Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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BLAIRAB.LD FOR TE CRIME ENOE TAKEN BEFORE COR ONER'S JURY. -Mortem Statement of the Dying an Makes Case More and More Complicatec. e State, 19th. Tlye jury reached a verdict at 2.45 is morning, their decision, being that onductor Blair came to his death from a gunshot wound inflicted by his wife. No tragedy in several years has eaused so much interest as the killing f Conductor Cullen W. Blair by his svife, Ethel Barrington Blair. The eeeosed was a popular conductor on rains between Columbia and Laurens. is wife is a handsome woman, sev ral years his junior. It is said they uarreled frequently. Thursday she lied him. It is now to be determin how much at fault, if aught, the man is. The first step taken by the law was e arrest of Mrs. Blair. The next op was the inquisition by the coron r. The work done by Coroner R. D. alker on this 'case is very creditable. o has managed to get hold of ma erial witnesses and of a strong ar ay of facts. At. the inquest lie had olicitor George Bell Timmerman resent and Mrs. Blair was represen d by Mr.-John J. MeMahan of the irn of Lyles & McMahan. There were several discrepancies n the testimony. Some of the wit esses were out of the room while oth rs were testifying. Dr. A. B.'Know on gave. the ante-mortem statement f the dying conductor. Mean must this man have been as, 'ith death clutching his vitals, lie us d the brush to blacken the name of is wife and the heritage of his chil ren if lie deliberaoly falsified. His atement was that lie was sitting on is trunk quarreling with his wife bout heri alleged intimacy with a nn named Ains when she fired up himi, inflicting the mortal wound. And yet his wife's testimony puts n entirely different aspect on the ituation. She declares herself to have een the one attacked. There were wo witnesses yesterday who declare -that they saw th6 fatal difficulty and .yet the cook testified that one ot these witinesses was in kitchen at the time and tfiis same witness could not remember that the other witness was in the room. A coroner's inquest is not a; trial and it may be that the conflicting de tails will tend t-> confirin one general whole, for if all the testimony were alike it would appear mechanical. The diserepancis were such, however, that they served to confuse the jury. The inq(lulesi wvas held last nihit in the work room ao t i McCormiehk & Pletscher 's. In a small private r'oomi, not ten feet fremi the witness siand, lay the body of Cuillen W. Blair. A great many railroad men wvere presenut as- witnesses or as interested..specta tors. The remains of Conductor Blair will be .shiipped to Ashboro, N. C., for burial. Mr. Blair's mother and his two brother's, who came to the city yesterday, will accompany the corpse to Ashboro, where interment wvill be Pmade tomorrow morning. The first witness sworn was Engin eer~ Graham, who had come in on the Tun from Laurens the day of the homicide. He had seen Capt. Blair several times on the trip and had not observed that the latter had been drinkin<r at all. Tnideed lie appeared to be perfectly sober. The train arriv .*ed here about 11.50 and lie did not seo the deceased atr that time. Capt. Blair had always had tle reputation of being a quiet, steady man, and wit ness had but once seen him under the influence of intoxicaints, and even then it might have been that Blair had taken too much of a patent mcdi.. eine which lie used frequently to re-. lieve the pain from which lie suffer ed. The next witness sworn was Dr. A. B.T Knowlton, who swore that the b)all entered froin the left and upper part of the abodmen, passing entirely through thme body and coming out just sidte ptof te hip on the opposite sieo theibody, showing a dowvnward endeney. He had held a post-mortem ' 6 see if'there was any alcohol in the Man 's system and he could find none. 