Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-02
TEST|F|ES WOMAN
SLAIN BY ACCIDENT
Aurora Deputy Says Mrs. De
King LeveIed Pistol and He
Fired as He Stumbled.
BY the Associated Press.

BY tne Associated FreSS.
ELGIN, ILL.,, April 2.-Roy Smith,
deputy sheriff, who last week shot and
killed Mrs. Lillian De King during a
liquor raid in Aurora and was shot in
turn by Mrs De Kings 12-year-old son,
today told coroners jury the woman
was aiming pistol at him when his
gun exploded accidentally as he
stumbled while backing toward the door.
The coroners jury came here from
Aurora to take Smiths testimony in
a hospital where he is convalescing
After hearing his story they went to
Geneva where the formal inquest was
opened.
Only the jury and attorneys and one
reporter could crowd into the small
hospital room where Smith lay. BY
previous agreement the coroner con-
Quoted the questioning, George Car
barry, Kane County States attorney, and
De Kings counsel agreeing not to in
tervene, and Charles Hadley, observer
for the Attorney General, stating he
did not care to ask questions.
Smith first identified pistol he car
ried last week when Joseph De Kings
Aurora home was raided by county Of
ficers and also another pistol that he
thought Mrs. De King picked up from
the floor. He said he and two other
deputies accompanied two officers to
the De King home after the two off,
GERS had been unable to gain entrance
to search it.
Knocked Out Armed Man.
He said they found the house lighted
up and he had understood that every
thing was all right and that Peter De
King, Joseph's brother and deputy
we're inside" He said he entered by
the front door after the house was sur
rounded and did not anticipate trouble.
He noticed boy and then saw man
backing toward him, pistol in hand,
shouting he intended to shoot the first
officer to enter.
Smith said he then realized he was
the only officer in the house and de-
cided it was best to knock out the
armed man, which he said he did with
the butt Of his pistol. AS this man,
identified as De King, fell, Smith said
he heard a woman scream, although
he had understood Mrs. De King was
not in the house. The woman rushed
toward him, curSing and screaming, he
declared, snatched up a pistol dropped
by her husband and leveled it at him.
Her son Gerald, he said, was behind
him, although he did not notice the
boy at the time The deputy said he
was backing toward the door and stum-
bled, and from then on things were
not clear to him.
"Mama. Cot Him"
He said some one shot him through
the leg and he thought the woman had
fired until the boy ran from behind him
with a pistol, shouting: Mama, got
him, I got him." Smith said that his
gun was discharged from the hip about
this time and he fell and remembered
nothing more until he found himself
in a hospital.
In reply to questions, Smith said the
boy was behind him when Smith struck
the boys father, but that he had not
noticed the boy had a pistol. He said
De King and his wife were the only
ones he noted who were armed and
estimated Mrs. De King was six or
eight feet distant when the first shot
was fired. He said he remembered
hearing only one shot other than the
one he himself fired.
A juror asked if he had seen the
search warrant on which the raid was
made and he replied in the negative,
but added that the officers never went
without warrants and he was satisfied
there was one.