A $10 Bill, a Loaded Dice Game, and a Fatal Shot at the Hotel Northern

The hearing of Paul K. Page, charged with the murder of Henry L. Fraser on the morning of April 23 last, was held before Justice McElwain yesterday afternoon. Six witnesses were examined: Edward Ledway, Dr. Kline, T. J. E. Jones, W. A. Ireton and E. C. Marden.

Ledway, a barkeeper out of work, said that on the night of the murder he met Page in the Northern saloon and was asked by him to play for the drinks. Ireton played with him. After the game Marden came in to play for the drinks.

Dr. Kline, who attended Fraser, testified as to the wound, its nature and the operation, and said the cause of death was intestinal congestion caused by the gunshot wound.

T. J. E. Jones, the auctioneer, went to the Hotel Northern to attend a raffle for a watch. It took place at 9:50; he went to a room in the Horseshoe and returned to the Hotel Northern at 11 or 12. Page and Fraser were shaking dice in the front room, and he heard Page tell Fraser to throw the dice all out together instead of one at a time.

W. A. Ireton, a barkeeper, was at the Hotel Northern on the night of the tragedy. He, at Page's solicitation, played three games of seven-up with him. Then he quit, and the barkeeper, E. Marden, at Page's request sat down, and they played dice for the drinks and 5 cents a game. After they had played several games Marden quit because he did not like his luck. There was a dispute as to how Page played his cards. Then [Ireton] induced Fraser to join him in a dice game. Fraser finally lost all the money he had and went to the bar for more. Fraser went to the register and Page went into the back room. They returned and began playing for 25 cents a throw. It was the witness's impression that Fraser won all he had lost and a little more. Finally Fraser ran out of chips and took a $10 bill from his left breast and laid it on the table. Page picked it up and put down two chips, and Fraser demanded the bill back. In order to explain the matter, before the right number of chips were counted out Page put the bill down and Fraser picked it up. Just as he was explaining about the bill, Page drew his pistol and shot him in the back. As he shot he said: "You damned sheeny." Fraser had risen to grab the pistol when he saw Page draw it. [The witness] caught Page by the right hand and turned the pistol down toward the floor. Marden grabbed Page by the throat and Anderson took the pistol from his hand. In the struggle Page fell to the floor, and when he said he had had enough he was let up and sat in the chair, while witnesses Marden and Johnson took Fraser upstairs.

On cross examination by Attorneys Fife and Gilman, the witness positively denied that anyone had hold of Page when he fired the shot.

E. C. Marden gave testimony similar to that of the preceding witness. He swore that he quit playing with Page for the reason that he caught him holding out cards during the progress of the game of examination. He also testified that Page took six cocktails during the evening, all but one of which were flavored with absinthe.

This witness was put to a severe cross examination. While on the stand it was admitted that he had been arrested, but he denied that he had ever been convicted of an infamous crime. He was asked if he was not familiar with loaded dice, and whether he had not left the city to avoid being lynched for drugging a bartender. Witness strenuously denied all these charges whenever he was allowed to answer the questions by the judge.

The examination was continued until 1 o'clock this morning.