'The Atite-Mortemn Statement. Dr. Knowlton was asked to testify s to the' ante-mortem statement. of Sdeceased. In reply he said that had announced to -Capt. Blair that 1Jter was a very ill man and that aM~l~ 2i1c. -Blair way asked who tikn wats ripdated several 0,t the anmswed als he sAkmge sttt ts Pnitdflyeleatr;" said X(~4tbv,"le sdhis w1fe ltl hh~ at li ~u ~tet her abMt being too intimate with Mr. Arms.. aske, ,him where the shooting/ too place. He said he went tintp hi wife's room and took a sent and com meneod to quarrel with her abou the intimacy with Mr. Arms Whei s!to picked up a pistol and shot/him I asked'Mr. Blair whose pistol it waE le replied by saying that it wa 'that man's.' I asked him if h meant Mr. Arms. He said 'Yesi. asked Mr. Blair if he had a -scuffi and lie said 'Her and I were quarrel ing, not fighting."" A negro woman, florence DyleF the cook, testifled that Mr. Blair cam, home about 12.15 as nearly as sh, could tell, She saw nothing unusua in his apparance. le came to th kitchen door and spoke to her pleas antly. She knew nothing of the tra gedy as she was in the kitchen. Th ,children were in there with her, a was Mrs. John Neal. Mrs. Neal wa standing by her when the shQts wer fired. She exclaimed, "Take care o the children'' and ran into the housc Witness started to work there Jan. 1 Arms was there that day. Miss Manning West. The next witneqs was Miss Man ning West, a niece of Mrs. Blair, ani an orphan. Her father was killed ii the terrible wreck at Boston Bridg near Charlotte a few yean, ago an, ler mot),er died in this city abu ("r years ago. She is a very prett; Voung woIL1n11, not iulike M's. Blai in featie, eyes !ar.e .. d 'um:.'ou Und, general appearance very refinel and attract've. She w.P reifectly i1 control of r.erself, although the or deal was -me .-iceli *oi'.. have frigh tened many a man. There in th building in which but a few hours be fore was stretched in death the mai in whose home she had been livini fbr months, with the- paraphernali of the grave and the symbolism ani accoutrements of death on all sides with the jury of inquest scanning he face intently, to see if by any chane they could divine her inmost thought with the solicitor of the circuit exam ining her With (left questoning, all o these would have contributed to 'un nerve a. (isilnterested party, not. I speak of a yoim woman who ha been almost within the grasp of trag edy. And to make the situatio more exacting uponl her nerve fore< the weather was intensely warm, stif ling in the small room in which wei gathered possibly 75 people. But si spoke deliberately, seemed to have er tire possession of her wits througli out and answered with no show of r sentment when the questions. wer somewhat confusing, or ii)tended t probe to the very bottom of her testi mony. Her statement is that Blair was a home possibly anl hour before th1 tragedy. le was quarreling with li his wife all of that time. Later sh snid that "they'' wereqarrelin 'Mrs. Blair had gone to tlie dinne able, hut she' coildh ea It nothimn "Thie striain "was too mneh for he nerv'~es,' sid thle witniess. Miss WVee had gone into the room t wice. Mn' Blair w~as not. in her owin room at th1 time, but "'as in the room of Mr. Neal, adljoining, and had faintei Miss West stated that she had rt v'ived her aunt, and then had left tIh room but wvent back, fearing that Mi Blair would try t.o hurt Mrs. Blaii HeI shook her roughly when she ha, fainted, she testified. On Miss West return to the room they all went int Mr's. Blair's r.oom, according to he testimony. Mr's. Blair was first, fol lowed b)y Blair and then by witnes: A t this time Mrs. Blair picked u the revolver. Miss West stated posi tively that the revolver had bee t here for modths. Its regular plae was on the mantel. Asked whether or not Blair wa seated, witness said lhe was sente onily once during this period of quai r'elin.. Hie had struck Mrs. Blair an, she had backed into a corner of th r'oomI and( he was sea ted on thle trun11 daingim her to shoot. She rep11ied: "1 you don 't. strike me, I won 't shoot. Blair then advanced over to wher Mrs. Blair was and made an effortt eluitchi her by the th roa I. The piste was reprepseinted then and1( Rlair an Mr's. Blair struggled - for its posses 810on. They held the pistol betwee them down below the waist line, at cording to the description of witness with arvms extended downiiwards their full length. (Dr. Knowlton ha testified that the b)all had entered a a point several inches above the pos5 tion of the pistol du'ing the strugg] as described by Miiss West). Witnes