The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-17

Eiea. struck and beat Mrs. Alice Il.
Ekields on January 80. 1904 Williams
Hooked steadfastly at the clerk while
the reading OF the terrible indictment
was going on, and at Its conclusion. IN
answer to the usual question, he an
swcred in firm voice: l
''Not guilty.
Tho work Of impaneling a jury was
then entered into, and 1t was the work
Of but n few moments The jury was
rot exactly made to order. for It was
selected from a vcEire- made upSof some
of the best men in Roanoke, strong bust
ness men and retired business men,
men who, no matter how much they had
made up their minds from street talk.
could handle sworn testimony regardless
of former convictiors. The jury vas
as follows: Thomas Eugleby. Levi Witt
John W. Hancock. G. E Jennings, G. G.
Bush, r. r. Fairfax. Ar. w. Bryan
HUB. sanborn Hugh Haley, D. IS. Mead
ows. G. p. Eliason and Paul Massie.
The prisoner again stood up and Dep
uty Clerk Tucker again read the long
Indictment, and then he read to the jury
section 1924 OF the Virginia Code. which
says: III any person commit robbery
by partial strangulation, or suffocation.
or by striking or beating, or by violence
to the person robbed, or sought to be
robbed, etc. the penalty shall be death"
IT Is on this law that Henry Williams
will be hanged and the other Indictment
charging criminal assault will be
scratched from the docket OF the Ronn-
okc Corporation Court.
The Prosecution.
Mr. Perkins. on behalf of the Com
monwealth, addressed the jury briefly,
telling them what he expected to prove,
and 1t was manifest that he did rot an
ticipate any trouble IN doing It.
]. Rand. Bryan. one Of the lawyers
appointed to represent the prisoner, rep
resented him "a for about q quarter of
Il minute. He asked the court to give
tho Niger a fair s(?) trial. and 6thatwas
about tho only thirg he asked during the
trial. lie passed all the witnesses by
without shooting single interrogation
point at them, and his associate. Mr..
Martin. was strictly not In It.. He said
never word. and neither OF them made
a motion or introduced a witress.
The Testimony.
The first witness OF the Commonwealth
was H. w. Greenwood, who was n lodger
at the Shields home. FIe Identified some
OF the stolen property found In the prls-
oner's possession as his own, He created
some thing OF a sensation by Identifying
the vest which the prisoner wore in court,
and Wore when he was arrested, MS a
part OF his suit Of clothes.
Drs. George s.. Luck. "A. L. Wolfe and
J. N, Lewis, physicians who attended
Mrs. Shields and child, testified as to the
character Of the wounds. DR.. Lewis was
more definite In describing Mrs, shelds's
wounds about the head thar the others,
, using young man to demonstrate to
the Jury the location OF the head
wounds, Incidentally, the doctors showed
that there had been criminal assault,
George j. Shields, the husband OF the
injured woman, Alice Louise Shields, was
tho next witness, He described the loca-
tor Of tho premises and the arrangement
OF the house. He told In q painfully pa-
thetc way OF his arrival at home for the
noon meal to find his wife and child
welter,ng In their blood, Mr., Shields
confined himself to tho plain facts, and
told the pathetic story In suhdued tone,
finding 1t hard to control his feelings and
keen down his emotion. In the large
crowd the witness had no more attentive
listener than Henry Williams, the pris-
oner at the bar, who kept his eye on
the witness all the While he was on the
stand.
chtef of Police Dyer gave briefly some
ilnmaterial testimony, and then Detec-
tiyes Baldwin took tho stand, He was
followed by his associa to, Detective Felz.
both, Of whom related the story Of the
running down Of Williams, his con fesslon