recollect the occurrence of the 21st of August; Paton came to the house  in  the morning about eight; inquired for Harley G. Sheldon, town grand  juror,  said he wanted to make a complaint against Barney McCue for assault;  he  showed me a bruised arm and said Barney McCue struck him with a  sledge; said  a few nights before Pat McCue had got his son drunk and he had made a  complaint against him, and Barney was mad at him on that account. 

Went to McCue's house after noon; assisted in the post mortem  examination;  death was produced by a bullet wound about an inch to the right of the  left  nipple, near the fourth rib, but the bullet did not show on the rib; bullet  entered between the fourth and fifth ribs; pierced a part of the left lobe  of the lung, went through the left ventricle of the heart, and was found  imbedded deeply in the sixth dorsal vertebrate; have the bullet; (bullet  produced and found to be of the size); the effect of the wound was nearly  instant death; there is no more certain mode of producing death. 

held the post mortem examination of Barney McCue; The witness  corroborated  Dr. Sheldon on this point, and the fact that the man was in sound  condition  and the wound of sufficient cause for death. 

The prosecution here rested there case, and the defense opened with

Live in West Rutland; have known Pat McCue some time; saw him on  one  occasion last June; don't know whether he had a revolver; speaking of  Paton  he said he should have left town two weeks before only he was waiting to  get  a chance at Paton; this was down near the depot; met  Pat McCue soon  after  Barney McCue's death; at another time Pat McCue said he heard I had a  great  deal to say about this fuss and we had hard words; it was on the platform  at  the depot; I never knew of any trouble between Paton and the McCues; I  was  always friendly with the McCues till this affair on the platform; at that  time he accused me of having been over to see Paton, which wasn't true. 

Have always lived in West Rutland till eleven months ago; have known  Pat  McCue; was in jail with him last July; he said the officer who arrested  him  took a revolver from his; he said he wanted that revolver, he bought it to  put Paton out of the way, and by Christ, he didn't want to lose it; he had  a  particular ball in it for that purpose; John McCue was with him. 

Am a son of John Paton; Pat McCue was around our house one night  last June  with Shanahan; the 10th of June he and John McCue were there; father  came  and woke us up and said the McCues were killing him, his shoulder was  all  bloody.  I went out and heard John and Pat McCue telling father to come  on;  I heard firing done by John McCue;  Pat McCue and Shanahan were  there on the  15th of June; Pat said there was no Paton able to put him off "Rebel Hill". 

Cross-examined - I remarked the night well; there was no moon; John  McCues  voice gave the first shout I heard; it was about fifteen rods away; they  were coming over to where we lived; father was down in the street when  he  heard the noise; I was neat enough to talk with them but didn't; John  McCue  shouted, "Here's McCue" when he was coming over the hill; don't know  what  they wanted with father; Pat McCue and Mike Shanahan were there in  the day  time; father told me that Pat bailed him once; I heard that he had bailed  my  brother; I think it was in March before this; they were discharged on  their  own bail; at the quarrel on the 10th of June, I went down to Sherman  and  Adam's barn; during the firing, Pat told John to save his powder till he  got  a better chance, calling to father to come out from under the barn. 

Recalled - I saw John McCue in the jail; didn't say much; was kind o'  tight;  he said he was worth about $500, and, if he could get backed up by as  much  more, he would lose it all but he would have Paton's life; during the  eleven  months I was from home, I boarded at Millington's hotel (my note: he  means  jail); been out about six weeks; have talked with Paton, but didn't tell  him  this; have been on good terms with the McCues and Hanley; was arrested  once  for breaking into Hanley's store; was tried and acquitted. 

testified that he was walking with Paton on the 10th of June when they  met  John and Pat McCue and a row ensued, during which John McCue  struck Paton  with a stone; Paton knocked him down and ran off, followed by Pat  McCue; in  a few minutes he returned with a gun, looking for the McCues; he was  struck  in the breast by a stone and had a mark on the back of his shoulder  which he  said was a stab of a knife; he saw the gun the next morning, and it  wasn't  loaded. 

testified; Pat McCue and Mike McGarry once came to my house and  asked for  John Paton; I said he was not in; when they went out, Pat said he would  fight him if he found him. 

