Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1904-05-25
THE DEFENSE BEGINS.
Gillespie Murder Trial at Rising
Sun, Ind, Nearing the End.
Jim Gillespie Has But the Period Of
Five Minutes to Account For to
the Jury on the Night Of
the Assassination.

Rising Sun. Ind, May 19.-Detective
Franklin left town Wednesday hur-
riedly. and 1t is rumored he Is out
seeking an important witness, to be
used in rebuttal.
The first witness introduced Wed.
nesday morning was Charles Gibson,
who mas been clerk in Gibson's hard
ware store for 80 years. He identified
the shell given the grand jury by Bar
bour as one OF w. X. A. make
James Fisher, a stable boy, then
took the stand. He said he was nearly
square from the Gillespie house and
was at the lower end OF that square
when the shot was fired. So much
shooting had been done in the neigh.
borhood of late he paid no attention
to this shot at first. He saw no one
run by him. The street lamp was
bright at the corner and he could have
seen any one run by.
Rising Sun, Ind, May 2O.-Contrary
to rumor, the defense in the Gillespie
case did not Thursday morning move
for the dismissal Of the accused be.
fore Offering any testimony
Jim Gillespie has but the brief ne
Rod OF five minutes on the night of
December to account for to the sat
isfaction OF the jury and he will 20
acquitted. The testimony of the state
has so traced him that only these few
minutes remain to stand against him.
IL must, in the natural course of pro-
ceedings. be shown in the alibi to be
presented in his behalf, where he was
from the time that he left the kitchen
OF the Seward home until he was seen
at the lattice gate between the Seward
and Boyle houses. The testimony OF
Mrs. Jane Boyle fixes from the states
side the time period. In her testimony
she declared that five minutes elapsed
from the firing OF the shot until she
saw Jim with his sister, Mrs. Seward.
In conversation at the gate.
1t is the general belief, by the line
OF cross-examination pursued by the
defense, that it will be sought to prove
that James Gillespie went from the
Seward home to an clubhouse and re-
manned there until after his sister
Elizabeth was shot, then started along
the walk between the two houses. go
ing toward the front yard of his home.
when he encountered at the lattice
gate his other sister, Mrs. Seward,
who, moment before had cried out
Where is Jim?" and had then said
He went to the clubhouse"
Rising Sun, Ind, May 21.-One of
the fights the defense will make in the
Gillespie case concerns the matter of
the scattering of the shot in the room
where Elizabeth Gillespie was killed.
Testimony has been given to show
Jim Gillespie's gun, offered in evi.
dence, is choke-bore in both barrels.
and that therefore there is a check
on tendency Of load to spread.
Clyde Peaslee, the city lamp tender,
was the first witness Friday morning.
He testified that the second day after
the shooting he was in the alley in
the rear Of the Gillespie home. A boy
gave him an empty shell, which the
lad claimed he had found in the alley.
The she'll was a 16-gage.
Peaslee says he turned the she'll
the boy gave him over to Marshal
Overly. Russell Gibbs was the name
of the boy who gave him the shell.
court He said it looked like the one
given him, but he could not positively
identify it. Marshal Thomas Overly
testified he received shell from Peas
lee the second day after the shooting.
He testified the she'll shown him look
ed like the one given him. The
state admitted the shell presented as
the one turned over to DR. l.. c. Cow,
en- by Overly. The purpose of the de-
Tense is to show by the empty she'll
found in the alley that the man heard
hurrying through the alley after the
shot was the assassin and dropped the
she'll where 1t was found. The shell
said TO have been found there is yell
low, while the she'll turned over to
the grand jury by Barbour was green.
fhntruh Oh q