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A L F R E D   A D K I N,   having been produced as a witness for and in behalf of the people, and having first been duly sworn, testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LILLIE.

Q

Where abouts do you live?

A

I live in Muskegon County.

Q

About how far from Sullivan?

A

Well I think it is between five and six miles.

Q

How long have you lived there?

A

Well I have lived there off and on for the last twenty-five years.

Q

Do you know William Shimmel here the respondent?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

How long have you known him?

A

Well I have known him for a number of years, I can say fifteen or twenty years anyway.

Q

What is your business?

A

I am a farmer, that is I own a small farm, twenty-eight acres of land, and I have a large family, and I generally go out picking up junk, rags and rubbers.

Q

What season of the year do you that?

A

Well in the spring and fall sometimes.

Q

Do you remember of the time of the murder of Martin Golden at Dennison?

A

Yes, sir.

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Q

Where abouts did you first hear of that murder?

A

I heard of it about four miles I think - - well about a half a mile east and about four miles south of Sullivan.

Q

And at what place, whose farm?

A

Now I couldn’t tell the man’s name, it is right near what they call the Dutch church up there.

Q

Was the man’s name Bolema?

A

I think that is the name.

Q

And what day of the week was it that you heard that?

A

This was on a Tuesday.

Q

That would be the Tuesday after the murder on Monday night?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

At about what time of day was it when you saw Bolema and heard of the murder?

A

Well now I couldn’t tell exactly, but I know I had stopped, I and my little boy had stopped on the road and ate our dinner before we got there, it must have been somewhere about one o’clock.  I generally lay up from about eleven until about one on the road anyhow before I buy much more on account of peoples eating their dinners and all like that.

Q

And you stopped at this man Bolemas at the church there, did you?

A

Yes, sir, I stopped at the house.

Q

And talked with him about this murder?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

And then what direction did you go from there?

A

I turned right around by the church and went west.

Q

Well about how far from the Denison is this church?

A

Well sir I couldn’t say as to that.

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Q

And you went west from the church you say?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

And did you meet anybody on the road going west?

A

I did.

Q

Whom did you meet?

A

I met Mr. Shimmel.

Q

How far from the little Dutch church did you meet Shimmel?

A

Well it must have been - - well I had went by the road that runs from Nunica to Sullivan.

Q

And that would be a mile west of the Dutch church.

A

Yes, sir.

Q

And about how far west of that were you?

A

Oh I must have been a half or three quarters of a mile, I couldn’t state exactly.

Q

Which way was he going?

A

He was coming towards me.

Q

Coming east then?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

Was he afoot or did he have a rig with him?

A

He was afoot when I saw him.

Q

You say your little boy was with you?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

And did you notice Shimmel or did the boy?

A

My little boy spoke up to me and he says, “pa, there comes Will Shimmel” I was kind of studying, I am always studying on the road to see how I am coming out and the like of that.

Q

Did you have any conversation with Shimmel at that time?

A

When he come up on the left hand side of the wagon I said,

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A

“Hello Will” and he says “hello”  I says, “What are you doing down in here” like that, that is my expression generally.  He says, “I am just a coming from Nunica”.

Q

Go on.

A

Well I says, “you are west of the road that runs from Nunica to Sullivan”  Well he says, “I made a turn off back here” he says, “and got on the wrong road”.

Q

Did he say anything about the Cooper Schoolhouse?

A

I think he did, yes, sir.

Q

And the Cooper Schoolhouse is how far south of where you were?

A

Why I think it is about a mile I won’t be sure.

Q

Well now go on and give the rest of the conversation.

A

And then I spoke up to him and I said, “did you hear about that murder Will, in Denison last night” he says, “no”, I says, “yes, there was a man killed, a murder, up there, so I heard back here by the Dutch church” I says, “last night” and Will stood a minute and he spoke up and he says, “well nothing but a dead man anyhow” like that.  Then I went on about my business.

Q

And which way did he go?

A

He went right past me.

Q

He kept on east?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

Did you see anything of a horse and buggy around there?

A

No, sir.

Q

Now about how was he dressed that morning?

A

I couldn’t say, I didn’t take no particular notice.

Q

What kind of a hat did he have on?

A

Well I couldn’t say as to that because I am a man that very

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A

seldom notices a man’s clothes.

Q

Did Shimmel ever work for you?

A

Why he has been with his cousins I think, threshing at my place several times.

Q

Did you ever work with Bill?

A

No, I don’t think I ever did only as he worked at my place.

Q

Did you ever saw wood with him?

A

No, I don’t think I ever did.

Q

Now what have you ever noticed if anything about the peculiarity of his breathing, if he does anything, runs or moves quick?

A

Why nothing in particular only he has got a kind of a lisp or something, I don’t know what you would call it.

Q

Kind of a heavy wheeze?

A

Yes, sir, kind of a - -

Q

(Interrupting)  Whether or not it would be something like a heavy (heevy) horse?

A

Well you might call it that.

Q

Now what can you say as to whether he was as heavy then when you met him there on the road as he is now?

A

Well I should think about the same.

Q

And he was coming from the west?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

About how far ahead of you did you see him in the road?

A

Why he must have been not more than a rod or so ahead because I just happened to look up.

Q

What kind of a country is it around there, whether cleared up or not?

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A

Yes, sir, it was cleared up country where I saw him.