The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-02-14
Held
Without Bond
PRELIMINARY HEARING or slAN
Err OF WILLIAM eoFF HELD
BY MAYOR WAssMAN.

wHEELING. Feb. 14I ind Ell.
dence s~uficient to hold o. n. Borhan
to the grand jury without bail
The above were the words OF Mayor
wassman after hearing the testimony
In the preliminary hearing of o. T.
Borham, charged with the murder OF
William Con in that city on the morn.
ing OF February 18th.
The preliminary hearing was held In
the mayors office last night AMI at
the request of Borham. with the con.
currencs of Prosecuting Attorney shep.
pard. who represented the state, and
Attorney H. G. Grant. OF Wheeling,
counsel for the defense, the bearing
was conducted In private, only the Wit.
nesses, attorneys. newspaper men and
a few friends and relatives being ad.
mitted. This caused great disappoint-
ment to hundreds OF people. who glib
ed into the city hall to get a glimpse
OF Borham. Many protests were made
by parties inside and outside the city
building when 1t was learned the hear
ing was to be private.
About four witnesses were examin-
ed and the testimony adduced in about
the same as that given at the coron-
er's inquest on Tuesday. The only
thing clearly established was that Cor
threatened to whip Borham and fol-
lowed this up by striking him.
The first witness called was DR..
Meeks, who, with DIR. Mcclellan, per.
formed the post mortem examination
on the body of Con. He stated that
death vas the result of hemorrhage.
caused by a bullet which had entered
the chsst Of Con, seyering the main
artery leading from the heart and lodg-
ing In the spinal column. The bullet
went straight into the body and the
wound was sufficient to cause death.
Florence Hartwig. proprietor of the
barber shop in the basement of the
Dollar Savings Bank. was the next wit.
ness. He testified that he, with q
party OF friends, went into the Elk.
change hotel about 8 O'Clock and saw
Borham asleep in a chair in the bar.
Later BoTham came into the hotel OF.
flee. Cor was there also. There was
no disturbance as far as he could re.
member. He heard Con say he would
whip that man, but could not tell to
whom he referred. Witness stated Dor.
ham left the hotel Office. Hartwis aud
his party left about 1880 o'clock.
When they went on the street Coz fol.
lowed them out.
Borham was standing against the
hotel window. Goff struck Borham.
knocking the later,s hat of, and when
he ATTEMPTED to pick it up, COT kick
ed Borham. 1t was then that the fatal
shot was fred, and Goff fell on the
pavement. Witnesses heard the re-
port Of the shot, but did not SEQ re-
Volver, neither did he g Bortam
shoot.
Lieutenant John stobef, who. with
Officers Johnson and Davis, arrested
Borham, described the arrest. He stat
ed that Borham was fearful that some
two men named Davis and Piper we're
after him threatening to kill him. He
talked to Borham about 1880 a. m.
Tuesday about the Goff affair. Bor-
ham stated that when Goff struck him
everything seemed to grow. black, and
not knowing what he did he pulled
the gun and shot. oalcer Simpson
was the last to testify. He stated he
heard The report Of a gun and made
an investigation. He said he found
Gof lying on the pavement in front
OF the Exchange hotel. He was bleed
ing ~profusely from the mouth. He
was still living. bat expired in a few
minutes.
AT this juncture the State and de.
Tense rested. and after a few instruc.
tons from Prosecuting Attorney shep.
pard. Mayor wassman held Borham
to the grand jury on the charge OF
murder. without bail. He was taken
to st. c~lairsyille to-day.