Richmond planet., 1928-08-04

ne SalQ, VII lnS nv AA.9 ~
3Oth, about a quarter of six, Mrs.
Haskins went into the oath-foom'
Then she went into Samuels room:
He is my adopted son and the son ot
Mrs. Haskins. She calls him, BABY,
She told him to come and they would
90 into town and buy some things:
She went down the steps. She had
lust gotten downstairs, when the gun
went off. Then the boy went down
and l heard the gun go oil the sec
ond time Then | nut on my artihclal
leo and | went to the door at the step.
Sylvester banked away at me.
Struck A Glancing Blow
The ball struck the wall glancing
blow and then went into my slde'
right side. l crawled up to my room
and cot my revolver and looked out
of the window and | blazed away at
him. He ducked around the house
and 7 have never seen him since until
his moment. Commonwealth Attor-
nev Ratclitfe asked Did you know
of anv reason, why ne should have
shot?' "No." Have you ever had
anv trouble with him?P No. DIG
,,on I nav him." ''Yes." did he COM
Main M about his pay" NO" He
helped Mrs. Haskins about the Kitten
en- and he did farm work. he has
always been a fairly good boy. so
far as | know, his work has been
satisfactory. This gun was my gun
The Gun Used Before
1t was used by me and by Sammy
co,,,ov had used il the evening be-
fore. Sylvester slept in a house
about 60 feet from the main house.
I There were three rooms and ne slept
out there alone. | was out OF the
house the evening before from 1:3O TO
I1O:3O. Sammy and Sylvester were
friendly. They played together. They
had no trouble except those that chill
dren have. l paid no attention to 1t.
The Sisters Testimony
Miss Evelyn Haskins took the
stand. She broke down and sobbed as
she told her story, but she quickly
recovered. That morning around D
o'clock, heard shot and | ran down
stairs and / found my mother lying
on the floor. l heard another shot
and | heard my little brother and
mother scream that he had been shot
II looked up. Sylvester was standing
there with the gun and l asked him
not to shoot me. Mr.. Grimmell was
at the top of the stairs and he shot at
! him. l went from mothers room to
my room and l called for help.
Saw Help Coming
/ I looked out of the window. I
saw Mr.. Meredith and called to him
to help. He got out of his car. He
never came in. He went for help.
Ny brother was 16. Sylvester al
ways told US that his birthday was in
March. He often said he was l9
/ in March. He had been working
there a year, possibly a little over.
Brother screamed that ne had been
shot. Attorney Moss asked, do you
know of any reason why he should
have shot?" "No, we never had any
trouble. He got along. He would
steal little things, fruit and the like;
He was always in good humor, and
we never had any trouble.
The kitchen always stays open, and
Sylvester had access to come in at
any time he wanted The door was
never locked. The front door was
always locked, but l do not think the
closed doors were.
Officer ]. E. Cook, of the Rich
mond Police Department, said: "On
the m, rning of June 30th, about
7:15, | got in the car with Mr..
Yancey and went straight out to the
house, where the shooting occurred.
Mrs. Haskins was in the upstairs
room in bed. She told me that the
boy shot her. | saw the wall where
the shot glanced and struck Mr..
Grimmell. The boy, Samuel, said
that Sylvester shot him. There were
newspapers in the basement. Matches
were on the papers. Stuff was scat
tered all around. l asked Samuel
why the boy should do such thing.
He said he did not know. Sylvester
had shot his mother and then he had
shot him
Knew No Reason.
He didn't know of any reason why
he should have done this. l got the
bows mothers address and l went to
her house, and found out that the
bow. Sylvester, had not been home.
Samuel died about 10 o'clock at the
hospital. D.,
Sergeant I. G. Cousins said: II
arrived home at Thirty-fourth and
Marshall Streets about II o'clock.