The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-04-03

tdent that ne fired once al least and /
| twice.
| When the police came in I surrendered
| and asked to be taken to the county jail.
| went with the police and gave up my
! CUR. Two or three followed and struck
| at me, and there are some very sore
places on my arms on account Of throwing
| them up to ward the blows off my head.
| L asked for protection while unarmed;
| that's all there is 10 il. / never mat this
Mr.. Mcmahon and did not know him till
/ came here. had no occasion 10 at
tempt TO injure him except in self defense,
J and that's why did it. am very sorry
/, that il should have happened. 1 was sner-
iff OF Taylor county fourteen years. and
] this is the first time / eyer had 20 hurt
anybody
Sheriff Cone, in speaking of the matter,
said:
This mar came to my Office upon his
arrival in town and told ME what ne
wanted. He was very quiet and not
even my deputy knew who ne was or
what he wanted. 1 put men out and they
located this Purdy last night. He agreed
| to go with Mr. Cunningham last night
but changed his mind, and this morning
Cunningham went 10 Mr.. Con.ey 10
swear out warrant charging Purdy with
being a fugitive from justice. which the
law gives him a right to do. This was
done, L suppose, TO hold him, as a man
cannot be held more than twenty-four
hours pending requisition. Mr.. COnley put
Mr.. Cunningham off for some reason, and
| while he was making further attempt 1
had a telegram from Governor Leedy. in
which he said that ne had a telegram
from the governor of Texas asking for
requisition papers for one Purdy in my
possession and instructing me 10 hold the
prisoner till the papers arrived. This man
Purdy was evidently wanted in Texas.
and it seems to me just as evident that
Mr. Cunningham was the man sent for
him. About the shooting at the Manhat-
tar I know nothing, for L didn't see il.
From my dealings with Mr.. Cunningham
l would not judge him TO be a man that
would take any unnecessary steps"
PRATT WON'T TALK.
Mr.. Pratt, grain man of this city.
was witness TO the tragedy and per-
haps knows as much about il as any,
body. He Is a mutual friend Of McMa-
han and Cunningham and knows con-
siderable about this case He confided
a statement TO President Jocelyn of the
board Of police commissioners. When a
reporter for the Eagle approached him
for statement he declined 70 grant an
interview on the subject and Mr.. Jocelyn
helped him 10 explain why, by sundry
mods of the head.
DO you know Cunningham" he was
asked.
Yes, know him very we'll I was
county commissioner in Taylor county
when he was sheriff"
How long was he sheriff.
Something like fourteen years I be-
Eeve. He was one Of the highly respect
ed men in that county. He never hurt
hair in a mans head while he was
sheriff. If he wanted 10 arrest a man
he would call him aside and do so with
out humiliating him. If had only 621s
cents in the world I would let him have
the 81 cents. This is matter that I re-
gret very much, having known both
men so WELL
1t is said that a travelling man who
left the city last night recited some evil
dence that was damaging to Mr.. Cum
ningham.
THE WOUND.
The ball entered the right abdomen
and passed backward and downward
through a hoop section of the small in
testine, making four Sits or holes. This
is a specially dangerous wound, as a
three inch section of the intestine had
~ H. 1,,1r-
wound except a brazing of the flesh up
on the finger. The bullet probably
lodged in the bullock or left hip, but the
doctors were unable on account OF the
precarious condition Of Mr.. McMahan TO |
continue the probing long enough TO 10 |
cate it.
At o'clock this morning Mr.. McMa- |
han had not recovered from the shock |
and his pulse was very irregular. Drs. |
Hoffman and Purdue are the attending |
physicians.
THE REVOLVERS.
Both guns are al the police headquar- |
ters in the custody of Officer Derr. They |
are a Colts. and il is hard 10 tell them
apart. There were three empty cham
bers in Cunningham's revolver and one
empty chamber in McMahans revolver.
A great crowd gathered at the station 10
examine the revolvers for burnt powder
and other evidence Of being discharged
j. H Mccall said that Nc
Mahan's revolver showed no evidence
that the gun had been discharged re-
Gently. on the contrary. that Cunning
hams revolver showed the burnt powder
plainly IN front of every empty chamber
thus proving that all three shots were
fred by him. Others inspected the re-
but they kept their opinions TO
themselves.
WHO MMAHAN IS.
J. r. McMahan Is the proprietor OF
McMahan Bros. circus. Last year il
travelled under the name of Bond Bros
circus, and the year before as Howe and
Cushings. He is about 81 years Of age
and a man OF fine personal appearance
and great physical strength. He is
graduate of the law department of the
Michigan university, but never prac-
ticed, having entered the circus business
with other members OF his family He
was a man OF fine education and in the
ways of the world was as smart as
whip. This Is the third year he has
xntered here and has been very busy
recently preparing for the opening of the
season. Last year while resting here he
Joined the Mssons. Travelled all the way
~