Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1902-05-16
SOME OF THE EXCUSES.
(Cont3nued from Page H.

catch Nicely. "aC Ia..gd.
!. Z. c1tIi,e5p +. taa oftcor Va3
e&ptuagd NeelE II Nai. hey. N..z4
was the nozt Witness. tealityin4 n
subs taHae thu ~a.I.r as Mir. r}f.psa.
SIR. CHlpsrper WAS the= last wien -
put on the stand Thursday afteracoa
The counsel asked the c0Hrf to a5.
jomn at ia u. mawhich WIS granted
with the agreement that the c1,at
should begin an hour earlis> TIL
morning.
The rial Of Nicely opened this
morning promptly al H:@o O'Clock. -
that hour the Witnesses for both tho
state and defense mad arrived ana til5.
courtroom began to fill ny wjJh spec
tators
The case has cfeqted As laaea m
yertisement, has created as much in
tefest i'll the outcome OF tae trial IL
probably any murder case heard in
the circuit court in years Especially
is this true among the colorCd p9Gs
pie, and when the court was raaG5
to proceed this morning the court
room was densely crowded.
Among the first witnesses put OF
by the state this morning was i.1i"
Harris. the enamofita Of Neely. ard
at whose home the shooting y c,3H-
red. She testified that she and Neci$
were sitting in the front room on tnc
evening Of the tragedy. Je1n75a
came in &poke=to beth Of them auG
passed on into tic middle room. Wh>4e
several children We're playing. Pres
! entity q slate was sent into the room
where they were She did not l.aoW
who t1e slate was intended for. but
Nicely tok it aud rubbed out what
Johnson had written, wrote something
on it, and sent the slate back to the
! middle room. Johnson then came to
the door and entered the reom where
they were, asking:
Say. fellow, did You mean what
you said? Nicely replied. Eyes.
meant it. Whereupon Nicely drew
a gun and shot Johnson. Johnson,
she stated, drew no weapon. On the
| defense's examination she reciteG the
story of the killing and stated that
johnson had his hands in his tfon1
pockets. She had never seen john
sen with a knife and had never told
any one that Johnson threw his hands
on his hips as if to draw a weapon.
+, Mr. Sorrells then asked her if Neely's
mother had tried to persuade her tc
swear falsely in the case She an
sWered that she had not and only told
her to tell straight story.
Officer Mason Philpot testified that
the only two words on the slate When
| he first saw it were get and "earth.
For the defense Brown Hall, Elliott
Moore and Scott Nixon testified that
they had heard Johnson threaten
! Neely's life. and Lucien Hill sWore
that Johnson lay in wait for Neely
several hours one night. saying he
was going to kill Nicely. catch a
freight train and leave the city. Rube
McGehee testified that he had been
told of this threat by Lucien Hill,
and communicated it to NeeN. The
/ defendant was the next witness. He
stated that he was twenty years old
and had only known Johnson by sight.
He rehearsed the difficulties existing
| between him and Johnson. The tr0u-
/ bic started at the flying jinney al
Fifth avenue and Main street. He ac-
cidentally stepped on Johnson's 5 toes
one evening and seeing what he had
done apoOgized for the act. John
| 4ID,, Il u
this knife off i'll you, He stated that
he paid no attention to that. but let
it pass. Rube McGehee afterwards
communicated threats to him, which
caused him to keep his eye on John
son. On the evening Oh ,44e .-...ln2
he went to sec Lula Harris Aftel
being in the house several hours
Johnson walked in and passed
through to an adjoining room. Pres
emily Johnson sent a slate in to Lula
A little girl took it back. The Slate
came in again and this time it va:
handed to Nicely. On it was written
"YOu ought to take tumble Wit
ness then wrote on the slate, Yol
ought to get off the earth. Aftel
that Johnson came inside the dool
and said. did you mean what you
said?" Witness replied, yes" Tho
Harris woman then intervened 'an(
asked Johnson not to create any
trouble as her mother was out John
son then threw his hand back to hi:
hip. and witness picked up his gun
which was lying on the table, ant
fired. Johnson went out, and Ii
stayed in the house several minutes
when he decided to leave He Wen