The state herald., 1902-10-17
WYOMING MURDER TRIAL.
Testimony as to the caIlbre Of the
Fatal Bullet.

/
Cheyenne, Wyo., Oct. 14.-Testi
mony given In the trial OF Tom Horn
yesterday was of Importance only in.
sofar as much of the succeeding evi.
dence upon which the acquittal or
conviction of the accused depends will
be hinged upon what was presented
to the jury during the days sessions.
The defense was given needless
scare yesterday morning by the publ.
cation in Denver of false report that
Miss Gwendoline Irene Kimmell, the
school teacher who was alleged in
that account to have been Horn S
sweetheart, came secretly to Cheyenne
the night before and was to remain in
hiding here until called to the stand
for the prosecution. She has not been
subpoenaed by the state and is at
present in Missouri.
The morning session of court in the
Horn trial yesterday was very impor.
tant, and witnessed the beginning of
the real fight to prove the innocence
or guilt of the accused. in that the
prosecution sought to prove that the
wounds found on the body of Willie
Nickel were inflicted by bullet o.
small calibre, probably 30-30, ant
that 1t was fired with great force by
smokeless powder at distance of ap
proximately 800 or $50 yards. The es
tablishing of this fact In the minds o!
the jury Is of great Importance to the
state, for the reason that Testimony
will be introduced later showing tina,
the prisoner carried a 30-30 Winches
ter, using smokeless powder, while In
the Iron mountain country the three
or four days previous to the killing,
If this fact can be established in the
minds of the jury the prosecution will
have accomplished great deal.
Realizing this, the defense is doing
everything possible to prove that the
wounds were inflicted by q bullet Of
large caliber, or at least as large as
.3S. Three physicians and one expert
gun maker testified during the morn
ing session with reference to the char
acter of wounds made by various bull
let's under various conditions, and each
witness was cross examined closely By
the defense.
For the first time during the trial
John c. Coble, manager of the Iron
Mountain ranch, and who. according to
Horns alleged confession, was the man
with whom l do all of my business"
was present in the court room to-day
to witness the proceedings. He eyed
witnesses closely and drank in eagerly
every word that was said. He did not
remain throughout the entire session.
but came and went frequently.
Mrs. Kels Nickel was called to the
stand for the purpose of identifying
some bloody clothing-a shirt, vest and
pair Of pants-as that worn by her son
the morning he was killed. Mrs. Nick
ellis face paled as her eyes rested upon
the clothing of the little fellow, and
tears welled into her eyes as she said,
in quiet but firm voice:
Yes, sir. these are the clothes worn
by Willie"
From the blood-stained garments
Mrs. Nickel turned her eyes in the di-
rection of Tom Horn. but the latter was
eyeing the floor and did not see the look
of grief and sorrow depicted upon the
face of the mother.
Kels Nickel also identified the cloth
ing as having been VIOLA by Willie.
which were cut from the body by Cor
oner Turnbull and turned over to the
sheriff by Mr.. Nickel. After taking
one look ut the clothes. Nickel trans
ferred his gaze to Tom Horn and kept
his eyes fastened upon the prisoner all
of the time he sat In the witness box.
Horn returned the gaze and never once
dropped his eyes until Nickel had
taken his seat In the audience.