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INTERCESSION BY FRIENDS WINSCourt Reduces Grade of Crime Jn Case of Dunbar 3?owash ij Slayer.SENTENCE TO BE IMPOSED LATERSpocjat to The Courier. . .UXIOXTOWN, Oct, '4.—Following presentation o€ a petition asking for clemency, Judge Davis-W. Heriderson Wednesday ■ afternoon reduced -the grado oC the crime committed by John Milton Hay, 2S, of the Dunbnr-Ohio-pyle road, to that of voluntary man-slaughter and announced that sentence would be'Imposed later.Attorney William A. Miller, counsel • fpr the defendant, pointed out that* tliere were 450 names tn air on the petition which had been circulated largely among . the farmers, of. the. mountainous region in the northern part of the county/ back of Dunbar.• Among the signors... were ...Charles Wilgus, brother of the dead man: Jcnnh and Sesacl Hughes, brothers of the wife of the dead. man', and Mrs. Jonah Hughes, a sister-in-law. • Airs. Wllgus hersolr had been shot In tho affray.Hay. .was-on. the'iland but a half hour. “He said tha'f early that morning tho TVilg-uees had knocked on the door of his “boiuo ac'd aeked to buy some corn. Hay said ho told them they did not have enough for their own supply. An hour later, he said, lie heard noises In-the corn field and taking a shotgun, he went down to tho vicinity. There, Hay said, he saw Mrs. Wflgus and fired in her direction to. scare her..This,:.he testified, angered. Wilgus wlio ;came charging toward, him. Ha raised his^feun and Wllgus* turned: Hay said he then fLrcd, intending to bit Wilgus in. the legs, but the charge ■/out high- “1 didn't even know I bad injured the man until someone told mo that ho was dead, he claimed. Tiien-I got ready e.nd canio’to Union-town to give myself up to District Attorney Wade K- Newell/'After waiting around the district attorney's office for about an hour. Hay said.be decided to hunt an attorney od went to the office of E. D. Brown, former die trie t attorney, who surrendered him to tho county jail. •Mrs. Margaret-Hay,' mother of the alleged ‘ slayer, said \that her boy never know that h© had killed Wllgus. Responding to questions of Attorney Miller, Mrs. Kay said sh© noticed George and -Mary Wllguo coming through their property shortly afitT G o'clock and then saw them return about 7:25. They w*cro going to the home ot -/“ah Hughes, -a brother ot Mrs..WHgra. In order to reach tee tome they had to pass the Hay . corn patch.1 ;*Alrc. Hay said that her son took down the shotgun shortly after they passed and went out to the patch. He returned, a short time later and remarked that be bad ebot George. It was not until an hour and a half later, however, that they learned that • Wilgri3 waa dead. .When he beard the new'^'AIns.. Hay’said her son put on Hia coat ‘an'd remarked that ho would'go down to his uncle and bo driven to Uniontown to give himself tip to the district attorney; ‘ :v\.. Fourteen character, witnesses wore-called to substantiate the good reputation of Hay.' - - — . .HAY CLEMENCY
Newspaper Details
Connellsville Daily Courier
Connellsville, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Oct 04, 1934
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Becky H.
USA 19 Jun 2019
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