A Potato Masher and a Pistol: The Kitchen Fight Meadows Says He Barely Survived
Awaiting trial, the shooter files an affidavit swearing the man he wounded had cornered him with a drinking glass and a wooden masher — and that the state's own witness will back him up.
Meadows, awaiting trial on a charge of criminal assault for shooting Pitts on January 14, filed an affidavit in the superior court yesterday alleging that the state's chief witness, Vincent Chambers, is too ill to leave his room; that he is suffering from heart disease, and that it would be dangerous to his life for him to be brought to court.
Meadows alleges that Chambers was present when the shooting took place, and that he would testify that prior to the shooting Pitts attacked Meadows in the pantry, calling him vile and obscene names and daring him to come out and fight, which he, Meadows, refused to do; that thereupon Pitts left the pantry and went into the kitchen, where Meadows, Pitts and Chambers were employed; that all three were in the kitchen, Pitts standing before Meadows in a threatening manner with a large, heavy drinking glass in his right hand and a large, heavy wooden potato masher in his left; that Meadows was then in a corner with no avenue of escape, and as Pitts came forward he again called Meadows a lot of vile names and said he would smash his brains out. Meadows warned him back. Thereupon Chambers took hold of Pitts, who threw Chambers aside and again came at Meadows and raised the glass as if to throw it. Meadows then drew his pistol and shot at Pitts' right hand. Meadows says that Chambers will further testify that in all the controversy Pitts was the aggressor.
“As Pitts came forward he again called Meadows a lot of vile names and said he would smash his brains out.”
A workplace quarrel that escalated from insults to a cornered man and a drawn pistol reads like a modern self-defense brief — the claim turns on who was the aggressor and whether the defendant had any way out. The reliance on a sick witness and an affidavit is a reminder that even a century ago, courtroom outcomes hinged on who could be made to appear.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.