Cowan

Defendant was by information accused of murder, and was convicted of manslaughter; and from the judgment and order denying a new trial he prosecutes this appeal.

The record discloses that defendant and a number of others conspired together to commit an unlawful act, by taking forcibly from a jail the deceased, who was a prisoner therein, and applying to his person a coat of tar and feathers. After such a conspiracy was formed, the defendant armed himself with a gun and joined his co-conspirators at the jail, where the same was broken open and the "prisoner rushed therefrom into the crowd of conspirators on the outside. Shortly after he emerged from the building, and when the deceased was but a few feet therefrom, a shot was fired by the defendant at him, and almost immediately thereafter he was grappled by another one of the crowd, and while engaged in a scuffle with the party who had seized hold of him, another shot was fired and the deceased thereupon sank to the ground, or was thrown down by his assailant, his clothing torn from his body, and crude oil and feathers applied. The deceased was then carried back to the jail building and the crowd separated. It is evident from the…