"Jury Find John Lynn Guilty of Murder," The Inland Sentinel (Kamloops). October 28, 1913. Page 1 & 4.
---
There was little new evidence brought forward yesterday afternoon at the trial of John Lynn for the murder of Joseph M. Pickering on July 9th last at the Queen's Hotel, Kamloops, and the jury retired to consider their verdict at 6 o'clock in the evening to return a couple of hours later with a decision of guilty.
Story of Affray
Edwin Anthony Armstrong, George Mottishaw, James Joseph Doran and Richard Burke all bore evidence identical with that tendered by them at the preliminary hearing on July 11th. From their respective narratives it would appear that the accused attached himself to Armstrong Johnson and the deceased whom he accompanied to the Queen's Hotel, where he drank with them. Some words passed in connection with a recitation given by Lynn upon prison life which seemed to be displeasing to Armstrong, and the accused struck Armstrong and brought him to his knees. Shortly after Pickering struck the accused, all unaware, a most violent blow from behind, closing one eye completely, and felling him to the ground. He then proceeded to belabor him until called upon by those standing near to desist. Then helping the accused to the ground, Pickering expressed regret for his severity, offered to pay the expense of medical attention for Lynn, and asked him to take a drink, and also to wash the traces of the struggle from his face. Lynn declared that he was a good looser, however, but some minutes later he was looking at his bruised face in the glass and endeavoring to soothe the pain, when suddenly he wheeled round, a revolver in his hand, and fired at Pickering. The shot took effect and the victim sank to the ground, Lynn meanwhile covering him with the revolver. The others. hurried from the bar-room and Lynn backed to the door and made his escape.
Additional witnesses yesterday were Mr. J. A. Gill, who gave proof of the accuracy of some, plans exhibited, and Mr. David Wyse who spoke of the accused's concealment and arrest.
The story of Mr. Wyse was'to the effect that he observed Lynn pass the windows of his blacksmith's shop, and later found him in a space at the rear. Lynn was sitting down holding a handkerchief to his face. Some time after a man informed witness of the shooting that had taken place at the Queen's, Hotel, and Wyse then went back to where Lynn was, and learning from him that he had received his injuries at the Queen's Hotel told him that a shooting affray had taken place there, whereupon Lynn stated that it was he who had fired the shot. He added that he wished he had killed witness. There was nothing, however about his conduct to create fear, and when the Chief of Police arrived in response to the summons of Wyse, the latter did not caution the Chief to exercise care as the man was not in a dangerous mood. Lynn had not caused witness any alarm.
Closing Speeches.
Mr. A. D. MacIntyre for the defence made a strong and eloquent appeal, full of restrained but passionate pleading. The affair, he said,
was the result of a drunken quarrel originating in drink as was borne out by the evidence of Dr. Burris and by the associated facts. The victim, a strong working man himself under the influence of drink, had assailed the accused with brutal violence, had knocked him to the ground and had then maltreated him so unmercifully that even the bar-room habitues, innured as they were to such affrays, were constrained to interfere and call upon Pickering to desist. This awful beating left Lynn so dazed and crippled that the deceased had to help him up, and the medical evidence showed that he was still suffering from the effects of it, and was not in a normal condition an hour later. The accused had no thought of murder: he fired one shot only, and was unaware that he had killed Pickering. Had he designed Pickering's death he could have fired again, but in a bemused condition after the first shot he sought out a retired place where he could nurse his injuries.
At the time of the shooting the man was incapable of reflection. He had been bereft of his faculties by a brutal beating, and his act was not one of premeditation but was committed in blind rage and pain. Lynn was not an assassin, and the powers of the jury enabled them judge between murder and manslaughter.
Speech For Crown.
Mr. H. W. R. Moore for the Crown said the effect of the pleading for the defence was to suggest that a man could in Kamloops arm himself with a deadly weapon - enter an hotel in broad daylight - force himself upon a party drinking there, and when not welcomed knock a man down, and in the subsequent trouble shoot a man-and then claim irresponsibility of action.
The evidence showed that the man talked intelligently, that he was not irresponsible, but was burning with murderous rage. The deceased had tried to make amends in every possible way for his assault upon Lynn, but five minutes later, after an interval for reflection, Lynn shot at and killed Pickering.
Summing Up.
The Judge in a clear and concise summary laid the salient features of the evidence before the jury, to whom he explained the circumstances under which homicide might be reduced to manslaughter. The point to be considered, he said, was whether the crime was committed in the heat of passion under sudden pro- vocation, before a man of ordinary temperament would have time for his passion to cool.
The jury retired at six o'clock, and a little later the Court was adjourn- ed until eight when a verdict of guilty was brought in.
Throughout the proceedings, Lynn did not display any perturbation, and he received the death sentence with a smile. The unfortunate man, who is condemned to hang on Dec. 29th, has an unenviable record as he has previously suffered jail sentences of 14, and 3 years respectively, as well as other punishments.
[Lynn would not be executed, but his sentence commutted to life in prison. When transferred to the British Columbia Penitentiary, he was found to be 'insane' by the prison doctor, and sent to the Mental Hospital on Vancouver Island. He escaped from there in 1921, and was later arrested and convicted in Saskatchewan and spent some time there. He was then paroled, and ended up penniless and alone in 1939 in Toronto - and ended up back in the Penitentiary.]
