The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-12-26

lnless it was by the fire of his pistol q
We had five axes, dull Ones" If
That statement tells good deal, but $
t is not to be believed, we are told with ,
ts uncertainty and inaccuracies, be- Z
cause of his condition at the time he !
made it. There is no evidence of any
unnatural condition at that time. The |.
was made according to
law, and taken down and sworn to, as
an accurate transcript of his replies
made at that time, and was signed as
such by the prisoner. Most of these
questions were put by Mr.. Willis, the
attorney for the prisoner. Was any
body cOrkscrewing him then? Flighty |
and out of his head at that time? If SO
why hasn't Willis taken the stand and
sworn to it? When man makes a
sworn statement under oath, he is pre-
sumed to be of sound mind. If they |
wanted to challenge his condition, why |
didn't Mr.. Willis go on the stand.
Keeping that statement in mind, |
want to show you that only the three |
Austins were in that house that night. |
Ernest Austin testifes that when he |
went to the door, the person who did it
was standing in Williams room, the
house afire, the floors burned away. No
man could have lived there under those
conditions. 1t was an absolute impossi-
bility therefore, that any man could
have been in that room. If he wasn't
there under those circumstances, ne
wasn't there at all.
1t is utterly improbable that if the
murderer was not a member of that
family, that he would have killed Ra-
| chel and William. have set the house
| atire, have shot Ernest and then have
permitted Ernest to escape and tell of
the crime? 1t never occurred. If the
murderer had been any one outside the
family Ernest Austin would now be un-
der the sod with his mother and his
brother. 1t is also improbable that the
murderer would have set the house
afre before killing his victims; and he
never would have set the house afire
till he had killed Ernest 1t was impos-
sible that house had been set afire be-
fore Ernest threw open that door.
But we are told that after these i'm
possible things that the prisoner is in
nocent because he bore that wound upon
his body! That wound is the evidence
of his guilt. No other person could
have inflicted that wound. 1t is impos-
sible that shot fired by person
standing on higher floor at Ernest
Austin on floor or u inches lower,
could have gone direct through his
body and have come out several iuches
higher at it's exit from his body. The
rise of that ball in every inch, as it
passed through his body shows that
fired at 8 inches from his body it would
rise inches; at feet it would rise 2
it., at II fit. it would rise 4 ft. Accord
ing to prisoners statement the man
struck at him with an AK and missed
him; he must therefore have been six
feet away, and the wound would hive
been two feet lower than where the
ball entered Ernest Austins body.
Then who inflicted the wound?
don't say that VIM. Austin did; but he
was lying on his bed and may have shot
upward. l don't know. If he did, the
prisoner is the more certainly guilty
Then there was fight. Ernest was the
assailant, the deed was done with tina,
AK, that AK was brought there for thai
purpose.
We don't know that that wound wa:
self-inflicted, but we will try to prove
it to the jury. The defense say tina
that wound is the keystone of the case
and that if he did not inflict it, ther
the case fails. And they say a lef
handed person could not shoot himself
thus. But say that left handed maj
with his thumb on the trigger coult
have made just that wound. Here tn,
prosecutor demonstrated how the re
: volver could have been aimed and firet
by left handed man to have made tn,
woundl l don't know that that is tn,
/. revolver, but we know that that is 3:
|. caliber revolver. that it was found il
the ruins, where Ernest Austin saiC
after the fire that his revolver was
! and that the wound was made by 3.
U caliber ball.
Defense say if the motive was to ge
the property, then he would not try T.
kill himself. l don't know what hi
= = original motive was. Ifhe has one sparl
l of human feeling in his breast, remors
. would assert itself, and the horrors O
:, that scene would seize him, and in de
;, lspair he would pick up this revolve
and shoot himself. The only evidenc
againt this is, that it would show tina
. !. he had for a moment some feeling, tina
u u no other evidence in the case has shown
y 1t is possible, but 1 dent believe re
> morse caused him to do it. 1t Nigh
have been done to give out the impres
- sion that he had had midnight en-
: counter with a murderer, and infiicte,
4 the wound to show that he had defend
=
= rants the conclusion that he did it t
Il infiict wound that would be a defens
for him, if he should be charged wit
, the murder, and he may have made
u u more serious than he intended. Blu
!, whether he or William fired that shot
y do not care. But I say that it is
y physical impossibility that any othe
. person could have shot the prisoner.
n But they tell us that this pistol ha
no shells nor cartridges in it whe
a found, and therefore the prisoner coul,
+ not have used it. 1 say to the jur
a there are indications of the head of
n cartridge there, and outside the cylir
! der, the little rim of brass shows tina
4 the shell of one at least was melted
4 1t is possible, therefore, that that re
n volver might have inflicted the wound
n Here is another bit of evidence: tn
% shirt that was taken from Ernest Aus
- tin at the Haines home-the shirt h
n wore that night. 1t contains on il
= surface the evidence that Ernest Au.
= tin turned the revolver on himself; @
n his brother shot him when he was clos
over him. But the powder marks sho'
;, that it was more probably the work {
+ the prisoner himself. The outside
n burned and powder marked, and paI
a of the fibre destroyed. That show
. the pistol was held near the body. Tn
a texture of the cloth is burned out be
# low the hole, not above, showing tn
revolver's lower edge was nearest, an
q the revolver pointing upward. Tn
% shirt is of two thicknesses; thi
a accounts for fact that there was n
a powder burn on his person. Prisoner
n beard was singed; his hair all over hi
| -, ha hai
=. and back of his head have been SINCE
by q nistnl aimed at him in frnnt2