The San Francisco call., 1898-11-16
John Nixon Is Made
 a Special arget.
MISSED HIM BUT SIX INCHES
JAMES WATSON SUSPECTED AND
 ARRESTED.
His Gun Had Been Fired Recently and Contained a Loaded Car tridge-He Denies His
 Guilt.

4 disgruntled private of Battery l ot the Third United States Artillery, sta tioned at Fort Point, attempted to aS- sassinate John Nixon, the first sergeant of the battery, shortly before 1V O CLOCK Monday night The weapon used was one of the Krag-Jorgensen rihes' "lth which the men of the battery are armed, and the bullet passed within six inches or Sergeant Nixon, the intended mark.
 Nixon was sitting at his desk writing, when he was startled by the report Of a gun and the crash of bullet striking a chest of clothing beside him. He i'm mediately ran from the tent, but in the darkness could not see the marksman. The call to arms was sounded twice som the guard tent as soon as the shot Was heard and the entire battery fell into line Sergeant Nixon reported the occur ence to Lieutenant William Forse, who is. in temporary command of the battery, and on his order all the arms were stacked and placed under heavy guard
 Captain Diens, the commander of the battery, who is on detached duty mus tering out the Sixth California Regiment, was notified of the shooting yesterday morning and returned to his command He, with Lieutenant Forse and Sergeant Nixon, made careful examination of the guns and found two which bore the ap- pearance of having been fired recently. One of these contained a loaded cartridge and belongs to Private James Watson and the other to Private Lewis. Both men claimed that they had fired their guns on Sunday. Lewis was able to prove his assertion, but Watson was unable to bring satisfactory evidence as to his statement, and was locked up in the guard house pending an investigation of the case.
 The powder remaining in the barrel of the gun belonging to Lewis, which is known to have been discharged on Sun day, had TuSted the barrel slightly and was of a brownish color, but that in Wat sons gun was still black, as if it had been fired but short time. This is the only evidence which has been found against Watson, and he protests his in-
 Sergeant Nixon is at a loss to know why Watson or any one else in the bat tery should wish to kill him.
 ''I never had any trouble with Watson" said the sergeant, and always considered him one of the best friends l had among the men in the battery. It is true that ] was obliged to place him under arrest several times for being drunk and dis orderly, but he always took it in good part, seeming to realize that I was only obeying orders In not a few cases the men whom l have had occasion to arrest have grumbled at me, but of all the times Watson has been In the guard house he never made complaint of my actions toward him. The position of first ser geant is not an enviable one by any means, as the men often think that when ] place them under arrest it is of my own yoition instead of on account of orders ] have received; but l didn't think any man under me had such a hatred of me that he would wish to kill me-
 Some of NfXon'S friends say that he is very popular among the men, but others In the regiment claim that he is univer- sally disliked. Among the soldiers of the Sixth California; which is encamped near Battery l, the report is that Nixon is very hard on the men under him. and they attribute it to the fact that he has been in the regular army so long and a first sergeant for so many years that he has come to think himself the whole thing. There is a rumor among the men employed on the works at Port Point and among the soldiers of the Sixth that Nixon had had trouble with Watson on the evening of the shooting. This rumor is that Watson had a lady friend visit ing him and Dixon hearing of 1t, ordered her out of the camp.
 The bullet intended for Nixon was fired from distance of about fifty yards Ii passed through the bedding of the ser geants cot, struck the leg of an over turned stool about six inches behind Nixon, penetrated a chest and the cloth ing in it, and lodged in a sack of woolen underclothing. The sergeant attributes his escape to the fact that the WouId-be assassin aimed at his shadow. Nixon was sitting at one corner of his desk instead of directly in front of it. The man with the gun probably supposed that the sergeant was in front of the desk and directly between him and the light, so aimed at the shadow, which, from the position in which he stood, was half a foot west of Nixon.
 Sergeant Nixon visited police headquar-