Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-14
TAKE
THE WRONG TRAIN
Trial of J. D. Harris Is De-
Iayed-Story of Events
Before Shooting.
Special Dispa tch. to The Star.

Special DiSpa tch. to Zine star.
MANASSAS, Va, June 14.--The first
delay in the cast Of Prof. j. d. Harris.
who is on trial in the circuit court of
this county for the killing OF Editor
W. A. Thompson of WarrentOn, Va, in
that town April -, 1908, came this
morning, when the court was compelled
to take a recess at IL o'clock until l
o'clock, owing to the fact that some of
the important witnesses for the com
monwealth had taken a through train
at Calverton this morning by mistake
and had been carried past Manassas
to Alexandria.
1t was suggested that the defense
might begin the Introduction Of its evil
dence and suspend when the absent
witnesses for the state came, but Har-
ris' attorneys refused to do this.
The first witness called by the proseeu-
ton was DIR. Maphis of Warrenton. who
testified that he examined Thompson a
short time after the shooting and found
three pistol wounds upon. his bOdy-one in
the right thigh and two in the abdomen.
Any Of these would haveAproVed fatal, he
said
The first objection that has. been made
to the ruling Of the , court came :a , whet.
n
stand and asked by the commonwealth S
attorney to tell of a short. conversation
he had with Thompson just subsequent
to the shooting. In this conversation
the man now dead told the witness that
he had been shot full of holes and was
going to die. This testimony was allowed
over the objection OF the defense and
Harris attorneys noted an exception TO
the ruling of the court.
A. r. Bartenstsin was next, called, and
LODI hot he iS
Of the Fauquier circuit court for the past
nine years. He produced the clothing
worn by Thompson the evening upon
which he was killed. and also .9S liver
tl,e one taken from Harris just after
Thompson had been shot.
Dead Man Not Armed.
That Thompson was not armed on the
night of the tragedy was stated by Henry
I. Hutton, Who swore that he examined
the pockets Of the editors clothing i'm
mediately after the shooting and that he
found nothing except a few dollars in
money and q small dog whistle.
Henry GIasscock a warm personal
friend of the dead man. was the next
witness. He testified that he met Thomp-
son on the street in Warrenten on the
day Of the homicide and went with him
and man named Gibbs to Fishers sa-
loon. where they had several drinks A
little later the three men went to Holmes
bar. where they had more drinks
1t was not long after they left the last
named place that the shooting took place
bat the witness could remember nothing
about it. The defense undertook to show
from Mr.. Glasscock that he was biased
and had strong personal feeling against
Harris. The witness said that Harris
had killed his friend and it was nat
ural that he should feel hostile toward
him. Mr. Mccormick asked the witness
this question:
Did you not, at the former trial of
this case in Warrenton. with a big stick
in your hands, speak in loud tone of
voice against Mr.. Harris, saying I ought
to kill him'?''
The Witness made a vigorous denial of
having made such statement, but adj
mitted that he was hostile to the de-
PENDANT. MIR. Giueseoek further admitted
that he had stopped speaking to A. r.
Strother because the latter had testified
for Harris at the trial of the case in
Warrenton.
At this point recess was taken. Sit
ting beside the prisoner in the courtroom
today were his brothers. Drs. J. e. Har-
ris and ". L. Harris OF Berryville. and
Norfolk. respectively; his sister. Mrs. w
S. Bradley and her husband of Charlotte
n. c., and State Senator ]. B. Elm Of
Brunswick county, Va, an uncle