The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-01-13
FIERCE STRUGGLE
FOR THE PISTOL
1t Was Then the Fatal
Bullet Was Sped.
so SAY WITNESSES
Three Examined in the Trial of W. r
Murray For The Killing of His
Uncle J. S. Murray. Events
of the Day in the
Case.
(Snecial 10 News and Ohserver.O y

(Special to News and Observer.)
Durham. n. c.. Jan. 12,-The trial
of the w. r. Murray murder case be.
gan this morning. and when court ad-
journed late this afternoon the twelve
men who will pass on the life and
death issues had been selected ana
three witnesses examined by the
State. A special venire of two huir
dred and fifty men had been sum-
moned by order of the court. and all
of these with few exceptions were on
hand when court convened this MORN
ing. Those who did not answer to
their names were fined $40 by the
court. From that time until 4.1o
O'Clock this afternoon with the ex-
ception of the noon recess, the court
and lawyers struggled with the prop
OSition of getting twelve minded
unbiased men TO pass on the issues to
be presented. The jury is composed
of seven farmers, two tobacconists,
one merchant, one blacksmith and one
clerk. These men are j. @. Parrish.
T. A. Parrish l.. q. Nichols, farmers,
a. l.. Holloway. blacksmith, Harrison
Shipe, merchant, j. B. Walker and K.
*. Umstead, tobacconistS. Geo. Ellis,
Sr., farmer, d. S. Ball, clerk, w. II.
Copely w. T. Carver. and a. w. Cm~
stead. farmers. one of these men
came from the regular jury box and III
getting the other eleven, one hundred
and ten of the Venire men We're eX-
haustcd.
After securing the jury an hour was
devoted to the taking of evidence. Dur
ing that hour three witnesses Wero
examined. All of these men were Wit
nesses of the tragedy, two seeing only
a part of the trouble.
The evidence given by these men
was not very damaging to the cause
of the prisoner, the only damaging
feature was tnat three men. the pris-
oner, his son and a young man en-
ployed by the defendant were beating
the deceased when he fired the first
shot
No one has yet said that the prisoner
had the pistol in his possession when
the fatal shot was fired, on the Other
hand all say that the two men were in
a struggle. for possession of the Wea-
pom.
Mrs Murray. widow of the deceased
and her sister Mrs. Robert Duke, sat
close by the solicitor through the day.
This afternoon the son of the deceased.
who is cadet in n military school, sat
with his mother and aunt
The general opinion of lawyers is
that the taking of evidence will b..
possible that tomorrow ana saturday
night sessions of court Will be heiG.
This has not been decided however.
1t is hoped to turn the case over to the
jury before midnight Saturday.
This killing was one of the most
sensational in the history of Durham,
and it shocked the city and the State.
The prisoner is a nephew of j. ;.
Murray, the man killed. Both were
engaged i'm the same line of business
and much bitterness had been EN-
gendered on the morning of No
vember 18th, the son of the prisoner
and Walter Markham, an employe, got
into q quarrel with deceased and the
prisoner went into the trouble, he
claiming that it was for the purpose
of stopping what threatened to be a
fight The deceased drew Il pistol and
a struggle ensued for possession of the
gun. Four shots were fired, the last
one proving fatal.
The defendant claims that the pistol
fired while both had possession of the
gun. The State claims that the Drts-
oner disarmed deceased and then shot
him.
Since the second day after the kill
ing the prisoner has been under a
twenty thousand dollar bond