Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-01-13
ATTEMPTED MURDER.
Edward Fields of Burton Held For Attempting
To Do Great Bodily farm to oliver P
Noble

~ y SAOSA HAoidag lOOh PldSF III
Justice I. +. Baldwin's court in Lam
caster the hearing OF Edward Fields.
who is charged with attempting MUIR
der, or to do great bodily harm. TIE
details of the affair are best given in
the testimony below:
Oliver p. Noble, complaining wit
ness, sworn, testified: Il live one and
oue-half miles southwest of Burton.
Have known the defendant, Edward
Fields, Is or IA years. Last Thurs
day, Jan 6, 1898, saw him on the
ice of Grant river near the Waterloo
iron bridge. was there hauling
water. Fields came down into the
main road from his house and came
to me on the ice. was printing my
pump with pail of water. He came
to the back of my tank wagon. put
his hand on my wagon, swore and
cursed and called me bad names. that
it would be improper to repeat here
in court, and he said he would kill me
right there. Then he tried to strike
me with cane that was loaded with
lead, saying that had talked bad
about him. He kept on trying to
strike me and | could not get past be-
tween him and the water hole and the
wagon. Finally he struck terrific
blow, threw up my arm to ward it
off, the cane bent over my arm and
the lead end struck me. on the head.
| fell on the ice and was unconscious
for time. When | came to | saw
the cane lying on the ice near me and
got hold of it as quickly as | co nd as
he was down on the ice trying to get
hold OF it too. We both got hold of
the stick and he said for me to let 90
Of it or he would strike me with
something worse and that he had
it in his pocket to do it with.
He kept on cursing and damning me.
-
been sick and was very weak and only
tried to defend myself. Said he would
kill me; that if he could not do it
then he would before the week was
out-that | could not escape him.
The stick was about the size of the
butt end of a buggy whip with
heavy lead head; it was painted and
the ball on it was nearly as large as
hens egg. He said: oliver Noble,
d you! ! wanted to kill you last
night | should have come down here
and shot you dead with gun last
night Finally he promised on his
word and honor that if | let go of the
stick he would not strike me, and |
let go. He said he would kill me soon,
and that if he didn't George Harmon
would. When he struck me on the
head and | went down | got heavy
lick in my breast in some way. At
the starting of the trouble he claimed
that | said that his house wasn't
decent and had hard name; that /
talked scandalou sly about him; that
said he kept his family on stolen
goods"
On REORGANIZATION the witness
said: Fields came up brandishing
his stick and would not allow me to
explain anything. / walked away
from him and tried to get hold of the
lines to turn my team to the left. |
was dazed from the stroke on the head
and do not know that it was Fields
who struck me in the breast. | got
hard lick in the breast in some way
Fields had been drinking. could
smell it and | could see it-he was
perfect demon. He said he had other
ways of killing me besides using the
stick. Said he would not hit me with
the stick, but would strike me with
something worse which he had in his
pocket, and he tried to reach in his
pocket and l caught him by the coat
sleeve and kept him from getting his
hand into his pocket. We scuffied on
the ice for half an hour
Joseph Doll testified; Il run lit
tie store in Burton. Have known
Fields as long as he is old. On the
9th day of January. at quite dis
tance away saw Fields and Noble
quarreling under the bridge. The
voice OF Fields was loud and he seemed
very angry. Noble came into my
store 30 minutes afterward looking
pale and dazed and he had quite a
lump on his head. His horses had
ran away of the ice and Mrs Fields