St. Louis, Dec. 19.-
The suit of Ernest Morgan, a boy who was wounded by a revolver bullet fired into a crowd of people, on June 18, 1904, during a fight between Zach Mulhall and others at the Cummins wild west show on the Pike, at the world's fair, in which Mulhall is asked to pay $20,000 damages, was partially heard in Judge Ryan's court yesterday. The testimony will be finished and the arguments made today. Mulhall is represented by Attorney T. J. Rowe. He was accompanied to the court house by his daughters, Mildred, Georgia and Lucille Mulhall, and his son, Charles Mulhall, all of whom occupied seats in the courtroom. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop of Memphis, Tenn., friends of the Mulhalls, were also present, having volunteered to come to St. Louis to testify for the defendant.

Mulhall was convicted of felonious assault and sentenced to three years in the penitentiary when tried in the criminal court. His appeal is still pending.

Morgan's testimony was to the effect that only three shots were fired, one of which struck him in the stomach, breaking his hip socket and destroying his thigh bone. His testimony as to the number of shots fired was supported by other of his witnesses.

Mulhall and his witnesses insisted that from eight to a dozen shots were fired; that Mulhall's back was turned to Morgan, and consequently the boy could not have been struck by a bullet from Mulhall's revolver. A .38-caliber revolver was in court in evidence as the one which Mulhall had on the night of the shooting.

Mulhall said he had been repeatedly warned on the day of the shooting that Frank Reid, with whom he had the disturbance, intended to kill him before night. When the Indian show was put on, he said, several cowboys told him that if he went into the show he would be killed, but that he did not heed their warning. After the show he said these same men warned him not to leave his room, bec ause Reid was waiting outside to kill him. After changing his clothes in his room near the show, he said, he started to go out with several persons, whom he intended to accompany to union station. He had left his pistols, loaded with blank cartridges, on a table in his own room, and had locked his children in another room. As he walked outside, he said, a cowboy stuffed another revolver in his trousers, insisting that he would need it.

Mulhall said he had not gone far before he saw Reid draw a revolver. He begged him to put it away, and when his request was met with a refusal he walked rapidly toward Reid and they began to scuffle. In the row he revolver was accidentally discharged once, and he shot twice at Reid, inflicting minor wounds each time. Many shots were fired, he said.

John A. Murray, a roper and rough rider connected with the show, testified that from six to a dozen shots were exchanged, one of which wounded him in the stomach.

Louis Young, another member of the show, said he heard Reid say, "I'll kill him," meaning Mulhall, "before night." He said the fire was so rapid and furious that it sounded like firecrackers, and that he was knocked down in the melee.

A. B. Ashcroft, another showman, said Reid asked him early in the evening not to go away, as he might need him in his efforts to keep out of jail.