Introduction | Testimony of George Kimmel

George Kimmel Examined; I was at home on Sunday with Andy Kimmel. McLeod was at the house all day; he was not off the place; I had no conversation with Absalom or McLeod about murdering the girl. CROSS-EXAMINED: I was arrested and put in jail on Friday. On Saturday morning, Dan. Spriggs and Bill Johnson took me out of jail and took me to the woods. When they got into the woods, they threatened to hang me. I knew they had no rope and was not afraid of hanging. They then said they would kill me in three minutes if I didn't tell all about the matter: they had revolvers in their pockets and I was afraid they would kill me unless I told something, so I told them that Ab, and McLeod had told me that they had all the fun they wanted with the girl, and that they afterwards killed her, All I told Spriggs and Johnson was a lie to get rid of them. RE-EXAMINED BY PROSECUTION: All I told Spriggs and Johnson was a lie. I saw McLeod and Absalom washing at the pump at about 2 o'clock. I told Spriggs and Johnson that the boys said they had killed the girl, and that they first had all the fun they wanted. I never had heard the story before, but made it up as I went along. I told them I say blood on McLeod's shirt, that part was not lie; I did see blood on his shirt. That was true, and it was true that they washed at the pump. McLeod took one shirt off in the afternoon, and after he come back at 1 o'clock or after, he put a striped shirt on over the one he had on. There was blood on the one he had on.

At this stage of the examination [after Sheriff Spriggs testified], George Kimmel, whose evidence is printed heretofore, requested permission to correct some of his statements made while on the witness stand. This was opposed by the counsel for the accused and insisted upon by the prosecution. Permission at length being granted by the court, he got upon the stand and made the following statement. He said: "On Sunday, June 23d, at about 3 o'clock P.M., McLeod told me that he struck and killed the girl; that he first had all the fun he wanted. He said Absalom was with him. There was blood on McLeod's shirt, and he washed it off at the pump." CROSS EXAMINED BY DEFENDANTS' COUNSEL: McLeod told me these things when he and I were trading watch chains.--We were upstairs on a bed. The reason I told a different story when I was first examined, was because you lawyers told me to go back on what I had told Johnson and Spriggs. (Here Messrs. Callen, Murlin and Loughridge, each made statements under oath, saying in substance, that the witness, George Kimmel, had said to them he had made certain declarations to Spriggs and Johnson, which were not true, and that with that understanding they had advised him not to repeat his statements under oath but to tell the exact truth.)

Copyright 2000. David Kimmel. Heidelberg College. Tiffin, Ohio. All rights reserved.