The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-12-20
THOUGHT HEATH
SHOT HIMSELF
Witness in Greenslit Case
Gave New Turn to Defense
in ManslT yhter Case
LEO BRIG N TELLS
OlS EEING PISTOL
At thss ouse of Oscar Heath
: the Night of the
Shooting

IliS 4NlSllC VI CllC
Shooting
The defense in the trial of George
Greenslit charged with manslaughter in
shooting Oscar Heath at Warren Oct. "a,
last, took sudden turn to-day when the
defense introduced evidence tending to
show that Heath shot himself instead of
his being shot by Greenslit. 1t intro
duced evidence to show that there were
no bullet holes through the coat or vest
that Heath wore the night that the
shooting took place. In cross -examina-
\ tion, the state introduced evidence TO
show, however, that there was a hole in
the trousers
The defense placed Leo Brown Of War
rem on the stand this morning. He orig
inally was q state witness, being one OF
the first used At that time his test-
mony was only about caring for Heath
and going for the physician. This morn
| ing he told considerable about Heath's
reputation and that he was a quarrel
some man and easily excited In cross
examining him, Attorney Carver for the
! defense asked him about the long bar
relied pistol that Heath owned. Brown
testified that the pistol was on the table
the night when he was at Heaths house
and that he examined it. In his opinion
the weapon had been fired recently, that
il smeled of smoke from powder and
that il showed indications inside that 1t
had been fired He testified as to the
cartridges used in the pistol. He said
the gun was moist the night he exam
|, med it. taken to be an indication that it
, was fired recently
Mr. Carver then asked Brown who, in
I his opinion, shot Heath, and Brown re-
piled. basing his opinion upon his knowl-
edge Of the man and the condition OF the
, pistol, that Heath shot himself. The
state was unable to shake this testimony
any on cross examination.
! Alex Downs, who cared for Heath the
night he was injured, was the next wit
Z ness. He originally was state witness
and he told little then except that he
didn't care for the man This time he
{ told about clothing taken off Heath that
night The witness put on the vest and
coat and then the jury were allowed to
look over the clothing on Downs, show
ing how it would hang on man shorter
than Heath After his, one Of the jury
, men asked the privilege of looking over
the coat and vest and the articles were
passed around No bullet holes were
y shown In examination the state
produced the trousers worn by Heath
that night and showed bullet hole
through them near the top.
The last witness on the stand this
! morning and just before the defense rest
!, ed its case, was the respondent, who tes-
Z tilted that the night of the shooting, in
xtgug hnf
! up at the time Heath was on his iGreen-
slit's) property Through George Long,
the defense offered to show that Heath
! had been seen by Long stealing wood
I from Greenslit's hou.e and that he
: fHeathl had threatened both Long and
= Greeuslit if anything was said about it;
Il but the state objected to this testimony
and it was excluded from the records,
, Mr.. Long then testified as to the reputa-
tion of Mr.. Greenslit as did r. C. Palm
II er and Arthur Hartshorn, who, with all
the other witnesses for the defense, have
Testified that Greenslit was man of ex-
?, ceIlent reputation, good law-abiding
If citizen and above par in avoiding trouble
k with mis- neighbors.
le Cross.examination of the respondents
Is witnesses was held yesterday afternoon,
q attorney General Barber conducting the
,e same He had Greenslit, the respondent,
!. tell of the distances between the differ
N ept points on the land which he and
,e Heath traversed during the night of the
10 shaotiur. and he succeeded in determln-
/ ing the distances between the house and
! the place where the two men stood; also
n the elevation of the land back OF the
N house and the distance from the house to
the hole in the wall and other locations
Following this cross examination, At
torney Carver for the defense, by persist
ent efforts, succeeded in getting testi-
ID monv concerning two pistols admitted
under exceptions One of these pistols
was 70 inches long and the other was a
, 2.calibre weapon. The long gun was
IN carried in belt that the witness testified
nj he had seen on heath frequently
n Efforts to get more details as to
Heath's character before the jury failed.
r The state also objected to the introduc-
tion of clothing worn by Greensllt the
- night of the shooting and was sustained.
In fact. the state objected to almost
se, every bit of evidence other than that
lie confined explicitly to the shooting ana
IS. what might have taken place before the
of shooting. Both sides have taken enough
tn exceptions TO carry the case to hlgher
III court
as During the latter part of the afternoon
several witnesses were put on the stand
on 10 vouch for the excellent reputation OF
of the respondent. They included G. w.
Is Bragg, W. L. Moore, G. w Wallis, II. w.
Kennedy. +. NJ. Long, H. W. Brooks and
Jesse McAllister.
Considerable amusement was stirred
nm when Paul Tierney, by whom Green
slit was employed at the time of the
ey shooting testified that he is known as
the "mayor of Studson Hollow" Mr.
=. Tiernev had been telling of the reputa-
Iy tion of Greenslit, saying that he was a
I'D GOOD workman, when States Attorney
'ce Davis eaked: care you known as the
on mavor of Studson HollOw?" to which
m Tiernev replied, I'm the man" This
'p- brought such round of laughter that
eSs the sheriffs had to hammer for order be
fore the tumult subsided,
Mr.. Brooks testified that the clothing
worn by Heath the night Of the shooting
-, was the same as that shown in court
i"i There were blood stains on it.