The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-16
COOPER TRIAL BEGUN.
BloOd-stained Garments Shown in Court,
Respondent UnmOyed.

Burlington, Feb l6.-TRe trial oi
John i. Cooper, the colored soldier who
| is charged with the murder OF James
Williams, also colored, on the night oil
December 20 in Winoosk, began yes
terday. Ii was rather uneventful, the
only features of the day being the
cross examination Of DIR. Lyman Allen
one OF the states witnesses. and the
exhibition Of the clathing worn by VIII
liams the night he was stabbed
Cooper sat in the court room through
the trial apparently unmoved, and when
adjournment came he smiled. Attorney
General J. G. Sargent of Ludlow ap.
pears for the state and States Attorney
H. b. Shaw, Brown & Hopkins and V.
A. Bullard for the defense.
II. NJ. Mcintosh was the first witness
and he testified to seeing blood stains
in the houses at 1873 and 1870 West
Spring street, Winooski. Williams being
found at 1888. At the other house, it
appeared that the stains had been par
TALLY washed from the front steps.
The next witness was DIR. b. IT, Stone
Of the state laboratory at Burlington.
He gave the result Of his autopsy on
the body Of Williams. following his
death at the Mary Fletcher hospital
The autopsy was performed December
26. DIR. Stone testified that the wound
which caused the mans death was 10
Gated on the inside OF the arm, about
two inches down from the armpt. and
was about an inch and half long.
The wound went along the chest, down
ward and to the front. The pericardium.
or covering OF the heart. was opened
and the heart itself .'nipped.n The
wound extended down on the left side
to within two inches OF the middle OF
line of the body. The autopsy showed
the mammary vein on the left side,
which is back of the cartilage connect
ing the ribs and the breast bone, to
have been cut The left pleural cavity
was found to contain about 20 ounces
OF blood The right lung showed an
area Of pneumonia at the base.
Dr. Stone said that the wound was
the primary cause of death and that
pneumonia, hemorrhage and irritation by
the heart wound were secondary causes.
The body showed the evidence of an
operation. The wound altogether was
about six or seven inches long.
DIR. Stone said under cross examina-
tion that if the hemorrhage from the
mammary vein had been stopped early
death would probably have been pre-.
vented, and that he would not have ex-
pected death to result from any one
of the other causes taken singly.
DIR. Lyman Allen was next called and
he testified to performing an operation
Dec 20 on Williams. He found the
wound to be as described BY DR.. Stone
and in his opinion death resulted from
hemorrhage, pneumonia and bronchitis.
Under cross examination DR.. Allen said
that he did not know the mammary
vein was injured at tho time of the
operation, He first suspected that there
was internal hemorrhage on the oath.
The condition Of the patient on the goth
was 80 critical that he thought best
not to explore the wound further than
be did.
Mr.. Bullard and DR.. Allen differed
on enc point. Mr.. Buliard
said that the operation necessary to as
cartain the condition of the manmary
vein was frequent and Dr., Allen said
il WIS rare.
DR. Elmer A. Burdick was the last
witness of the day and stated that lie
was called to the house on Spring street
by man named Kelley and when he
reached there found Williams lying on
the floor in pool Of blood. As soon
a. possible he was taken to the hos
pital His blood.stained clothing was
exhibited Yesterday in court and iden-
titled by DR.. Burdick
The crime occurred December 20 aud
that night Cooper disappeared and was
discovered five days later hiding under
4 pile of sacks in stable at Fort Ethan
Allen. He was trImpeter in the tenth
cavalry.