St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-01-26

v
where he had just given Kirk some
cigars. He went TO Goss' garage and
heard of the shooting Is or rs min
utes later. He could not say whether
a jug was carried into the pool room.
Then he was put through a series of
questions to see if his testimony at
this time agreed with his testimony at
the inquest. He would not say wheth>
er he talked with Hatch more than
he did with Brown. He did not re-
member striking a match at the door
Of the pool room so Hatch or Brown
could insert a key. He took part of
his pay in money and part in cigars.
He had six cigars and So in money, So
of which came from Browns pocket
and 81 from the money drawer. He
said he did not know the men had
been drinking but when asked if he
saw anything that led him to think
they had been drinking he thought
they had. He was then questioned
further on the conflict between his
testimony at the inquest and on the
stand that day. He concluded by say
ing that he thought if he testified to
certain things at the inquest they were
facts.
At the opening Of the cross exam
the testimony given at the inquest but
finally withdrew the request. Mr..
Kirk said that he was in the pool
room Sunday afternoon when Hatch
engaged him to make the trip. He
also had a talk with Brown at Cars
livery stable about making the trip.
They left ST. Johnsbury a little after
five and he was in hurry because he
had promised his car to another fell
low. Their first stop was three or
four miles out of st. Johnsbury where
he wanted some water for his engine.
Neither he nor Hatch asked for cider
and none was brought out. The next
stop was two or three miles further
and no one asked for cider there. He
hardly thought any one asked for cid
er at the first stop but he had a little
He drank very little of it as it was
settings and almost vinegar. At
Thompson's Hatch was away from
him 10 or 1 5 minutes He could not
swear that Hatch had been drinking
He heard some conversation between
Thompson and Hatch about hay. The
other stop was long enough for him
to turn his car and Hatch got out
there. He went into the pool room to
get his pay for the trip. Hatch had
his coat off. There was no talk be-
tween Hatch and Brown. They ap-
peared friendly and visited together.
George Cobb of Danville was called
and said that Charlie Kirk, Hatch and
Brown visited his place about half
past six the Sunday afternoon of the
shooting. They stopped for water for
the automobile and Hatch asked for
some cider. He drew half a pitcher
but did not see anyone but Kirk
drink. 1t was not good cider. He
thought the boys had been drinking
as they were unconnected in their
talk. Hatch said he knew where he
could get some cider.
On cross examination he said he
lived six miles from st. Johnsbury and
there was no trouble between Brown
and Hatch while at his place.
DR.. C. F. Whitney.
Dr. Charles F. Whitney of Burling-
ton, special legal chemist and assist
ant in making state autopsies, said
he had assisted at about $50 autop-
sizes. He performed an autopsy on
the body of Sumner Brown here on
July 10. Brown was apparently from
25 to 80 years old, in good health be-
fore death and in normal physical
condition. He found four bruises
about the head where the skin was
bruised but not broken. He produced
photographs of Brown taken at the
time of the autopsy which showed all
the bruises on the head and one show
ed the bullet wound in the side. These
were introduced as exhibits. The bull
let wound was in the right chest about
" inches from the chest bone and
between the second and third ribs.
the large artery near the heart, shat
tered the seventh rib on the left side
and lodged in the muscles of the back.
on the left side. He then produced
the bullet taken from Browns body.
He said the chest was filled with
blood, about five pints on the left
side and about a pint and a half on
the right. He found alcohol in
Browns stomach but could not tell
how great a quantity. He then pro-
duced the shirt and union suit taken
from Browns body. There was bull
let hole through each and powder
marks on the shirt. The cause of
death was hemorrhage of the aorta.
He should say the revolver was held
from one to two feet from the body
when fired.
On cross examination he said he
had experimental only once with pow
der to see how far away it would
mark and he knew there was a differ
ence between different kinds of pow
der. He did not know about Less
Smoke Powder, Du Pont Smokeless !
Powder, but did know about black
powder. He did not know how far
it would make marks but knew by the
radius covered by the marks that the
revolver in this case was not over two
feet away. The character of the
might make a difference but
1t would be very slight. He was not
an expert on guns and probably not
Oh powder marks. Mr.. Simonds then
mentioned several names for powder
and the witness said he did not know
about them. He though the smaller
the bore of a weapon the farther it
might carry the powder. He had ex-
perimented with common black pow
der and it would burn for about nine
inches. He had never tested powder
to see how far it would carry beyond /
three feet. Speaking of the photo