The Mount Holly news., 1914-07-21
The Coroner's Inquest.


d confession there did not seem to be an
: necessity for an inquest, but Corone
/, Bisbing felt that such proceeding wa
= absolutely the thing. He also game,
# the idea that he had been ignored b,
the county authorities and that the sus
e pected man had been arrested withou
: consulting the coroner, which, accord
/ ing to his ideas, was altogether out of tn
: regular way of proceeding. Prosecute
q Atkinson, with the confession of Murphy
t in his possession, did not think an in
| quest should be held but the coroner haC
( the authority to hold one and he useC
his privilege. At first it was decided tC
hold the inquest at Riverside, but Sheriff
; Jordan, who is responsible for Murphy
J declined to take the prisoner from the
, Jail to that place, SO Coroner Bis
bing came to the conclusion that he
would come to Mount Holly and bring
his jury with him.
Thursday was the date originally fixed
for the inquest but owing to the disagree
ment between the Coroner and the
Prosecutor it was postponed until Friday
afternoon. At 1.3O the court house was
crowded, the majority of the spectators
being from Riverside and vicinity, with
number from this neighborhood, the
case having attracted considerable at
tention.
The jury was composed of the follow
ing: Samuel H. Lewallen, Ellis H. Rud-
derow, Augustus Leussner, Frank Ward,
Charles Jessup, Charles Hullings.
Before the proceedings began Prosecu-
tor Atkinson requested Sheriff Jordan to
bring the accused into court. This was
the signal for stretching of necks and
a rush to the doors to see Murphy. The
latter entered the court room by rear
door. He appeared entirely composed
and did not evince very much interest
in the proceedings. He was represented
by George NJ. Hillman. The families of
Murphy, Fisher and Charles Wilhelm
were all present. Mrs. Murphy was
visibly affected and was on the verge of
collapse several times.
| The first witness called was DR.. A. III.
Small, who performed the autopsy on
the body of Herman Fisher and who
described the result in detail. He said
there had been two shots fired into the
body, either of which would have been
fatal. DIR. Small was followed by DIR. r.
/. Downs, who assisted at the autopsy
and whose testimony corroborated that
of the former witness.
Emma Wilhelm, sister of the girl
who was escorted to her home by the
murdered boy, told of going home on
the night of the murder with her sisters
and two other boys. She got into the
house ahead of Fisher and he stood at
the gate few minutes and then left for
his own home, going through the woods
as was his usual custom. 1t was a lonely
path that he travelled. About ten
minutes later Emma heard shot. She
called her father and he ran out and fired
his revolver and then went back into the
house. The reason for this was that
Fisher had frequently said he was afraid
something would happen to him and he
made an arrangement with Mr. Wilhelm |
that if the latter heard shot from the |,
revolver that Fisher carried Wilhelm |
was to answer with his revolver and if |
there was second shot then Wilhelm |
was to go to the aid of Fisher. Wilhelm |
did not go to Fishers aid that night for |
the reason explained in the formers |
testimony.
Florence Wilhelm heard shot and |
then heard some one cry "Oh, Lord,
help" Heard her father go out and |
shoot his revolver. She did not recog-
nize. the voice crying for help.
Ida Wilhelm, the young lady who
Fisher accompanied home, took the
stand. While in an extremely nervous
state she held up remarkably well while
relating the circumstances which have
made an impression on her mind that
will not soon be effaced. She told of
Fisher going home with her onIthe night
of the murder. He had been paying at
tention to her since February. She had
frequently seen Murphy on the road
which she and Fisher used, but he had
been at her house but three times. She
had recently heard that Murphy was a
married man who did not live with his
wife.
Charles Wilhelm, the father, told of
hearing Fisher leave the house on the
night of the murder. The young man
to be in excellent spirits and
was whistling as he went away. Fisher
had told Wilhelm that he had seen a
man frequently lurking in the woods on
the road that he used to go home and he
feared something might happen to him,
so he arranged with Wilhelm that if he
heard shot from a revolver he was to
answer with similar signal and if a
second shot was fired then Wilhelm was
to go to Fishers aid. Wilhelm said he
did not hear any shot on the night of
the murder, but his daughter told him
one had been fired. He at once an
swered as by arrangement and as there
was no response he came to the conclu-
otOii bAaO aii was WSii uit ilO1
any further investigation. This was ac-
counted for by the fact that the second
shot which had been fired at Fisher was
the one of which Wilhelm had know
ledge. Later George Fisher and Murphy |
went to Wilhelm's house and told him
that Herman was lying dead in the corn
field. Witness at once ran to the place, |
found the statement to be true. He |
called neighbor and an alarm was at i
once given.
George Fisher, brother of the murdered |
boy, said he knew his brother had been |
frightened more than once by some one |
appearing in the woods through which he
passed on his way to and from the
Wilhelm house. This person had a
white covering on his head and would
not answer to anything said to him. On
the night in question George got home
and finding that his brother did not ar
rive as soon as he thought he should he
started to look for him. Just as he was
going out he met Murphy and the latter
offered to aid in the search. George
went into the house and got his revolver
and then joined Murphy. Both went
through the woods calling to Herman