Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-09-10
COULTER KILLING
NOT ACCIDENTAL
SAID WITNESSES
Two Negroes Corroborate Evi-
dence of Private Elan, Who
Says He Executed Unquah-
fed Order to Fire

Was Private Coulter killed by acct
dent?
Or was he killed as the result of an I'M
qualified order to fire" given by Lieut.
L. w Hazlehurst and executed by Pri-
vate Grover Elan?
Had Coulter been told, You are under
arrest" before he was fired on, or was
he simply told to halt?
These are tie questions the courtmar-
tial at Fort Mcpherson was engaged in
threshing out Wednesday morning.
Questions of military law relative to
whether or not the patrol squad had the
right to shoot under such circumstances
are being left in the background until
Il is clearly established exactly how the
shooting occurred.
Two alleged eye-witnesses to the shoot
ing testified Wednesday morning. Both
were negroes.
Charles Ogletree testified that he had
heard the order to halt given, and then
had heard the officer lieutenant Halle
hurst give the command, fire down on
that man." Otis Williams testified that
he heard the officer command, fire
down on him." During the cross exam
nation an attempt was made to discredit
the statements of both negroes.
DRUNK ON NEAR-BEER?
Decidedly the most interesting feature
of the morning session was the testimo-
ny of Private Clarence Z. Pinkston, who
was running away from the saloon with
Coulter when the order to malt was CIV
en-. who had been with Coulter in the sa-
loon and who testified that both he and
Coulter were intoxicated on near-beer.
Is near-beer Intoxicating? If so, how
many glasses does it take to make an
able-bodied soldier drunk? These were
some of the surprising questions raised
by the statement of Private PinkstoE
which was in substance as follows:
II Joined Private Coulter about 4
o'clock on the afternoon of August Z.
We drank some near-beer together be-
fore going to the Wells saloon. l had
about u glasses and Coulter had about
three. Then when we got to the Wells
saloon we each drank one more. Shortly
after o'clock, while we were in the sa-
loon somebody outside called that the
guard was coming, so Coulter and 1 ran
out the back door.
Then / heard the command to halt
and stopped but Coulter ran on toward
the reservation, while l started back tc
the guard. When 1 stopped, Coulter was
only four or five PAGES distant from me.
heard the command to halt three times.
Then right away after l stopped l heard
the command to halt given again. Then
heard a shot fired. ] had heard the
command to halt very plainly.
Il was intoxicated, though 1 could still
stay on my feet pretty well. Coulter
was intoxicated too. l don't know of
anything he drank except. the four glass
es Of near-beeE." r.tf a..-- .-a-.
On cross examination Pinkston. tesu-
fed that he halted, because he supposed
he would have been fired on if he hadn't
Corporal w. NJ. Jewell testified that he
helped take Coulter to the hospital in a
push-cart and that Coulter was appa-
rently dead when he arrived. DR.. Wal
ter Williams. first lieutenant of the med
ical reserve corps, testified as to the ma
ture of the wound and that it could have
been inflicted in the manner described
Tuesday by Private Elan. Lieut.. ID. NJ.
Chestonu, commanding Coulter's compa-
ny, testified that Coulter had been a man
of good character, that he had been en-
listed for more than FIVE years. ]. w.
Wells, a civilian, keeper of the near-beer
saloon which figures in the case, testi-
fed that he sold nothing but near-beer.
and that 1t was he who warned the SOL
diers that the patrol was coming.