East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-11-19
Accused Murderer Ieslifes
in His Own Defense With
Dramatic Effect.
DECLARES SHOOTING DONE
TO SAVE HIMSELF
Says Dixon Struggled With Him for
Several Minutes Prior to Shooting
Ryan Denies He Secured Gun to
Intercept Shubcrt-AlsO Denies He
Was One to Start Fatal Controversy
-Dixon's Eight-year-old Son Gre
ates Sensation in Court.

Dramatically illustrating the strug-
gle which he insists occurred at the
time the tragedy was enacted, Mike
Ryan took the stand in his own be-
half this morning. The accused man
insists that Dixon not only grabbed
the gun after he had warned Dixon
and Shubert to keep back away from
him four or five times, but that the
two of them struggled for few sec
onds before he shot to protect him
self from his assailant who, he de-
clared, was a much larger and
stronger man.
Ryan also insisted that he did not
go to his house after his gun TO in
tercept Shubert when he saw the
latter coming up the road, but other
wise his testimony did not differ a
great deal from that of the states
chief witness. He said he had been
engaged in poisoning and trapping
squirrels during the day and that he
had gone to the house about $3.50 to
get his gun to shoot coyotes which
had been carrying off the trapped
squirrels and likewise the traps When
he met Shubert in the road, he said
he was on his way from his cabin to
the grain field where he was killing
squirrels, with a fresh supply of pois-
oned wheat. He insisted that the
controversy did not start because he
had forbidden Shubert the use of the
lane but because the latters horses
had SHE'D at him as he stood inside
the fence and Shubert had demanded
to know II he was trying to scare his
horses. The verbal controversy.
which resulted in Shubert leaving his
team tied to the fence and going on
home foot after Dixon, then ensued.
Ryan testified that he had been
a resident of the county for 81 years
and that he had lived on his present
ranch where the tragedy occurred
for the past 32 years.
The state closed its case on intro
duction of direct testimony early in
the forenoon much to the surprise OF
every one except the attorneys for
the state A short recess was taken.
after which the introduction of tes-
timony for the defense was begun.
The feature of the late afternoon
session of the trial yesterday was the
testimony of little Harry Dixon, the
eight-year-old son of the dead man.
He was present az the time his faith
er was shot and with the exception
of the men enga ged In enacting the
tragedy was the only eye witness. The
sensational part Of his testimony was
the tnsisfent declaration that after
Ryan had wounded his father and
Shubert that he had also fired a shot
at him. He said also, that later
when he and his mother came back
to look for his father that Ryan plac-
ed another cartridge into his gun and
frightened them away.
Despite his youth the little fellow
did not get confused and though his
story of the tragedy differed some-
what from that of Shubert and Ryan
he stuck to his story with per-
slstency that elected the wonder and
admiration of the audience.
When shown map of the scene
of the tragedy, which he said he had
not seen before. he pointed out what
he thought to be the positions of the
actors in the tragedy, without much
difficulty. While on the witness stand
he seemed the most composed of any
witness of the day. frequently keep
ing the lawyers waiting for his ans
wers while studying please Don't
Spit on the Floor" sign on the wall.
e. C. Simmonds and Frank Beal,