Texas, B-C, 1898-1991, Undated

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a personal security bond signed by a
cousin, Sam Ashworth. Later in the day,
the cousin, armed and accompanied by
a friend, William Blake, met Deputy on
the outskirts of Madison and challenged
him to a gun fight. The deputy sheriff
refused, however, and in turn arrested
Sam Ashworth under a “statute pro-
viding against abusive language from
Negroes.” Since the prisoner’s hair tex-
ture and physical characteristics did not
confirm jhe charge, Justice Reading sub-
poenaed’ a number of witnesses, who
stated under oath that they considered
Sam Ashworth to be “of mixed blood,
or a Mulatto.” Reading sentenced the
defendant to a punishment of “thirty

. lashes on the bare back” and then re-

manded him to the sheriff’s custody for

Winter, 1979

momen were ere cpr Tee

Janene

its people, its law, its currency, and its future...

execution of the sentence.
In loyalty to his Ashworth friends,
Glover soon allowed his prisoner to es-
cape;\or so it was alleged by those who
were the sheriff’s enemies.
Infuriated by Deputy’s race allegation

and the severity of his sentence, Sam

Ashworth burned inwardly for revenge.
He hastened to the residence of a cousin,
Henderson Ashworth, where he disguised
himself and borrowed a skiff, two musket
shotguns, and an 8-inch Colt revolver.

Accompanied by an eighteen-year-old
cousin, Jack Bunch, Sam Ashworth rowed
to the juncture of Cow Bayou and the
Sabine River, a point that Deputy would
have to pass in order to reach his home
at Deputy Shellbank.

When the boat of Deputy and a friend,

A. C. Merriman, reached the scene, Bunch
maneuvered the skiff from its hiding
place in the rushes, while Ashworth fired
two loads of buckshot and emptied the
pistol at his enemy. When Deputy did not

die instantly, Ashworth suffixed the
murder with the butt of his musket.
Miraculously Merriman escaped unin-
jured and later returned-the body of the
lawman to Orange, where he swore out’
arrest warrants for the killers who had
fled into hiding.
The following day Sheriff Glover
raised an eight-man posse and rode off
into the countryside. Again it was alleged
that. the sheriff had no intent to search
out and capture the fugitives, for his
handpicked posse consisted of William
(Continued on page 28)

moe Pe Sri oe ee ee

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INTRODUCTION

Most people would agree that the repulse of an invasion fleet in 1863 and the oil
eruption at Spindletop in 1901 were the two outstanding historical events in Jefferson
County’s history. Each event has spawned volumes of history. In a sense, each occurrence
marked the decline of an old order. The outcome of the Civil War ended slavery and
witnessed the regression of the cattle industry. Gradually, the new lumber and sawmill
barons replaced the stockmen as Jefferson County’s economic backbone. As the virgin
forests vanished and petroleum was discovered, the process of economic transition began
anew.

In this first of two planned volumes to terminate in the year 1901, the writer has
purposely delayed his Master of Arts degree in order to seek for every possible source of
Jefferson County’s antebellum history. There were men such as George A. Pattillo, Henry
Millard, Stephen H. Everett, Dr. Frederick W. Ogden, and James R. Armstrong who were
equally at home in the capitol at Austin as they were in Jefferson County, and whose lives
are recorded in the ensuing chapters. The writer, however, has endeavored to chronicle the
“little people” as well, for it was they who collectively laid the foundations for our
metropolis, nearing one-quarter million persons, of today.

In the past, myth and legend have often prevailed, and a single, forty-minute
battle has become synonymous with four years of the county’s Civil War history. It is the
writer’s hope that this volume will remove much of the shroud of mystery and uncertainty
which heretofore has surrounded those years prior to 1865.

W. T. Block
P.O. Box 62
Nederland, Texas 77627

‘the Mulatto colony included Aaron, Ab-

By .W. T. BLOCK

Illustrated by Jack Jackson

i NY VISITOR to Madison, Texas dur-

“ing the month of May 1856 would
hardly have imagined that the communi-
ty was steeped in hatred. Only four years
earlier, Orange County had cut itself
adrift from Jefferson County and estab-
lished its county seat at Madison, a pros-
perous village located on the Sabine
River, twelve miles from its mouth, and
cooled by the prevailing southerly breezes
‘from Lake Sabine.

Madison had no log-cabin or unpainted-
clapboard ugliness. Already a_ thriving
timber products center, it had grown
from zero population to 600 in ten years.
One early writer praised its fairy-tale
appearance, 150 white cottages “enscons-

‘| like a duck in a nest of roses” and en-

circling a mile-long river crescent studded ©

with stately cypresses. Five steam saw
mills and shingla mills, two shipyards,
a dozen hand-powered industries, stores
and cotton warehouses lined the banks of

eae . U ce
the river where six steamboats and nu- -

merous sail craft transported lumber
and cotton. A multi-billion foot reservoir
of virgin cypress and pine forests abutted
the community that had already become
the state’s leading ‘exporter of lumber,
shingles, lathes, fence pickets, barrel
staves, and wagon spokes.

If Madison’s idyllic setting belied the
ugliness within, it also left as inexplic-
Hie the strangest circumstances that

were ever a party to vigilante violence ~

and twelve aSsassinations—a sheriff who,

with his uncle, comprised the most skill-

ful ring of counterfeiters in early-day
Texas; a West Texas killer who rode
with the Moderators, the party of “law
and order”; and a dozen free Mulattoes,
who were slaveholders, wealthy cattle-
men, and considerably less “black” than
the hearts of their persecutors.

By 1856 Orange County had the largest

aggregate of “free blacks” in the state, -

numbering about 100. The nucleus of

ner, William, Jesse, and Tapler. Ash-
worth, Hiram Bunch, Gibson Perkins, and
Elijah Thomas, all of whom were broth-
ers or otherwise closely related. Hav-
ing arrived in Texas by 1834, many of
them had held Mexican land grants and
had fought in the Texas Army in 1836.
Each of them was of mixed ancestry,
quadroon or octoroon.

Despite the marriage laws of the state,
six of the group had taken white spouses,
a continuing process which had left
them as a whole “three or four gen-
erations removed from black blood.” Ex-
cept for the disfranchisement from polit-
ical and ‘judicial processes, they had
gained most of the privileges of whites.
But in the eyes of their neighbors, they

eS had committed one cardinal sin—

ty had accumulated large tracts of
choice lands and thousands of cattle.

Nonetheless the free blacks were allied
through marriage bonds and partnerships
to many white settlers (one of whom

& ~10

‘Everything about Madison, Texas was bogus—its beauty, |

was Sheriff Edward C. Glover), who
rallied to the Mulattoes’ side when the
violence began.

Sheriff Glover and his uncle, John C.
Moore, were destined to lead the Regula-
tor.faction composed of 100 whites and
Mulattoes. For two decades, the pair
had flooded East Texas with fake land
certificates and counterfeit currency and
coin, and had suffered only minute mo-
lestation as a result.

In 1844 Glover was arrested at Beau-
mont, Texas for passing bogus bank

notes, but a grand jury failed to indict.

him. In 1851 Moore was arrested, and
his press and $200,000 worth of fake

currency were confiscated, but the inter- -

ruption was only short-lived. By 1853
he and Glover were back in business,

“engaged in the manufacture of bogus
money” and were passing it “throughout,
the state.”

WW SUCH an atmosphere, only one spark

was needed to ignite the furies of
hostility and envy. That moment arrived
on May 15, when Deputy Sheriff Samuel
Deputy hailed a free Mulatto, Clark
Ashworth, into Justice of the Peace A. N.
Reading’s court on a hog theft charge.
The merits of the case are unknown,
but the butchered animal may well have
been one of the thousands of unmarked
swine, in a semi-wild state, which then
roamed the mast-bearing lowlands of
Orange County.

Reading bound the defendant over to:
the “district court and released him on

Winter, 1979 Old West

we &

‘
we

which i knew was about a mile north
of my claim. Then for the first time
came the conviction that I was lost! At
the top of my voice I shouted for help,
knowing that it was worse than use-
less. No earthly help was near!

“T allowed the oxen to follow their own
course and they finally brought up at
the railway. We crossed the track and

ere stopped by a bank of snow. Here
_ determined to remain and dig a hole
in the drift. Releasing the oxen from
the sled, I let them go, leaving them
yoked together.
see them again.

“Thankful for having brought along
a shovel, I commenced to use it as well
as I could in the face of the storm.
When I had dug out a place about three
feet in diameter, I took the tongue from
my sled and laid it across for a ridge
pole, and laid the short wood across on
either side and over all shoveled snow.
Having left an opening for a door, I took
the end boards from the sleigh-box to
cover it. The blanket given me by Mrs.
‘Glynn I threw on the floor. a

“T was under cover, yet most un-
comfortable. My clothing, which had
become sifted full of fine, wet snow, was
frozen stiff. I tried thawing parts of
it by breathing over it, but this had
little effect.
my only salvation lay in exertion. Rub-
bing, slapping and pounding my feet
and limbs, I passed the hours in that
snowbank. At times I was tempted to
give up and quietly go to sleep.

66 AT LAST, I became so weary in my

uncomfortable position that I de-
termined to venture out. The blizzard
was still howling and I could not tell
whether it was night or morning. I
groped about, stamping and trying to

fecided that my cave in the drift was

@:": my sluggish circulation, but soon

Grandfather Dickinson

preferable to the elements. When I

turned to re-enter it, not a trace of the |

Aace was to be seen!
st!
thought that I would sink down and

Again I was

let the snow drift over me, but life was_

dear. :
“All at once, as if in direct answer

I never expected to.

I was so near freezing that -

. my feet.

