The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-16
MURDERED ON THE
 PUBLIC HIGHWAY John B. Houten Killed Near
 Ground Hog, Ala. CORONER SEES MYSTERY Jury EmpaneIled Finds that Houten Came to Death at Hands of Per
 sons "Not Publicly
 Known"
CORONER SEES MYSTERY

whom little could be learned yesterday ex-
 cept that he was unpopular in his com
 munty for several reasons. fact which
 lends interesting circumstances to the case. was shot from ambush and killed
 shortly after midnight Sunday morning
 at place called Ground Hog, in Beat
 and in the extreme northwestern part
 of Jefferson county 20 miles out from Bessemer.
 The case of the murder of Houten, &C.,
 cordng to the views of Coroner B. L. Brasher, who investigated the killing yes- terday, presents some very ugly phases. The body of the murdered man was found
 in an isolated place at the fork of two
 roads near Ground Hog yesterday morn- ing about o'clock. A passerby found the remains and at o'clock Houten had evt- denty been dead for more than an hour.
 Houten's body bore two gunshot
 wounds one inflicted with shotgun
 and the other with Smith & Wesson
 Special" of a .82 callbre. There is little doubt in the mind of the coroner that the man was shot from ambush and from the nature of the wounds he is lead to believe that the fatal shots were fired from very short range.
 The deceased mans left side, accord ing to the statement of the coroner, was very badly riddled with squirrel shot,
 which were scattered in a circle less than
 foot in diameter. It is presumed that the entire load of shot penetrated the
 mans body The other wound was in- ficted by a pistol ball, which took ef-
 feet squarely in the breast.
 Coroner Brasher states that all evil dence which could be ascertained yester- day tended to show that Houten was
 waylaid by two men, one armed with
 shotgun and the other with the revolver.
 No weapon was found on Houten. The coroner states that it Is his belief that
 Houten's assassins were hidden in the
 bushes along the side of the road and 1t
 is presumed that as the man passed he
 was fired upon with the shotgun and nor
 tally wounded.
 Coroner Brasher states that from all in-
 dicatons the pistol ball was fired into
 Houten's body after he had been felled by the shotgun wound He states that ap- | parently the man armed with the re- volven stood directly over Houten and | fired down upon him. The pistol ball passed entirely through Houten's body | and was found lodged in the back of his
 coat This is the circumstance which
 leads Coroner Brasher to believe that the
 man was shot with the pistol after he had already been shot down, it being believed l that the impact of the bullet against the l ground stopped its course and caused 1t | to lodge in the back of Houten's coat. | The murder was reported by telephone | to George w. Jones, chief deputy sher- | if at Bessemer, immediately after it was | discovered. This was shortly after l o'clock MT. Jones, in turn, reported the 1 matter to the county Jail, after which l Coroner Brasher was notified. It was l found that the quickest approach to | Ground Hog was to go to Bessemer by l street car and then drive through the 1 country 20 miles, almost to the divid- | ing line between Jefferson and Walker | counties. Coroner Brasher left Birming- l ham on the first Bessemer car and in 1 company with Deputy sneriff J. N. Smith son of Bessemer proceeded immediately to | the scene.
 | After the coroner had looked over the ground he empaneled jury and went into an official investigation of the case. | Coroner Brasher states that there was | no evidence about the scene of the shoot | ing which would indicate who the mur- derers were. However. the coroner states
 that circumstantal evidence secured Is | kery strong against William Houten.
 son of the murdered man.
 | It seems that young Houten has been
 living with his father, and the home of | the old man was examined for evidence, which was not secured. It is understood,
 however, that young Houten went to the l house of a MT. Norwood, about a mile and half distant from the scene of the
 shooting An investigation in the line of | the implication of the son followed and
 the premises of the Norwood home were
 searched for a weapon.
 ] Coroner Brasher states that he found | hidden behind a picture in the Norwood home Smith & Wesson Special .32 calibre revolver corresponding with the | calbre of the bullet found lodged in | the back of Houten's coat. An examina- | tion of the chambers of this revolver re- vealed the fact that all chambers were empty and that the pistol had been fired | only a short time before 1t was found, which was evident from the fact that the barrel of the gun contained burned
 powder and the black grease which Is left i in gun after 1t has been fired.
 | The coroner states that these features | of the evidence tended strongly to impli- | cate William Houten, the son, and he said
 last night that he expected the jury em- | paneled to investigate the case to order
 young Houten held, but that instead the
 verdict which was returned was that Houten came to his death as the result | of gunshot wounds inflicted by parties mot publicly known" Coroner Brasher 1 states that while there was no direct evil l dence against young Hout-n, the crrcum- | stantial evidence against him was strong 1 enough to warrant his commission to the
 county jail until thorough investiga- | tion of the case might be held.
 l It Is the implied opinion of Coroner
 Brasher that the jurys verdict may have
 been influenced by the feeling which ex- i! isted against the murdered man in the | community in which he lived. The | Coroner's words were that the people who lived around him apparently didn't | care If Houten was dead"
 The coroner states that the people of