The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-02-27
THE TESTIMONY
Presented by the State in the Case
Of J. H. Tillman
BEFORE CHIEF JUSTICE POPE,

BEFORE CHIEF JUSTICE POPE,
And Upon Which He Refused to
Allow tho Defendant to be
Released from Jail by
Giving Bail.
Last week we published the entire
testimony presented by j. II. .Tillman
in his application for bail. Below we
present about one-half Of the tcsti-
mOny presented by the State in oppo-
sition to the granting of bail to j. H.
Tillman, and upon which bail was re-
fused the defendant. The testimony
speaks for itself, and every one can
read it and draw their own conclu-
sions. The testimony is as follows:
Personally comes Robert Latham,
who says on oath: That he was stenog-
rapher and secretary to the late n. G..
Gonzales and occupied such q position
at the time Of the shooting of said N.
G.. Gonzales; that on the afternoon Of
| the shooting, and just after the said
N. G.. Gonzales had been brought into
IThc State newspaper Office, on Main
street, some so yards north of the
point Of the said sho )Jing, N. &. Con
ZaleS told deponent that he, the said
n. G. Gonzales, knew the result of
such shot as he had received, and
more than once while in said Office,
suffering from said wound, intimatcd
in plain language that he knew his
wound was mortal; that thereafter,
and in Il couple Of hours thereafter
when said n. &. Gonzales had been
conveyed to the Columbia hospital, to
be there operated upon, he repeated
said intination Of the result OF his
wound to deponcnt; that while In this
state Of mind he said the following
words, or Of like import, to deponcnt,
to wit: IT started out of The Slate Of
flee walking as usual on the right hand
side OF the pavement, going towards
the State house, and as got close to
the corner. the intersection Of Main
ana GcryalS streets, where ! had to
turn to the left into Gcrvais street on
my way home, l observed Tillman.
Two men were with him, Senator Tai
bird OF Beaufort and another man.
whose face I did not observe. Talbird
was next to Tillman, and this other
man was on the inside. Tillman was
on the outside. Knowing that if | kept
| straight on l would collide with him.
because the three men were walking
abreast and Tillman was on the out
side, also being on the outside, / cut
diagonally to the left, intending TO
turn into Geryais street, us could
have done without touching the man
Of the three who WIS on the inside.
AS got Il had just merely glanced at
his face) on the turn, not more than
two or three feet from the exact cor
ner, ,Tillman suddenly pulled his pistol,
Or perhaps he had it in his hand, DOS
sibly up his sleeve 1 did not noticc,)
presented it and fired, making some
exclamation which have forgotten.
The shock almost threw me off my
feet. | swcrved around and felt very
weak. threw my back up against the
support myself, and faced him. He
had his pistol pointed at me, and i
said to him, Fire, you coward: you
have already killed me, you know
it,. Shoot again. Tillman said some
thing about L took your advice, then
looked at my face, dropped his hand
holding the pistol and sauntcrcd out
into the middle Of the street." Reply
ing to some question:, Mr.. Gonzales
continued, 81 had no idea whatever OF
meeting him. ] had seen him two days
j
saw me and was talking to some one,
while was walking around. He did
not say anything. l did not say any
thing. The thing was finished as far
as was concerned" Mr.. Gonzales was
then asked whether Tillman said any
thing when he fired on him. He re-
piled that he did say something. Be
| ing further questioned, whether he
had sent Tillman any message, Mr..
| Gonzales answered, Never sent him
a word Of message by any one" Then
him say you had sent him Il message
by any one?" Mr.. Gonzales answered,
"No. he said something like Il have
taken you at your word, or something
| like that. l sent him no message, so
kclp me God" Mr.. Gonzales further
said Tillman used the expression Il
have taken you at your word. or some
thing Of similar import, after he fired.
On the first day of the present session
of the general assembly, or the day
thereafter, was in the lobby OF the
OF the house of representatives. While
there ! saw Mr.. N. G. Gonzales stand
ing just at the door of the committee
room TO the left us you enter the hall
OF the house Of representatives. He
was talking with gentleman. While
he stood there l saw Mr.. James II
Tillman standing in the lobby within
a few feet OF the said N. G. Gonzales
He, the said Tlllman. was speaking
with some one when / saw him, and
he passed into the committee room
opposite that one near the door of
which Mr.. Gonzales was standing.
Said James II. Tillman was obliged to
have seen N. G.. GonZalcs,as there was
nothing intcrposing between them.
Robert Latham.
Person ally appears before me e. J..
Watson, who heing duly sworn says:
That on the 29th day of November,
1902, the day that the final meeting OF
the board Of canvasscrs was held to de-
clare the result of the general election
held carlicr-in the month, dcponent
saw Lieut.. Gov. Tillman. lie was with
several others chatting in the oilicc Of
the attorney general. Finally those
present., among whom was Mr.. Till
man, began TO leave the room. AS de-
poncnt started to 90 out also Mr.. Till
man detained him Il few minutes, and
standing engaged him in conversation,
which led 10 Il statement from Mr.
Tillman that he would perhaps leave
the State after his term OF o!licc Us
lieutenant governor had expired. That
he ha received q good business offer