Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-05-06
DEFENCE.
CONTINUED from Page one.)

contention he called to the stand DR..
John NJ. Allen of st. Johnsbury. -
DR.. Allen, after saying that he had
practieed medicine for q years. stated
that he had made speciality of asep-
tic surgery and had also paid partic-
utar attention to gunshot wounds and
firearms. He had examined the re-
volver with which Heath is supposed
to have been shot, he said and had
discovered that it did not stay cooked
on all the chambers all the time. He
| had discovered that it could be dis
| charged by dropping it on the Gocr
and even by dropping it On a pill
| low, when the hammer WAS either at
| full or half cock. He then gave a
demonstration for the benefit of the
| jury, dropping the revolver several
| times at half cock and several times
at fun cock, and on all bat three oc-
casiCns the hammer went forward.
N answer to a serious Of hypotheti-
cal questions, DR.. Allen declared that
one could not shoot a person standing
erect and have the bullet cause such
wound as was found on Heath UNI
less the person doing the shooting
was on the floor or the victim stand
ing on his head.
Then, using Samuel Richardson as
a model. DIR. Allen demonstrated that
for such wound to be inflicted on
a person on his knees, engaged in
painting a Dashboard it would be nee
essary for the muzzle of the revol-
yer. if held at distance of So feet
from the person shot, to be on the
L., .,I+- A..
where Heath died was not large
enough to allow a person On his knees
to be shot at the angle named by
the autopsy and the expert medical
Witnesses.
When shown the froek worn by
Heath, DIR. Allen said that in his opin-
ion the shot that entered Heath's
body was fired at almost precisely
the same angle described by DR. stone.
WAS it possible" ha was asked.
for a person feet 3 inches tall (Nlrs.
Dodge's heighD TO have made this
shot and taken aim"
NO he answered.
When Attorney General Sargent be
gan the cross examination of DR. Allen
he had the witness place Richardson,
against the wall and demonstrate that
the measurement from the sub-axil-
larry axis to the wall was Az inches
and then the witness admitted under
Questioning that the point below the
third rib, similar to the spot where
Heath was shot, was approximately
l-2 inches nearer the wall than the
b-axillary axis. Further grilling by
| the attorney general brought the ad-
| mission that n L.
knees, with his body parallel with the
| floor and was shot the way Heath was
| shot. the point Of exit of the bullet
would be , 1-2 inches nearer the floor
| than the place where the bullet entered
| the body. Then the witness admitted
as mathematical sequence, that if
the bullet emerged from the body at q
| point nearer the floor than where il
entered the body, it must have been
hred from a point above the body in
stead OF from point below, as he
mad testified on direct examination.
| The noon recess gave Dr. Allen tenn
porar& respite, but when the afternoon
session opened the attorney general
| again numbered his batteries With
| states Attorney Amey on the floor to
| portray the position i'm which Heath Is
fsald BY the prosecution to have been
| When he met his death, Attorney Cen
eral Sargent asked the witness to place
a pointer on MIR. Amey's body to show
the course the bullet would take to
pass through his body as it passed
through the body of Heath. After the
| pointer was placed in position DR. Al
len was asked TO take q position Is
| feet distant and while eiftina ap 4J,o
platform Of the witness stand, which is
/ Z ga inches high, he was asked to aim