For a moment in my despair, I

to my prayer, came a lull in the storm,

and close at hand I saw my shelter.

Hastening to it, I was going in head first
like a wounded animal, when my cloth-
ing caught and held me as though in
a vise. I was wedged in; to move either
way seemed impossible. In spite of my
fearful predicament I couldn’t help
laughing at the plight I was in. Laughter,
it is said, is good medicine. It had a
cheering effect on me just at this time;

_ it seemed to renew my faltering energies.

“With a resolute movement I wrenched
myself loose. Once more under shelter,
I determined to remain there. At times
I became drowsy, and only by force of
will could I remain awake.

“How slow and tedious the hours
seemed in passing! I became sure that
my feet were freezing. In spite of all
my efforts, I finally succumbed to drowsi-
ness and became unconscious
time. When I roused ,I became aware
of an unusual silence. There certainly
was a change, and I decided to venture

: forth again.

“The stars were shining in a clear
sky! As suddenly as it had approached,
the storm had spent its fury and sub-
sided. It was still very cold, so I re-
turned to my ‘den’ until daybreak.

“When I reached home the next morn-
ing, my wife could scarcely believe my

strange story. But when the footgear -

was removed, ‘the sight of those black-
ened feet proved ample evidence! As
long as I could endure the torture of
it, she rubbed them with snow, hoping
to restore circulation.

“Three days later the oxen were
found in the shelter of a ravine. One
was alive, standing by its dead mate. I

found that I had been away from home.

for two days and two nights.

“To attempt to tell of the suffering
of those remaining winter days would
be too long and painful a story. There
were no roads. No mail reached us, nor
could any be sent. We were indeed
snowbound! The neighbors did not al-
low us to suffer in isolation. They were
kindness itself.

“Not until March was it possible for

a surgeon to reach us. It was then
found necessary to amputate parts of
My wife had already ampu-
tated my toesi At that, I was lucky,
for two of our neighbors were lost. in
the storm, their bodies not being found
until spring. Many people died and much
livestock perished. The entire southern
part of the state was hit.

“It was indeed a memorable blizzard,
as I have reason to remember! Now you
know why I always like a good fire!”

Meanest Town on the Coast
(Continued from page 11)
Blake, Thaddius Pate, Bazille Sapp, Bur-
well Alexander, .Joel Brandon, Martin
Stewart, and others known to be friendly

“to the Ashworth clan. As expected, Glov-

er returned the warrants to the court at
the close of the day, marked “not found.”

The following day, Merriman and his
friends, disgusted by the sheriff’s non-
chalance, demanded that he organize a
new posse and continue the search.
Glover declined the leadership, however,
and assigned the duty to another deputy,
Joshua Harmon. The new posse scoured
the adjacent wilderness for . days,
searched homes of the Ashworth, family
members, but all to no avail. On’ one
occasion, based upon reports that the
murderers were concealed within the

for 2 -

confines of the Empire Mills, the posse
set fire to the sawmill on May 31, but
failed to flush out the fugitives. The mill,
described as “the best in the state,” and

its 100,000 feet of stacked lumber were >

soon reduced to cinders.

{ROM THE OUTSET the defendants .

in the case seemed to be the Mulatto
community collectively, rather than the
two, members who had perpetrated the
deed. For two weeks free blacks were
harassed by small bands of self-appoint-
ed vigilantes.who plundered homes, set
fire to houses and barns, and warned
their victims to leave the county.

Sam Ashworth and Bunch hid out in
the swamps for several days. Finally
they crossed the Neches River and fled
to the Big Thicket, where they parted
company and headed for West Texas.

Glover and his associates soon dis-
appeared from view as well, and the
vigilantes came to believe that Glover
was keeping the killers informed as to
the whereabouts of the various posses.
Between June 1 and 15, several Mulattoes
moved their families and slaves to
safety east of the Sabine River, but each
man returned to try to protect his prop-
erty and cattle herd. All sorts of rumors
were spreading through the county. A
mail rider reported in Madison that he
had seen Sheriff Glover and a large band
of Regulators, composed of both whites
and free blacks, in the vicinity of Bal-
lew’s Ferry. On the 14th, Bazille Sapp
tried to enlist a stranger into’the Reg-

ulators and told him that Glover would |

lead forty armed men into Madison the

following day. Another claimed to have ©

heard Moore swear that he and 150
Regulators would soon “lay the town of
Madison in ashes.”

On June 15, Merriman and the vigilan-
tes met at the courthouse and organized
a “committee of safety,’ a Moderator
faction of sixty men, Still expecting an
attack by the Regulators, these men,
armed with | double-barrel. muskets,
knives, and a “general assortment of

Colt jewelry,” presented the appearance.

of a militia company bound for a war
front. Tempers flared when two or three
suspected , Regulators were observed
along Front Street. ,
The Moderators about that time wel-
comed a newcomer, Jack Cross, into their
ranks, unaware that the stranger was
a notorious killer fleeing eastward from
several murder indictments in Bexar and
Nueces Counties. During their meeting as
a committee of safety, they issued a
resolution declaring the sheriff’s office
to be vacant and issuing an ultimatum
warning all Mulattoes and their white
associates—including Moore, Glover,

Brandon, Pate, Sapp and others—to re-_

move themselves fifty miles beyond the
county borders within twenty-four hours
on penalty of death.

Many Mulattoes crossed the river to

safety, but Glover and his men remained

hidden in the vicinity of Brandon’s and .

Moore’s log cabins near Ballew’s Ferry.
About one o’clock on the 15th, Bennett

Thomas, who was suspected of being one | i

of Glover’s- Regulators, quarreled with

Old West

- (Gurk Lead : |
(66 SOUTHWESTERN -2nd= 311 - two cases)
BURKLEY, tae and Thurman, blacks, electrocuted, Texas (Dallas) on 2-9-193h.

"Bluitt Burkbey, 19, and Thurman Burkley, 18, negro brothers were indicted Thursday night
for the mrder of Miss Katheryn Prince, el, assaulted and shot to death Wednesday night on
a lonely Dd. las County road, The grand jury report was delivered tonJuge Grover Adams
of Criminal District Court at 9:55 PM, 2 hours alhost to the minute after Miss Prince was
last. seen alive with her escort, Mace Carver, 27, critically wounded by the negroes, The
tragedy occurred a few hours ghtcr the couple had been in Oak Cliff First Baptist Church/
Indications were the crime was done at 11 PM Wednesday. Peas, afternoon the two negroes
confessed the crime.
"Deputy Sheriff Ted Hinton, accompanied by William McCutcheon, 22, of Route 3, Dallas,
arrested the two negroes, He took them to thehome of Me Cutcheon's uncle, where city detec-
tives met them, and the negroes then led the officers to the place where Miss Prince's body
laye Thenegroes s igned their statement s beforeCaptain of Detectives E, V. Bunch, Det, Lt,
Will Fritz, Asst, Dist, Atty Dean Gauldin and Stenographer Hayes at police a aeueresre
Thursday afternoon, The confessed. killers, under heavy guard, were taken immediate y to
thecounty jail. A few minutes after thepair had been placed behind the bars, farmers from
the Pleasant Mound Community started gathering in the lobby of the jail building at Main and
Houston Streets, Ina fee minutes thelobby was crowded with overalleclad men, Deputy
Sheriffs were scattered throughout the crowd. The speed with which the negroes were trans
ferred from policeheadquarters to the county jail was believed to haveaverted possible mob
violence,
"The grand jury report was delivered to Judge Grover Adams of Criminal District Court at
2:55 PM, Although the negroes had confessed also thewounding of Carver, the grand jury did
not take final action on the assmlt to murder case, (Death of MaceCarver, 2? y was expec=
ted momentarily at Parkland Hospital early Friday morning, Hospital attendants shortly
after one AM said that unless a definate turn toward imppovement in his condition was noe
ticed within the next two hours, he would be unable to continue his fight for lifemugh long-
Cre Xray examimtion revealed that the bullet which had penetrated in the rear of the
young man's neck had severed his spinal cord, causing complete paralysis from chest to feet,
Despite an operation which removed the bullet and a blood transfusion, the patient was
steadily losing strength early Friday.) Returning theindictment in the presence of the
other members of the grand jury and members of the District Attorney' s staff, Foreman
Arthur Simpson said: 'Your honor, the grand jury returns two indictments for. murder against
Bluitt Burkley and Thurman Burkley for the murder of Katheryn Prince, Judge Adams accepted
theindictments from Mr, Simpson and said: 'Wentlemen, a t hank you for coming down tonight to
work,' It was the first night session of the grand jury since Feb, 10, when indictments were
returned in a case involving a downtown murder,
"The girl's body was found at 2 PM Thursday just off a lonely road near Balch Springs, in
Eastern Dallas County, She had been shot through the heart and showee evidence of having
been brutally beaten, Though the negroes dmied having assaulted Miss Prince, Dr. George
Stephens of Mesquite, after examination of the body reported that she had beenc riminally
attacked. Carver, Miss Prince! Ss comanion, was left wounded ina clump of trees some dis-
tance from theplace the girl' s body was found, Heremained there in a ditch several hours
seminenscious, until he was found by a farmer, He was taken to Parkland Hospital, where
the wunds in his neck and right wrist were declared critical.
"T, H. Prince, a Pleasant Mound farmer, father of Miss Prince, was one of the first to join
_officers in the search for his daughter' s body after she failed to return home Wednesday
night. Hewas armed with a shotgun, Miss Prince had attended James Bowie School, Dallas,
and was graduated from Oak Cliff High School in 1932. Carver worked on farms in the neigh-
borhood of Pleasant Mound until several moths ago when hewas employed at an ice station in
Dallas. A single bullet through the heart ended the lifeof Miss Prince, according to the
report of Dr. Stephens, 'Miss Prince was apparently hold both hands over her heart when
shot,' Dr, Stephens said: 'The bullet penetrated through her right forefinger, left wrist
and left breast. Death was almost instantaneous, Judging from thepath of the slug, it was
fired from above the girl,' he said. 'She was either lying on her back or kneeling, There
were also marks of severe bruises on her head and neck,! Justic of the Peach hearing will
be held in MesquiteFriday before Judge J, R, Scott, He said at night that he would return
a verdict of mrder. J, M. McCullough, Mesquite undertaker, whose ambulance carried the
body from its resting place in the field, was excused as_a witness before the grand jury
becausehe was supervising embalming of the body and completing funeral arrangements.
Funeral services for Miss Princes will be conducted at ), PM Friday by the Reve John R, Rice
pastor of the First Baptist Church at Oak Cliff, at the Pleasant Mound Church, four miles

