The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-02-20

q item stating that James Mullen mad beef
c admitted to the Burlington County Hos
pital suffering from injuries received in ,
! fight at Rancocas. Before the paper ha6
! been mailed, a telephone message was re
ceived at SIis Office announcing the mans
death. Coroner Wells. of Burlington
s was summoned and at once came to Mount
Holly and took charge Of the body. Drs
Melcher and Flynn performed an autopsy.
+ at which the entire medical staff of the
t Hospital was present.
The circumstances of the case, as devel-
< oped by the inquest, showed that the dead
man and some companions were together
at the home of James Mullen, who lived
) In house in the lane that runs northward
: past the residence of Benjamin Haines.
All the parties had been drinking and to-
wards morning there was a quarrel be-
tween Mullen and man named William
H. Earling, in which the latter inflicted
blows on Mullen, causing him to become
4 unconscious. The fight occurred early
e on Sunday morning, the 18th instant and
medical aid was not summoned until Mon
day afternoon. The condition of the sick
man was SO serious that the doctor in at
tendance decided tnat the patient must go
to the hospital and he was at once re-
moved.
On Thursday Coroner Wells held an in
quest in the Court House The room was
| full, and Rancocas was well represented
J 1t is seldom that staid town has SEN
sation and this occurrence created much
, interest.
Constable Gaskill, of Mount Holly, had
been intrusted with the duty of securing
jury and he summoned the following
!, gentlemen Edward s. Troth, James L.
} Jamison, ]. Howard Shinn, James T.
Parker, Bennett Risdon, Harris A. Glover
After viewing the body the jury heard
the evidence, Prosecutor Budd examining
the witnesses.
Albert Hansell was the first called. He
is chairman of the township committee of
Willingboro township, where the fracas
had occurred just over the line between
j Willingboro and Westampton. On Tues
day morning Mr.. Hansell was visited by
gentleman who said there had been a fight
in David Mullen's house and the latter
had been seriously hurt. The citizens
thought that Mr.. Hansell as chairman of
the committee, should take some action
and have arrests made. He accordingly
had warrants issued for George Fread,
| William Henry Earring and John Nc
Gully, all of whom had been in the house
at the time of the occurrence. Mrs Mullen
went along without warrant. Mr. Han
sell visited the house and made an exam
ination. He found two chairs badly
! broken, a Ratchet, and some oyster shells
on the floor. The house had evidently
been on fire as part of a sewing machine
and curtain which had been at the win
dow were very much burned. On one of
the doors there were stains that looked
like blood. Similar stains were noticed
where Mrs Mullen said her husband had
| been lying.
1
said she was married to him by Justice
Laumaster in 1891. She was at home on
Saturday evening, February 10. William
FL. Earling went there about g. 3d. While
all were engaged in talking, John Nc.
Gully entered the house, his errand being
to get coat Mrs. Mullen had been mend
ing for him. While there Earring pro-
duced so cents and suggested that some
| liquor be bought. He and McCully went
after it. Then they drank and played
cards for couple of hours, when Mullen
went after more liquor. McCully went
home and Earring went out of the house
and stayed, returning with Mullen
George Fread was also with them. They
all drank some and after a while Mrs
Mullen went up stairs. She had not been
there long before she heard racket down
stairs and went down to see what the mat
l
heard Earring call her husband a vile
name and say, "I'll kill you" EARRING
had Ratchet in his hand. Mrs Mullen
saw Earling strike her husband and the
| latter fell to the floor. She got him to
another room and he fell against the door
and that is where the blood mentioned
came from. Fread cleared out during the
FUSS and Earring left soon after he had
struck the blow. Mrs. Mullen dragged
her husband to the lounge and bound his
head up and tried to make him comforta-
BILE. He was unconscious and remained
in that condition all the time. A neigh
| Dor, Mrs. Mason, called on her on Monday
and said q doctor should be sent for, so
Mrs. Mullen telephoned for DR.. Faringer
at Mount Holly. The physician arrived
on Monday evening and ordered the pa
TENTS removal to the hospital During
the fracas the lamp was upset and the
house took fire. Mrs. Mullen extin-
guished the flames.
George Fread evidently knew more than
he wanted to tell His memory was quite
clear on some points, but on happenings
but few minutes later he was entirely
at sea. He said he was at Centreton
when Mullen and the other two men ar
rived They all had drinks and Fread
bought some beer to take home The
OIuGTS puTCudStU WulSk6y. rI6du CQeQ
started home with Mullen and McCully
and somewhere along the road Earling
| stepped out from a joint of fence and
said: 4 knew you were there" All the
men went to Mullen's and up to that
time there had not been any quarrel. At
| ter they got to the house Mullen accused
| Earling of stealing a flask of whiskey.
This the latter denied and there were
more words. During the quarrel Mullen
| knocked lamp over and set fire to the
house. Earring put the fire out. Fread
started to go home but was not able to
| find his way out of the lane He had
never been at the house before, and as it
was dark he was not able to locate him
self. He then went back into the house
and found Mrs. Mullen, but did not see
any one else. Fread went to sleep. When
he walked up he saw something lying on
| the lounge Discovering that it was Null
len, Fread asked him why he did ndSlget
up and go to bed. The man mumbled
something. When daylight came Fread
took his market basket and went home,
and he claimed he did not know there was
anything the matter with Mullen.
Mrs. Mason, neighbor, told of going
to the house and seeing blood, and also
said she advised the calling of physi
clan.
DIR. Farlnger said he was called to go to
Rancocas and he reached there about
three o'clock He found Mullen uncon-
scious, lying ON the floor. The doctor de-
| scribed the wounds and said there was
| evidence of severe blows on the head with
some blunt instrument. He saw that the
furniture in the house had been broken
and there were blood spots on the floor
He at once ordered the man removed to
the hospital The blows on the head of
| Mullen might have BEEN made by an iron
| last which was shown.
| Drs. Flynn and Melcher described the
postmortem examination.
Leonard Earring, son of the man &C
cused, identified the last referred to as the
property of his father. He explained its
presence at the Mullen house by the fact
that Earring had loaned it to the dead
man.
Prosecutor Budd then asked William Fl.
EARRING to arise and addressed him as
follows: civilian Henry Earring, l wish
to say to you that you have the right, if
you so desire, to make statement before
| this jury; you are not required to do so
unless you so desire and if you make such
statement you make it after having been
warned by myself, as an officer of the
| State, that such statement may be used
against you. With that statement on my
part do you wish to make a statement to
this jury?
Earring replied that he did, and the
oath was administered to him. He then
L i 4Inro Cot, .ffr1f