Prisoner in Serious Condition, Bullet Lodged Against Spine, Aug. 21, 1924

Prisoner at Hospital in Serious Condition. . . Bullet Removed by Physicians at 3 o’clock Thursday Afternoon and While Condition is Grave He is Not Believed to be in Immediate Danger

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Farrior shot Swindell, according to what seems to be reliable reports, as the prisoner sought cover, after seeing the gun in his visitor’s hand, in the far corner of his cell. Mr. Farrior is reported to have spoken to the prisoner as if about to shake hands with him, and Swindell is said to have told the visitor his name. The natural explanation of this would be that Mr. Farrior was not sure which prisoner was Swindell and wanted to be sure of his man before he fired.

As soon as he learned of the shooting Solicitor Small sent the County physician and two other doctors to attend the prisoner and ordered that Farrior be held without bail pending word from the hospital as to the gravity of Swindell’s injury.

When it appeared that the patient was in no immediate danger, warrants were issued charging Farrior with carrying a concealed weapon and with assault with deadly weapon wit intent to kill, and he was released at about noon under $15,000 bond.

Whether at a later term of Superior Court Swindell will answer to a Pasquotank jury for the offense charged against him or whether he will be called to a Higher Tribunal does not yet appear. Immediately following the shooting, he was rushed to the Elizabeth City hospital where an X-ray examination was made to discover the location of the bullet which had entered his body between the ninth and tenth rib, on the right side, evidently puncturing a lung, as the patient was perceptibly breathing through the wound. The X-ray disclosed the bullet lodged against the spinal column in the first lumbar vertebrae and explained the severe pain complained of by the patient in his right leg and foot, which he was unable to move. There was no evidence, however, that the spinal cord had been actually injured, according to the most authentic reports available; though, of course, physicians refuse to be quoted and hospital authorities refer reporters to the doctors.

The patient’s life at no time appeared in immediate jeopardy but it was deemed best to give him time to recover from the shock of the shooting before undertaking an operation to remove the bullet. “This operation was deferred to 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon, and the result of it is not yet ascertained.

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From the front page of the final edition of the Concord Daily Advance, Thursday, Aug. 21, 1924

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