The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-02-20
HAZEN TESTIFIES
HE FOUGHT SIMMS' Z
PRIOR TO KILLING
Defendant in Murder Case
SWearS Wife Was bad
Woman" - Says Victim
Threatened His Life.

In substantiation of his plea OF self
defense, Fay +, HaZen, travelling sales
man charged with numbering h. r.
Simms, lumberman, declared on the
witness stand Thursday before Judge
Richards, of the First criminal court
that he shot and killed Simms only
after the latter had twice fired at him;
The shooting, he declared, occurred
IN the Nestibuie of parlor car at the
Union depot, the morning of sept l,
1917, out Of vision OF Mrs Ha6en and
others who were passengers on the
Pullman at the time.
A coat which Hazen testified he wore
at the time OF the tragedy was ex-
hibited. 1t bore a jagged tear below
the right hand pocket, but the lining
was intact. Witness testified that TINS
was caused by a bullet from Simms
pistol, possession of which he sought
to obtain by force before he drew his
own weapon and shot Simms dead.
Accuses Wife.
Mr., Hazen," asked so. Bates, states
attorney, on cross examination, was
your wife a good woman or a bad
woman?"
Witness declined to say. He was
visibly affected by the question
Pressed by the states attorney for an
answer when objection by counsel for
the defense was overruled, the state $
attorney holding that he had right
to ask the question inasmuch as Hazen
had testified that SimmS had ruined
his home, Hazen replied;
She was a bad woman as far as
he (Simmsl was concerned
Mrs. Ha7en, who filed suit for dl-
vorce on the grounds Of nonsupport,
cruelty and abandonment, witness tes,,
titled, is now, or was the last he heard
Of her, in Nebraska.
On direct examination Thursday fore
noon Hazen declared that he had been
informed by his son Hugh, now IN
France, that Mrs Hazen's alleged es..
capades with Simms during witness
absence from the city, were the tax
of the neighborhood; that his son had
informed him Mrs. Ha2en and Simms
were constantly together in the Hazen
home at all hours of the day and night
and that Simms frequently took his
meals there. Throughout the entire
testimony Mrs. Simms sat facing her
husbands accuser, silently disputing
Hazen's testimony concerning her hus-
band with negative shakes Of her head.
Had Scuffle.
The witness denied, on direct examl-
nation, that he fired at Smms while
the latters back was turned. He in
sisted that he fired while they were
scuffling in the vestihule, and that
when he walked back through the car
where his wife was still seated In the
chair adjoining the one Hazen had oc.
cupied when witness entered, he told
| his wife, he said, what hadi happened
but she made no comment.t With the
exception of his wife and an elderly
| woman there was no one else in the
car. he added. .
Hazen testified that he weAtsto ths
| Grand Central station first, tfSHaid nh
| wife, having learned that she apt
1 Sinarns were together, aEd that he wenl
| a aA told h
Simms that the latter would kill hin
on sight" If their paths ever crossed
Simms attempted to draw gun the
moment Hazen entered the parlor car
witness testified, muttering: % you
| I've got you nowF'
Hazen was still under cross exami-
nation when court adjourned for the
| noon recess.
| He claims self-defense.
| II loved her so-and 1t was hard tC
suspect that anything was wrong" tn,
| defendant sobbed shortly after he hat
taken the stand late "Wednesday, wher
| the state announced that 1t had CLOSED
| its case. .-....
The burden of Hazen's testimony II
the closing minutes before adjourn
| ment Wednesday was that he had re
peatedly found his wife and Simms TO-
| gether; that on one occasion when h'
came home from a, trip a day aheat
Of his schedule, at 1145 O'Clock al
night, he found Simms at his home
and that the latter explained his pres
ence by saying that he was trying tC
help Mrs. Hazen straighten out hel
lodge accounts that on another oc
casion when he met his wife ant
Simms together at the postoffice tht
latter ran from him.
J. w. Hewitt, policeman, who placed
Hazen under arrest after the shooting
testified that when he arrived at thu
depot he met Lieut. l.. S. Kinard, {
witness for the state, and that knarC
told him at the time that he did no
know anything about the shooting a.
he was on the platform when the kill
ing occurred The testimony contra
dicted Kinard's statement, the office
having testified that he made no sucl
remark to Hewitt,
Conflicting testimony was also in
troduced through Mrs Marie Vaughn
a passenger who testified that despit,
statements to the contrary by Kinard
no shots were fired at Simms while
| the latter was in the narrow passage
| way adjacent to the smoking compart
ment
The defense brought out from II. l.
Moon, brother law of Simms, thai
the witness had seen Mrs. HaZen EN-
ployed in Simms' office only on one
or two occasions. She was engaged il
tipping. auditing reports at the time
| he said