Trial of Robert Corbin, for the Murder of Elliot J. Kidder, at Afton, Feb. 10, 1868
Chenango Union, February 24, 1869
(Continued from posting of January 23, 2022)
The defense was opened by Isaac S. Newton, Esq., in a forcible and ingenious speech, in which he detailed the incidents of the affray, reciting the condition of the titles of a large quantity of lands in the vicinity where it occurred, marking out their boundaries, and the action of certain individuals connected with various transactions. It was not denied that Corbin killed Kidder, but it was denied that he killed him with malice aforethought.
The first witness sworn for the defense was William Mallory who testifies as follows. Live in Afton; know Corbin, knew Kidder; was present when Kidder was killed; went up in the load; did not know of anyone in the sleigh being armed; reached the place of affray about 5 P.M. When I first saw Kidder he came running down the hill a few rods ahead of the team; he had an ax in his right hand; when most up to the horses he said, "whoa, you must go no further on my land;" he commenced striking at and between the horses; they stopped, Corbin urged the horses, they started and he called whoa again, and they stopped; Fox was not driving; Corbin, told him to get out of the way; he did not and Corbin got out, and went to the horses heads; Kidder followed him with his ax and said, "d...m you. I'll split you down;" Corbin fell back; Kidder hit him with the ax on the side pocket of his coat on the left side; Kidder then said, "d...m you, take that will you;" Corbin fell partly on his left side; Kidder drew the ax again and I jumped out of the sleigh intending to grasp the ax; the ax fell on my arm, the helve and the blade cutting a button off my coat; Kidder drew the ax on me; I jumped and caught hold of him; he was about opposite the collar of the horses; he tried to strike me all he could; I had hold of the ax; I held my arm stiff, and he could not hit me; I moved about 18 feet distance up the road; he jerked me around and then off to the side; I was doing nothing else except to keep him off; can't say as I did any more that to resist the effort he was making; I did not see Corbin when Kidder was shot, nor from the time I grasped the ax until then. Did not hear the snap of a pistol when Corbin got out of the sleigh; Kidder was a tall man, weighing 170 to 180 pounds; he appeared at this time to have liquor in him.
Cross Examination: Did not see a pistol in Corbin's hand at any time. When Corbin fell Kidder struck at him with the side of the ax, when I seized him he had stepped back to the head of the horses some 4 or 5 feet; he continued to fall back after I took hold of him, he did not press me back; I swore I was not afraid of Kidder, before the Grand Jury, I was not afraid of him when I had hold of the ax, he hallooed twice, "where is my men?" he did not say "I have nothing to do with you," I did not reply, "I have with you." said nothing of the kind.
By the Court: When I took hold of the ax with one hand I drew the other hand back, I calculated it was in a striking attitude the whole time.
George Teed, brother-in-law of prisoner, was next witness: Live three-fourths of a mile from Corbin, Wood came over and said Corbin wanted me to go on the hill with him after his cattle; hitched up my horse and went up, when I first saw Kidder, he was coming down the hill, he had an ax in his hand, think he had it in one hand, head of it down, he came up and hallowed "Whoa, I forbid you driving any farther on this road." When the attack was made on him. Corbin was driving; Corbin got out and went to the head of the horses. Kidder struck at him, and Corbin backed up, Kidder followed him saying "take that you damn son-of-a-bitch, I'll cut you down." Corbin was laying on the ground and Kidder made a pass at him, when Mallory jumped out and caught him, and they commenced backing, Kidder trying to make motions with the ax; this continued until they passed the head of the horses; I was sitting in the cutter behind the sleigh, It was the edge of the ax that was coming down when I saw it, the whole thing did not exceed one minute, when Corbin was backing up he had a pistol; I did not hear it snap, I have been in the army, it could not have been snapped and not marked the other cartridge; did not hear Corbin remark that the pistol would not go off, I should say Kidder was trying to strike Mallory and Mallory was trying to proven it, it so continued until they went out of my sight. I was there in May, the road had the appearance of a traveled road; I know Eliza Corbin, she is sick.
Charles Wood sworn: Live in Afton, three-fourths of a mile from long house, Southwest, V. Caswell lives half a mile northwest from log house; from this place to the village there was no other road except this one, it was the traveled road to the river. the other one was so drifted as not to admit of passage, was present when Kidder was shot; could see part of the time; first saw Kidder running down the hill, 8 or 10 feet from the horses; he had an ax in his right hand, made motions at horses; Corbin told him to get out of the way; Corbin got out on left hand side and went up and told Kidder to get out of the way; Corbin held out his arm and Kidder says, "shoot will you," and made blows at him, until Corbin fell; can't say as he hit him; did not hear Kidder make any remark as he went down; Kidder then struck again towards defendant; Mallory jumped out and took the blow on his arm; Kidder drew up the ax and Mallory caught it; acted as if he would strike; Mallory caught it with left hand; they were mid-way of the horses; Kidder kept backing up, when Kidder was shot the ax was up over Mallory's head, or rather between the two; Corbin got up and went around the horse and soon the shot was fired; Corbin did not turn to the sleigh; heard no snapping of a pistol; did not know he had a pistol until I saw it in his hands when he was backing up, only knew Kidder by sight.
The further evidence of this witness relates principally to what occurred on the hill or at the log house during the day; of his going to Bainbridge to tell Caswell that if he wanted to save his house he must go up and take care of it, and to the guns that were in it. Colton's boy brought one gun there, witness one, and Caswell or someone else the other two. Witness loaded two guns; loaded one to kill rabbits. Kidder came there, knocked, and wanted to come in; he came up to deponent and said, "get out of the way or he would split me down and the law would uphold him in it;" he said, "he owned the house, it was his property," which was repeated.
To be continued
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