The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-24
JABEZ MANN MAY LIVE.
Young ClaghOrn still a Prisoner at
Police station.

Police station.
At an early hour this morning Jabez
Mann, the negro janitor who was shot
at the Guards Armory night before
last by R. C. Claghorn, was still alive
at the Georgia Infirmary. The physi-
clans say the negro has a fighting
chance for recovery.
Mr.. Claghorn is still a prisoner at
the police station, where he will be
held until there is a change in the
wounded negros condition. The young
man, under advice of counsel, has de-
clined to make any statement of the
affair, although he told friends who
visited him during the day that when
he fired the shot it was in self-defense
and after an abundance of provoca-
ton.
o. B. Stevens, Jr., was the second
man in the battery room when the
trouble occurred. He disclosed his
identity to the police yesterday morn
ing. Up to that time it was not known
who the party with Claghorn was. Mr..
Stevens made a statement in which
he said the negro had provoked the
shooting, and that it did not occur as
stated by the negro Smith, who claims
to have witnessed it, and by Mann
himself Mr. Stevens said he was with
Mr.. Claghorn and they were discussing
the collection of an imaginary 80 cents,
when the janitor went into the room.
The negro seemed to think that the
young men were in earnest about the
money, and thought he should have
come in for his share. A difficult oc-
Cured between Mann and Mr.. Clag-
horn. Mr.. Ctevens said he got them
apart, and after matters had been
quoted, as he thought, he left the
room. He stepped across the
hall into the refreshment room for a
minute and then started upstairs. He
had gotten a short distance down the
hall, he said, when he heard scutfiing.
He started back. and saw the janitor
run into the refreshmnt room. He
thought he saw something thrown out
of the refreshment room into the room
in which Mr.. Claghorn was.
Mr.. Stevens said that he ran towards
the refreshment room, but before he
got there Mr.. Claghorn had pulled the
revolver and fired at the jantor. Mr..
Stevens heard the negro scream and
ran into Solomons drug store to tele-
phone for a physician. He returned
to the hall upstairs and did not see
Mr.. Claghorn after the shooting.
These statements were brought out
yesterday The statements of Mann and
the negro Smith were the only ones
obtainable at the time of the shooting.
Mr.. Claghorn is in the large room on
the second floor of the police station
and was visited by his friends during
the day. AS soon as Mann is out of
danger, in the event that he RECEIVERS,
bail will be furnished by the young
man.
The actions of young Claghorn and
his friends after the shooting served
to put the young man in about
the worst position that the cir
cumstances would permit. He be-
gan OF, probably, in the excite
ment of the moment, by rushing away
from the scene of the shooting and
for several hours keeping out of the
way of the police. In the final event
he did not surrender, but was arrest
ed by an officer who had been watch
ing his house.
In the meantime his friends
in Battery d bolstered up the
conclusion reached from the state
ment of the wounded man and
Smith, that Claghorn had been
in the wrong and that the
shooting had been done without rea-
son and without provocation.
Mr.. Stevens, who was with Mr.. Clag-
horn when the shooting took place,
made no statement as to the
manner in which the shooting
had been done and as to the
events which preceded it. to the police
or to anyone else. He said yesterday
he pursued this course at the instance
of Capt. Pritchard of the battery, who
told him to say nothing of what had
occurred. Capt. Pritchard claims he
did not see Mr.. Stevens until yester-
day morning.
Capt. Pritchard told a Morning News
reporter that he knew nothing of the
shooting; did not know by whom it
had been done or by whom witnessed,
and did not know it's reason, pTovoca-
ton or excuse. When asked as
to young Claghorn, he reiterat-
ed that he knew nothing of
the occurrence, and did not even
know the initials or first name of
the man who was then charged with
the shooting and for whom the police
were looking. The officers and men of
the battery followed the same course.
All this. of course, was done with
the best intentions, but the
impression it produced was inevitable.
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