The Magnolia gazette., 1899-09-06

for the state and thirty for the
defendant, were sworn and put
Under the rule.
w. f. Conerly was the first
witness to testify for the state; ex-
amined by Mr.. McLain. He lives
in McComb City, remembers the
day of the homocide and first
heard of it at 2 o'clock. He has
bloodhounds and was sent for to
take his dogs to trail the assassin.
Upon arriving on the scene, the
witness found the dead body Of
Mrs. Causey lying in the yard
and the dead body of Mr.. Causey
lying ON the floor in front room
of the house. Witness found
tracks in field leading toward
defendant 8 house.
Causey lived one and one-quar-
ter mile west of McComb, on the
public road. Garner lived about
a half-mile north from Causey s,
and there was a field between the
two houses. About half the dis
tance was cross wire fence.
Witness sent for F. M. Lee, mar
shal of McComb, and continued
to follow the tracks in the field.
Mrs. Causey's body was lying in
the front yard, ABOUT half way
between the house and gate;
about tw elye feet from each. Her
arm was shot nearly off. and when
the coroner arrived witness saw
some shot picked out of the body.
The body was stiff and cold, and
she had probably been dead an
hour or two. Mr.. Causey's body
was near the south window, on
the floor, by rocking chair.
His spectacles were pushed back
on his forehead and he held a
newspaper in his hand.
Witness was shown diagram
and pointed out to the jury the
position of the bodies when found
by him. He also showed the kitch-
en-, fences, public roads and other
features about the premises. He
pointed out where the shoe tracks
were found leading through the
field, in the direction of Gamers
house. Causey's house fronts
south, the gallery, about five feet
wide, extending the full length of
the building. One door and two
windows open out on the gallery.
The kitchen is in the rear with a
window on the south side and
door opening into the house from
the kitchen. The house is q by
% feet, including the gallery
The gate in front Of the house Is
known as the yard gate; the one
in the rear is known as the gar
den gate. Northwest of the house
is the garden. The road in front
is the public road leading west
from McComb, and is about $50
yards from the gate, and between
the road and the house is a scrub
oak uhicket.
Witness said the only travelled
route between Causey's and Gar
ner's was on the outside of the
field. The soil of the field is soft,
sandy land. Witness went to
Gamers house and asked Mrs.
Garner for a shotgun. Her
daughter gave it to him. She
got it out of a closet. He exam
ined the gun and found it had
been freshly fired. 1t was a.
double -barreled shotgun loaded
with fresh shells. He took it to
Causey's house, and afterward
took it to court. Mr.. Nixon was
with him when he went to Gamers
house. This was Sunday, Aug.
81 or %, 1893. He saw Mrs.
Garner, Miss Garner and children
there. He did not see Mr.. Gar
ner. Witness was there between
2 and 5 O'Clock. He did not
know what hour the killing took
place. Witness saw Mr.. Lee
measure the shoe tracks in the
field. Witness summoned cor
oner's jury. Witness examined
the new shells he found in the gun
when before the grand jury.
Tore them open and found the
shot to be the same size as those
he saw picked out of Mrs. Cau-
sey's body.
On cross-examination by Mr..
Lotterhos for the defendant, wit
ness said that the map in court
did not show the field. He des-
ignated again where the cane
patch was, north Of the garden. |
There were bushes and trees about
100 yards beyond the corn patch. /
This thicket extended about 200
yards, and was bounded on the |
south by the corn and cane
patches. West of Causcy's house