Charged with Murder.
--The case of
Thos. Boyd, the sentinel who shot the negro
Henry Anderson, on the city end of the Danville Railroad bridge, on Sunday evening, was examined before the
Mayor yesterday morning.
Richard J. Farley, a switchman of the Danville Railroad Company, was the principal witness for the
Commonwealth.
His testimony was very confused and unsatisfactory.
He had witnessed the whole affair from the first challenge of the negro by the sentinel until the firing of the latter, but he had either not observed or had forgotten the material points.
His first statement was that the sentinel had ordered the negro to halt and show his pass, near the bridge; that the negro had said he would show it when he came back, and walked on, and that being again ordered to halt he did so, and while standing still, with his side partially turned to the latter, was shot by him, the parties being somewhere between four and ten feet asunder.
On a cross examination he said the guard ordered the negro to show his pass at the end of the bridge, but did not shoot him until he was on the platform depot, which might be twenty or more paces distant from the bridge; he did not recollect what length of time had elapsed between the first order to halt and the shooting; it might have been one minute, two, four, or more minutes; he heard the accused halt the negro twice — he might have done so oftener, but witness did not hear him, not paying any attention all the time.
James Seruggs crossed the bridge behind the negro, and heard the guard halt him at this end of the bridge; left the negro and guard in altercation, and heard nothing of the shooting.
The sergeant who posted the guard on the bridge stated that the instructions to the guard were to permit no one to pass without a pass from
Mr. Talcott or
Mr. Young.
The
Mayor continued the case, and admitted the accused to bail in the sum of seven hundred dollars.
