The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-03
.|NQUES HELD
IN B /: Fl. \ 4 CASE S;
Jury Recommends That Wrenn.
Be Held and Tried.
EVIDENCE OF SERIOUS NATURE
The Accounts Given and swornto Make
the Case Look Rather Dark for
the Prisoner The
Jury's Verdict.
EVIDENCE OF SERIOUS NATURE

OF so serious a nature was the evidence
submitted yesterday to the coroner's jury,
sitting in inquiry into the circumstances
Of the death of Frank Bagent, that it
was decided to recommend that Henry
Wren. already in Jail, charged with the
murder, be held and tried according to
due process of law.
Bagent. it will be recalled. was shot
Saturday night by Wreni in a bar
room, No. 1896 North Twenty-seventh
Street The injured man was taken to
the City Hospital. but died about
O. clock the next morning. Wren was
arrested. charged with murder and was
locked I'D in the Henrico Jail. His plea
has been self-defense.
when the inquest began yesterday
morning at eleven o'clock at the Henrlco
Courthouse a large crowd was present
and the greatest interest was manifested
in the proceedings. number OF Wit
nesses were called, but so much alike was
their testimony that two representative
statements will plainly set forth the case
against Wren. Mr.. H. A. Arnold. box
maker, living at No. 1928 North Twenty
seventh Street, gave an account OF all
that occurred in the saloon. The follow
ing is a literal copy of his words:
II think the cause of the fuss was
game of cominocs. There was some
misplay and Mr.. Bagent got mad about
1t. The players We're Messrs. Williams.
bagent, Johnston, Woodward, and Mi
wren got in the game when he ought
not to nave lnterfered, and there were
not words between Mr.. Bagent and Mr.
Wrenn, and he ordered Mr.. Bagent never
to darken his door again. AS he neaTed
the door he called MIR. Wren
and to come out in the street and they
n NN
goes to the door and comes back in and
grabbed the pistol. / says don't carry
the pistol. Go with your fist So he
goes to the door and says: You ---
stay out there now
Then Mr. Bagent made some remark
that I did not hear and Mr.. Wren run
out the door and 1 heard two shots fired.
That's all know for five or seven min
utes' then I goes to the door and they
were in a scuffle under the window. Mr..
Wren runs back and says had to shoot
him. I go to Mr.. Basent and he says
he was shot, and I loosed his clothes and
looked at the hole, about the size of q
pea, and the hole was black around with
powder"
FROM THE OUTSIDE.
The view from the outside is told in the
words of Rosa Hodges, a negro woman,
who lives at No. 1917 North Twenty
seventh Street.
II was coming from my mothers to my
sisters. / seen the men and heard them
talking. One gentleman was standing on
the ground on Twentyseyenth Street. Mr..
Wren was in the door. They was fuss
ing. The gentleman he stopped and Mr..
Wren went back into the store and they
got to fighting, and Mr.. Wren shot him
twice and they wrestled out there so long
I did not know he was shot and he fell
under Mr.. Wren's window
when he fell he had both arms around
MI. Wren's legs and Mr.. Wren stood
up over him and Mr.. Wren kept telling
him to turn him loose, and he followed
murder three times a gentleman COM
ing down Twenty-seventh Street stopped
when he followed murder and Mr.. Wren
called him. Said come here and take
this mans arm from around my leg and
he told Mr.. Bagent to move his arms and
all of them came out and went down the
street. Mr.. Wren came back with Doc
tor Hord.
The statements made by other wit
nesses tailed in all essential points with
the above. Among those called were
Henry Williams. laborer; c. I. Williams.
printer; 7. +. Kelley. merchant; H. NJ.
Stewart. box maker, and Blanche Arnold,
a colored woman.
THE VERDICT.
The verdict reached by the jury is as
follows:
An inquisition taken at Henrico coun-
ty courthouse, in said county, on the
End day OF september. 1902, before me,
DR.. Lorrimer James, Coroner upon the
view of the body of Frank Bagent, there
lying dead.
THE Jurors, sworn to enquire when,
how. and by what means the said Frank
Bagent came to his death, upon their
oath do say that he came to his death
on Saturday. August 80, 1902, as re-
suit of being shot by a pistol in the
hands of Henry Wren; and we recon-
mend that said Wren be tried according
to due process of law.
tSigned) 'LORRIMER JAMES,
Coroner;