The Sentinel=record., 1912-11-10
CHEAP RING FOUND ON DEAD BODY cLINcHEs IDENTITY
 AS TO MISSING MAN.
TO RESUME HEARING TUESDAY
Wearing Shoes Witnesses Declare Belonged to Slain Man, Johnston Sits in Court and Follows
 the Trial Closely.

A small cheap ring with a setting that If 1t were genuine might be Dloodstone. but which is most likely a cheap imitation in glass, clnches Tor the state the identity of a dead body found near the city almost a
 month ago as being the body of Carol Shepman, an old man, who has been
 missing from the time the dead body
 was found, and for whose murder
 George Joanston. farmer, is now under preliminary examination in
 Justice Kirk's court
 The clothing from the dead body was yesterday brought into court fil- tered and dirty with decomposition and foul with a lingering and sicken- nig odor that only the human body
 can make. This clothing might have established the identity of Shepman without the ring. but the clothing Is dirty and foul ..and discolored, and old clothing is pretty much alike, but all missing men do not wear rings with
 large blood red settings such as Coro- ner J. H. Randolph took from the body found near the garbage plant, and the | state has proved that Shepman wore such a ring.
 l The proof that the dead body found
 was the body of Carol Shepman was | necessary before the slate could pro- ceed far with it's theory that George
 Johnston killed Shepman. The body l found had been lying in the woods ex. | n al af f.. f.. some time before it's discovery. and
 the face was gone. After coroner's s investigation, which revealed nothing
 of importance, other than that the body seemed to have been killed with some sort of gun,' the body was bur.
 jed just as found.
 Only few days ago it was exhumed from the potter's field and now the unknown grave seems destined to be marked with the name of Carrol Shep-
 man.
 Detective Will Laughlin has picked Iup circumstances and connected them until yesterday he was reads to placs into the hands of the prosecuting at torneys office satisfactory evidence at least on the question of the identity of the dead man, and believes that he has other sufficient evidence to con meet George Johnston criminally with
 the death of the missing man. Johnston appeared in court yester- day clean shaven. and his features far more prominent than before Though farmer, ne appears quick
 thinking and alert, aud follows the
 progress of the trial closely Ex-
 pressionless and annoyed, he tilted
 his head back, raised his chin, and
 watched Detective Laughlin closely yesterday as the officer detailed on the stand the damaging circumstances
 he had uncovered connecting John ston with the case
 There is nothing of helplessness if- dicated in Johnston's make up. On | the other hand, he appears reliant, a ,fact probably accounted for by for
 mer experience ne had when tried for murder and in which he was convict
 ed of manslaughter, but later pardon ed by Governor Pindall.
 | Aside from the ring, as a means of Identification there is one other strik. | ing proof that the body found was | that of lShepman, and that is in the | Statesman" brand hat worn by the dead man. This is a make of hat
 not common in this section. It ap- pears to have been bought in Okla
 homa. and that Shepman came by it rather through an accidental ex. change.
 The clotling itself tells little of positiveness. It is dark clothing,
 stained and filthy, and most dark clothing stained and filthy, would a1- pear he same The shoes part of the
 clothing, however, the state gives much emphasis to, and the fact that Shepman wore a pair of old gaiter shoes, through which holes had been punched and leather string tied
 about the top. is lending it's part to the | Identification.
 But eig'lt of about 20 witnesses summoned by the state had told their story yesterday afternoon when court l took a recess until Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock. These witnesses, how
 ever. testified strongly as to the iden- tity of Shepman, and such evidence las the state will have connecting Johnston with Shepman is to come | later.
 There were some rather sensational
 details in the progress of yesterday s
 hearing. The foul clothing was | brought into court when Mrs. B. s
 Mooney was on the stand. She is a livery positive little old woman wac llived near Johnston's home. and who had helped Shepman at times. She ltestified that she could identify the
 trousers worn by Shepman because the Thursday before he disappeared he brought them to her to clean fol