westof Mesquite, on the Scyne Road. Weakened from the shock, exposure and loss of blood, Care
ver was unable to talk at length of the tragedy. He gave a statement in short bits, pausing
freouently to rest. “When he had finished, he was so weak, he kam was unable to sign his name.
When a pen was hanged him by Dr, J. H,. Stephens, superintendent of thehospital, he made an X
by his name, Carver told of going with Miss Prince: to see a girl in Oak: Cliff, The Latter
was not at home, and he and Miss Prince attended church services, After that they went to he
Crystal Ice Comp any station on Second Avenue, South Dallas, where Carver was employed. He
told attendants there he would report for duty at midnight.
"That was between 9:5 PM and 10:00 PMWmdensday, and was the*last time they were seen until
after Miss Prince was killed and Garver was wounded, 'When we were on the way home we
stopped on Dashlane,' Carver said,' and played the radio in the car, Two negroes came up to
the automobile, They didn't say anything. One of them made me move over, and he got under
the wheel, The other went:to the othersideof the car which was a:couple, They made
Katheryn sit on my lap. The negro at the wheel then started the car and drove around for
15 or 20 minutes and finally stopped the car near Balch Springs, about 2 miles from where
the negroes first’ came up to the car. While they were driving around they were arguing -
about which road to take and one of them said: "Go on," When they stopped the car, they
told me to get out and both Miss Prince and myself did-so, The negro on the right was the
one with the pistol, The other did not have one, They wanted to know whether I had any
money and I told them that I had a watch, which was a 17-jeweled white Elgin, I handed it
to thenegre and then they mademe go into "the woods, I walked toward the woods and the other
“negro kept Miss Prince by the’car, Thenegro who was following me told me to turn around and
when I did so he shot me once, Then I think he shot me again, The negroes were young and
slim, They did not have on coats, They were very black, The one that had the pistol wore
suspenders and had on a hate He was taller than the other, about 6 feet. When _— first
cameup to the car they cut off the radio and took the key which I gave them,!
"Thurman Burkiley,: 18, the younger of the two negroes, was the first to sign a sticieniait’,
Both previously had aanitted orally their participation in the crime, after a futile attampt
to attack Miss Prince, Thurman s confession follows: 'My name is Thurman Burkley. My
‘address’ is with my brother, Jarvis Burkley, off the Scyene road at a house on Mr, Dash's
farm. My brother and I left the city market Wednesday night at about 9:30 o'clock (the
Pearl Street market), ‘We were driving my brother Jarvis' car and we were accompanied by a
another brother of mine named Bluitt Burkley. When we got to Jarvis' house he got out and
stayed at home, Bluitt drove the car and he and I drove to a little side road, the other
side of where Jarvis lived. We saw a car driving along slow, When we got even with him we
could see a boy and girl in the car, We drove on past them and we saw them pull w and park
pretty close behind where we were, My brother and I got out of the car and walked back to
where they were, We had the girl sit in the boy's lap and brother drove their car and I go t
onthe outside of the:car. We drove the about 2 or 3 miles and stopped the car and made the
man walk out in the timber a little piece from the road, I shot the boy twice with a little
pistol: I had got from Jarvis' home, The pistol is the same one some officers got from
Jarvis' house Thursday mo ning, I 18&ft the man out there where 1 shot- him and went to the
car and drove to where I took the officers a@ few minutes ago and showéd- tha the girl where
I left her, About that time, Bluitt told me to turn the car around, When I got back from
turning the car around, Bluitt told me HHH he had killed the girl and he got back in the
car with me, We went back to where we parked Jarvis! car when we first foum the copple,
We drove both cars up to the Urbandale school house, where we left the boy's car and we’.
both drove back to Yarvis' house in his auto, ‘We got home a few minutes after 11 o'clock,!
"While Thurman was making and signing his statement, his bpowther Bluitt was incthe police.
identification bureau being photo graphed and fingerprinted. The two megroes then were trans-
ferged and Bluitt made the following statement: 'My name-is Bluitt Burkley. I have been
living at 3215 Roseland Street, Dallas.; I am 19-years-old, JI lfet the market on Pearl St,
Wednesday night about 9 o'clock with my two brothers, Jarvis and Thurman Burkley, We had
pought three watermelons and carriedthem to Yarvis' house, When we got there Jarvis got out
and stayed at home, Thurman then drove the car, About a mile the other side of Jarvis"
house we saw a car driving slowly behind us and the car pulled up beside us and my: brother
stopped him. I got to their car and drove it and we had the girl sit in the boy's lap and
Thurman @#a#EXSKXXKK rode on the outside of the car, ‘Wer drove a mile or better and
stopped, and Thurman took the man out: in the timber a short distance away and I heard two
shots, Thurman came back to the car where the girl and I were, Thurman got in the car and
we then drove with the girl over: to where we took the officers and showed them the pirl's
body Thursday, We then took the girl out in the field about a hundred yards and 1 shot her
twice with a gun I got from Thurman and the gun belonged to Jahvis, The gun I shot the girl
with is the same gun Thurman shot. theman with, ‘We then drove the Chevrolet that we took from

BURKLEY brothers - Texas = Continued. 3 ‘i

‘ ab.

~ the boy and girl we had killed and drove it up close to a schoolhouse on the Mesquite.
Highway, and then went back to my brother Jarvis' in the car.' After, Deputy Hinton had
arrested the negroes, he turned them over to Lt. Fritts who obtained the admissions,
"Five hours after the body of Miss. Princewas found at 2 PM Thursday the grand jury went into
session at 7 Pm on call of Asst. Dist. Atty, Henry Tirey who is in charge of the office in
the absence of Dist, Atty. Robeht L. Hurt, All Deputy Sheriffs, city detectives and bdbhers
were oalled as witnesses and the examinatiion of witnesses continued until 9:30 whem the 2
confessed killers were taken before the grand jury. Bluitt and Thurman were led into the
grand jury room by Deputy Sheriff Bill Decker, They were handcuffed together and a chain
from the handcuffs were held by Decker, revel, é
"The negroes were taken fromthe jail in the Criminal Courts Building to the grand jury room
in the old courthouseunder heavy guard, When the convoy reached the courthouse 2 Deputy
Sheriffs were stationed at the nobth door, through which the negroes were taken, Two. depue
‘ty sherrs each were stationed at the east and west doors of the building, The witness room
of the grand jury was cleared while the negroes were in the inner room, They remained in
the grand jury room until 9:50 when they were taken back to jail under direction of Deckek.
The 3 brothers and the mother of the killers sat in the corridor and saw Bluitt and Thurman
led past them on the way back to jail. After the indictments were returned Judge Adams said
he would not set the cases down for trial until he received later reports on the condition :
of, Carver, whose wounds, it was indicated, might prove fatal, Asst. Dist. Attys “inter R,
King announced after the grand jury had recessé@d that another session will be held at 2 PM
Saturday to hear any additional witnesses in the case, Deputy Sheriff Hinton, who arrested
Bluitt and Thurman, remain din the grand jury room longer than any other witness, It was
Hinton who took the negroes to wity detectives and accomanied them when the pair took the
officers to the spot where Miss Prince's body lay. Other witnesses who appeared before the
grand jury were: Justice of the Peace J, R, Scott of Mesduitee, who conducted the Coroner's
inquest. . He said he will return a verdict of mrder; Dr. GeorgeBtephens of Mesquite, who
examined the body and r@ orted on the wounds and its conditions, Ke said the girl's body
showed signs of having been assaulted; Detective Lt, Will Frita; Dets, Knight, Daniels,
Archer and Jones; De uties Bud Walker and Bill Deckers the fanily of theBurkley negroes,
including their mother, Lille Brown, their brothers Jarvis, whose gun was used in the
killing, Emory and Thomas, their sister-n-law, Lucille Burkley, and Fannie, wife of Jarvis;
R, C, Works, 1531.Fairview, book-keeper at Crystal Ice Company Plant, 2501 Second, where
Carver worked, and W. A,. Blandén, Mesquite, Routeh, employeeat theplant. Assistand District
#ttorney Dean Gauldin, assisted by Mr, Teiry and Mr, King before the grand jury. Dist.
Atty Hurt was informed by telegraph Thursday by Asst, Eugene Bailey of the progress of the
case, including theindicting of the negroes, Mr, Hurt is in Chicago attending the Bentury
of Progress Exposition, Similar information was conveyed by Deputy. Decker over long-dis-
tance to Sheriff Smoot Schmid, wio also is in Chicago. The witnesses on whose testimony _
the indictments werebased are theonly ones whosenames appear on the indictments, They are
Detectives Luther, Fritz and Daniels, and Deputies Hinton and Walker, The indictments were
recorddd by Deputy District Clerk, S. L. Stewart." MORNING NEWS, Dallas, Tex., 9-1-1933,

