Camden Courier-Post – October 20, 1931
Phila. Barber Who Shot Man in Brooklawn Lashed as ‘Cur’
A Philadelphia barber who shot and seriously wounded a companion after an argument over a game of cards, yesterday was sentenced to six years in the state prison by Judge Samuel M. Shay, who denounced the defendant as a “yellow cur.”
The defendant, David E. Wright, 32, was convicted Friday in Camden Criminal Court, on charges of shooting O. Nelson Kelley, 30, clothing salesman of Portsmouth, Va., at Brooklawn on March 22, The jury deliberated more than 22 hours before returning a verdict of guilty.
During the taking of testimony, the state contended Wright and Kelley got in an argument over a card game in Philadelphia and decided to drive to Brooklawn to fight it out with their fists. When Kelley got out of the car, Wright is alleged to have shot him.
“Yours is an unusual case,” Judge Shay said in pronouncing sentence. “You went out to Brooklawn with murder in your heart. You went out there to fight man to man, but you gave the other fellow no chance and shot him in cold blood.
“Your act was that of a yellow cur. There were no extenuating circumstances in your case and you do not deserve any sympathy from this court. After shooting him you drove away to leave him die in the road and for your crime I sentence you to six years in the state prison.”
Two men were arrested during Wright’s trial and are under $5000 bail for the grand jury. They are Walter Reggin and Walter Stewart, both of Brooklyn.
Reggin was arrested on a charge of perjury when he testified he was with Wright in New York the night of the shooting.
Stewart under indictment here as an accessory, was suspected by detectives of being the man sought since last March by’ the police who alleges he was at the scene of the shooting. According to the police, Stewart was to have been the “referee” of the fist fight Wright and Kelley planned.
Kelley, during the investigation of the shooting, said he was shot and abandoned in Browning Lane, Brooklawn. He named Wright as his assailant. Kelley hovered between life and death for 19 days at Underwood hospital, Woodbury. It was Kelley who testified Stewart was the third man at the scene.
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