Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-11-22


was exactly what it should be and
to him for the telling of what he had
| seen.
| Then DIR. Frank was called, and he
gave his brief testimony calmly and
clearly. He recognized it as one he
had seen and examined the previous
afternoon at Col. Brent's quarters on
the San Luis. 1t was lying on little
| table in the front veranda. He had
closely examined itAcould not be
mistaken about it, and when he left
it was still lying on that table. Who
were present when he left? "Other
than the immediate family, only
Lieut.. Stuyvesant." Had he again Wis
tied the colonels that evening? He
had. He returned an hour or so later
to dine. The ladies had then left
their seats in the veranda, and he
noticed that the pistol was no longer
on the table; presumed Miss Ray had
taken it with her to her room and
| thought no more about it. As indi-
Gated by the inscription, the pistol
was her property.
Then Lieut.. Ray was called, but
there was no response. In low tone
/
planned that the orderly sent to Pace
with message for. Lieut.. Ray returned
with the reply that Mr.. Ray had two
days leave and was somewhere up
town. He as yet had not been found.
A young officer of artillery volun-
teered the information that late the
previous evening, somewhere about
ten, Mr.. Ray had called at the Guar
tel de MeSsic, far over on the north
side. He was most anxious to find a
soldier named Connolly, who, he said,
was at the Preside at the time the
lieutenant's quarters were entered
and robbed, and Lieut.. Abercrombie
had taken Mr.. Ray off in search of
the soldier.
Ray not appearing. the examipa-
ton of Assistant Surgeon Brick be
gan. Brick was the first medical of
ficer to reach the scene of the muir
der. Benton was then stone dead,
and brief examination showed the
hole of bullet of large caliber-
! probably pistol, Alright over the
/ heart. The coarse blue uniform
shirt and the fine undergarment of
Isle thread showed by burn and
powder-stain that the pistol had been
held close to or even against the
breast of the deceased. The bullet
was lodged, he believed, under the
, shoulder blade, but no post-mortem
had yet been permitted, circum-
stance the doctor referred to regret
fully, and it was merely his opinion,
based on purely superficial examina-
ton, that death was instantaneous,
the result of the gunshot wound re-
ferred to. DR.. Brick further gave it
AS his professional opinion that post
norton should be no longer delayed.
And then at last came Stuyvesant's
turn to speak for himself, and in
dead silence all men present faced
him and listened with bated breath
to his brief. sorrowful words.
He was the officer halted by the
sentry on Number 6 and called
upon to come back. The sentry did
not catch his name and had to have
Impotence, but denied all anger al
the enforced detention. The infor
nation about the fire at Col. Brent's
had caused him anxiety and alarm
and as soon as released by the sen
try he had run, had passed the pa tro
on the run. but there had been nc
|
even. The sentry had carried out his
orders in soldierly way that com
PEELED the admiration of the witness
and before leaving him Stuyvesan1
had told him that he had done ex
actly right. The news that the sen
try was found dead five minute:
thereafter was a shock. Lieut.. Stuy
i vesant declared he carried no fire
arms whatever that night and wa.
utterly innocent of the sentry
death. He recognized, he said, thu
revolver exhibited by Maj. MacNeil
He did not hesitate to admit that h
had seen and examined 1T late tn,
previous afternoon at the quarter
of Col. Brent, that he had actual,
put it in his trousers pocket not tw,
minutes before he left the house t,
go in search of Lieut.. Ray, but h
: solemnly declared that as he left tn
, veranda he placed the pistol on
, little table just to the right of tn
broad entrance to the salon, within
that apartment. and never saw /
again until it was produced here.
5 Frank, candid, "open and above
board" as was the manner of tn
: witness, it did not fail to Danish i
t great measure the feeling Of ar
:, tagonism that had first existe
y against him in the crowded throng
e But in the cold logic Of the law an
4 the chain of circumstantial evidenc
d they plainly saw that every state
e ment, even that of Stuyvesant hin
{, self, bore heavily against him. .
g lawyer, had he been represented b
d counsel, would have permitted n
= such admissions as he had made. i.
y gentleman. unschooled in the Law
tt preferred the frank admission to tn
e distress of seeing Mrs. Brent-an
q | nerhans nfherS-called into tha