The daily sentinel., 1903-10-12

Mllllam La falr, charged with
murder in the first degree. having
been obtained Saturday night the case
was ON this morning on the convening
of court.
The statement of Us. Carnahan for
the people was made at once. the at
torneys for the defense making no
statement of what they intended to
prove or disprove.
The first witness called was Alden
Leonard, we'll known cattle man
from the Unaweep section. Mr..
Leonard had taken a number of photo
graphs of the scene of the killing and
he was questioned rigidly about the
location of the shooting. distances
and other matters leading up to the
matter of the killing. He was not a
witness of the shooting. but went to
the scene shortly thereafter. and saw
the location of the shooting and the
primary items relating thereto.
The next witness called was Charles
F. Bowman, a member of the firm of
Bowman Bros. wholesale butchers of
this city. The testimony of Mr..
Bowman was looked upon as the most
important in the Trial. as he was
standing talking to the late Eben L.
Massey when the shots were fired
which killed Massey. There was an
absolute stiffness in the court room,
as Mr.. Bowman gave his Testimony.
In part the testimony was as fol-
lows:
About week or ten days. previous
to the killing he had a talk with E.
T. Massey relating to the purchase of
some beef which Massey had for sale
Bowman told him that he would be
up to the Bowman pasturage in few
days and would then look over Mas
sey's cattle
On the third of the month he
started for the pasture. He remained
over night at the cabin of Matt Caste.
He resumed the Journey, and arrived
at his pasture on the morning of the
fifth. He there found four men. Sill
zell, Caste, Jack Tries and William
LaFair Massey had in the meantime
left a small piece of wood. upon
which was communication relating
to the cattle that Massey hao for sale.
This piece of wood which was broken
in two pieces was offered in evidence
by the attorneys for the state.
He sat around some little time and
then proceeded to make a round up of
= l,a t,fc nd
cattle picked out which he. Mr.. Bow
man, thought desirable, and the bal
ance were driven off.
About this time. or following the
selection of the cattle. Mr.. Bowman
noticed E. T. Massey coming down
the hill toward where they were all
standing together. AS he passed the
group OF men, which then included
Johnnie Holland. Massey spoke to
Bowman. passing the time of day.
81 think' said Mr.. Bowman. THAT
he also spoke to Jack Tries. can
not say He then rode on about 140
to 15O yards from where we were
standing. He rode up to the pasture
fence.
Mr.. Bowman then started down to
where Massey was sitting on his
horse. to engage him in conversation
about his cattle. As he was about to
start, he told Johnnie Holland to go
ami prepare dinner and that he
would be back from looking at Mas
seys cattle between half after twelve
and one O'Clock,
AS he was proceeding toward Massey
alone. he turned and saw that LaFair
had started down toward Massey He
had gone but few steps further
when he heard two shots fired in
quick succession from behind him.
He was asked who fired the shots but
Mr.. Bowman said he could not tell
of his own knowledge. At that time.
Massey had not spoken. as he was sit
ting on his horse. When he next OBJ
served Massey he was off his horse and
was pulling his rifle from his scab
bard, which was on the horse on the
left hand side He then ran to the
fence which was close by. He began
firing and thought he fired two or
three shots at LaFair. as fast as he
could fire them.
LaFair moved toward tho fence. He
fred two shots as he was moving to-