The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-01
 Hearing of Case Against Byron Trammell. EVIDENCE NOT FINISHED Defendant Pleads Not Guilty; Claims Self-defenSe. Many Witnesses Testified Before Jus tics Screws as to Details of Tragedy. on Commerce
 Street Last Week.

To establish a case of premeditated murder. counsel for the State yesterday labored from morning until night in the case of Byron Trammell, while the at- torneys for the defendant with equal fer vor pushed their plea of self defense, before Justice B. H. Screws, in the pre- liminary hearing of Trammell charged with the murder of Charles E. Taylor of Roanoke.
 Taylor. 1t will be remembered, was shot and killed by Trammell last Monday night in front of the Exchange Hotel.
 On account of the crowd of witnesses and spectators the preliminary hearing yesterday was held in the room of the City Court of Montgomery, and even the large courtroom was taxed to its capacity with spectators. Trammell, his counsel and a number of his friends, occupied seats on the west side of the court room. The defendant did not appear in the least disconcerted and at times seemed to lack interest in the proceedings of the court On the other hand, the aged father of Taylor. J. l.. V. Taylor. of Roanoke, and a brother of the dead man, Rev. D. P. Taylor of Bessemer, were intensely inter- ested spectators. They occupied seat 8 near the prosecuting lawyers.
 Pleads Not Guilty.
 The court convened at 10 o'clock yes terday morning. After two continuances, both sides announced ready. An attorney for the State read the warrant, charging murder, sworn out by Jailer P. M. Me Lemore, to which the leading counsel for Trammeil formally entered his plea of not guilty.
 The witnesses were sworn and placed under the rule. On account of their num- Der the witnesses were not confined to the jury rooms but were allowed the use of the Circuit Court room, on the other side of the building.
 The prosecution consumed almost the entire morning session by introducing witnesses, who described the killing. the wounds. the positions of both men, etc. No effort was made to set up any ulte- rior motive on the part of Trammell for the killing.
 With the witnesses flor the defense, however. Solicitor s. H. Dent made re- peated efforts to connect the killing with the testimony of Tfammell in the Taylor bankrupt proceedings. On objection by the defense, however. he was repeatedly overruled by the court
 The defense endeavored to set up a case of self-defense, introducing several witt nesses to prove threats made by Taylor on the life of Trammell. They tntro- duced a number of witnesses also who swore that Taylor had a pistol with him on the night of the killing, but no wit ness was introduced who would swear that Taylor made any effort to draw his revolver during the difficulty with Tram meli.
 A number of witnesses for the defend ant were citizens of Roanoke, and knew both Taylor and Trammell
 C Merchant Boylan Testifies.
 The first witness called by the State was Henry Boylan, a Commerce Street merchant. .--..-
 Mir. Boylan testified that he knew neith- CT Taylor nor Trammell, but saw the dif- flcuIty of Monday night June 22. He was walking up Commerce Street. from his place of business about 8 o'clock. when he heard some shots in rapid suc- cession. He did not know the exact num- Der of shots, but thought there were four or five. He saw the wounded man stag ger to a trunk, where he rested for a second. and then with a writhing motion, slide to the street. AS his body turned Mir. Boylan saw two red spots on hls shirt. -
 He saw a man standing nearby with a smoking pistol in his hand Taylor. ac- tording to the witness, was retreating from Trammell after the first shot, and was making for the trunk. as if for pro- tection, when his strength failed. To the best of the recollection of the witness, three shots were fired after Taylor reach- ed the trunk. Mir. Boylan was near Tay- Tor when he died.
 On cross examination the witness tes- tifed that when the first shot was fired he was passing the Exchange Hotel, go- ing South. Two shots had been fired when he discovered the location of the combatants. He heard. to the best of his recollection, only four shots. The shots were fired in the direction of the street.
 tI.I by the State. The Coroner, however. had not retired from the court room with the rest of the witnesses and had thereby broken the rule. He was not allowed to testify.
 Location of wounos.
 Dr. s. J. Steiner. who conducted the autopsy on the night of the killing, was next called.
 Dr. Steiner testified that he had con- ducted the autopsy on the night of the difficulty. He testified that there were two wounds in the back of the body of Taylor on the left shoulder blade about two inches apart. There were also two wounds in the front of the body, one di- rectly through the heart and the other through the liver.
 Taylor's clothes were here introduced in evidence. The garments were almost en- tirely blood stained.
 pr. Steiner testified that he saw part of the shooting. Trammell was in the street about three feet from the curb when the firing ceased.
 On cross examination, he testified that the shot through the heart was the one necessarily fatal. The shot through the heart entered the front of the body.
 He saw a pistol in the right hand hip pocket of the dead man. Taylor lived only about four minutes.
 Solicitor Dent again took the witness and endeavored to prove that if the first
 Deen through the heart the wounded man could never have reached the trunk, which was several feet from the spot where he was standing when the