The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-06-19

The feature Of the second day Of the
trial Of William Eaton, accused Of and
indicted for burning goods and chattelS
with intent 10 deEraud the Fire AASo-
citation Of Philadelphia, was the test-
mony Of the witness, Bachelor, Of Hun.
tington. It was bombshell entirely un.
expected by the defense. as Batchelof
did not figure among the states Wit
nesses in the preliminary hearing Of
last spring before Justice Fitzpatrick.
In fact, the state did not know until
Thursday evening that 1t would be able
to have this witness appear. He was
telegraphed 20 at Huntington, his
home, and came up yesterday, arrive
] ing on the afternoon train.
The principal development brought
out by the testimony Of Bachelor was
/ that the Huntington concern known -
the Central Trading Company. which
had a queer fire shortly before the
Ore in Eaton's place here, was the
backer OF Eaton-in fact the witness
| testified that Eaton was one OF the
members OF the Central Trading Com.
pany. When the witness identified
Eaton as that man sitting there" the
scene was a most dramatic one, and the
| jury throughout the story told by
| Bachelor, hung upon every word, ana
1t was evident that deep impression
was being made.
Colonel Arnett, who conducted the
cross-examination for the defense, did
not break down the story OF Batchelof
in any particular, though he may b
able to do SO later.
At yesterdays session Of the criminal
| court, there was q larger attendance Of
spectators than on the opening day Of
the trial. AT the morning session z
number OF witnesses were examined.
Mr.. Robert Simpson, one Of the ap-
pralsers, who went over the stock after
| the FIRE, testified that the value Of the
goods before the fire was $3.50 IS, ana
/ after the fire El66 81. On cross-exam-
Ination, conducted by Colonel Arnett.
the witness said that the 1000 gross Of
| fly plates in the stock was made up Of
/ old goods of no marketable value.
In the afternoon. ex-Mayor Caldwell,
another OF the appraisers. testified that
| the Eaton stock was worth before the
flre less than $500.
Charles Brubaker and Dave Morgan
testified to having delivered Eaton's In
| surance policies to Clerk Homer Rey-
nolds, at the Stamm, and the latter tes-
titled that he handed them over TO
Mr.. James Nem, Of Mem & EIilnE-
ham, testified that the fly plates In
Eaton's stock must have been made be.
fore his time.
Edward CharniclI testified to having
seen a man enter the Eaton store about
l2 o'clock noon or 1915 p. M, the day
before the fire. opening the door and
| lnoktUos oFfnV. him
B. n. List, watchman and messenger
| at the Commercial bank, was next exc
amined. The testimony he gave was
very important, because 1t shows that
| a man entered the Turner building be-
tween y o'clock noon and 12:15 p. m,
on the day before the IRE. This man,
whom the witness thought might b0
Eaton, he first observed about ten feet
from the rear door on the lower door.
The man was walking from the door In
n westerly direction toward the foot ot
the stairs, However, the witness could
not say that the man went to the Sec-
ond floor, because the angle OF vision
from the witneSs's seat in the window
at the Commercial bank did not extend
to the foot Of the stairs. In about
three or four minutes the man In the
store reappeared. coming, as the witt
llGSb EupHbhEut 4AOAAl NAAa uhPGA 9AAAaA
and lost no time in leaving the place
by the rear door.
Mr.. List brought out new and im-
portant fact on crOss-eXRmination by
Mr.. Boyce, when he said he saw q
white man on the second floor of the
Turner building on the Sunday before
the fire. This development was unex-
pected by the state, as II was by the
defense. To Mr.. Sommerville he said
~ N1Nfn -
story window.
Mr. A. NJ. Rice, Of the Arm OF s. N.
Rice g. Co, 1900 Main street, next door
to the room occupied by Eaton. was
the next witness. Certain matters had
directed his attention to Eaton on
the afternoon before the fire he saw
Eaton on the sidewalk in front OF the
store between L. o'clock noon and l p.
m. Eaton. he said, entered his own
store and locked the door behind him.
Colonel Arnett spent some time in an
endcavor to break down the witnesses
evidence, and slight conhictions with
testimony given at the preliminary
examination before Justice Fitzpatrick
were brought out. The colonel asked
the witness to fix the time when he saw
Eaton enter the building, and he said
in reply 1t was about 1920 p. m. Wit.
ness was unable to say that he had
testified the time was nearer o'clock,
at the preliminary examination. The
witness became somewhat uncertain as
to whether he had seen Eaton lock the
door after entering the store, but at the
end maintained that he had locked the
door and put the key in his pocket.
William Tallman, drHyman. testi-
fed to having hauled crates and boxes
from the railway depots to EatonB
place. He hauled fourteen loads Of ny
paper; some OF the stun had been
shipped to Eaton in Wheeling from
HutinVtou, Various trips made by the
witness in hauling goods from the dee
pots were detailed by the witness, Wit
ness had not made inquiries at the de-
pots on the Monday before the fire, be-
cause Eaton had told him on Saturday
that he was going TO Pittsburgh and
would not return before the next Sat-
urday.
To Colonel Arnett, the witness said he
knew goods came here after the hre,
and were shipped away, prcSumanly 70
ChIcngo. To MIR. Nesbitt the witness
said he did not mean that the goods
came after the hre-they came after
the departure OF Eaton for Pittsburgh.
He saw nine boxes at the Baltimore =
Ohio depot. md somc small boxes at
the Pennsylvania freight station, These
goods were shipped away, The goodA
al the Pennsylvania station came here
ON the ohio River road, and he sup
posed the shipments were from Hunt
ington.
j. u Gibbons, platform man at tho
pcnnsylvania depot, and acting In the
same capacity for the Ohio River road,
was the next witness. He had met
Eaton Four shipments OF stun came
for Eaton from Huntington In Februs