The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-07-15
JACK BANKS FUNERAL TODAY.
Will be Buried This MorG:l- with Full
Military Honors

Military HonorS.
The armory of the Governors Guard
yesterday was draped in mourning for
Jack Banks, the member of the Guard,
who was Tuesday night killed in the
sham battle at Pullen Park.
The funeral will be held this afternoon
at 3 o'clock from the Tabernacle
Baptist church, Rev. DR.. Simms, chap
lain of the Guard, officiating. The
Guard will attend in full dress uniform
and the dead soldier will be buried with
full military honors.
The funeral was postponed until to-
day on account of the absence of the
dead mans mother and sister, who went
to Norfolk on the excursion Tuesday
morning. 1t was impossible yesterday to
communicate with them by telegraph.
They returned last night at 2:15 o'clock.
Who is responsible for this tragedy
still remains as great a mystery as
ever. Perhaps it will never be known.
More than likely the man who fired the
fatal bullet does not know it himself.
The whole matter has been sifted thor
oughly-by the police, the officers of the
| Guard, the newspaper men and the dead
mans relatives. No possible reason for
| SuCu IL CEliIp mas Dteu lOullu. II tOuIu
| have been nothing but an accident.
! Investigation has confirmed beyond all
| question the News and Observers theory
| yesterday morning, that the bullet was
from a target cartridge that had by mis-
take been mixed with the blank cart
ridges.
| One of the target balls was obtained
| from the arsenal yesterday afternoon and
| Icrhn hOr. ,,.y-'s. 10
weighed 100 grains. Then the bullet
taken from the head of Banks was
weighed. 1t weighed 1876 grains DIR. Ro-
gers, who extracted the bullet, says he
saw portions of the lead adhering to the
bone of the skull. The loss in weight
| by stripping was only four grains.
The bullet was fattened greatly. Its rear
retains to considerable degree the
original round shape. The front part is
''mushroomed" by contact with the
| bones.
The comparative weights show beyond
a doubt that the bullet which killed
| young Banks was a target ball
| As to how the target cartridge be-
came mixed with the blank ones it is not
definitely known. The best explanation
| of the mystery yet advanced is this:
were loaded Sunday afternoon by Capt.
| Crawford and others. Then 345 others
| were borrowed from the A. & NJ College,
enough to give each man 20 cartridges.
But when the men went up TO the arm
| DRY Tuesday night there was general
! scramble for more than 20, each man
| wanting to have few rounds after his
neighbours ammunition was exhausted.
Some of them thus got % cartridges,
while a few got only Is. In this scram-
BILE, in which all the shells seen lying
| around were picked up, it is believed
that someone came across a target cart
ridge and stuck it in his belt, not
dreaming that it was loaded.
Such q mistake might easily have
been made, as a blank cartridge and a
target cartridge look just alike and are
almost exactly the same weight Ualike
a regulation cartridge the target cart
| ridge has no lead protruding at the end,
and the ball 10 covered over with paper.
giving it the same appearance a. a
|charge Of powder in a blank cartridge.
The sham battle Tuesday night was in
tended to be the last Of the season. On
account Of it's sad ending it will be the
last for many years. President Holiday
also told me yesterday that hereafter no
sham battles would be held by the Sta
dents of the A. and NJ. College.
Young Banks shocking and tragic
death has cast a gloom over the entire
city.