A number of other witnesses were called but knew nothing about the  case; It  being nearly five o'clock, Judge Dunton (my note: the defense attorney)  asked for an adjournment till tomorrow saying it was almost impossible  to  find out how much their witnesses knew before they were upon the stand  and  he wished one more chance for consultation. 

Judge Powers granted the recess and instructed witnesses that it was  their  duty to tell all they knew to counsel when they were preparing the case,  and  asked that any witness refusing should be reported to the court. 

Forty-one witnesses were then called forward by the counsel and kept  for  consultation. 

was the first witness called Friday morning.  He saw the rows in the morning and gave the same story as had been before told.

testified that he saw the shooting affray and that Pat McCue stooped  over  and put his hand in his hip pocket before Paton fired at him; whether for  a  revolver or not he couldn't say.  By this witness the defense attempted to  bring in evidence tending to show that Paton had been informed that a  party  at the depot was prepared to attack him and he carried a revolver to  defend  himself.  The prosecution objected; admitted by the court.  Witness  continued: John Rawley told me there was a party at Pat Hanley's  preparing  to go up to Paton's and make away with him and he told Paton of it; Paton  replied they would find him at home most any time of night. 

corroborated Mortom as to the party that were to attack Paton.

saw Paton standing at the hoisting power about ten minutes before the 
shooting and signalled him to go away.  heard Pat Hanley tell Barney McCue after the first row in the morning that he "had a right to kill him; we wouldn't have to pay but the one fine".

heard John McCue say that there were four Patons and four McCues and that was the best way to settle it.  Paton's son said he was satisfied with that way so there were no weapons used. John said, "By God, someone will fall." This was after the row in the morning and before the shooting.

corroborated the story of the row between Paton and the McCues on the 10th of June given yesterday.  Paton carried a "war club" a couple of feet long at the time.

saw a row at Pat Hanley's grocery between John Paton and Barney McCue. James McDEED testified to the same thing.  They had been good friends before that and this was apparently the beginning of the feud between the families.  It began by McCue's trying to separate Paton and another man who were fighting.

testified: Saturday before the shooting I bought the pistol in Rutland; 
father never carried a pistol before that, that I knew; on the evening of 
the 10th of June I heard Pat and John McCue shouting for my father; heard three or four shots but could not tell which of them fired them; they said they would fight father and put him out of the town now or never.

testified that after the arrest of Paton, Howe (the deputy sheriff), in 
describing the affair, told him that when he read the warrant to Barney 
McCue, the latter said, "We might as well settle this here" and started off; 
that Howe turned to Pat McCue and said, "For God's sake, if you have any influence with Barney, call him back", whereupon Pat tore off his collar and followed Barney.  This was in contradiction of Howe's testimony of the day before.  John EGGLESTON corroborated Sheldon in his recollection of what Howe said.

A recess was taken till half past three to allow members of the bar to 
attend the funeral of Mrs. Prout.

At half past three, the court resumed.  James BURKE, John HOPKINS, John DWYER, and Patrick GALLAGHER were called and testified briefly, added no new facts to the knowledge of the case.

Daniel HEYHER and Joel HOWE were recalled and examined briefly in minor points of their testimony which ended the case for the prosecution, and the evidence was closed.

The counsel for the prosecution requested a recess till morning to prepare their arguments, which was granted. The judge instructed the jury that they were to refrain from all conversation on the case and to keep their minds unbiased until the complete case was before them, and the court adjourned until half past eight when Mr. Everts will open the argument for the prosecution.  He will be followed by Colonel Veazey and Mr. Lawrence for the defense, and State's Attorney Fuller will close.
 

To be continued