Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-06
COLEMAN INQUEST
HELD LAST EVENING
SHOOTING BROUGHT IN BY
THE JURY.
THE BOYS ALL TOLD ONE STORY
Relating to the Accident and Incl
dents Connected with it-Marcus
Testified In His Own Bebaif-The
Result of the Post Mortem Exam
ination-The Personnel of the
Jury-Tbe Verdict.

| Last evening in the Office Of Coroner
! John w. SchultZe, occurred the inquest
| into the cause of the death of David
| Coleman, which occurred Sunday
/ afternoon and was chronicled in yes
| terday's Register.
The first witness called was Detective
| O'Leary. He testified that on last
! Wednesday evening, shortly after 8
o'clock, while he was at the city build
ing. a man, whom he did not know
came to police headquarters saying that
a colored boy had been badly hurt up
in the alley, and that he was not receiy-
ing proper medical attention. Chief
Ritz then sent Detective O'Leary up to
investigate the case, and after doing SO
the officer came back and reported to
the chief that the boy was pretty badly
hurt. He at once telephoned for DR..
spargo to go up, but in the meantime
DR. Osborne had gone and was return
ing when he met Spargo. He told him
that he had attended to the case.
Later on, however, 1t was found ne
cessary to call In Dr. Plant. He left some
medicine to be given hourly to the boy,
but Officer O'Leary understood only one
dose was given him. Before the officer
left, Coleman gave him a pistol
On being asked il he had any CONVEX
sation with either the Cooper or Prae-
ger boy he stated that he saw them
, some time after the shooting and they
explained to him how the accident oc-
Cured. In concluding, the officer spoke
of the difficulty In finding the Marcus
| boy or his name.
Chief Of Police Ritz next took the
| stand, but his evidence differed little
| from that of Detective O'Leary's, with
| the exception that he gave the addi-
| ional information relative to the examin-
alton of Marcus, Cooper and Praeger by
| the prosecuting attorney, who discharg-
| ed them.
Marcus Testihcs.
James Marcus, the boy who did the
shooting. next took the stand. He told
| of the meeting of the boys in the alley
and that he had taken them up to get
ice balls. Later they returned to the
| alley. and at the stable near Coleman S
| home played hold-up. Young Coleman
left the boys, who were using broken
| gun, and went to his home, where he
! secured his revolver When Coleman
| was searched he said he took the gun
and was examining it to see how it
worked when it went eff and shot the
| colored boy. Witness did not know 1t
| was loaded.
RAYMOND Praeger, another boy, was
called. He stated that as he came up
the alley Marcus was completing the
work of searching one boy. and then
began searching Coleman. He said: I
saw him take the pistol from the col
ored boys hip pocket, along with
number of other articles. He was ex-
aiming it and pulled the trigger. l
heard Coleman say: Don't, and then he
was shot. | remained with Coleman a
short time after he was shot. Marcus
had been loafing with our crowd only
two days
Robert Cooper another boy, was call
ed, but his testimony did not diner
from the other boys
Philip Buckhart stated that he had
been searched just previous to Cole
man being searched. IS other evil
dence was only repetition OF that
given by the other boys.
DR.. Armbrecht stated that he. with
Drs. Schwinn, Best and Cracraft, mad
held a post-mortem examination over
the body of the colored boy, David
Coleman, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon
at watkins. They found the bullet
imbedded in the collar bone. 1t was
20 calibre.
DR.. Plant testified that on Wednes-
day evening at about $3.50 o'clock he
had been called to the Coleman house.
He found the boy suffering from bull
let wound in the neck. He visited the
home again at midnight. On Thurs
day he took DIR. Armbrecht with him
and they probed for the bullet, but on
account of the boys condition were
forced to give up before they found 1t.
On Friday had him removed to the
North Wheeling Hospital and he
seemed some better the next day. On
Sunday morning he seemed to be still
improving, but in the afternoon they
telephoned to me that he was dead.
The case was then given to the jury,
the personnel of which was: Thomas j.
Ball, foreman; Geo. M. Merchant. Thos.
D. Bennett, ]. Alex. Bebout John w.
Scarborough and VIM. F. Grade. They
brought in a verdict that the deceased