The  tree  was  standing  about  one  hundred
feet  up  from  the  creek  on  a very  steep  moun-
tain. Mr.  Hayes  intended  the  tree  to  fall  down
the  hill,  but  through  a mishap  it  fell  in  an  oppo-
site direction,  the  top  of  the  tree  striking  a large
boulder  above,  breaking  off  the  top  of  the  tree
and  permitting  the  heavy  trunk  of  the  same  to
dash  down  the  mountain,  catching  and  dragging
Hayes  fifty  feet  or  more,  when  he  was  hurled
over  a precipice  fifty  feet.  The  poor  man  man-
aged to  make  his  way  to  Cooney’s  house  when
Dr.  Kimble  was  summoned.  However,  no  in-
juries of  a fatal  character  were  discovered
excepting  a fracture  of  the  right  arm  and  one
rib.  Up  to  the  third  day  Mr.  Hayes  was  con-
sidered in  a fair  way  to  recover,  but  on  the
evening  of  the  18th  he  became  worse  and  died
in  convulsions  while  being  turned  over  in  bed
by  Jas.  Lynch.  Shortly  after  his  death  there  was
circulated  a report  that  his  wounds  were  not
sufficiently  critical  to  cause  death.  Hints  of
poison  were  freely  mentioned  to  the  effect  that
it  had  been  administered  through  mistake.
Deputy  H.  E.  Penney  at  once  summoned  the
following  jury:  James  Lynch,  T.  F.  Cooney,