Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-11-27
/. GRAY NOT GUILTY
"A Jury Of Twelve Men
Acquits Him of the
Charge of Man
slaughter.
---
The Jury Was Ont Nearly Eight
Hours Before Arriving at
Verdict of Acqnit.al.

at 5:55 Tuesday afternoon, when the
jury was summoned before the presid-
ing judge, Mr.. Bennett, having arrived
at a verdict in the case,
Court had adjourned at 5 o'clock, but
when the jury had arrived at its verdict
the judge was summoned, as were the
attorneys in the case and the defendant,
and the jurymen filed into the court
room and the verdict of "not guilty"
was read by the foreman. When the
words were pronounced which made
Edmund Gray a free man once more a
load of worry and anxiety was lifted
from him and his face frightened per-
ceptibly as he rushed to the telegraph
office and at once telegraphed to his old
father and mother in Ohio, waiting
there to learn the fate of their son "The
jury has acquitted me-"
The jury had been out since 1925 in
the morning Of the same day and had
balloted a number Of times and at one
time it was thought that shey would
disagree, as some wanted tx acquit the
defendant and some wanted to give him
a light sentence. Finally it was seen
that it was best to bring in a verdict of
acquittal as should they disagree that
would throw onto the county the
expense of another trial and the defend
ant would probably be acquitted III the
end. Therefore the verdict of acquittal
was brought in. This is the statement
of M Of the jurymen.
The jury which tried the case was
composed of the following named ge n
tlemen: Myron Nesbit, W. G. Lentz, L
X. Lane, John r. Michaels, james
Riley (foreman). S. Il. Tubbs, d. Il.
Aldrich, Ray Makepeace, p. +. Kranz,
Fred TorreHce, w. II. Slawson, S. n.
Bonghner.
Readers of this paper are familiar
with the case which is now at an end,
therefore but o short resume OF it will
be given.
On Friday morning the 10th, of
October, last, Edmund Gray blasted a
rock for Charles Florey, a friend who
was building a livery stable back of the
Jewell hotel in the village Of Henry,
this county. The rock was a large N
and as they only wished to crack it a
small charge was placed on the rock aud
a small stone placed on it to keep the air
in, and the fuse was then fired. The
rock was 140 feet from the hotel and it
was thought that that building was
without the danger zone, therefore no
warning was given to the occupants.
Sentinels Were posted in other direc-
tions and two teams which attempted to.
pass were stopped, being warned of
impending danger. All bystanders
stepped back to a safe distance.
The blast went off and there was a
scream aud the defendant and another
rushed to the hotel and found Mrs.
Jewell, wife of the owner of the hotel,
on the ground at the bottom of a porch
about four feet high. They picked her
up and carried her into the house and
Summoned a physician. She called her
son by name but soon thereafter lost
consciousness, never again to regain it.
The physician, DIR. Eddy, did not dis
cover a fracture Of the skull and doc
tered the injured woman until the fol-
lowing Monday, when she was brought
to Watertown and the hospital physi-
clans, with the assistance of DR.. Moore
from Minneapolis, performed an oper-
alton on her, removing a large piece Of
the skull which was pressing on her
brain. She died within a few hours.
The next day a ~coroner's inquest was
heldand the jury brought in a verdict
that Mrs. JsSell came to her death by
being struck on the head by d piece Of
rock sent flying through the air by a
blast fred by Edmund Gray. Gray was
arrested and given a preliminary hear
ing and the justice bouad him over to
the circnit court, bonds in the sum of
$3.50 being furnished.
AT the trial ia circuit conrt the state
tried to show that the defendant did not
nse sufficient care and was careless in
blasting the rock and that therefore he
was responsible for the death Of Mrs.
Jewell, even though he did not inten-
tioRally cause her death. The defense
tried to show that il was not known for
a certainty that she was hit on the head
by the piece Of rock and died in conse-
qnenee. She might have had a fainting
spell and fell from the porch, and the
fall was sufficient TO fracture her skull.
Dr.. Eddy who attended her, testified for
the state that he did not know from
what cause she died, and another wit
ness testified that rock fell around like
hail, when the facts OF the case were
that only two pieces OF rock fell.
Attorney Frank Sears, from Webster,
appeared for the defendant and made a
good fight for his client. States Attor-
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