New Britain herald., 1917-07-05
Police Believe Weapon Used by Murderer Has Been Hidden Away WILL CLAIM SELF. DEFENSE

Lock-up Taxed to Capacity by Negroes Held As Material Witnesses-N1ur-
 derer Admits Crime, But Claims He Was Defending Himself From At- tack-Other Matters.
 l Aided by state police officers. the l local authorities today continued their 1 efforts to learn the exact details of 1 the murder of Frank Tanner q Southern negro, who was stabbed to
 death about noon yesterday by Her
 man Harris, another darkey, in the l quarters on Whiting street occupied l by the contingent brought here from l the South to work on the permanent l pavement contract between Plainvilic | and Bristol
 1 Harris Is in the local lookup await ing removal to the Hartford jail. Jus
 tice E. P. Prior having bound him
 over to the September term of the superior court, without bonds. fol- l lowing hearing yesterday afternoon. ] The man Is charged with murder, the | degree for which he is to be tried
 being left to States Attorney Alcorn ] who will present his case to the up-
 per tribunal.
 l Conflicting stories regarding the l killing are told by the negroes. as l sociates of the murdered man offer
 ing evidence that differs in many
 particulars from the confession of
 Harris. While the latter admits that he dealt the fatal thrust. he claims l he acted entirely in self defense and
 that the stab wound was inflicted
 with the knife he took away from
 Tanner when he attempted to as-
 sault him. Harris has a deep knife l wound in his scalp and he claims he
 was cut before he attacked the mur-
 dered man.
 Search for the knife with which the
 murder was committed was resumed
 this morning, the authorities holding
 to the belief that the weapon, cov- 1 cred with blood stains, now in their | possession, was not the one used in l the killing. Harris claims the knife l used on his victim had blade over l four inches long while the one picked
 up in the negroes quarters follow Ling the crime is but an ordinary
 pocket knife.
 Harris died on the grounds in front 1 of the building occupied by the 1 negroes, having fallen as he attempt ! ed to pump water from the we'll on
 the place with which to wash his | wounds. He had deep cut in his l neck, which severed his windpipe and | also a gash beneath his ear. He lived 1 for several minutes after he dropped l unconscious in the grass and Dr. l.. | H. Frost, whose home is but a short l distance way, worked valiantly to stop ] the flow of blood which was sapping
 away the mans life. The knife thrusts l had cut the arteries in his neck and 1 it was impossible to save him. I Harris waited the scene of the
 killing until Constable Marine, to
 whom the fight had been reported, placed him under arrest. The ac-
 cuseG admitted that he stabbed the
 other negro but declared that he had
 to do it to protect himself.
 He told the police that he had had
 an argument with his victim Tuesday
 night and yesterday morning there
 was evidence of bad feeling between 1 them. Ugly words were passed in
 cafe, where the men were in a group
 drinking, and Tanner told the officers | Harris on leaving said that he would ! wait at the camp for him and woulu
 kill him. When Tanner returned to 1 the quarters he says he met Harris 1 on the grounds nearby and the latter ] immediately attacked him, lunging at l him with a big knife. After the l first thrust, which cut his scalp, Tan ner told the police he kicked his 1 assailant in the stomach and secur- l ing possession of the knife stAhbed ! him in the neck. He then waited for
 the police while his victim Hay in
 the grass bleeding to death.
 l James Puesodo, a Portuguese ne- l gro, the only man in the camp, who admits being a witness of the killing tells an entirely different story, and one which the police are more 1n- clined to believe. He testified at the l hearing yesterday that Tanner at- tackled Harris in the kitchen of the mems quarters and knocking him beneath the able struck him twice with knife. Bleeding from his { wounds Harris left the kitchen and went into the yard while Tanner went to a room upstairs. Puesodo de- 1 clares other negroes saw the affair 1 despite the fact that all explained to the authorities that they were in bed | at the time.
 Tanners story Is not believed in its i entirety. He claimed that the whole 1 fight took place outside and that neither he -nor his victim entered the ] house. In the kitchen and the sleep l ing quarters used by the men, the | walls and floor were spattered with 1 blood, giving the lie to the murderer's confession. Behind a suit case in the room in which Tanner slept the po- 1 lice found a pocket knife, the handle 1 of which was crimson with blood, al l though the blade was free from stains other than dirt.
 1 James Hanley. the only disinterest- l ed witness, told the court he saw liar l ,cis his 1un1lnds in a. p0Ol of Wa