The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-01-22
FRS. BLAIR HELD
FOR THE CRIME
FIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE COR
ONER'S JURY. II
ate- -Mortem Statement of the Dying
4 Man Makes Case More and More
81 Complicated. ....,. 3
!, stnfa 1otl,

q The jury reached verdict at 2.45
'this morning, their decision being that
EConductor Blair came to his death
from gunshot wound inflicted by
his wife. ... ...
I No tragedy in several years has
scaused so much interest as the killing
sof Conductor Cullen w. Blair by his
.wife, Ethel Darlington Blair. The
deccascd was popular conductor on
brains between Columbia and Laurens.
His wife is a handsome woman, sew
seral years his junior. 1t is said they
zauarreled frequently. Thursday she
killed him. It is now to be determin-
Ad how much at fault, if aught, the
oman is.
a The first step taken by the law was
s8he arrest Of Mrs. Blair. The next
step was the inquisition by the coron-
Eer. The work done by Coroner r. ID.
sWalker on this case is very creditable.
sHe has managed to get hold Of ma
gterial witnesses and of strong ar
siay of facts. At the inquest he had
sSolicitor George Bell Zimmerman
sprescnt and Mrs. Blair was represen-
5ted by Mr.. John j. McMahan Of the
firm of Lyles & McMahan.
81 There we're several discrepancies
Din the testimony. Some of the wit
snesses were out Of the room while 9TH
sers were testifying. DR.. A. B.'Know-
ston gave. the ante-mortem statement
Sof the dying conductor.
II Mean must this man have been as,
with death clutching his vitals, he u.s.
Red the brush to blacken the name OF
shis wife and the heritage Of his chill
saren if he deliberately falsified. His
abatement was that he was sitting on
This trunk quarreling with his wife
about her alleged intimacy with a
Iganan named Arms when she fired up
22on him, inflicting the mortal wound.
n And yet his wife's testimony puts
Gan entirely different aspect on the
situation. She declares herself to have
&been the one attacked. There were
etwo witnesses yesterday who declare
fthat they saw the fatal difficulty and
yet the cook testified that one OF
these witnesses was in kitchen at the
time and this same witness could not
remember that the other witness was
in the room.
a coroner's inquest is not a. trial
and it may be that the conflicting de-
tails will tend t. confirm one general
whole, for if all the testimony we're
alike it would appear mechanical. The
discrepancies were such, however, that
they served to confuse the jury.
The inquest was held last night in
the work room at Mccormick &
Pletscher's. In small private room,
not ten feet frcm the witness stand,
lay the body Of Cullen w. Blair. a
great many railroad men were present
as witnesses or as interested cspecta-
tors.
The remains of Conductor Blair
will be shipped to Ashboro, N. c.,
for burial. Mr.. Blair's mother and his
two brothers, who came to the city
yesterday, will accompany the corpse
to Ashboro, where interment will be
made tomorrow morning.
The first witness sworn was Engin-
eer Graham, who had come in on the
run from Laurens the day of the
homicide. He had seen Capt. Blair
several times on the trip and had not
observed that the latter had been
drinking at all. Indeed he appeared to
be perfectly sober. The train arriv-
ed here about 11.50 and he did not
sec the deceased afr that time. Capt.
Blair had always had tile reputation
Of being quiet, steady man, and wit
ness had but once seen him under the
Influence Of intoxicants, and even
then it might have been that Blair
had taken too much of a patent medi.
cine which he used frequently to re-
lieve the pain from which he suffer-
ed.
The next witness sworn was DR.. A.
-. AhoWlloll, WHO SWofc InaC Tile Dall
entered from the left and upper part
of the abodmen, passing entirely
through the body and coming out just
at the point Of the hip on the opposite
side Of the body, showing a downward
tendency. He had held a post-mortem
to see if there was any alcohol in the
man IS system and he could find none.
The Ante Norton Statement.