The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-03-16
HOW BARKER FIRED.
State to Prove Tt Was From
Behind, Defence That
Keller Was Warned.

The conviction or acquittal of Thomas
G. Barker, who shot the Rev. John Kel-
Ter in Arlington, N. J., on February last,
will depend upon the angle that the first
shot was fired at and the relative posi-
ton of the two men at the tiYe of the
shooting.
The State aims to prove that the
Rev. Keller was shot from behind, and
the defence that Barker gave his victim
timely warning of his intention to shoot.
Strange to say, both propositions are up
held by the course of the first bullet.
The Rev. Keller was twice wounded, in
the head and across the fingers of the
right hand. The wound in the head show
ed the point of entrance to be just in
front of the ear and on a line with the
right eye. The bullet emerged below the
cheekbone. under the left eye, with the
result that the points of entrance and
exit show that the bullets course was
decidedly downward.
Barker is slightly smaller in stature
than his victim, and the defense will
claim that if Rev. Keller was walking
erect at the time the first shot was fired
Barker would have had to hold his re-
volver in a most awkward and unnatural
position to inflict such wound.
The defense will also point out the
peculiar nature of the wound on the
right hand, which the State will claim
was caused by one of the subsequent
shots. This wound was superficial and
the course was across the palm form the
second to the little finger.
To receive such wound, the defense
claims, Rev. Keller would have fallen
in an unnatural position. His hand, in
stead of lying fiat on the sidewalk,
would have to be in a vertical position
so that the bullet fired from above his
PROSTATE figure would have ploughed
through the three fingers.
Having established the absurdity of
these propositions the defense will en-
deavor to prove the positions of the two
men before the first shot was fired, which
it will claim inflicted the wound in the
head and hand at the same time.
To do this it will depict Rev. Keller in
a crouching position, SO that his head
would be on a level with Barker's pistol
hand. 1t will picture Keller with his righ>
hand clapped to his temple and with his
head turned from Barker, as if to shut
out the view of the revolver.
sane person would walk along the street
in the position described. That this posi-
ton alone will account for the character
of the wounds, the defense sets up, and
the course of the bullet and that there
fore Keller must have not only seen
his assailant but ben aware that he was
about to be shot and assumed the position
depicted.
The State will contend that Barker held
his revolver in a natural position and that
the bullets course was on a level and
not downward, as the point of entrance
and exit would Indicate The State will
! contend that the bullet struck the nasal
cartilage and glanced downward, coming
out at the point shown.
The bullet wound in the hand will be
explained by the State as having been
inflicted while Keller lay on the sidewalk
with his hands fiat to the fiagstones. It
will charge that one of the bullets sub
sequently found struck the sidewalk near
the right hand and, glancing, cut through
the extended fingers and passed on.
BY establishing this position for the
benefit of the jury, the State expects
that the fullest credence will be given to
Kellers denial of Mrs. Barkers startling
assertions
Barker will be araigned in court as soon
as the Indictment is presented, which will
probably be next Tuesday. He will then
be obliged to plead and renew his bail
bond.
The trial win be held during the April
tends from the first Tuesday in April to
the first Tuesday in September.