© page one, Photograph of defendants and officers, as well as victims on page ane and others
on page 8, a
The following from samepager, page two, colymnl:
"Alertness of arre ting officers was believed responsible for saving Thurman and Bluitt,
Burkley, negro brothers and confessed slayers of MissKatheryn Prince 19, from possible death
at the hands of avengers. Shortly after the pair had been taken into custody by Deputy
Sheriff Ted -Hinten and questioned by Lt, of Dets{ Will Fritz, word of the arrest reached the
young wman's father, T. H. Prince, ' Mr, Prince and;two neighbors, all armed with shotguns,
arrived at the scengof the questioning shortly after officers left with the prisoners to,
search for the girl s body, Prince and the others followed the officers’ car. While Lt,
Fritz and Deputy Hifiton searched the field, grow hggh with grass,.fok the body, Detectives
J. T. Luther and J,. F. Daniel were left to guard the prisoners, Hardly had their search
gotten underway when Prince and his companions approached the prison care They were warned
by the officers to kem at a safedistance. Other residents of the Pleasanat Mound Community
where the young woman had lived, began arriving at the scene, talking loudly and urging that
a mob take thelaw in its harids. Beforeviolence fould be organized Detectives Luther and

Daniels called other officers to their aid, Under: double guard, the prisf&ners were carried
swiftly to city jail.". . | ‘ cs c39°

q ‘ g c* A e ig ‘ € <

face. A black minister thens aid Burke wished him to. say that he was guilty and ready
go die for his crime, When black cap lowered over head, Burke said,in shaking véices
"Goodbye, Massey; goodbye, good people."When drop fell, Burke drew and twisted his.
legs and convulsively opened and shut his fingers until the nails dug down into ‘the
palms of his hands. . Drop, was between 6 and 7 feet, but Burke was avery spare built
man, lakking little weight. Declared. dead in 17. minutes and body taken down, placed
in coffin and buried in potter's field." NEWS, Galveston, Texas, = 29-1893, (1)

. c

whileMassey stepped up to trap unassisted, Burke hung back and had tq be half.held up
while legs and arms were bemng tied; and when Massey stepped up to receive the noose
Burke had ,to*be shoved, He was awakening as from a dream and was flinching from the

fate he seemed to have just realized. From same source, but omitted in above.
tea es ; &.. ae .. mg q
- q

Now, instead of expecting Clyde and Bonnie to:crash in
with guns blazing to steal Buck away from the hospital, the ru-
mors had it that Clyde planned to attend the funeral in dis-
guise. So strong was the rumor that even though he positively
did not attend, and would hardly have been in a condition to
attend, some accounts persist to this day that Clyde was at the
funeral in the disguise of an old woman.

The fact is, every person at the funeral was identified or
recognized. Not more than iifty people gathered at the Spark-
inan-Holtz-Brand Chapel for brief services in Dallas on July
31, 1933. Most of these were family, relatives, neighbors,
peace officers, and newspapermen. The Rev. Frank P. Dailey of
Cedar Valley Baptist.Church read some scripture and a prayer.
and then the ceremony moved in a small procession te the
West Dallas Cemetery for the burial. You may see the myth
printed again that Clyde was among those in attendance. He
was not. | would have known him, despite a beard, ‘despite a

a Se NE GAVE, ae EMTMOET ‘any ather disguise. We
Were, believe it or n

Prema me i "s

ere, ot, on the lookout for just such a stunt.

But I did net feel at all well that circumstances had turned
out this way for Buck, to be buried without having Blanche
among the -few people who mourned his passing I felt a deen
pain tor the parents, Henry and Cumie Barrow, and Buck’s sis-
ters and young L.C. The dirt was piled on Buck's grave and it
was over just like that. He was thirty.

Blanche had been so right. [f she allowed Buck to go to
Clyde. just for a visit, Clyde would be no good for him. He
would slip right into his old ways and there would be trouble
and there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it. Buck ha
said he ‘knew better than to get tied in with Ciyde.*’

But now, many miles from where the hollow goodbyes
were being said, Blanche was in jail. She would soon go before
a judpe and plead guilty to charges brought against her for the
Missouri escapes, and she would be sentenced to ten years in
prison, ;

Even so, and without defending her, the worst crime com
mitted hy that farm yirl with tie red hair, who was not bad
looking at all, was that she loved Buck Barrow,

. actually August 30, 1933 — agother beautiful youny girl and

‘cote ‘syoeTq Suemmy] pue yInTa ‘Z#TWUNE

CofE Od ou "AMBOSK - Te Keo/ AY tory of Loan f 3 vs .
Clyde” By Tea Haro As Too Te CARRY bhote~
Sion Cece bub, Jie, Acsta), TEXAS ee

EXIT). . CEP BOS HG, :

IX af
A Mystery Solved

AFTER BUCK was buried, wé"waited for weeks before ;
turning up more workable clues. During this period T was put Mo, By
on another case that was causing quite a stir, ver: :

Sometime before !'d joined Smvot as a deputy. a young Petes:
man named Abe Schreiher the can of 2 soll ss dis Galveston
businessman, and his fiancée Pauline Corman were found shot a. he te
to death. It was a grisly case. Their bodies were left in under- wen ¢
brush alongside Overton Road outside Dallas: the young man’s pat ®
budy was draped over a fence, as though he had struggled as ee
he was dying. Their jewelry and other possessions had been iS
stripped from them. My records show that this had happened
on June 27, 1931. The story had been in all the papers, but
apparently the case had gone unsolved. I doubt that even the
families of the young victims pelieved they would ever be
cleared; they would go through their lives without knowing
what had happened to Abe and Pauline.

On a Wednesday evening, more than two years later —-

x
a
*NE6T-6"c (SETTed) dS °xeL

her young boyfriend were killed in much the same fashion,
Kathryne Prince had been out with Mace Carver the night be-
fore, and she had failed to return home. The Carver boy had
been found near death by a farmer between Dallas and the

pressure to take credit for the Burkle
city manager was quj
point out what a t
knew he was gcitin
coming a day afte
would want the Prisoners re-

nty jail: he probably needed some credit for |

the sheriff's department, too.

Considering how much: the cit
Burkleys, it wasn’t
city hall t
ing any

gerous.

gher job for lawmen than Standiny off a
sroup ot hotheads. It had become fairly clear to everyone that
Mace Carver would die; it was only a matter of time. In his
condition, with spinal cord severed and a terrible head wound,
too, death Probably would be welcomed. The farmers in the
Pleasant Mound neighborhood had tremendous respect for the
Parents of both Kathryne and Mace [ can’t imagine what
thoughts would go through my own mind if I were in the place
ot the parents,

We succeeded in getting the prisoners transferred to the
county jail without incident. But the farmers descended on us
there. Smoot had several of us mill around wit
them in conversation. and keep the
idea all ut once to storm the jail and

One thing Played into ©
in this case: eve
of their story. g
house and
of e

at two of their sons
had come to this. idn’ their sadness lighter.
But the fact that t d jury was in session and Was pre
pared to indictments against the brothers by
— less than twenty-four hours after the deed
tterness of the mob. But | stil] wouldn’t relish

facing something like that again.

I'd been lucky. .

And the luck held out again. A few evenings later, the
pangs of conscience were stirred in the brothers by a visit from
the family’s minister. He came out of their cell with a request
that they'd like to make another Statement, confessing to the
unsolved slaying two years earlier of Abe Schreiber and his
young girl friend, Pauline Corman,

Instead, we waited until midnight and took the
heavy guard to the general area whe
occurred. The broth i
without Missing a sin
to their house where they could find some articles of clothing
and jewelry they’d taken from the victims.

But try as they did to dig up a gold watch that the father
of Abe Schreiber had told me he'd like to recover for special
sentimental reasons, the boys could do no more than give us
the place where thev’d buried“it

Some time later, | understand, one of the city officers went
out and found it and returned the heirloom to its rightful owner:

In due course, a trial found the brothers guiliy of two
counts of murder each. They were sehiciiccd tu die in the elec
tric chair. And it fell on me to stand with them as they ap-
Proached the chair.

I have often wondered how such a Case might have been
handled today, if I had been forced by the Supreme Court to
read them their rights, to get them a lawyer who would advise
them to keep their murders quiet, and to make the state prove
that they murdered When they had, in fact, ruthlessly mur-
dered both witnesses in each case by a barbaric act committed
in the dark | know the answer to that: there'd have been no
earthly way we could have obtained a conviction. They could
have gone out on that ruad azain, and again, and there would
have been no witnesses, again.

The trial would cofne several months later. In the Mean-
fume, other cases still weren't soived, and there wasn’t mach
time to rest on our small achievement’ We arrested the broth
€rs on a Thursday, and it was business as usual again on Fri.
day morning.

Loe nD ete one alice LCR RTS. hee REL Re

~ »

Mesquite community which lay just to the East. At Parkland
Hospital, in a state of delirious semiconsciousness, he managed
to get his story out in short bits between painful pauses. To
the doctor’s suggestion that he needed to save his strength. the
boy said it was important to him that he tell officers what had
happened; he was concerned for Kathryne Prince, the girl he
intended soon to marry, and he wanted us to bring her to him
to let him see for himself she was all right.

She was not all right. At this moment a s varch was on for
her around the Pleasant Mound tarming neighborhood between
Mesquite and Dallas. It wasn’t like her to remain out late: and
she always came home, her parents insisted.

