Guard Your Pistols and Your Pronouns, 1219 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 11 Pg. 20
| Author | BY FRANK GIBBARD |
| Position | Vol. 48, 11 [Page 20] |
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
BY FRANK GIBBARD
At his murder trial, Henry Covington admitted he was "pretty well tanked up" the night he was accused of shooting Winnie Adams.1 In fact, he claimed to have little recollection of the ordeal. But eyewitness testimony left little room for reasonable doubt, and he was found guilty of murder in the second degree. Even an egregious error in the indictment wasn't enough to overturn his conviction.2
A Visit to the Adams House
By the time he arrived at the Adams house on the evening of January 4,1905, Covington was under the influence of a significant amount of whiskey.3 Several other people were present: Samuel Terry, Bailey Trimble, and Fred Hopkins. Hopkins and Adams were outside the house talking when Covington arrived. He stepped past them into the house.
Hopkins and Adams stayed outside, conversing, for another 30 to 45 minutes. Eventually they reentered the house. There, Hopkins approached Covington to shake hands. In response Covington drew a revolver and said, "Don't come any nearer me, I will shoot you."4
Hopkins backed off. Covington said, "No, I didn't mean to hurt you or anybody."5 He threw his gun to the floor, saying, "I don't mean to hurt anybody. I want to show you that it is a safety. It is as safety [sic] a gun as a man can carry."6
By now it should have been clear that excessive consumption of alcohol had rendered Covington emotionally unstable and potentially dangerous. Hopkins picked up the gun and put it on a table or dresser. He went over to the stove to warm his hands.
Sometime later, Covington said, "I believe I will go home. Give me my gun."7Hopkins returned his revolver to him. As he departed, Covington told Terry, "I want to see you."8 The two men left the house together.
As the two men stood outside talking, Adams decided to go get some coal for the stove.
She opened the door. Light from inside the house flooded the yard, startling or annoying Covington.
Adams bent over to pick up the coal. She called to Terry to help her.
Terry asked Covington to excuse him and began to walk away. He managed about four or five steps before he heard Covington fire his gun.
The bullet grazed the fourth finger on Terry's right hand before striking Adams. She cried out, "Oh, I am shot! I am shot!" and ran back into the house.[9]Terry followed her inside.
Covington told them to close the door and turn off the lights. To enforce his demand, he fired another shot into the air.
The first bullet had split Adams's right kidney, passed through her liver, and lodged beneath her left breast.10 She thed two days later.
The Day After
Covington went home to sleep it off. The next morning, he got up, ate breakfast, and headed for the mines to put in his shift.
At the mine, a man named Leftwich told him about the shooting the night before. Covington told Leftwich he didn't know anything about it.
Then Covington saw Terry, who worked with him at the mine. Covington said, "Good morning, Sam. I hear I shot you last night, and Miss Adams. Can it be so?"!' Terry replied, "yes." Covington said, "I am awfully sorry."[12]
Not as sorry, presumably, as he was after the jury returned its verdict. At trial, Covington testified he'd had no trouble with anyone at the Adams house that night. He said he couldn't remember anything after Hopkins went to the stove to warm his hands. When asked whether he fired his gun intentionally, he claimed he didn't remember firing it at all. But the jury convicted him of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in the state penitentiary at hard labor. He appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Wrongful Use of a Pronoun
The indictment charging Covington with murder was not a model of clarity. It alleged:
Henry Covington, on the 4tii day of January, A.D. 1905, at the said county of El Paso, did then and...
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