San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-10-27
Joke Merle On T[i0t.
Four Witnesses Examined This
Morning.
A Large Crowd Witnesses ThesPrO-
ceeiingS-Brief Summary Of
The Evidence.

CHARLES PYRON,
FLETCHER OLIVER,
ALEX SINCLAIR,
CHALUBS H. wEYRICH,
TERENCE p. O'CONNOR,
. FRANK MAIBAUM,
jake SCHNEIDER,
OSCAR DOEBBLER, f
W. E. EASTON,
j. C. CARR, .t
NJ. A. MONROE,
| w. ]. CHALKLEY.
These twelve men will decide the fate
of Jacob Merle, who is now on trial in
the Thirty-seventh District court for
the murder of John ]. Murtagh on the
evening of August &c last, at Maverick
park. The trial was begun this morn
ing at 8 o'clock. A large crowd filled
the courtroom promptly at that hour.
The prosecution is being conducted
| by District Attorney A. Levy and he
is assisted by J. E. Webb and w. B.
Finley. The defendant is represent
ed by Edward Dwyer, ]. A. O'Connor,
Ed. Halton and ]. r. Norton.
AT one time this morning there was
an outburst of applause from the gal
lery in response to an answer of Cap
tain Mccormick, a witness, to Mr..
Dryers question. Judge Green re-
primanded the gallery audience in a
serious tone of voice. and said that
the next offender would be held for
contempt of court.
The first witness plated on the
stand was Capt A. l. Lockwood. He
testified that he saw the shooting and
also saw Merle beat Murtagh over the
head with the pistol. He said that
after the first shot was fired Murtagh
threw up his hands and exclaimed.
My God, don't shoot!' or words 20
that effect.
Miss Mamie Pendergrast was the
next witness called. She testified:
II live at 1925 Avenue d. last saw
Mr.. Murtagh alive on the evening of
| August %, 1897. He and / ate supper
| together. My mother keeps a board
! ing house. The first time l saw Mr..
Murtagh was on Monday prior to his
| death. He came for supper about
| o'clock in the evening. After he had
| finished supper he went to the front
! gallery. 1 came out a few minutes
later and saw Mr.. Merle and Murtagh
| together. They were on Grand ave-
nue. about in the centre of the block,
and 1 suppose they were talking
They were facing each other. 1 saw
Merle shoot Murtagh, who at the time
| standing at the fence and his hands
| were hanging by his side. After
Murtagh was shot he ran towards
Avenue c and Merle followed him,
shooting all the time. Murtagh ran
northward and Merle followed closely
behind. When the first shot was fired
they were facing each other and then
Murtagh ran, with his back to Merle,
and ran into the park. After Merle
shot Murtagh he beat him over the
head with the pistol. l saw him. l
| went to the park and saw the dead
man. l saw no one search the dead
man. Mr.. Lutz took a watch, which
was hanging out of the dead mans
pocket. l got acquainted with Mr..
Lutz when he came to the house, but
do not know how long he had been
| there. / saw Mr.. LutZ on the day of
the killing. Mr.. Lutz said he was dis
| charged from the Southern Pacific
shops. l asked Murtagh when he
went to the shops if he got a position,
and he told me that he was ordered
out of the shops by Merle. He said
that Merle would not put him to work
because he knows too much dirt about
Merle. At the time the first shot was
fired Mr.. Lutz was standing at the
| corner of Grand avenue and Avenue
| II fF,vKv aFsA9 a. "A
Murtagh, but was watching nobody N
particular until the first shot was fired
| when my attention was attracted tC
the men. Merle had on dark clothes
and Murtagh light clothes. There
; were four shots fired on the sidewalk
Eugene A. Lutz-"I left here fol
Mexico last month to work in the ma
chine shops. L then went to New
l Mexico, and there received a lettel
e from Mr.. Levy district attorney Il
be in San Antonio for the trial. l re
ceived ticket at FL Paso for San An
tonic. l knew Murtagh about a year
He came here on the Monday prior t
his death, which was on Thursday eV
r ening. He was stopping with me a
Mrs. Pendergrast's boarding house
9 He was going to YOakum to try to ge
: work in the machine shops. l wa
y working in the Southern Pacific shop
: and was discharged on August 20.
v did little job wrong and Mr.. Ryan
the master mechanic, discharged me
l was here ten or twelve days prior t
, August 26. l first met Murtagh 4
y Chicago a year ago. 1 was workin
,e in the Illinois Steel works and me
l. Murtagh for the first time in the Ma
u chinists' Union hall. l met him
Houston in June or July. We work
~ ed together and he hurt his finger an
r came to San Antonio to go to the hos
ic pital. / was transferred to San Ar
tonic by Mr.. Baker, the foreman {
the shops there. Murtagh then weI
to c. p. Diaz and came back on Nor
day. He gave me $37 to keep Il
him. l returned the money to hi
te and he sent it to his family. Whe