The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-16
MISS YIELDING IS SERIOUSLY INJURED Shot Near Heart at James
 Hotel TWO MEN ARRESTED R. L. Couch and John Beveridge Are Carried to Hospital to Be Identified by the Injured
 Young Lady
TWO MEN ARRESTED

Miss Willis Yielding, whose home Is near Oneonta, is seriously wounded by bull let near the heart, and R. l.. Couch and John Beverldge are in the city jail charged with assault with intent to mur- der as the result of a shooting last night at the James hotel. 17271s Sec ond avenue. Physicians at the Hill man hospital after completing an op- Hillman hospital after completing an op- eration on the wounded girl, pronounced the wound serious but stated that she would recover. City Detective Burge ar rested both of the men on Fifth avenue and Seventeenth street, and after being identified byathe girl. then at the hospital, they were lodged in the city jail.
 Immediately after the shooting became known to the proprietor of the hotel the police were notified, and Miss Yielding hurried to the Hilman hospital in the am- bulance of the Smiley Gaudin-Smi Un- dertaking company. When arrested by the officers both Couch and Beveridge de- nied having anything to do with the shoot ing and only said that they had passed the hotel at the time the shot was heard Certain that the men were in some way connected with the attempted murder De- tectlves Burge and Jones carried the two men to the hospital to be identified Miss Yielding is sister-in-law of Couch
 Said Couch Fired the Shot When the men were brought before her at the Hillman, Miss Yielding pointed out Couch as the man who had shot her, in answer to the question asked by the officers. Confronted with this accusation Couch admitted that he I.. l. ,I..~- girl, said: Any way, 1t was an acci- dent. wasn't it?''
 No, it wasn't" she said. "You tried to kill me, but missed. It was a frame- up between the two of you to get rid of me.x
 Following the young woman's accu- sation of Couch he was placed in jail charged with assault with intent to murder Beveridge was later held on the same charge. Neither was allowed bond.
 When the shot was fired Miss Yeild ing apparently sprang from her chair and threw up her right arm. The bull let grazed the wrist of the right arm, entered her right breast just below the heart, passing out the other side, aQd cut through the girls left hand. She said that she was a sister-in- law of Couch that she lived near One onta, Ala, and was visiting relatives at Bessemer. Beveridge affirmed this story and said that both Couch and himself lived at Blossburg. Ala.
 Couch Makes Statement
 When asked for a statement by a reporter at the city jail last night Couch said: Tt was purely an acci- dent. I didn't want her to go with Willis and when entered the room they were sitting at the. table talking and the revolver was lying on the table. I picked 1t up and, stepping to the window, unbreeched the gun and threw the cartridges out of the win dow. The girl cried to me and told me to put the gun away, that I might shoot her. I just laughed and play fully snapped the trigger. When she cried out and fell, saying, I am shot,' IT was speechless. Then l found that all of the cartridges had not fallen from the chambers when 1 opened 1t | at the window. I said to her, But you see it was an accident; that l did not mean to shoot Then she said that did mean to; that I wanted to kill | her. God knows that it was an acci- | dent and that l would not have shot her for the world, Realizing what l had done. I was afraid and tried to escape, but the officers caught me"