Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1902-08-07
JONES PRELIMINARY.
He Is Accused of Shooting
at Jesse Davis.


Thomas Jones, living southeast of
this city, accused of shooting at
his neighbOr, Jesse Davis, came
up before Justice Il. n. Bass at
the court house last Friday.
The defendant plead not guilty.
Jesse Davis, the prosecuting
witness, was first called to the
stand. Said that he met Mr.. Tom
Jones July "a, between s and 9
O'Clock at night. He was going
home from a coal bank on load
of coal. He met Jones east of
his (Davis's) place. He knew
Jones and was positive it was the
defendant he met. He recognized
the horse and the man. "Mr.
Jones halooed as loud as he could, !"
said the witness, "and shot across
the road. He wanted to know if |
wanted any hay. made no reply.
lie rode on short distance and
whirled around and said: 'G-
d you l will shoot you He
shot in my direction. / saw the
flash of the pistol and heard the
report. He then rode away in a
gallop. l didn't say anything but
Whoa to my team"
Cross examined, he stated that
"Jones was facing west. He had
turned his pony around when he
said he was going to shoot me. My
head was turned toward him. |
was watching him all the time" "
The witness did not admit at first
that he (Davis) had pistol. Af-
ter Jones shot Davis said he sat on
his wagon and waited for him to
come back. He did not know
where the shot hit. He knew it
did not hit him, nor did it hit his
team or his wagon. He went on
home after the shooting. Later he
admitted that he was carrying a
pistol on the advice of Mr.. Fry.
He had had previous trouble with
MIR. Jones and had been carrying II
pistol since the Field case came up.
He said he did not have the pistol
with him. The last time he saw
his pistol was tower at the buggy"
There was quite a tilt between the
attorneys for the state and for the
defense whether it was relevant
and material to show where the
pistol was at present.
The witness admitted that he had
run Jones out of his pasture with
a shotgun few weeks before. He
had loaded one barrel of the gun
himself with squirrel shot. The
other barrel was already loaded.
Jones had invited him out into the
pasture to shoot it ont. He had
told Jones to get out and Jones
had refused "and when | told him
if | got my gun he would get out
he said go get your gun, Eve got
mine, and we'll shoot it out.
Jones was looking at Winfrey's s
cattle in Davis pasture. Witness
said he got his gun and if Jones
"had not got out of that pasture
that day would have killed him."
He went back to the pasture in
haste but Jones was going toward
the road. He got within l5O
yards of Jones and saw him get out
of the pasture. He had been au-
thorized to look after the Winfrey
cattle in that pasture. Davis said
while on the stand that he was
willing to be searched so that the
defense might see he was unarmed.
Mr.. Davis said he threw in $2J
toward paying for the prosecution
of Jones in the Field case and that
he employed Mr.. Robertson to as
sist in the prosecution of the case
He had rented a pasture to Win
frey and this was the place he had
driven Jones out. He had made
Winfrey pay for the pasture in ad'
vance before he would allow hin
to authorize Jones to go into the
pasture to look at the cattle, Ht
said he didn't want Jones on his
place and had told Winfrey not to
take him thru the place, and that