Carver told of going with her Wednesday evening to visit
her gir! friend in Oak Cliff and, finding her friend not at home,
geing to a church service together instead. After that thev
drove around, stopping by the place he worked at Crystal Ice
Company on Secend Avenue in South Dallas. He told his em-
ployers he would be at work at midnight as usual, that he was tak-
ing Kathryne home. He did not make it

‘We had stopped on Asn Lane and two Negroes appeared
at the cur, holding a gun on us. They didn’t say anything. but
one opened my door and the omer opened die deur of Kati
ryne’s side. And we were crowded in together in the front
seat: the one on the right was holding the gun on us. He
ordered Kathryne to sit on my lap and the other young black
man began driving, and they argued which road they whould
take. I suppose they drove for fifteen minutes. though 11
seemed longer, and I recognized the area as somewhere near
Baich Springs, about two miles from where they first came up-
on us. Then they told us we'd have to get out of the car. At
first ] thought they wanted oniy our money | told thern | had
% wach, a seventeen-jewe! Elgin; j gave them that.

“But | was ordered to walk toward the woods, and | ne
ticed that the other one was standing with Kathrvne alongside
the car Then the ome following me said. ‘Turn around.”’
And when I did, he sict me. Then I think he must have shot
me again, They were very black. They did not have Mats, bul
the one with pistol wore a hat and suspenders = he musi have
been six feet tall.””

By the time the boy had told his story, he was too weak to
sign the statement. Dr. J. H. Stephenson, who was superin-
tendent of the hospital at the time, asked him if he could mus
ter his strength to make an ‘*x.’” He did that and lapsed into
unconsciousness. He died soon afterwards.

The morning dawned hot on Thursday. I told Smoot I
would like to make my own investigation, several other depu-
ties and police of Dallas and Mesquite had joined in the search
for the missing girl. 1] headed out alone in my Model A road-
ster to the spot where the young man Mace Carver had been
found dying, some distance away trom the school where the
1930 Chevy he had driven now was parked, just off Mesquite
Highway.

In those davs. this was all cotton country, and this was
cotton picking time on that blackland that is about the most
fertile soil in Texas. | headed out alone, to see if | could get
some ideas together and figure this one out. Two assailants had
caught two lovers parked in a car ..a common enough occur
rence. It had to be somebody who lived close around; that wits
my idea. I kept on driving. past fields of cotton where every
body in the fields dressed monotonously the same. the men in
hine demm overalls and cheap and faded blue shirts. and there
were black women who wore red bandanas on their heads. It
you've seen one cotton tield in picking time in Texas you've
seen them all.

“Wait just a damned minute,” | said to myself, and
backed the car for a betier look at something that id only halt
noticed. Something didn’: look just right. Two men in one
field were wearing white shirts; one had suspenders and a hat,
like the clothes Carver had said his zssailant wore — and you
don’! see town clothes like that in a cottan pat h.

} stopped the car and walked straight to them. They pulled
no cotton sack behind them. **Boys, 'm looking for a nussing
girl — and I’m going to have to talk to you awhile. Mind 1
you come with me to the car?” | asked them.

The young men were nervous but i couldn’t interpret
anything from that Naturally, when | told them J was 2 sker
ift's deputy, they would express sume normal surprise at “the
Faw’ ialking t them. 1 couldn’ let them gs without aking

pee ae ee ad

a : nt : ,
ae) Rete OEE BR

them for interrogation; the clothes fit the only description we
had. I put the cuffs on them and set out to look for some help.
‘*Let’s drive,’’ I told them.

I rolled up to where the city detectives Will Fritz and J. T.
Luther were standing and told them what I'd found. ‘*This is
Bluitt and Thurman Burkley. They’re dressed awful well to be
out picking cotton, and they forgot their cotton sack. Would
you like to talk to one gf “em?”

Bluitt, the older of the two, stayed with Fritz. I put Thur-
man back in the car and we started to drive.

‘‘Tell me what-yo:’ve been doing, Thurman,” | said.

‘Did you find the girl yet?’’ he wanted to know.

‘Do you know where she is?”’

He looked puzzled, unsure of how much we knew.

‘*Your brother’s going to tell if you don’t,”’ I tried.

He thought that over. Then he pointed, ‘‘It’s over thisa-
way.”’

Then he started spilling out his story, how he had left the
City Market on Pearl Street about 9:30 Wednesday night after
picking up'a couple of watermelors in his brother Jarvis’s car,
and he and Bluitt drove Jarvis on to his house. ana jarvis iet
them take the car when he got out. :

He described how he and his brother drove to a little side
road and ran up on a <ar driving slowly. and he noticed a boy
and a yirl in the car. He said Bluitt passed the car, and then
the car behind ‘stopped and cut its lights, so Bluitt stopped and
they both walked back to the car with the gun to see if they
could get a litde excitement.

lis account from that point was very much like the state-

ment Mace Carve: had struggled to give at Parkland Hospital.

%**We got out and walked back te where they were, got in-
to their car, and made the girl sit on the man’s lap, and we
drove around for twenty minutes or so and stopped. | made the
man walk out into the umber a little piece from thé road .
and { shot him twice with the pistol [ got from Jarvis [I lett the
ynan out there where I'd shot him and drove out to that field
right about there, and...”’

‘*You raped her, you both raped her, and you shot her’’ |
finished.

‘*Nossir,’* the boy said. ‘*Bluitt shot her. 1 shot the man,
but Bluitt shot the girl.’’

He led me to Kathryne Prince’s body, in a large field of
tall Johnson grass. She had been badly abused and beaten be-
fore she was shot. The searching parties had been this way be
fore, and now a crowd .of farmers and searchers was not more
than a few hundred yards away, walking briskly toward us.

‘Now, Thurman, I’m going to have to keep those farm-
ers from killing you. They've got guns and they’ve got pitch-
forks. Head straight for the car and we’re going to take off.”’

The few dozen farmers already had assembled in the area.

‘I saw Will Fritz with Bluitt Burkley heading for a nearby

house, so 1 took Thurman there. And after both boys had
agreed they would stick to the stories they had told us sepa-
rately, we did the cautious thing and took the brothers quickly
away to the city jail. :

The farmers were white and frard-working types whose
worst fears about their Negro neighbours now had been realized.
Brought up in the country, a long way from the certainty that
law wouid finally prevail. they had a strong impulse. as they
talked things over among themselves. to take the law into their
own hands. And the more they talked, the braver they got,
and you just can’t allow such a thing. I certainly wasn’t 1n
tending to tet ther take my prisoner, and the sooner | had
that boy in jail downtown the sooner I'd tec! comfortable about
it Even the girl’s father, I think, had a shotgun And he was a
better man than that, but you have to consider the agony the
man was going through, too.

The brothers were placed in the city jail, and then, for a
short time, J learned what it is like to be an Instant Hero.

I never cared for playing the publicity game, and Will
Fritz, one of the best lawmen I've evet known. didn’t either.
He gave a story to the papers that related the facts as they had
happened. :

Cit: officials and the city police department had been
catching a great deal of tlak in the newspapers the week before,
when some Dallas officers barged into a house. the wrong
house, it turned out, without a warrant. Now they had a law-
suit on their hands. So, I suppose, they were under a lot of

77 N68

Houston Chronicte

.- Friday, Aprit 20;-1990°

ificials prepared

to stop execution

By KATHY FAIR ~
Houston Chronicle *

HUNTSVILLE — Harris County
prosecutors have taken precautions
to ensure that the scheduled execu-
tion of a Houston man can be halted
if;he has a last- .
minute change
of heart about
wanting to die.

Jerome. But-
ler, a former
| cook and truck
-driver--. whose
| life of crime be-
' gan at age 14, is ©
scheduled to die
mia marron TEMA
tonight for the
1986 rob- Butler -
bery-slaying of Skyjack cab driver
Nathan Oakley, 67.

Butler has vowed to sabotage any

efforts by third parties to interfere. °

“I just want to get it over with,” he
told state District Judge Ted Poe
last month during a sentencing hear-

_ ing.”

Prison records list his age at 54,’

but Butler, explaining to Poe why he
did not want to seek a new trial, said
he was older.

_ “Pm 57 now and I'd be in my. 70s.

‘when I got out,” he said. “What am I.

sup to do then? Go live under a
bri ge e?’”” ;
Should Butler change: -his: mind

about wanting to die on schedule;.

both the state attorney: general's
office and the Harris County district:
attorney’s office have agreed to post-
pong the execution.

“The only qualms we have is if

(Butler) decides he wishes to attack: :
‘ state since ran punishment was

: resumed in 1982. .

his conviction,” said Caprice Cosper,
an assistant district attorney. If that

happens, “we'll make sure it gets. .

_ Stopped. We're setting up a mecha-

"nism: so. that-two judges -would. be:
available in case he changes: his: :

mind.” -

State district courts will be closed.
today in observance of-San Jacinto!

erate wees

Day, Cosper said,, but the - Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals will be
available should Butler decide he
wants to appeal his death sentence.

Attorneys with the Texas Re
source Center, which rar
has championed: the cause of dea
row inmates, have said they would
not attempt to stop Butler's death,

; Cosper added.

The Texas. Resource Center has
halted the death of another convict
who waived his appeals...

The last inmate to “volunteer” to
die was.another Harris County killer,
James Edward Smith; who had been
scheduled to die in May 1988 for the
1983 robbery and shooting death of
insurance agent Larry D. Rohus' of
Missouri City.

Despite Smith’s demands that
be executed, his mother succeeded if

halting her 37-year-old son’s death |,

just six hours. before he was. to
receive his lethal injection.

Cosper said there are several dif-
ferences between Smith’s and But-

ler’s cases, including the fact that [|

psychological evaluations have been
made of Butler to ensure: that he
knows what he is doitig.In: Smith’s
case, those evaluations had not been
conducted.

“He’s competent,” Cosper said, of

Butler. “He’s aware of what he’s

doing.’’

Robert. Streetman,. Gites, death
sentence was carried out in J anuary
1988, was the last volunteer. to me
executed.

