The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-03-20
THE ASSAULT ON ALDERMAN Nc
IVER
The Preliminary Trial Saturday..
,. Robertson and J. -. Spencer
Tried as Accee-ories

Dean, for assault with intent TO muir
der Alderman McIver on the night
of Saturday. March :, and Hon. John
D. Robertson and Mr.. J. H. Spencer,
as coDspirators in bringing said as
sault about and accessories before the
fact. occupied all day Saturday. and
long into he night
The case was tried before Hon. Jo-
seph Bell. county Judge, and there
was long list of witnesses.
The parties connected with the af-
fair, all being prominent citizens. nat
uraTy he case attracted a great deal
of interest. and the court house was
crowded "a both the day and night
sessions.
As the editor of this paper was a
witness and was put under the rule,
he heard no other evidence at the trial
but his own. He is forced therefore
to give a history of it as he saw it
and as il was told TO him.
On Saturday afternoon Mr.. D. E.
McIver. who is building or preparing
to build a rock saructure Immediately
opposite this Office, was inspecting it,
and happened to say to US that Mr..
Robertson objected to his putting the
sand in front of his building and also
disputed a bill that he held against
Mr.. Robertson for a certain amount
.of cement, and was disposed to make
trouble about it. He said that he in
tended to remove the sand and would
rather lose the cement bin than have
any unpleasantness about it. He said,
however. that his partner, Mr.. Mac
Kay, did not take that view of it and
intended to force its collection.
The following night, tO-wit: Satur-
day, March Z, we happened to meet
Mr.. Robertson very nearly at the hour
of ten o'clock, and in a conversation
he said to us that Mr.. McIver was
drinking and seemed disposed to seek
a difficulty with him, and on asking
him what the trouble was about he
said it was about a cement bill that
Mr.. McIver claimed he owed him, and
which he denied.
We said 10 him that Mr.. McIver
happened to be talking TO us about
this affair and we were confident that
he did not feel reSentful about it, and
repeated TO him what Mr.. McIver had
said to us. We told Mr. Robertson
that we thought he was doing Mr.. Nc
liver an injustice, as we gathered from
his conversation that he was rather
friendly TO him than otherwise. He
said: ''Oh, yes. he is friendly toward
me, because he threatened to put me
under a peace bond" Mr.. Robertson,
on asking him what for, Mr.. McIver
replied that some time before he
(Robertson) had told him (McIver)
TO get his gun, and he regarded that
as a threat.
We then said to him that perhaps
Mr.. McIver was a little excited, and
that if h would follow our advice he
would keep his temper and go home.
He replied that he thought he would
do so. We then returned to our Of
fee, and not long afterwards heard
someone Justify calling for the police.
We quickly went to the scene of COM
motion and found that Policeman
No., ho1 7,,c+ ,,odo On oSCoult ~, Al
derman McIver
We talked to a great many persons
who were present, and all agreed that
Dean had made the assault, but none
J. of them seemed to know why he did
so.
We talked TO Mr.. owens, Mr.. Wat
terson Tucker and some others who
were witnesses in the case yesterday
but heard nothing indicating a con-
spiracy until the following Monday.
Mr.. Snyder testified that about the
hour Of ten o'clock, just before he
closed his store, that Mr.. Dean was
in it. although some of the witnesses
testify that precisely at that time he
was standing near Mr. Robertson when
he was having his conversation with
US.
AIrr. Spencer testified that he heard
the loud talk between Mr.. McIver and
Mr.. Robertson. and fearing that there
would be some trouble, told Policeman
Dean about it and said that he had
better be on hand to prevent it.
Mr. McIver stated that at the time
the assault was made upon him by
the policeman he was in conversation
with Congressman Lamar, and Dean
walked up to him and said that he
heard that he had been making re-
marks about him, and that he held
his pistol near his face with one hand
and struck him with the other; that
he awaited his opportunity and pin
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