East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-11-18

Insisting that he bore no i'll will
against Mike Ryan, yet admitting
that he had wished a thousand times
that Ryan was dead and admitting
| that he had told his wife the neigh
porhood would be better off with
Ryan dead and out of the way, Jacob
Shubert furnished the only sensation
| of the day in the Ryan murder trial.
He said that a few years ago, when
Ryan was lying at the point of death
| as the result of a runaway accident,
| that he had hoped that Ryan would
| die, stating in explanation that he
thought Ryan would be better off out
of his misery and that the neighbor-
hooi would be better off for the rea-
son that Ryan was trouble maker.
Shubert was kept on the stand most
of the day and was succeeded by II.
Z. Neuner, a farmer residing near
the Ryan and Shubert farms. He is
still on the stand and his testimony
will be important as corroborating
that of Shubert.
TIL first witness called this morn
ing was Mrs. Dixon, widow of the
man who was killed. She was called
to the stand at that time merely to
tell of the identity of her husband
and the manner and time of his
death. She may be called to the
stand later in the trial.
Following the widow, Jacob Shu-
bert, employer of the man who was
killed, and the man Ryan desired to
kill. was next placed on the stand
to tell the story of the tragedy and
the events leading up to it.
According to the testimony of this
witness he had driven to Milton the
afternoon of the tragedy and was re-
turning in his hack when in passing
the Miner farmhouse he noticed Ry-
an enter his own house and imme-
diately reappear with a gun in his
right hand. The attention of Mr..
Miner was called to this fact and
Shubert asked Miner to accompany
him past the Ryan farm. Miner de-
clined to do so. however. as he was
lame and would not have been able
to walk back.
After the conversation with Miner.
Shubert says he continued on his
way and that when he reached
point in the lane, nearly opposite the
Ryan house, the defendant appeared
before him and with his gun leveled.
commanded him to stop. He forbade
him proceeding along the lane. al
leging that all but four feet of il
was on his (Ryan's )land Ryan also
proceeded to point out the boundary
line by means of a. rock which had
been placed as a mark
As RYAN OarSiStpd in
ing attitude 10 refuse to allow him to
pass along the lane. Shubert says he
tied his horses to the fence and keep
ing on the four foot Of lane which
Ryan did not claim, made his way
home on foot.
Later he returned in company with
his hired man, Edward Dixon. When
they arrived at the place where Shu-
bert had been stopped they could not
find the horses. 1t was dark by this
time and seeing a dark object over
in n pasture the witness testified that
Dixon said. "oome on. maybe this is
one of the horses out here" Ac-
cordingly they crawled through the
wire fence. and as they were ap-
the object. Dixon in front
of Shubert, the object arose and they
saw 1t was Ryan. The latter com
manded them TO keep back or he
would kill them
4 controversy then ensued. during
which time Shubert says the three
men moved in a circle with Dixon rs
the pivot. The witness declared that
Ryan kept moving around so that
he could get a shot at him. while he
in turn kept moving around so as to
keep his hired man between him