If Butler receives his lethal inion
tion as scheduled, he will he the first
Texas inmate executed this year and
the 34th-inmate put to death in-the

He has spent 27 years behind bar
including servirig time for a robbery:
assault in New York and 10 years of
a 30-year senterice for the str. ’
tion in 1973 of A.C. Johnson,

employment | age cy. operator i t

Houston.

Oe RE crite aT AON SOOT

= at Ss

waster ete Se Se

1AM.

Perey rem ereme ert kt a yur ularly,

Killer Who Halted
Appeal of Sentence
Is Executed in Texas

HUNTSVILLE, Tex., April 21 (AP)
— A convicted killer who demanded
that his lawyers halt efforts to stop his
execution was put to death early today

| for the slaying of a Houston taxi driver.

The convict, Jerome Butler, who had
spent abcut half his life behind bars,
was given a lethal injection at 12:15

“J just want to say I wish everybody
a good life and things like that; every-
thing is O.K.,”’ he said. He nodded to the
prison warden and a chaplain, coughed
several times and stopped breathing.
At 12:26 A.M. he was pronounced dead.
Mr. Butler, whose age was recorded
as 54 although he said he was several
years older, was sentenced to death for
the 1986 shooting death and robbery of
67-year-old Nathan Oakley of Houston.

122d Execution Since ’76

-° Mr. Butler was the first person to be
executed willingly in Texas since Rob-
ert Streetman ordered his lawyers to
make no further efforts on his behalf.
He was put to death Jan. 7, 1988.

Mr. Butler was the 34th inmate to be

‘executed since Texas resumed use of

the death penalty in 1982. The total is

was the 122d person executed since a
1976 Supreme Court ruling allowed
states to resume capital punishment.
“I just want to get it over with,” Mr.
Butler said last month when his execu-
tion date was set. ‘‘There won’t be no

appeals.” |

ler, said his client could have been
spared if he had had a change of heart,
but added, ‘Without cooperation from
him, what are you going to appeal?”

Prosecutors said Mr. Butler may
have killed Mr. Oakley because the
driver recognized him as the man who
killed a friend in 1973. Sentenced to 30
years for that murder, he was freed in
1984.

On Friday, Mr. Oakley’s widow,
Robbie, expressed satisfaction at the
impending execution. “This is what
I’ve been waiting for, for this moment,
to know this man cannot take away an-
other wife’s husband and children’s fa-
ther,’ she said. ‘It’s been a difficult
three and a half years. I wish I could be
there to see it.”’ :

Mr. Butler spent 27 years behind
bars, beginning with a term in New
York in 1959 for robbery and attempted

the highest of any state. Nationally, he.

Vic Pecorino, a lawyer for Mr. But-}

2U 2

sexual assault.

TH . 7 |
E NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL sunpay, APRIL 22, 1990

GF
q°.

— ; ae fu

that his lawyers halt efforts to stop his

Killer executed in Texas

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A
convicted murderer who demanded

execution was put i ‘eath early today
for killing a Houston cabdriver.

Jerome Butler, who had spent about
half of his life behind bars, was given
a lethal injection at 12:15 a.m. CDT
(10:15 p.m. PDT Friday) and was
pronounced dead 11 minutes later.

“T just want to say I wish everybody
a good life and things like that,” he
said. “Everything is OK.”

Ce a

Reno Gazeite-Journail

- Founded 1870
Saturday, April 21, 1990 — 11A

BUTLER
PLER, Jerome, black, leth. inj. Texas (Harris Count i
‘ 3 (Harris County) mApril21,

reported ninth on a per capita basis..

Burial of executed killer |.
likely in pauper’s grave: : |:

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (UPI) — A |
convicted killer who chose execution | .
over spending any more of his life in |

prison died alone yesterday, and |
officials say he will likely be buried #

in a pauper’s grave.

Jerome Butler, 54, refused’ to ap- |

peal his death sentence for the 1986 Ls , - ms me

robbery-slaying of a Houston cab | Baby
driver and was executed by lethal| | |‘

injection. eo

A prison spokesman said Butler.
would be buried in the prison ceme-.
tery at state expense if no family
member claims his body.

Tharn hurch cave arrest

1990.

Bye Cy JMowre—

f- MR. BOFFO

DALLAS

SAT.

Killer wants execution
to proceed as scheduled

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Jerome Butler has
told a judge that he doesn’t want
anyone to interfere with his sched-
uled April 21 execution, and his rea-
soning is simple.

If he won a new trial for the 1986
robbery and murder of Houston
cabdriver Nathan Oakley and es-
caped with a life term, he still
would have to serve at least 15
years.

“l’m 57 now and Id be in my 70s
when I got out,” Mr. Butler said
Thursday after state District Judge
Ted Poe set the execution date.
“What am I supposed to do then? Go
live under a bridge?”

Mr. Butler has been examined by
a psychiatrist and a psychologist
since he insisted on being executed
by injection. Both found him com-
petent.

“They could take these cuffs off
me and walk me back to... (death
row) and I still won’t resist,” Mr.
Butler said. “I just want to get it
over with.”

Judge Poe followed the wishes of
prosecutor Caprice Cosper in tell-
ing Mr. Butler that he could change
his mind and launch an appeal at
any time.

“All you need to do is advise the
court,” the judge told Mr. Butler.

But after the sentencing, Mr.
Butler said he will stand by his de-
cision: “There won’t be no appeals.”

Defense attorney Vic Pecorino
said that has been Mr. Butler’s posi-
tion since the trial in 1986.

Mr. Butler told the jurors who
sentenced him that he was satisfied
with his death sentence, that he
wasn’t angry at them for “doing
what they had to do” and, further-
more, that he believes in the death
penalty.

Mr. Butler has spent 27 years in
prison. He said a robbery-assault
conviction in New York landed him
in prison at Attica, which he said
makes Texas prisons “look like a
cakewalk.”

He served 10 years of a 30-year”
term for a 1973 murder in Houston
and has been on death row since
1986 for killing Mr. Oakley.

“I’ve been out there doing wrong
since I was 14,” he said. “Then I was
a (gang) warlord. I’m another one
of the fools who came up and got
rang out.”

“I’m not going down humble,” he
said. “I’m not on my knees. I’m on
my feet.”

By Joe Martin

‘ITS PROBABLY }
JUST A FUSE. /

MokRvainG NEws

3-17-90

ewe

: Px es ac sceys ee 2 Res
texas executes Killer

2 HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A man _
Ssavicted i in the 1980 slaying of a su-.”

permarket customer was executed by

inj jection early today.

¢ Lawrence Lee Buxton died at 12:21

a.nf. in the death chamber at the -

Walls-Unit state prison.

: Buxton, 38, was executed for the
Slaying of Joel Slotnik, fatally shot
when his terrified 5-year-old son re-
fused to follow the orders of gunmen
who\\Rere robbing a suburban Hous-
ton Supermarket. Slotnik was a store

customer. ph, §

“The Sacramento Bee Final e. ety February 26, 1991': : Ass

y+: ae a 1
Harris) 2-26-199
nce Lae, bl., leth. inj. Tex. (Ha
BUATON, Lawre ‘

Texas killer executed fa

HUNTSVILLE, "Texas A.
man who shot at a terrified Oo:
year-old child during a super-
market robbery and killed the:
youngster’s father was put to.
death early Tuesday. ee

Lawrence Lee Buxton; 38
executed by.lethal injection,

Before the execution, he was
asked whether he had a final] |
statement. “Ready, warden,” was
all he said.

Execution appeal pending

HUNTSVILLE — An appeal was
pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court late Monday as attorneys for
convicted. killer Lawrence Lee
Buxton tried to keep him ‘from le-
thal injection in the Texas death
chamber early today.

Buxton, 38, faces execution for
the 1980 slaying of Joel Slotnik,
who was fatally shot when his terri-
fied 5-year-old son refused to fol-
low the orders of gunmen who

- were robbing a suburban Houston

supermarket.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals refused Monday to halt the
execution, sending the case to the
Supreme Court.

abyl lethal injection of Roaticied
-killer Lawrence Lee: S aicaael

The justices. denied 1 twee pli:
cations for. stays and two:peti-
«tions for’ Pap Sar ‘said. court

Bere.

an Soha Pant ‘Stevens said they :

would ‘have Site ‘one apptica-

BAG.

~ ei’

eer:

166T ‘9% Arensqa,y ‘Aepsony

» i Py . i Oye $i 4 bade ‘ ts ga : ‘
b dai al oe Wwe KR ER te Ped , r ek few
‘ me ‘oa "Wag 4 tye PL OC Ge RAH es ARS. 8
ee rye re hi eae , Utne eee 2% Ves ame ge 2 its"s
Ye) PY gf kh ae ae oe ake Fes ahd ao ao, © eat

us Texas Executes.

Huntsville; os pat Tearcars :

Lee Buxton was put to death by

injection early today for the -
slaying of aman during asuper- -
_ Market robbery in 1980.

Buxton, 38, was pronounced
dead at 12: 21 a.m. at the state

Department of Corrections
Walls Unit.

He was executed for the _

slaying of Joel Slotnik, who was
_Shot dead. when his terrified ©
5-year-old son refused to follow

the orders of gunmen who were .

robbing a supermarket in sub-:;

urban Houston.

