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18

X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

erably well.” He seamed to be
low-spirited. I thought I would
not prolong the conversation, but
said to him, “Mr, Gordon was a
eo-laborer of mine on the rail-

he was a near friend of
mine; please state whether he
suffered or not after he waa
shot?” His reply was in these
very words: “I can assure you,
sir, he did not suffer.” Was not
present at the finding of the
body, bat got there just after-
wards, and before the coroner
was called. Did the writing for
the coroner at the inquest. I
personally and particularly ex-
amined the body. Found a wound
on the left side of the back of
the skull. Young Mr. Briscoe
was called on to probe the
wound. It was a gun or pistol
shot wound, about 4 or 5 inches
deep, ranging from the left ear
to somewhere about the right eye.
‘His hair was full of coagulated
blood, which made it difficrlt to
find the wound. Have seen many
ganshot wounds. I was in Cap-
tain Weightman’s Company, at
Sacramento, when we buried 350
men. It was a pistol shot. ¥
think this ball of a eavalry pistol
(showing one) would be the mate
of one found in that wound. If
the head was severed from the
Dody, his death could not have
been more sure than from that
wound. Have seen others shot
in same way, and they did not live
a minute.

Cross-examined. I have seen
wounds made by same kind of
istol, From the mere aperture
believe a pistol with a conical
Dall would make exactly such a
wound, A tound ball would not.
T examined the body particularly,
and found a diamond pin on it
T took it off; several things, a

note book, a foot rule, ete., and
banded them to Major Walker;
also some keys.

Re-examined. The diamond
pin could not be seen when he
was found, because his coat was
buttoned over it, His head was
uneovered. He had on no gloves.
One hand was bent under him.
His cap and gloves were missing.
Don’t think there was any money
found on him. There was no
watch found on him.

William Park, MW. D. Ama
physician, have’ practiced very
little as a surgeon, but have seen
a great number of wounds, Have
heard the testimony describing
this wound. Tn the way the last
‘witnesa deseribed it, it must have
produced death, but often where
a straight wound goes through
the head, the person may recover,
and neither death nor insanity
ensue. The oblique direetion of
this wound must have produced
instantaneous death.

Dr. Childs. Have heard the
examination. The testimony has
not been sufficiently definite to
pronounce on; it seemed to be
conjectural. If the ball passed
through the brain to the right
eye, it would have produced in-
stantaneous death.

Cross-ezamined, Have heard
no definite testimony as to the
range of the ball. Understand
Mr. Taylor to say he supposed
the ball took that range, not that
it was so. Think the wound
would produce death, But with-
out a post-mortem examination,
don’t think anyone could pro-
nounes definitely. I don’t think
one could pronounce without
knowing where the ball went to
with certainty without an aper-
ture.

Re-examined. A wound in the

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