Page 37

CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. TURNER.

Q

You say you left Nunica about half past four?

A

I didn’t leave Nunica sir.

Q

Or Coopersville I would say.

A

Yes, sir, that is as near as I can figure, it might have been later than that, I know it was quite a little after four o’clock.

Q

And who was with you?

A

Mr. Simmer.

Q

Mr. Simmer?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

Have you seen Mr. Simmer to-day?

A

I have not, sir.

Q

What is his business?

A

Saloon business.

Q

Where, in what place?

A

He was located at both places Nunica and Coopersville at that time.

Q

And he was visiting back and forth was he between the two places?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

And you think it was about half past four that you left there?

A

Well as near as I can imagine.  Of course the exact time I couldn’t tell you.

Q

Where did you first meet Mr. Simmer that day?

A

When we was to start out.

Q

No, how did you come to make the arrangement of starting out

Page 38

Q

together?

A

He asked me over town at noon before I went home to dinner if I wanted to go to Nunica and I told him I did, and he said I want to drive down this afternoon and he said, you can ride with me, and so I of course went home and ate my dinner and waited there quite a little spell and he didn’t come and I went back over town again and he must have hooked up his horses somewhere around three o’clock.  When he got over town he had a little business there and I drove him around town there and he was a good deal longer getting ready than he expected.  We didn’t get out of Coopersville very early.

Q

Where was he when you first saw him - - in his place of business?

A

Mr. Simmer?

Q

Yes.

A

Yes, sir.

Q

How long were you in there at his place of business when you first talked about going over to Nunica?

A

Well sir, I cannot tell you how long I was in there.

Q

How long do you think it was?

A

Why it might not have been over ten minutes, to step in and go on out again, I might have stepped in afterwards and gone out.

Q

Did you have a drink when you were in there?

A

Yes, sir, I did.

Q

How many drinks did you have?

A

Well sir I am not in the habit of taking over one and go on out and let it alone.

Q

I didn’t ask you that, I asked you how many drinks you had.

A

Well I told you I took one.

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Q

Now after dinner did you have a drink?

A

After I got back from dinner?

Q

Yes, sir.

A

I did not.

Q

Did you have anything to drink at all between that time and the time you started out for Nunica?

A

I did not.

Q

You did not touch it al all?

A

No, sir.

Q

And you had not had any in the forenoon before that?

A

Well I presume I did.

Q

How many do you think you had?

A

Not over a drink anyway.  I usually go over in the morning, If I drop over town I would go in and have a glass of beer.

Q

Did you take a glass of beer this day?

A

I would if I had it, yes, sir.

Q

We haven’t got it here and I am not asking you about to-day.  Maybe we will furnish it to you afterwards.

A

All right sir, thank you.

Q

But I want to ask you if you took any other drink on this day?

A

No, sir, I did not, not outside of beer.

Q

Didn’t take any whiskey?

A

No, sir.

Q

Had Mr. Simmer been taking anything to drink at all?

A

No, sir, Mr. Simmer doesn’t drink anything.

Q

He knows enough to let it alone when he is in the business?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

How far was it from Denison when you met Mr. Shimmel did you say?

Page 40

A

About forty rods I should judge.

Q

And about how far where you met him was it from the D & M railroad?

A

Well sir, it is not over ten rods I guess there, I don’t believe.

Q

And was he coming right down the road that led across the D & M?

A

Yes, sir, that is coming along the wagon road.

Q

That went right along - -

A

(interrupting) Across both the interurban and D & M.

Q

Is there any woods along there on either side of the road?

A

No, sir, that is not very close, there is a little north.

Q

How far did you see him coming ahead of you on the road?

A

Oh we saw him probably ten rods, before I noticed him, we were driving right along.

Q

Was he driving?

A

No, sir, he was afoot.

Q

Where was he when you first noticed him, how near to the D & M tracks?

A

Well sir he was right by those barns about forty rods.  He crossed straight over and the track is not over ten rods, and along the road it is about forty rods.

Q

Now let me ask you, just to get the location there, is Denison north or east of the D & M tracks?

A

It is south of the D & M track.

Q

Does the D & M track run east and west there?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

Well I say south or north, that is what I mean.

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A

It was south of the D & M track.  Denison is south of the tracks, both tracks.

Q

And you were south of the D & M track?

A

No, sir, I was not.  I was north of the D & M track.

Q

And you were going towards Denison were you or away from it?

A

I was going to Nunica, I was going away from Denison.

Q

Then from the way that you met Mr. Shimmel he could not have been walking on the D & M track?

A

No, sir, he was not walking on the D & M track when I met him.

Q

He was walking towards the D & M track was he?

A

Yes, sir.

Q

Now where would this road that he was on if he came from Nunica, where would that lead him, to the D & M tracks - - had he just crossed them?

A

Why it would take him - - where we met him it would take him to the D & M track just ahead about forty rods from where we met him.

Q

The same road, where would that strike the D & M track?

A

Going towards Nunica?

Q

From where he was coming?

A

It don’t strike it until you get to Nunica.  The nearest point is there by the Catholic Church.  It is not far from the crossing there.

Q

And the D & M and interurban run together there pretty close?

A

Yes, sir, all the way to Nunica.

Q

Now how long before this evening had you seen Mr. Shimmel?

A

Well sir it must have been something like seven years.

Q

Seven years?

A

Yes, sir, seven or eight, I couldn’t say just which now.