The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-01-07
Three Witnesses Testify Be
fore Court Adjourns
For the Day.
Two of Witnesses Claimed
They Saw the Shooting
But Were Too Far Distant
to Recognize the Party
But the Third Witness
Declared He Recognized
Penton - Testimony WIZ
Be Resumed To-Day.

Tae preliminary trial OF Frank Pen
lnn, OF Milton, charged with completely
Il the assassination OF Felix Corb!n,
q government witness, was begun be
fore Commissioner Marsh OF the fe"-
efal court yesterday afternoon, and
,lrae government Witnesses eXar!-
met before court adjourned for the
nigh,
When court convened there We're .
number Of interested spectators pres
eni, While seated within the railing :"
hear the testimony was Mrs Corhi2.
wife OF The murdered nan, in dec?
mourning. With Eer WAS her h'Jio
boy of Ave or six years. She listened
intertly to the testimony OF the lhlc2
witnes ses.
The case for the government was
handled by the assistant district atyC.
ney, Emmett Wilson, and II. s. Lats !
iaCted as counsel for the defendant.
after al. tho Witnesses had bee.
sworn, Mr.. Wilson called John 4.
Hanna. who un taking the stand said
he resided in Milton and was the pro
prietor of livery stable there Ho
said he Mas In his stable when the
shooting began but on running out 10
the sidewalk he eew g ieft.handed man
who was shooting continuously. Mr..
Hanna said he wac about one hundred
and thirty feet away from where the
shooting toOh place but would swear
! that it Was Frank PertOn who did the
/ shooting as i.c had known the defend
ant all his life. and he was also the
! first person jc reach the scene and
when he fuond Corbin lying face down
he was dead. Frank Penton, he said,
came UP tn The crowd about Ten min,
utes Later. Hanna said that he never
| haG any i'll feeling toward the defend
ant.
| GEORGE ALLEN.
! The next witness was George Allen,
| one Of the hack drivers, who, on taking
| the stand, said that he saw Felix Cor
bin talking to Frank Penton about four
minutes before the shooting: tina. he-
! was driving his hack from the station
and that he was in the livery stable
when the shooting commenced. Five
shots were fired, testified Allen. and
! then eXclaiming to Hannah that he
knew what the shooting meant, ho
ran upstairs for Hanna's gun, AMI
! then made his way toward the jail
where q crowd had gathered. Allen
corroborated IIanna's evidence as to
the finding OF the body and the arrival
OF PentOn. Cross-examined by the dc.
fense, he said he had testified againSt
the defendant al the coroner's Inquest
and that he and Penton, although now
good friends, had had some little
Ntiffs'' q couple of times. No undue
! interest had been taken by him in the
case, he said, or he had never ap-
preached any witness rs 10 how the,
should testify.
FRANK ALLEN.
| The next witness was Frank Allen.
! brother of George Allen who oorrobo-
rated his brothers evidence as TO
their seeing Corbin and Penton m
getheT previous TO the shooting ami
| that he saw some of the flashes fron,
the gun. Five shots were fired, he
said. Witness said he had seen Frank
/ Penton about fifteen minutes after the
shooting and heard him say, Some
people will think that | had something
to do with this bur ! never had
thing against this man"
! COUNSEL for Penton tried to sbak
! the testimony OF the witness, but with.
out effect Alien said that he was too
far away from the shooting to swear
who IT. vaS that fired the shots, ana
that when he reached the place where
Corbin was found. he was about three
feet nearer the sidewalk than when
he saw him with penton. He said he
was fully sixty yards away from the
shooting and could not say whether *
vas a left-handsd man or not.
At The conclusion of Aliens eY1-
dence Mr.. Wilson asked for an ad-
journment until 3 o'clock this morn.
ling.