d. johnson. S. NJ. Rice,
NJ. Rice. B. NJ. List. Edward Thall-
nan. ]. D. Gibbons. Edward Charnock,
taer Grandson, George Mathison.
~,so. Roller. Conrad Ref w. c..
Brown. NJ. Sonneborn. Charles Kleives,
r,h1 Ritter. Richard Blocker, H. p.
v.Gregor. and Edward GIlies. The
witnesses for defense have not yet
been subpoenaed.
The first witness called was w D..
Johnson. After identifying himself as
,rame and business. in the usual way,
witness said he knew defendant; first
made his acquaintance a LITTLE after the
fist of last February, when defendant
came 10 witness store, 20 sign a lease.
The defense objected to the question
as 20 the lease. as having nothing to do
with tie case. Tie objection was over
ruled and witness went on to locate
the property. Witness said there had
had first been IAN understanding with
"a man named Smith, who came TO Wit
ness and made an arrangement about
n the property. With defendant, witness
Y said the arrangement was such as led
him To believe the property was TO be
used as a paper warehouse. Defendant
brought the papers 10 witness, who
said they did not sut him. Witness
then outlined what he wanted. it was
typewriter in duplicate, and was
scneI bv both parties. The paper was
produced and submitted 10 defense,
who objected to t. This was passed,
and the paper being identified by wit
1css was offered. objected to and over
ruled. and the paper was read u the
jury. In it defendant agreed to pay
SIS per month. and to vacate in ten
laws upon notice At the time Of the
EXECUTION of the paper. witness said he
previously understood the building was
3d. De used as a paper warehouse, and
his was confirmed by defendant, who
eDr,seated the original party, F. c.
o. r. H. smith. Defendant told Wit
mss he represented Smith. Witness
then described the building in some dc
TALL the manner in which it happened
to be vacant when Eaton got the lease,
Us entrances. sc. Witness delivered
-rsa KEYS TO the front door to Eaton;
be had no key TO the rear door. De-
ieedanJ began to put in his stock Of
goods within a short time, after
Gle signing Of the lease, possibly
within forty-e.rht hours They con-
sisted Of fly paper, plates. fishing tackle,
timers trimmings. canes few pairs of
rolled skates. etc. He knew of no paper
stock except the fly paper. He saw
.red man. said TO be Albert Grandl-
sr about the building. Eaton came
% witness about some banking affairs,
and witness took him to the Bank Of
Wheeling. and introduced him TO Mr..
lamb. This was objected to and went
Defendant occupied the building
about two weeks before the fire. Wit
e- was in the building two or three
times before the fire. and saw the goods
ta had described on the first floor;
after the fire he saw the wreck Of the
sc.Is on the second floor. There was
30 way Of heating the building, save by
putting up a stove; there was an old
Stove in the building when 1t was
leased. There were pipes for heating