Evening star., 1919-12-30
WITNESS AGAINST
HALL DENIES BIAS
CroSs-Examination of BIye
in Murder Trial Fails to
Establish Point.
From a Staff Correspondent.

EStdDIISn f0lnl.
| From a Staff Correspondent.
MANASSAS. Va. December 30.-The
rapid -rire cross-examination here to-
day of Alfred Blye. star witness for
the prosecution. during the second
day of the retrial of Prohibition In
spector w. G. Hall. charged with the
| murder of Lawrence b. Hudson. al
Va. last March. failed in it's object of
establishing bias on the part of the
witness against prohibition officers
Blye is garage proprietor. living $50
yards from the spot where Hudson
and Raymond Shackleford were fa-
tally shot by prohibition officers dur
ing an alleged whisky-running esca-
pade.
Have you any bias in this case9"
he was asked by l.. o. Wendenbers,
chief counsel for the defense.
No" replied the witness.
None at all?"
! We'll. i wouldn't say that"
Don't you run garage on the
bootleggers' road?"
Repairs Cars for All Who Can Puy.
| After ten minutes Blye admitted. in
answer to question regarding his
repairs to 'bootleggers' cars" that
| he repairs cars for anybody who
ever. any strong sentiment of bias
against any of the prohibition off,
GERS.
Effort by the defense to show con-
nections by Mr.. Blye in various boot
Logging transactions failed He was
asked If. during trial some months
ago his testimony did not free Leo
Kidd" of a charge of bootlegging. He
replied that he was summoned during
the trial. gave testimony. and that
Kidd had been freed. He said that
he had seen Kidd only few times,
and testified simply that he had seen
no liquor in Kidd's automobile when
it was repaired at his garage.
Testimony of Others.
Herman Goode, living near the
scene of the shooting, testified that
at $50 o'clock on the morning after
the shooting he saw five men trans
porting liquor from one automobile
to another. And 1 saw them all take
a drink he declared. while parched
lips of dry Virginians cracked in a
smile and ripple of chuckles floated
over the courtroom. With his testi-
mony the prosecution is attempting
| to show that, after killing the alleged
bootlegger, the dry agents drank
some of their whisky
Deputy Sheriff b. NJ Borden of
Shenandoah county testified regarding
the presentation of the dry agents for
arrest the morning after the shooting
He declared that Harry F. Sweet, w.
G. Dunleavy. ]. H. Sullivan and the
defendant had come to his house and
turned themselves over, telling him
| that they had had trouble with boot
1eggers and had killed one and
wounded another. He said that in ex-
PLANTATION of the death of Shackleford
Sweet told him that Shackleford had
fired three shots before the -agsnts
had opened fire. Shack1eford's pistol
had three empty cartridges in it when
| turned over to him, he said.
| The prosecution will also lay stress
upon this point. Judge Tavenner,
| chief counsel for the prosecution. de-
| have Shackleford's gun in his posses
sion and that he had ample opportu-
nifty to have fired three shots to give
| him a basis of self-defense.
State Prohibition Commissioner J.
| Sidney Peters. whose department is
| financing the defense, has been pres
ent att all the hearings. He sits be-
| side Hall exchanging whispered re-
| marks from time to time during the
progress of the trial d. s. r.
Fired Fusillade Mt Men.
The prosecution yesterday after
| noon introduced evidence to show
/ that Hall and the other prohibition
agents fired "a fusillade" at the two
| men in the automobile. The point
was made that "a cripple and q boy
of eighteen years" were pitted against
! four officers and that on the death
| of Shackleford Hudson made no ef-
/ fort to resist.
! The automobile curtains were pro-
duced and H. b. CARRIER and Edward
! Beasley, garage men, testified that
when the machine was placed in their
| garage on the morning after the
shooting all of the holes in the cur
! tains were pointing inward, indicat-
ing that the punctures were made by
| bullets fired from the outside.
| Claims OF the Defense.
| The defense. in the opening state
| ment, admitted that Hall had shot
| Hudson, but claimed he acted in self
| defense, as the fatal shot was fired
| after Hall had been attacked by Hud-
| son with a whisky bottle.
| Mrs. Alfred BLY,, who occupied a
| house near the scene of the shooting,
! testified today that she was awakened
on the night of the shooting by the
sound of automobile horns and that
she heard two shots fired, and after a
| brief interval three additional shots
were heard. She declared she saw a
man standing in the road and sud-
denly a pistol spurted fire. which was
\ followed by outcries.
| Trial will continue through New
Year day and the case is expected to
! be presented to the jury by jan
uary 2.
| Shooting Occurred March 25.
! The jury of twelve farmers and
rural merchants were empaneled from
| a venire of thirty-six men, with less
| than a dozen reflections.
The shooting occurred on the night
of last March rs on the Valley turn
pike, near Winchester. when the pro-
| hibition agents intercepted Hudson
and Shackleford in an automobile
loaded with whisky purchased in Bal
timore. In the shooting Hudson and
Shackleford were mortally wounded
and died later at a hospital.
| D. s. r.