The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-22

| in the meantime striking me a heavy
blow in the face. and / fell over against
some chairs and a table. Mr.. Bryan
separated us and prevented Mr.. Dee
gan from striking me again. l then
went out of the door of the saloon, and
as l was going out of the door ! was
struck and kicked from behind. / went
over across the street and stood on the
southern Bank corner and my friends,
among them Mr.. AL McMurray and
Mr.. Al WoOdcock, came over to me.
Mr.. McMurray bringing my hat which
was knocked off in the saloon.
Didn't Want Trouble.
They wanted me to go back, assur-
ing me that they would see that / got
none the worst of it. ! told them No.
boys, l am going home, as l don't want
to have any trouble They insisted,
and 1 again refused, telling them that
l could gain nothing by looking for
trouble; that 1 had a good job, and a
wife and child to think of, and the best
thing / could do was to avoid trou-
BILE, instead of looking for it. They
then went back to get the drink which
they had previously ordered, and
waited for them on the Merchants Ma
tional Bank corner.
Il went across Drayton street so in
case Mr.. Deegan should come out of
the saloon looking for me to give me
more trouble, that / could see him
and thus avoid him. Mr.. Bryan came
along and told me that he had just
told Deegan that he would have to
stay out of his place if he could not
behave himself. My friends then came
on and joined me and walked with me
to Drayton street, and then bid them
goodnight and went home.
Deegan at Levan's.
Next day l went to work as usual
and some time near o'clock Deegan
and friend of his named Lynch came
In the bar and bought a drink and
turned to go out. Deegan stopped at
the front door and came back to me
saying = don't go
around here and tell everybody that
two or three jumped on you last
night, as / am the one, and besides,
you - -, If you don't leave this town
at once 1 am going to fix you l
pleaded with him, and said Jack,
have not done you any wrong, and
he cursed me again, using the very
foulest language, and said, Bear in
mind, l am going to fix you before
this days over Lynch persuaded
him to leave the place. After this
occurred / went to Judge Nathan's Of
flee and asked him to get peace war
rant for Deegan, as he had threatened
keep his word.
1.-The Judge being friendly to both
of us, did not want to issue the war
rant, and said that he would speak to
Deegan and ask him to leave me
alone, and suggested that / see Mr..
Osborne and ask him to send for Jack
and ask him to leave me alone. 1
went to Mr.. Osborne's office, but he
was not in, and / then went home.
That afternoon Mr. Foley and myself
went out to see about some clothes he
wanted to have made up, and l was
standing ~on the corner of Broughton
street talking with Mr.. Louis Blase
and looking up Broughton street to-
wards Bull and saw Deegan coming
towards me. l turned to Mr.. Blase
and said l am going on home, as Dee
gan had made some awful threats
against me, and told him what had
occurred tn enight before. left and
went home to avoid Mr.. Deegah.
Went TO His Work.
II remained in the house that after
noon until 6:45 which was, just a lit
! tie before time for me to report for
work. I went up State street to
avoid Deegan and met Mr. Hanley,
who walked with me towards Mr.. Lee
vans bar, where l was employed. i
looked over the curtain to the window
4
gan in the bar. Fearing he was there
looking for me, l said 1 am going on
back and we went towards Whitaker
street, and Mr.. Hanley left me and
went in the lane gate of Mr.. Levan's
and stood in the yard fifteen minutes
waiting for Deegan to go out. After
waiting there, / saw Mr.. Deegan GO
out the front door, and believing all
danger had passed, l went in to GO
-, 1T@
| Mr.. Kavanaugh then came in and
while he was standing there Deegan
/ came back and coming to where l was
/ standing, shook his left hand over the
/ counter in my face, cursing me in the
! most foul language imaginable. l said
/ Jack l have done you no wrong, &c
out and don't have any trouble in here
as 4 am behind another mans bar, and
/ you will make me lose my job
asked him to wait until he saw me out
side, ii being my intention to avoid
him. He then said where can catch
you, 'cursing me again and saying when
! l see you outside you will run like
deer. 1 again pleaded with him say
| ing: Jack, have a wife and baby to
support and can't afford to lose my
! job
Followed Him Cursing.
81 walked up and down behind the
! bar and he followed me, cursing me
| for everything he could think Of
| Frost, the other bartender, started to
leave me behind there alone. / asked
| him to stay and to go out and talk to
Deegan, and he would not go. / was
afraid Deegan would get behind the
bar after me, so / made up my mind
| to go to the cigar case and jump over
ii and go after a policeman for pro-
lection. When / got to the cigar case
! Deegan came through the swinging
doors from the bar and caught hold
of me with his right hand. putting his
left hand behind him, and l thought
my time had come, so / fired two shots.
II did not mean to commit murder
| or to hurt him, and to prove this / did
not hit him with either one of these
two shots. The front door was then
only four or five feet from where we
were standing. and l naturally con-
cluded. knowing that as / was armed.
| that Deegan would go into the street
and leave me alone, so l ran back OF
| the bar counter to the rear of the place
/ for the purpose of going out In the
lane and to avoid Deegan. As came
! to the end of the counter. and was
/ still behind the bar. / came from be-
| hind him and Deegan jumped at me
and / fired again. That time hit him
| l believed he was as good as his word
and would have killed me az he had
threatened to do. He knew that / was
armed. and ] thought. OF course, he
was also. as / did not think he would