Weaver - Sanford
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 7 March 1902
The horse thief detectives, who investigated the Sanford Weaver case at Cherry Grove, have decided not to take any steps in the matter of trying to find the alleged assailant, as they have demonstrated to their own satisfaction that the wound was self inflicted, the revolver belonging to Weaver being found under the edge of the smoke house. The story that the fellow drove away after shooting Weaver is discredited by the fact that the buggy tracks made by one of the detectives who had crossed the road at a direct right angle just before the shooting had not been dissected by the buggy of the man leaving the Carroll place, and it is evident that there was no buggy in the lane leading to the Carroll home. The detectives believe that there was a girl mixed up in the case.
It is stated that the reason perhaps that young Weaver did not finish up the job was because the revolver he used was a very poor affair with a wooden cylinder pin and when it was discharged once the mechanism would not permit of being shot again. He is said to have bought cartridges in this city the day of the shooting at a Washington Street hardware store. -s
Source:
Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 7 March 1902
Tuesday night about 10:30 o’clock
the family of Michael Carroll, at Cherry Grove, was startled by the report of a
revolver near their barn. Investigation disclosed Sanford Weaver, a farm hand
employed by Mr. Carroll, lying at the barn door with a bullet hole in his left
breast. He was taken to the house and Dr. Fred Dennis summoned from this city.
Dr. Dennis made an examination and found that the bullet from a 32 caliber
revolver had entered directly over the heart, but at such an angle that it had
hit a rib and glanced off through the fleshy part of the breast. Weaver stated
that he had seen a man enter the barn about 10:30 and started out to see who it
was, and that just as he reached the barn door a fellow jumped out and shot at
him and then ran and climbed into a buggy and drove away. A hole as big as a
half dollar was burned in Weaver’s shirt and it was only the merest chance that
prevented the wound being a fatal one. An investigation made next morning
disclosed Weaver’s revolver in the barn with one chamber empty and it is now
thought that he attempted to commit suicide, though no cause can be given for
such a deed. Weaver is 22 years old, unmarried, and his father lives on the B.
F. Crabbs farm, north of the city. -s