did not see the first shlot fired. Sh: heard the report of the revolver an turned her back. Mr. and Mrs. Bllai struggled out of the. ..oom into th: htal. Witness declared that she (lid nc knowv what they were quarrelin about. Stated. in aniswer to question that Arms had. been a visitor to th huse, had comne 'at 'times4 when Bin a ,there. Supposed that lie was jus Is oio to the tiity S6lcitor Tir [ merman askeA a great 'many leading k questions about the Position of lifr. 3 aid Mrs. Blair at tlle .time the real - altercation commenced- and ar the b time and during the struggle while a the shots were being fired. Another Eyewitness. The next witness was Airs. John s Neal, one of the boarders at 1012 Marion street. She was composed and suffered the ordeal without being dis concerted in her testimony. She said that Capt. Blair camte home and be gan quarreling with his wife about not paying a bill. Mrs. Blair replied that he hai given her the money but had taken it away from her. She con tradicted the testimony' of the negro wom1an by saying that she was in Mrs Blair's rom when the shots were fir ed. She corroborated Miss West's tes tiiony about the position of the re 3 volver. Her testimony and that of Miss West differed somewhat as to position of Mr. and Mrs. Blair. Wit ness had not seen Blair sitting on trunk. "I swear that, she did not shoot him on that trunk." Although Miss West had sworn that she was in the room, Mrs. Neal could not remem ber to have seen her there. Her ver sion of the fatal moment differed from that of Miss West. It was more dramatic. Mrs. Neml testified 1that Mrs. Blair said: ''Don't you strike me or I will shoot.'' She described the tussle for the revuver. Ste had asked M!rs. Blair for the revolver when Blair stepped i) and started to strike his wife. After the shooting Mrs. Blair threw the revolver out of the window. It was afterwards picked up and given to the sheriff. Sheriff Coleman produced and put in evidence the weapon given him. It is a 32-calibre revolver of good make. "I am Ruined; Mr. Blair Was Shot.'' Mr. H. W. Woodward, the first outsider to reach the scene of tragedy, r testified that he was on his way home when his attention was drawn by pis tol shots. There were three in rapid succession and followed by a fourth a short while afterwards. He then hurried to the Blair residence and was met, at, the door by Mr. Blair's little daugliter who eried to him: "Do, Mr. Woodward, help us." He asked her what was the trouble and she replied: ''Do take the pistol away from papa." H6 then walked through e the hall and saw Mr. Blair with his e back to the wall and Mrs. Blair di rectly in front of him. Mr. Blair was holding his wife by the hands and the pistol was in Mr. Blair's up e per left hand vest pocket. o After calling to Mr. R. P. Edwards to get an officer, lie then returned to the house and was met by Miss West. t lie thought, who asked him to go to the room with Mrs. Blair. He found (Continued oi page Three.) Through Pullma on All Thrc Convenient Sc Local' r Tickets are now on Sa: .For Full Information ai p consult Nearest Souther Geo- B. AllenI Asst. Gen. Pass. Agent, Atlanta, Ga Allantic Coast GoodService n ules, Throu Sand Pullman e tween East a1 r For full iryforr It W.4 e . Passeng contractor as the work, progresses, I VotAining tweity percent' until final 4oMpletion. The Committee reserve the right to reject any and all bids. Geo. S. Mower, Chairman Building'Committee. W. M. AUGUSTINE, BEEF MARK ET. lest s.'ak . . . 12 1-2 ets. Othmer cuts fCrum 6, 8,and 10c. per lb. L'ork 12 1-2 cents per lb. Steak Pork 15 cents per lb. * )%sters, oest 40 cents per quart. Fish, etc. Near Senn's store. OHARLESTON & WESTERN tA1, OLINA 1Y. Schedule in effect June 3, 1906. t Lv. Newberry(C. N. & L.) 12:36 p. m. Ar. Laurens 1:42 p. m. Lv. Laurens (C. &. W. C.) 2:09 p. m. Ar. Greenville 3:25 p. m. I Lv. Laurens 2:07 p..m. Ar. Spaetanburg 3:40 p.m. Lv. Spartanburg (So. Rry) 4:00 p. m. Ar. Hendersonville 6:35 p. m. Ar. Asheville 7:30 p. m. Lv. Laurens (C. & W. C.) 1:50 p. m. Ar. Greenwood 2:48 p.m. Ar. McCormick 3:40 p.m. Ar. .Augusta . 5:25 p. m. Pullman Chair Cars between Au- 4 gusta, Laurens and Asheville, tri- 4 weekly. 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