Cañon City record., 1902-05-01
Street Mccoy and George E. Nov Are
Found Guilty of Murdering
Chas. J. Withers
A PLEA OF SELF-DEFENSE
The Case Was Ably Conducted by Attorneys Locke Rich
ardson, Maupin and Taylor Motion Made
for New Trial.

ing some scquaintances on the road
they related the Occurrences of the nn-
counter at Carrolls store and the
probable fatal consequences to With
en-. Then continuing to Cotopaxi
Now surnendered to the constable and
wa- broagh, to the county Jail.
Sufficient eyidepce WAS secured At
/ the preliminary hearing which fol-
lowed to justify the arrest OF Mccoy
and he was held by the sheriff ~ an
accessory 20 the crime.
Two OF 'hrec years ago Street Me-
Coy was mixed up in rhe oting -crare
in this city. and his father snd one
| brother haye served terms in the PEN
itentisry. Now t.siined On the wit
ness stand that d. had b,-..n TIA, com
psniou of Street Mccoy nearly all his
life: that he had slep; with him the
nigh, before the shooting; WAS will,
him the day pr-c.-ding the tragedy.
and that he and Mccoy w.rc together
when the encounter took place between
hr and withcn- Previous to tls.,
murder they had discussed the fact Of
shot that was fir.d in Old Man Nc
Coy's hou-s. but he couldn't rcmen-
b.r IL with.r. name had b--n mem
toned in that connection or not. He
was on the stand when court adjourned.
and wa> recalled at the opening of
court Monday morning
n II. Il. II H..
pr.e-.n, when the killing occurred.
testified to practically the same facts
that h. had before the coroner's jury.
He couldn't throw any light ON the
question as to who was the sgxrcs~or.
withers or Now. and II he knew of
any previous ili.feeling bstwecn them.
he failed to disclose tn. knolwedge
Now is ~ years old, boy in APP
p.arance: WA, born In Fremont county,
not far from the scene of the crime
for which he was on trial. He has
carried gun ever since he WAS IL
and ON the night he met withers nj
Carrull's sforv, had taken the pre-
caution to provide himself with extra
I
in his overooai pocket on that night.
also. He claims that hc and withers
had always been on friendly terms
and he knew of no reason for the
assault, which he claimed was made
by witherS. He was cool and col
lected under examination and evinccd
| no regrei that he had taken the life
OF his friend
Some evidence was intr,duced Tues
day hy the defense to show probable
motive for the crime. During the
trial il brought out that a tent o.
cupied by withcrs. and owned by c. b.
Carroll. had been destroyed by fir..
supposed to have been os incendiary
origin. II was alleged by the defend
ant chat withers was heard to have
said that he knew who was responsible
for the fire aud that he threatened to
get that outfit of McCoys, and that
he had the backing 10 do 1t. The
testimony of one witness was inn
peached by his own confession, and he
will be brought before the court on
the charge of perjury.
The arguments were exhaustive and
eloquent. especially those of John G.
TAYLOR, for the defense aud I. 4.
Richardson, for the prosecution.
Deupty District Attorney Locke went
minutely into theory relative to the
course of the bullets, by whom fred
and the relative positions of the men,
giving n diagram of the building and
photographs to illustrate his argu-
ment.
Ii this theory was coricct, and it
certainly appeared plausiahle enough.
then Now and Mccoy are guilty of
murder in the first degrce. But this
was only theory advanced by an at
torney.
Two Of the bullets passed entirely
through withers' body. Each enter
cd from the front, one in either breast.
Tho bullet that passed through the
right side carried away the end Of the
index finger and pAased through the