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Show BTSPADDEN IS FOUND NOT GUILTY Judge Howell holds that a derringer derring-er used In punching a man in the face cannot be considered a dangerous weapon. It might have be-?n different had the party having the small pistol fired at his victim. Tho decision was rendered on a motion ou the part of tho defense In tho case of the state against George McSpadden. a colored man, charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The case was brought to a sudden termination when George Mortenson, a baggage man, on whom the assault with a deadly weapon was alleged to have been committed, testified that McSpadden only poked him in tho noso wl'h a certain pistol, the pistol placed in evidence proving to Iks a small derringer, not more than three inches long. Tho court ruled that the pistol on I exhibition used In (hat way could not be considered a deadly weaion and, inasmuch as tho state had alleged Its use in no other way, tlx. case was dismissed dis-missed and the defendant released from custody. The Information alleged that on October 17, this year. George McSpadden McSpad-den assaulted George Mortenson with n pistol, by striking, beating, bruising nud wounding him. The weapon Is a derringer that was In use many years ago. It is single-barreled single-barreled and "the cartridge Is of the old rlm-flre make. McSpad.len stated after bis dUmlsxal that the gun had been used by his father before the Civil War and that "You could not kill a rabbit with it now." j |