Historical sketches and reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana . a stranger and not knowing the kindlydisposition of Watson, took his jokes for earnest. Howe wasinside of the house when Watson was trving to gain en-trance and being a powerful man physically, he opened or per-mitted Watson to open the door, and as Watson attempted toenter, Howe, with an ugly, dangerous knife, struck at himwith a downward stioke above the left collarbone from whichwound he died ne.\t morning at his home, situated where the(irand Opera House now stands. The Hon. John A. liar- 522 HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDI
Historical sketches and reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana . a stranger and not knowing the kindlydisposition of Watson, took his jokes for earnest. Howe wasinside of the house when Watson was trving to gain en-trance and being a powerful man physically, he opened or per-mitted Watson to open the door, and as Watson attempted toenter, Howe, with an ugly, dangerous knife, struck at himwith a downward stioke above the left collarbone from whichwound he died ne.\t morning at his home, situated where the(irand Opera House now stands. The Hon. John A. liar- 522 HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA. rison was Prosecuting Attorney at the time and proceeded atonce in the prosecution of Howe for murder. Howe employedCalvin D. Thompson and Thaddeus Cooper, of Anderson,and the Hon. Daniel D. Pratt, of Logansport, Indiana, to de-fend him. Mr. Pratt was an able advocate with few equals and nosuperiors, and was equally great physically, weighing nearthree hundred pounds. The defendants counsel institutedhabeas-corpus proceedings and Howe was let to bail and a. THE HON. W. SANSHKRKV. change of venue from Madison to Henry county was grantedthe defendant, where the case was tried before Judge Jehu , in the summer following. The case was on trial aboutsix days and was closely contested throughout. The prosecu-tion was conducted bv the Hon. John A. Harrison, as prose-cuting attorney assisted bv J. W. Sansberrv, who engaged inthe case by request of Mr. Harrison and through his great re-gard for the deceased. Mr. Pratt made the closing argumentfor the defense, a powerful appeal of hours and Sansberry spoke four hours each. The jury HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA. 523 spent eiirht hours in deliberation and acquitted tiie tlefendanton the ground that he had cause to fear personal injury to him-self sufficient to justify the homicide. During the trial a wit-ness testified that Watson was trying to break in a door in thehouse where Howe was in
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