The Cairo bulletin., 1911-11-01
capt. ARNTzEN
! FXONERATED BY
C0R0NER'S JURY
TN
Business Men Deliberate For
Thirty Minutes Before
Reaching Virdict
| A.
lSAYs SHOOTING JUsTIFIABLE
@s5i
Seven W'iine:.es Say They Did
| Not See Knife Until
/ After Tragedy
SAYS SHOOTING JUsTIFIABLE

After delibcrating for thirty min
utas, a jury composed OF ELK business
| mon. returned verdict late yester-
day afternoon generating Capt.
John b. Arntzen. master and owner
of the fcrryboat J. +. stephens, OF
any blame in connection with the
ldeath Of Louis voight. formerly em-
pIoyed on the stephens as fireman.
Immediately following the returning
OF the verdict. Capt. Arntzen was
released by Sheriff A. S. Fraser, who
had him In custody since Sunday af-
ternoon.
Arntzen declared on the witness
stand that voight tried twice to stab
| him with knife before he fired the
fatal shot. Seven witnesses, who
were In the saloon at the time OF the
shooting, told the jury they did not
see the knife mentioned by Arntzen
until after voight had been wound
ed Later Voight's hat was pointed
out to them, the witnesses testified.
and in it they saw the knife. with
the point up.
Capt Arntzen said Voight was en-
ployed on the ferryboat for 10 days
and that he paid him off Saturday.
Sunday morning he said yoight was
under the influence OF liquor when
he reported for duty
Qnarreled with Passengers
II asked him TO 80 to work, but he
argued with me-" Capt Artnzeu
said "Hc stayed on the boat and
when we reached the Missouri shore
he engaged in quarrel with scy-
eral Of the passengers. When we2Te-
turned to Illinois ] began to look for
some one to take his place. He fol-
lowed me up into town and before
we reached Rudy Laurents saloon
he asked me for money. refused to
give 1t to him. We entered the sa-
loon and when he agreed to so back
to the boat, pulled out my pocket
book and offered him some money.
II noticed that he was standing
unusually close TO the bar and when
looked down | saw he was holding
knife in his hand He said,
You've done me dirty and then he
struck at me, holding the knife In
his hand. warded off the blow and
he struck again backed out Of his
way and he followed me. didn't
know what else to do, SO shot him.
II was a case of him killing me or me
killing him would not have shot
him II could have avoided It."
Eyewitness Testifes.
b. G.. Hutchison. of 214 Eleventh
street, who was in the saloon at the
time of the shooting, testified that
he saw the two men at the bar, but
did not see them drinking. He
heard voice say, You've done me
dirty A few minutes later he
heard Capt Arntzen swear at
voight, and then he saw the fireman
strike at the captain.
"The captain warded of the
blow,9 testified Hutchson. Then
Rudy Laurent stepped from behind
the bar and as voight struck at The
captain the second time. be warded
off the blow. AS Laurent came from
behind the bar. Capt. Arntzen
pulled out his gun and fired. For
Gods sake, Captain, don't do that
, | heard Laurent say Then Voight
| fell to the floor. When the coroner
arrived Voight was taken to st.
Mary's Inhrmary Until some time
after the shooting did not see the
knife, but my attention was called
TO II afterwards. | saw II in the
hat, with the blade up"
The testimony OF the other six
eye-witnesses was virtually the same
as that of Hutchinson The other
witnesses were: Rudy Laurent.
| Charles T. Moss. 240S Walnut street:
Charles o'Donnell. 3l5 Division
Istreet: Frank Freeman, $40 Six
teenth street; r, l.. stephens, Miller
City. ILL.,. G. Waterman, Mounds.
Sheriff Fraser also was examined
The verdict was returned shortly
before b. m. The members of the
jury were; ID. u. Cox. G. G. Terrell.
Jacob Held, ANewton Riddle, ottd