Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-11-23
GIRL HAS TURNED
AGAINST LOVER
Miss Nora Howell Says William
loudin Tried to Kill
her.
FIRST SAYS IT Is ACCIDENT
Hearing of Sensational Case in Prog
ress in Knox County Cir
cult Court.

William LOudin is on trial AZ Gales |
tempt to kill his sweetheart. Miss |
Nora Howell. The girl is IL. LoudiD |
is 10 years her senior. He wanted |
10 marry her. Her parents opposed |
him. He was insanely jealous For |
days after the shooting Nora lowered |
between life and death and there were
threats of lynching. Loudin and the
! girl are residents of Yates City. At
the inquest Miss Howell testified the
shooting was accidental
The most sensational feature of the
| trial was in the introduction by the
state of letter written by LOudin
the day he shot the girl, and full of
violent expressions and of threats. In
writing of the opposition of her par
ents, he says: Il swear before God
that l will revenge myself if l have
TO wait until she (Nora's mother) is
on her death bed and then l viii spit
in her face and laugh at her groans.''
Miss Howell On the stand.
| Nora Howell was called and in brief
said: My name is Nora Howell and
l am II years old. | was wounded
Sunday afternoon. May Is. by William
Loudin. We live about three and one
half blocks from Pennington. Several
Ipeople were at our house that day for
dinner. My parents left home that
morning about 8 O'Clock. My sister
and brother and the Pattersons and l
went 10 the woods about one mile from
our house. Harry Richards, Blanche Pat
terson and l rode down there We
| went from papa'S timber to some
body's else timber. Everett called me
and told me that Mr.. Loudin was COM
ing TO see me. l went TO meet him.
Loudin asked me what l was doing
there and | told him l was gathering
flowers. He called me a liar and told
Inc l was there with Harry Richards.
/ said yes, but that we were all there
together. He asked me where Rich
ards was and told me he would blow
my brains out. Then he began to
strike me and finally knocked me
down.
| LOudin Curses Her.
when l got up we went over to-
wards Richards buggy. In our walk
we passed two Eastman boys. AS we
neared them he cursed me and told
me not to say anything to them. Fin
ally we reached Harry Richards bug
gy. He showed me the revolver and
said he would shoot me. Finally
Blanche Patterson came up and we
had a fuss because | wanted to go
home with the people.
Il wanted Miss Patterson to stay
there with me, but she wouldn't do
it. When they left he said that he
would shoot himself and l pulled the
gun down from his head. but it did
not shoot then. After while I start
ed to go and Mr.. Loudin got mad and
cursed me. Then he said that | could
go home. All of sudden he turned
and shot me.
Keeps Company With Him.
On the Gloss examination Miss
Howell said: Il kept company with
Mr. Loudin for about IL months. My
father had forbidden him to come to
the house. We had clandestine inter
views. We were at many parties. He
came to the house. after father had
forbidden il. l helped make the ar
engagements when he came.
"On the day of the shooting / was
with Blanche Patterson. l went to
meet LOudin. and went about a quar-
ter of mile from the other folks. up
toward where father had been feeding
cattle. l saw Loudin coming. The
buggy was near the gate and l Nnnt
to the buggy. We both got in the
buggy and remained there Is minutes
until the rest came. When they had
gone, we were in the buggy about half
an hour l wanted Blanche Patterson
10 stay. but she had to go to the house.
We were in the buggy about half an
hour before the shooting. l was in
the buggy when the shooting occur
red and he was nearly north of the
rig. He walked 20 feet and he said:
You can go home and I'll do the
same 1t was Harry Richards buggy
and / wanted him to go down where
Harry was.
Asks Her TO Protect Him.
after the shooting he drove me to
the house and asked me to say it was
an accident. 1 said at the house that
II did it myself. He carried me into
the bedroom. I did not say to my
sister that he was not to blame. 1t is
true that my sister told him to go
home or my father would kill him. /
told him to go. He kissed me. but
| did not kiss him. When DR.. Plum
ner came and Loudin was there / said
It was an accident Subsequently
when Loudin went out told the truth
to DR.. Raub."
A Runaway Bicycle