The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-20
Mrs. Jones Not Compelled to
Testify at Inquest Into
Sheppard Killing.
EYE WITNESS RECOUNTS
STORY OF THE SHOOTING
Says Slayer Expressed Regret
That He Could Not Take
Own Life.


F. Sheppard, who was shot and killed
by John A. Jones. railway mail clerk
Mt the Wellington hotel at / O'Clock
Tuesday morning. was begun before
Stanley A, Hanks, justice Of the peace,
Tuesday afternoon, and will be complet-
ed this morning ut 9;30 o'clock Jones
and his wife. who was formerly Miss
Velma Cowden, were taken to the court
room at $3.50 o'clock by Patrolman
Patterson. Mrs. Jones was also ac-
companied by her sister, Miss Daisy
L. Cowden. who remained with her DUR
ing the entire night while she was held
| In the city Jail as witness. Mrs.
Jones was almost hysterical during the
entire time she was in the courtroom,
and came near fainting several times.
She refused to testify at the inquest on
account of her physical condition, and
as she could not be compelled TO testify,
inasmuch as she is the wife of the man
charged with the murder, Justice
Hanks, with the consent of Assistant
County Attorney Bowman, ordered her
| discharged from custody, and she was
afterward taken to her mother IS home
In the Salt Lake Security and Trust
building.
Jones was represented in court by
|
witnesses were examined during the
afternoon session of court, George Har-
ris, n former policeman, who arrested
Jones, and John E. Young, an employee
of the O'Donnell undertaking estab
lishment, who took charge of Shep-
pard s body and removed it TO the un-
dertaking rooms.
At the session Wednesday W. O.
Adams, the night clerk at the Yelling
ton hotel, where the shooting occurred,
will be called as a witness, and after
his testimony the inquest will close.
The coroner s jury summoned by
Constable Peter Hanson is composed of
II. l.. Driver A V. Thomson and j. II.
Tracy. Before any testimony was
taken they. viewed the body at the un-
tertaking rooms.
Eye Witness to Shooting.
George Harris was the first witness
called. He is at present employed ON
the Bamberger road, and was at the
depot, Just north of the Wellington
hotel, when he heard the first shots
fired, while Jones, Sheppard and Mrs.
ten minutes to l clock. he said, when
he heard the shots He then started
! toward the west entrance to the hotel,
which is on the corner Of Third
West and South Temple streets, and
saw Sheppard rushing out of the door,
|
ing at him. Jones was followed shortly
by his wife. After they left the
entrance to the hotel he declared that
Jones fired two shots before Sheppard
| fell, and he then stood over him and
fred two more shots into his victim g
head.
Harris said he rushed at Jones and
commanded him to drop his gun, where
upon Jones started to run north toward
the rear of the hotel building. Harris
overlook him and placed him under ar.
rest, and upon the arrival of Officer
Cassidy, turned HIM over to the officer.
Motive for Shooting.
The first evidence offered touching
upon the motive for the crime was given
by Harris. He said that after he caught
Jones the latter asked him if Sheppard
were dead, and he informed him that he
thought he was. Jones then said that
he shot Sheppard because he had been
intimate with his wife and had stolen
her affections from him. He also said
left, so he could kill himself. Harris
declared that Jones appeared to be
very much excited.
John F.. Young, an employee OF
O'Donnell &c Co., testified that he ar
rived at the scene OF the murder about
l:2o o'clock, and took charge Of the
body. After it was removed to the
undertaking rooms he examined it and
found bullet wound back of the left
ear, and Sheppard 8 right eye was black
underneath it, which indicated that the
bullet must have lodged near the. eye.
There were also two bullet wounds on
the upper right arm, one on the left
forearm and one on the right side.
These were all the wounds on the per
son of Sheppard.
Wife Refuses to Testify.
There were no other witnesses pres
ent in court, and after Mrs Jones re.
fused to testify, and the court de-
cided that she could not be compelled
TO do so, an adjournment was taken
until this morning, when the inquest
will be concluded.
Jones was taken back to his cell in
the city Jail by Officer Patterson and
Mrs. Jones was taken to her mother 8
home by her sister. In tho encounter
Mr.. Jones sprained his right ankle and
was hardly able TO walk Tuesday, when
he was taken to court He appeared te
be calm while in court and took great
interest in the proceedings. A number
of his friends called upon him at the
jail and he talked freely with them
concerning the affair, He also made n
statement to the newspaper men IN
which he said that he had tried TO keep
from doing the deed, but worry about
the loss of his wife s affections for sew
eral months past compelled him to take
the step he did.
Husband Makes Statement.
tsMy wife and I had lived happily to-
eether.D he said, "ever since our mar
riage in this city on July Is, 1908. L
on January Z the relations
between my wife and Sheppard, and on
January II ! saw them out together.
Sheppard was scenic artist and was
employed at the Grand theater, whore
my wife played in tho orchestra. 1