The Henry McWilson case, assault with…
source date: 1889
availability: public-domain

The Henry McWilson case, assault with deadly weapon on Butch Wyatt, at the Ex- change saloon of your city, was tried yesterday and resulted in an acquittal. E. C. Wade, the prosecuting attorney, examined only one wit- ness, Chas. L. Cantley, for the territory. Butch Wyatt being absent, the testimony was that the defendant took delibrate aim, but John J. Bell, for the defense, proved by a number of wit- nesses that the shooting was accidental, and made an ingenious and successful plea as to the direction of the flight of the bullet. Tax payers will have an opportunity to settle the costs, (which amount to several hundreds of dollars), of this quarrel of would-be-gamblers, who en- deavor to attitudinize as “bad men.” If the complaint had been one of simple assault, the justice of the peace could have settled the mat- ter, and thus saved the county the trouble and expense of a “great trial” and an airing of gamblers’ dirty linen in court.