Buxton was the 144th person
executed in the United States
since the Supreme Court let

states resume the death penalty . ;

_in 1976, fi

A: Al2- cok, .2|

TUESDAY, F roanney 26, 1991
th 4 -

ies
mae
o

a eR

_THE VOICE OF THE WEST

San Francisco Chronicle

d, while hold-
Juergens fam-
vot elicit much

smpared notes
discovery of
iey knew very
d nowhere to
the murders
> time within
y surmised the
he city eight
—but not in-
riods of time
his being seen
intances. His
ind obviously,
i to the Juer-
berth would
him,
do, it seemed,
Mr. Juergens
urney in from
-stion him.
ever, was not
believed that
absence, the
e last known

st_ one of the

nis shadowy
itness to the

ice of Justice

ut a murder

ill agencies at

Stalking the Hatchet

their command, Chief Haynes and Sheriff Hewitt soon had
assembled a sufficient amount of information about Byrnes,
and a nation-wide man-hunt was launched.

It was learned that Byrnes had once been in the army,
had deserted and had served a prison term for it. Arrange-
ments were made immediately to get his finger-prints from
the Federal authorities.

Nearly every person who was in any way acquainted
with Byrnes was questioned and the information received,
quickly gone over. Little was learned from this, however.

It was in that proc-
ess that Sergeant W.

Killer of San Angelo 47

information could be had as to when Mrs. Juergens and
Mrs. Schirra were last seen alive.

Byrnes, it appeared, had been in San Angelo as late as
Thursday night, March 8th. This was five full days after
the murders were presumed to have been committed and
three days before the discovery of the crime. Mary Lewter,
waitress at the Club Café in the downtown district, was all
but positive she had served Byrnes on the night of March
8th. Ruby Russell, another waitress, was positive. that
she had served him breakfast on Wednesday, March 7th.

Equally as startling,
was the information

M. Stevenson of the
San Angelo police de-
partment, took an
active hand in the in-
vestigation.

“TF Byrnes is the
man you~ want,
check over his out-
of-town relatives and
close friends,” said
Sergeant Stevenson.
“He’s had a week’s
start on us. To broad-
cast a description of
him is all right, but
it has invariably been
my experience that a
man unused to crime,
who commits a ter-
rible offense and flees,
goes to the sanctuary
of his friends. We’ll
find Byrnes at the
home of someone he’s
known before. Get
me a list of such
people and we'll start
putting in some long
distance calls.”
Thus, a “hunch’—
backed by years of
experience in police
work — was brought
into the search in the
Juergens’ case. It is
interesting to note
how scores of men
combined their talents
to solve the mystery.
Cold, scientific meth-
ods lacking in spec-

one of the detectives
received from Sam
Grayson, proprietor
of the Olympia Con-
fectionery. Mr. Gray-
son said that Byrnes
had been in his place
very early on the
morning of Sunday,
March 4th, and had
said:

“I’m awfully lone-
some; the folks are
gone.”

Mr. Grayson had
presumed that he
meant the Juergens
family.

Had’ the Juergens
planned on taking a
trip and removed
Myrna from school?
Had Byrnes, thinking
they were away, gone
about other business,
not knowing of the
terrible crimes? The
medical examiners
said that, judging
from the condition of
the bodies, the kill-
ings must have oc-
curred earlier than
three days before.

RANTING Byrnes

was guilty, could
he have committed
such an atrocity and
gone calmly about the
city with those three
bodies yet undiscov-

tacular details, dove-
tailed with “hunches”
and. bits of luck,

WHO IS THIS WOMAN?

ered? It seemed quite
unlikely to most of
those working on the

aided them in finally
running to earth the
man they were seek-

She was the central figure in an amazing death riddle, and you will

get an official close-up of her—and the death riddle in question—

in the July issue of THE MASTER DETECTIVE, on sale at all news
stands June 23rd

case.
While officers were
discussing these pos-

ing.

sibilities, Mr. Juer-

Sergeant Stevenson, ie
sitting in his office in
the police station, had scarcely expressed his opinion, when
his officers received a shocking bit of news that brought
them right back to where they had been before in the
search for the solution of the crime—practically nowhere.
Detectives reported that Byrnes had been seen in San
Angelo as recently as three days before the discovery of
the bodies!

Unconsciously perhaps, officers had been working on the
hypothesis that the crimes had been committed about eight
days before, ever since it had been ascertained that it was
on that day Myrna Juergens last was seen. No definite

gens arrived. Accom-
panied by a friend
from the oil company, he drove to the county jail, in which
building the Sheriff has his office. Juergens rushed into
the room and asked frantically for details of the tragedy

As he entered the jail, a crowd of several hundred persons
clustered about the morgue. Hundreds of others besieged
the newspaper office, and when extras appeared, newsboys
were surrounded by excited purchasers.

A crowd of several thousand blocked the streets around
the house where the murders had been committed. Officers
denied the curious admittance to the house and to the
morgue. Gradually, as the tense (Continued on page %2)

44, The Master Detective

Sam Haynes,
Chief of Police,

San Angelo, Texas
—one of the officers
who directed the
hunt for the murderer

and on a bed in the room
to the southeast, the bodies of
Mrs. Juergens and her young
daughter were found.
Everything in the house was well
coated with a mantle of dust. This
and other evidence tended to estab-
lish the fact that the murders had not
been committed recently. At first the
officers were considerably bewildered by
indications which, regarded superficially,
would place the killing of Myrna at a time
later than that of her sister victims. The
embalmers. exploded this theory, however,
and the final premise accepted was that the
women all had been murdered at about the same
time.
The officers. ordered the bodies removed to a morgue,
stationed a guard around the house to prevent curiosity-
seekers from entering, and started what was destined to
be one of the most remarkable man-hunts in the history of
the entire Southwest. .

A medical examination of the bodies at the morgue dis-
closed little that the officers’ first cursory glance had not
shown them. Medical examiners were unable to say with
any degree of accuracy how long the women had been
dead. An autopsy was performed on the girl and it was
stated that she had not been criminally attacked, as
officers at first feared.

Mr. Juergens was called at the oil company in Texon

at once and was told to come to San Angelo. He was
merely informed that a terrible accident had befallen his
family and police wanted him to come direct to the Sheriff's
Office at San Angelo. In gesponse to his frantic questioning
they finally admitted his family was dead.

Chief Haynes issued orders calling every policeman and
detective in the city back on duty, and the officers went
over the house with meticulous care. They found the
weapons that had apparently been used, immediately. A
stained hatchet, an ice-pick and a butcher knife were taken.
These were carefully handled, but unfortunately at. that
time there was no finger-print expert in San Angelo, nor
anywhere in the area.

The weapons were at once dispatched to Fort Worth with
a request that the Fort Worth police department make
finger-print examinations of them.

The officers searching the house quickly ascertained that
no money or jewelry was to be found and that apparently
every drawer in the place had been rifled. Chief Haynes
remained silent and refused ‘to speculate on this angle of
the case, but other policemen immediately ventured the
theory that robbers had entered the house while the women
were asleep and had started sacking it. The women had
been awakened and the thieves had grabbed the first weapons
at hand and killed them.

THIs theory found immediate favor with most of the
men working on the case. The influx of persons who
follow the trek of fortune-seekers in boom areas had caused
many hold-ups and robberies in the country around San
Angelo at that time. The majority of these gunmen were
of the most desperate kind and crimes of violence were no
novelty to them.

Meanwhile, members of the Sheriff's department, together
with the police, were trying to get a line on the mysterious
chauffeur who had van-
ished.

A check-up of the
garages disclosed the fact
that his name was Floyd
Newton Byrnes, that he
was twenty-four years
old and that he had come
to San Angelo with the
Juergens family. Little
else was known of him.
A search for him showed
that apparently he wasnot

J. W. Juergens, husband, father
and son-in-law, respectively, of
the three murder victims

(Left) The murder house, as it

looks today. It has been un-

occupied since the threefold
atrocity —

in th
\
tion
Hay
issué
Byr
ques
ers
fina
had

pho:

of
poli
sher
pict
brir

sigh

ern wes

we ee Py? ne

16 The Master

painstaking search revealed that
some employees of all-night restaurants
<new more about him than most people.
He dropped in for coffee frequently.
He wasn’t talkative, though, and even
in those places where he had been a
regular customer, little or nothing was
known of his personal life.

H= had money, however. That is, he

always seemed to have plenty with
him and never appeared to be bothered
about it. He dressed well and appeared
to be a person who would have
little need to commit robbery.

In one place detectives uncovered
information that blasted whatever
theories they might have had about
the crime. A waiter there declared
that Byrnes was devoted to the
Juergens family. .He had talked
a number of times about it. In
recent weeks? Oh, no; ever since
he came to San Angelo, the waiter

Detective

where Byrnes had worked, while hold
ing his position with the Juergens fam-
ily at the same time, did not elicit much
information,

As the officers met and compared notes
Several hours after the discovery of
the crimes, they found they knew very
little about them and had nowhere \
turn. They knew that the murders
were committed at some time within
the past eight days. They surmised the
chauffeur, who was in the city eight
days before, was missing—but not in-

frequently longer periods of time
had elapsed without his being seen
by any of his acquaintances. His
job was a sinecure and obviously
if anything happened to the Juer-
gens family his easy berth would
be taken away from him.

The only thing to do, it seemed
was to wait until Mr. Juergens
completed the long journey in from

. the oil fields and question him.
replied.

The man said that when Byrnes
first arrived in San .Angelo with
the Juergens family he had re-
marked that he was treated like a
son. At other times he had been
heard to say that the only real friends he had in the world
were Mr. and Mrs. Juergens and their little daughter.

He had told restaurant employees that they gave him all
of the spending money he wanted, and in addition, his
duties were so light that occasionally he obtained employ-
ment elsewhere.

A complete check-up of the garages and other places

W. M. Stevenson, now Assistant Chief ; .

of San Angelo Police—the officer whose Byrnes mysterious absence, the

“hunch” was a deciding factor in the
capture of the slayer

Chief Haynes, however, was not
content to wait. He believed that

fact that he was the last known
person to see at least one of the
Victims alive, and_ his shadowy
past, combined to make him a material witness to the
whole affair.

