The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-26
WITNESSES TELL OF
L|DDON KILLING
AT PRELIMINARY
Three Shots Were Fired at the
Hotel Man, Two Of Which
Took Effect
r. L. ALEXANDER IS
CHARGED WITH CRIME
The State Again Wished Case Con-
tinued but Judge Benners Refused
to Allow It-Hearing Re-
sumed This Morning

| terday afternoon in Judge Benners di
| vision of the inferior criminal court, ant
after a slight tilt between the attorney
the taking of testimony was begun
The state wished the case continued, bu
Judge Benners refused to allow it.
Several witnesses had been examined
when adjournment time came at 5 o'clock
The hearing will be taken up again a
$50 o'clock this morning. The witnesses
placed upon the stand yesterday were DR.
w. P. McAdory, Gordon (BucD Smith
who was with Liddon at the time of thu
shooting: Doctor H. M. Reese, ]. I
Weatherford James Williams, John Deer
field, M. L. Deriberry and L. L. Woody
None of these witnesses saw the first sho
fired.
A crowd of several hundred people
jammed the courtroom almost to tn,
point of suffocation. There was no seat
in the place, but the Interested audienc'
stood up for several hours, almost stand
ing on each others shoulders in the eff
fort to see the witnesses and catch ever
word that was being said
By consent of the defense, DIR. w. P
McAdory was allowed to relate wha
DIR. w. W.. Long had told him of Lid
don's wounds. DR.. Long, it is said per
formed the postmortem examination upor
Liddon's body. At the present time HI
is in Chicago, his father being Ill there
Had Two Wounds
There we're two wounds said DR.. Nc
Adory. zone bullet struck the left from
side of the face between the eye and the
ear, close to the hair. 1t went UP to-
ward the top of the skull and lodged be
meath the brain. The other bullet en-
tered the left side of the back, about the
eighth rib and ranged upward for sew
eral inches under the skim
Upon cross-examination DIR. McAdor,
stated that in his opinion the bulle
wound In the head was sufficient to cause
death. and that the immediate effect Of
1t would have been to produce uncon.
seriousness. In his opinion. a man after
receiving such a wound would not have
been able to reason or know what he
was doing. The bullet which entered the
side or back, he stated, did not enter the
chest cavity.
When asked If this bullet could have
been detected by a rib, he replied tina
DR.. Long had stated that the rib did no
change its course. Replying to the ouer,
as to whether or not the wound coult
have been inflicted If the wounded mar
had been standing up, he replied:
THE man shooting would have beer
compelled to stand on his head, in my
opinion. to inflict such wound II the
wounded person happened to be standing
up, or both the person shooting and the
person shot would have had to be on the
same level
Dr. McAdory also told of anoth er
bruise on the right side of Liddon's
forehead, which he had probably re.
ceived when his head struck the pave
ment.
Smith Was with Liddon
Buck" (Gordon) Smith was the next
witness. He stated that he he'd been
employed by Liddon in the capacity
Of electrician at the Seminole hotel.
Il knew Mr.. Liddon, having work ed
for him off and on for the past is
months as. electrician at the Seminole
hotel" said the witness ION the day
of the shooting we left the hotel to-
gether at about S:15 o'clock. We
stopped a moment at First avenue and
Nineteenth street to catch a ball park
car, but missing \one decided to walk
on down Nineteenth street to Second
avenue to catch one.
1--WE were crossing Second avenue.
having just passed the street car track
nearest the Florence corner. Liddon
hesitated a moment. He was about
two feet behind me. ] said 'Howdy'
to three men who were standing at
the mail box on the corner, then a
shot was fired. 1t passed SO close to
me that the powder burnt my face. lid
don at the time was about two and
half or three feet from the tracks.
and 1 was facing the mail box d.
rectly on the corner, rather looking
northeast. The last time I saw him
before he was shot he was looking
down Nineteenth street.
IT didn't hear any words before the
first shot was fred I turned and
saw him falling lengthwise, his hands
over his head, and his head falling
toward the Pastime theatre on tn e
northeast corner, and the second shot
was fred. There was a slight pause
and the third shot was fred. Liddon
was falling while the third shot was
fired.
"Liddon and myself had walked
down the street side by side and were
never more than two feet apart from
the time we left the theatre until
the time he was shot l didn't see
Alexander until after the third shot
had been fred. He walked up to Lid
don, then turned and walked down
Nineteenth street past the entrance to
the Florence cigar store. knew Of
no trouble between the two men be-
ycnd the other shooting"
Attorney b. M. Allen for the de-
tense then took up the cross examina-
ton and endeavored to question the
witness relative to the "other shoot
ing" which was the killing of Alex
ander's brother by Liddon in the Sem
mole hotel several days prior to the
killing of Liddon. The state entered
strenuous objection and Judge Ben
ners sustained 1t.
Reese ON Pisits Corner
Doctor" H. M. Reese was the next
witness. He stated that his profess
sion was that Of druggist, but that
at the present time he was operating
the Colonial hotel, having taken charge
of II several days ago.