Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-12-08

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away; would not want to kill any
one.
Q.-You would not want to kill any
one? A.-No.
Q.-And you have stuck cold steel
into the bodies Of seven people, haven't
you? A.-No. sir. have not; Mr..
Howard, you accuse me of that, prove
it.
Mr.. Howard-I'll prove it by you.
Witness-No, you can't.
Mr.. Howard-How many men have
you stabbed?
Witness-One.
Defense objected, and was sustained,
but it was agreed the whole matter
would be taken up later.
Mr.. Howard went on, and asked wit
ness If. at the steps OF Mrs. Combs
house, he had not stabbed one-legged
man named Van Mort, and the wit
ness said No" objection; sus-
tained.) Mr.. Howard followed this
with a question as to whether witness
had not been convicted of that crime
in this court room, and witness said
no. Defense again objected, and was
again sustained.
Mr.. Howard went back to the shoot
ing, and led witness over it. Witness
said the gun Craig had was as bright
as the one had; it had the appearance
of a new one; l could not say
if he fired as fast as / did; there were
two of them shooting" Witness could
not say definitely as to whether Nc
Laughlin fired before or after Craig
ran away; sit was all over in min
ute; / didn't want to hit them, and
only fired to scare them; it did not
come into my mind that quick to fire
in the air; I was out in the street and
fred towards the sidewalk; that's all
l can tell about the firing; William
Craig could tell you all about this thing
Mr.. Howard, if he wanted to; he knows
all about it,"
Witness said he got the pistol for
self protection, land I fired the five
shots, but more to scare them than
anything else; they fred the first shot,
and l was excited"
The gun belonged to an officer
George Devinney. "He is married to
my sister. and / stole it out of his
house; l intended to return it; / told
no one about it-not even to Hugh De-
yinney; I gave it to him on the stone
bridge, as we were going up, but l
had told him before we started, when
he said he was leery, had a gun; l
did not want to have the gun in my
pocket if | went to have them arrested;
Devinney never gave it back to me;
took it when the first shot was fired
and ran into the street and fired. De-
vinney did not get a revolver in Duff
fy's and give it to me. We did not
both have revolvers; the only man who
fired from my side was me; l don't
know why l did not let Devinney do
the shooting; / was excited and snatch
ed the gun; at the building l went into
the water closet, and Devinney re-
manned in the hall; did not throw the
other revolver down the closet; we
went down there because we under
stood the lady in the police Office to
say the Lieutenant was down stairs
and we thought he might be in the
closet; I don't know why we didn't
stay in the police Office; people were
following us: We were not afraid of
the people; I reloaded the pistol in
South street because ] thought Craig
and the rest might follow us; had the
cartridges in my trousers pocket. Frank
Mclaughlin put his hand in his hip
pocket at the time Of the shooting,
and / think he ran in the photograph
gallery, but I'm not positive; he was
just below the gallery; l did not see
Young do anything.
Q.-Why don't you tell the truth
about it, and say that you fired at
McLaughlin? objection; overruled.)
Al don't know, Mr.. Howard, whether
1 fired at him or not; 1 went out in
hn ctr CHI 10 CT
as could with my left hand; / thought
pointed the revolver at Craig, but I
did not take aim at any one"
Witness said he never lived with
Mrs. Combs, and was never her lover;
got acquainted with her about the
middle of June; went there OCCASION
ally, but don't regularly eat and sleep
there; I've got home to go Co."
Mr.. Howard-Yes, but you don't go
to it, but sleep in that bawdy house.
A-No, sir; I have slept there, but
not as habit.
Witness went to the house with the
beer that night to drink it, but did not
know what else might have followed;
he had eaten two or three meals in
Mrs. Combs; the beer was opened en-
the sidewalk because Devinney was
there talking to Mrs. Combs, and he
did it for joke and took out a knife.
Q.-You're telling that story to ac-
count for the knife in your hand? A
No.
Q.-You were never in a fight that
you didn't have a knife in your hand?
Ayes; only had knife in my hand
once; you would have done the same
thing if some one was trying to chew
your ear off.
Q.-Who was it who tried to chew
your ear off? The toll-keeper at the
Terminal bridge? A-No
The defense objected, land was over
ruled. Witness said the toll-keeper
had never told jury about that fuss.
Proceeding, witness said he drank
no beer Thursday morning, except the
two bottles, after the fight, but they
had drank beer in the evening before.
Witness and Devinney were sober when
the fight occurred witness did not try
to cut any of them, but held on to the
knife; he could not have cut them if
he had wanted to, the way they were
beating him. Charles Mclaughlin, the
man who was killed, was there: wit
ness did not know James; Frank first
hit witness and knocked him down;
Charles was the one who held witness
arm when Craig kicked him and beat
him with the brick Witness next saw
Charles Mclaughlin with Craig about
noon; no one else saw it, that witness