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The Seattle Star, June 13, 1903

REFUSED LIBERTY

I. O. Negus Denied Bail on Murder Charge

I. O. Negus, who shot and killed Edward Kebabian, May 11, was arraigned in the superior court this morning and pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder in the first degree. His attorneys, Fulton & Faben and John B. Hart, asked that the defendant be allowed to give bail to appear at his trial, which was set for September 24, but Judge Bell, on the representation of the prosecuting attorney that all the testimony in the case tended to prove premeditated murder, denied the application.

The attorneys for the defense cited many extenuating circumstances to the court, and stated that they would immediately apply for a writ of habeas corpus and compel the state to show cause why the prisoner should not be released on bail.

While his attorneys were talking, Negus stood before the bench in a most dejected attitude with tears rolling down his cheeks. When the prosecutor stated that he had called Miss Ida Coxe, the foster sister of the murdered man, a liar, he wiped his tears away and smiled, but began to weep again when the judge denied his application for bail.

The shooting occurred after a quarrel between the two over an alleged insult offered by Negus to Kebabian's foster sister.

Negus has considerable property in the city and stated that he could give bonds immediately.

He was at one time a partner of Sheriff Cudihee's brother, John Cudihee, in Alaska.

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The Seattle Star, October 5, 1903

ACQUITTED

I. O. NEGUS, TRIED FOR MURDER OF EDWARD KEBABIAN IS A FREE MAN

I. O Negus, who fatally shot Edward Kebabian, last May, was acquitted of the charge of murder by a superior court jury, Saturday afternoon, and after four months imprisonment, walked out of the court room a free man.

The jury was out a little more than an hour. When the 12 men filed solemnly in the court room and announced that they had found a verdict, Negus turned very white and leaned forwards, his face tense with emotion. After they had been discharged from further service, Negus, after kissing his sister who came from her home in the east to be present at his trial, shook hands with and thanked each of the men who had acquitted him.

The shooting, which occurred in the yard of Kebabian's home, where he lived with his foster sisters and brothers, was the result of a quarrel between the two men. Kebabian charged Negus with having insulted Miss Ida Coates, his sister, and when Negus denied it, struck him. Negus then fired the shot which proved fatal. His defense was that Kebabian, after striking him, picked up a lead pipe and attempted to hit him again with it, and that in shooting he acted only in self defense.