The Gun Behind the Bureau: A Seattle Shooting’s Reluctant Witness

DITTON GOT HIS GUN. He Went to His Room to Get His Weapon. AND THEN THE SHOT WAS HEARD Important Testimony for the State in the Railroad Avenue Shooting Case—Reluctant Witness.

The doctors having come to the conclusion that Frank Elmore, who was shot by William Ditton January 15, will recover, Ditton was taken from the county jail yesterday and arraigned before Justice Von Tobel on a charge of assault with intent to kill. The hearing resulted in Ditton being held in $1,000 bonds to appear for trial in the superior court. He could not furnish bail, and went to prison.

The testimony of Peter Thrall, a 15-year-old boy, who lives with Ditton over the Cayuga saloon, a block away from the Adelaide saloon where the shooting occurred, was interesting. He said:

"Me and Ditton live together, and about 2 o'clock in the morning of January 15 I heard a voice as if a crowd were fighting in the Cayuga saloon, down stairs. In a little while Ditton came into the room and asked:

'Where's the gun?'

'I did not want him to have trouble, and so told him I didn't know. Then he said:

'I know where it is.'

"He went behind the bureau and got a shotgun. I gave a cartridge, it was a single-barrelled gun, and he put the cartridge in and went away. About a minute afterward I heard a shot."

The testimony of Harry Slack, barkeeper at the Cayuga saloon, was to the effect that Elmore and the crowd with him were highway robbers. He testified:

"About half past 1 o'clock in the morning Frank Elmore, John Connors, Frank Choler and a man named Finnigan came into the saloon and Connors walked up to the bar, put a revolver before my face and said:

'You put up the drinks.'

'I gave them all drinks and they stayed there for half an hour making me pour out the whisky. About this time Ditton came in the door. There was a little talk and then the...