WHEREUPON, the Chief went to the office of Justice

of the Peace B. W. Smith and swore out a murder
Warrant against Floyd Newton Byrnes.

By systematic effort and the utilization of all agencies

The killer (second from left) in custody! Deputy Sheriff
Jim White stands to the left of the murderer; Jailer‘ Jim

SOUR BEE RPO ST RSE

Cox is in the rear, while the figure at the extreme right is
Sheriff Bob Hewitt, veteran Texas peace officer

959 RE APEC

tacu
tail
and
aide
runi
man
ing
oer
sitting
the |
his
them
searc}
Detec:
Ang
the

elo. He was
{ befallen his
o the Sheriff’s
ic questioning

oliceman and
officers went
ey found the
nediately. A
fe were taken.
ately at. that
n Angelo, nor

rt Worth with
artment make

ccertained that
iat apparently
Chief Haynes
this angle of
ventured the
iile the women
ye women had
1e first weapons

1 most of the
if persons who
eas had caused
‘y around San
= gunmen were
olence were no

tment, together
the mysterious

sband, father
pectively, of
r victims

- house, as it
as been un-
1e = threefold

Stalking the Hatchet

in the city at that time.

When this informa-
tion reached Chief
Haynes, he immediately
issued an order to “get
Byrnes.” Detectives
questioned photograph-
ers in their studios and
finally found one who
had in his collection of
photographs a picture
of the chauffeur. Every
policeman and deputy
sheriff was shown the
picture and told to
bring in the man: on
sight.

While officers were
tackling the case from
several angles, news-
paper reporters were

KILLER OF THREE!

This is the phantom of San Angelo. Who.#s he—and just
why did he snuff out the lives of three defenseless humans?

not idle. After visiting the scene of the crime some of them
started out on their own initiative to see what they could
do to help solve it. One conceived the idea of checking
the schools to find out when Myrna last attended there.

Officers were questioning every person who lived near
the Juergens home in an effort to get the same information,
but it must be borne in mind that the developments in
the case up to this point had all transpired in less than an
hour after the time Patrolman Read first saw the bodies.

The reporter learned that the child had not gone to a
public school, but to a parochial institution. He visited

This photograph, showing the three murder victims, was snapped by none
other than the arch-killer! At the time, needless to say, the human wolf
wore his sheep’s clothing. Myrna Juergens and her father are sitting on the
hood of the car, while Mrs. Juergens appears in the foreground with her
arm around her mother, the third murder victim. Little did the two women
and the girl realize when this picture was taken, that the hands that held
the camera would later wield the instruments that ended their lives

mag a ana

Killer of San Angelo 45

the sisters who were in charge, and they received him
courteously; volunteering what information they could.

Little Myrna had last been to school nine days before,
on a Friday. Had they been alarmed at her absence?
Oh, no, she occasionally left town with her parents on
trips and was gone that long. Besides, on that occasion she
had said when she left school, that she would not be back
for “several days.”

The reporter felt he had stumbled on a vital clue in the
case, but concealed his excitement. At his request the
sister told him the whole story.

“ON that Friday, Myrna had come to me before school

was out and asked to leave, and when | asked why,
she said that her father was coming in from the oil fields
and she wanted to see him. She said she would not be
back for several days. I did not understand from that
whether she was going on a trip with her father or he
merely wanted her to be home with him for a short while,
but I told her to run along.”

The. reporter gasped. Juergens, then, had known that his
daughter. would not be able to return to school for “several
days.” He shuddered at the thought which was running
through his mind, but asked one more question:

“Who did Myrna leave school with?”

“Why, that chauffeur of the family who often called for
her, was waiting in the car. She ran and got in with him
and they drove off,” the sister said.

Chief Haynes was given the information and the expres-
sion on his face became more puzzled. Juergens had known
the child would be away from school; Byrnes was the last
person known to have seen her alive. Was this an inside
job after all? What of the missing jewels and money?
The Chief felt that persons of the Juergens’ means must
certainly have had some jewelry and that a woman who
ran her household alone—seeing her husband only at inter-
vals—would have had some money in the house.

Detectives were put to work checking up on Byrnes.

HISTORY OF FORT BEND COUNTY

Fields recognized his track as that of a young brother of Wil-
liam Caldwell who had a deformed foot.

Sheriff Garvey, who had now arrived, went with Fields to
Caldwell’s house. They saw him in the yard at the rear as they
rode up and when they went into the house he fled.

Garvey asked a colored woman in the house for some blank
paper on which to write and she brought him a tablet of bill-
heads which had come from Frost’s in Richmond. They found
an Enfield rifle which would discharge buckshot. It had re-
cently been fired. They also found brown paper of the same
kind as that which had been used for wadding which Fields
found at Shamblin’s front gallery. They found a shot pouch
with buckshot the same size as those used in shooting Shamblin.

Caldwell was found hiding in the woods. He was taken to
Richmond where there was some talk of lynching him, but
Garvey took him to Houston for safekeeping.

When he was locked in the Houston jail he denied his guilt
and told a Post reporter that a mob of many armed men had
tried to take him but that Garvey had bravely stood them at
bay, and all this was published in the morning paper. Henry
Frost at once wrote the Post denying this, said the “mob” was
only half dozen very young men, whom he named, who made no
demonstration, and that Garvey was making all this mob talk
for notoriety.

Caldwell was tried in the Criminal District Court of Harris
County in the following year. The case was a celebrated one
and was given wide notoriety. He was represented by able
lawyers, among them A. C. Allen, a son of one of the founders
of Houston, and afterwards Criminal District Judge of Harris
County. In the trial it was proved in addition to the motive
which Caldwell had and the other incriminating facts already
stated, that he had said that Mr. Shamblin would never appear
against him as a witness in his cotton stealing case; that the note
on Shamblin’s gate was in Caldwell’s handwriting; that the
paper was a leaf taken from the blank book which Garvey
found in his house the next morning. It was shown that anyone
going into Frost’s store and saloon in Richmond could get one
of these tablets and that negroes often did so. The sheet bearing
the writing found on the gate fitted into the sutures of a stub
found in the book.

The case was taken to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
and when affirmed there Caldwell’s attorneys procured a cer-
tiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States claiming that
the indictment was fatally defective. The case was argued in

198

TWENTY YEARS AFTER

that court in 1891. James S. Hogg, Attorney General of Texas,
appeared for the State and J. Randolph Burns for Caldwell.
The Supreme Court refused relief and Caldwell was hanged.?

Few cases in the annals of our criminal jurisprudence afford
a stronger record of guilt and few show a more painstaking
trial or more competent defense. The defendant had every aid
and guaranty which an accused could have.

The County was profoundly shocked at this awful crime

and its echo had not died when another followed.

On the evening of September 3rd Henry H. Frost left his
store just at dark and walked home, his residence being across
the street from John M. Moore. When within twenty steps of
his door someone concealed behind one of the trees in front of
Moore’s house fired on him twice. One shot struck him in the
back and right arm, the other tore away the brim of his hat.
He walked into the house and calmly told his family, unaware
of the assault, that he had been wounded and a runner was sent
for Dr. Dillard.

The town was aroused and neighbors flocked into the room
where the wounded man lay. When one of these near neigh-
bors, H. F. Randal, Deputy County Tax Assessor, who had al-
ways been friendly to Frost, came into the room, Frost rose on
his elbow and angrily ordered him from the house.

Jack (Happy) Randal, as he was called, had come into ‘the
County after the war and was at first a bookkeeper. He was a
genial, kindly person of good address and had married a sister
of M. B. Dunlavy and had a family of small children. At this
time he was Deputy Tax Assessor under Henry Ferguson. His
whole life as known to his neighbors was inconsistent with his
guilt, but there were some strong incriminating circumstances

which caused his arrest the following Tuesday.

An hour after the shooting .bloodhounds from the Ellis
plantation were requested and before midnight they were on
the ground. They took and followed a trail to a negro cabin in
the southern suburbs about a mile from the Frost residence.
There they halted, ran on to the porch and jumped on the
door. There was no light in the house, but a negro man came
to the door with a gun. The house was now surrounded by
fifty armed men who searched it and found and arrested John
Ewing and Mitchell, his son, and a school teacher named John
Donovan, all of whom were lodged in jail.

9 Caldwell vs. State. 28 Tex. Criminal Appeals 566, id. 137 U. S. 693.

199

HISTORY OF FORT BEND COUNTY

becue, he said, “The Jay-birds, one of our most recent organi-
zations, will attend in their gaudy uniforms and shout for
democracy.”

From this it will be seen that the term had then by common
consent been accepted by the regular Democrats.

Colonel Peareson, testifying in the examining trials before
Judge Hightower in September, 1889, said that although the
name had been thus adopted he had not approved. It did not
meet his ideas of dignity and propriety.

When the Democratic mass meeting was held in July, it was
resolved to wage an active campaign to win the colored voter
and a series of barbecues were to be held at which he would be
fed roast beef and hear public speakers. The first of these was
held at Pleasants’ grove, Richmond, July 18th when Gustave
Cook of Houston and Judge Mott of Galveston made patriotic
speeches and the colored man was told of his civic duty. It was
probably the largest gathering that had ever been assembled in
the County.

Sidney Johnston Winston, great-grandson of Mrs. Long, was
Marshal of the day and five veterans of San Jacinto and four
Mier men were present.

Cartoons and posters lauding Cleveland and lampooning
Harrison were displayed here and there. One of them on a tree
near the road read—“Grandpapa Harrison’s pants will not
fit Benny.”

The enthusiasm was spreading and the planters were talking
to their negroes, and loafing negro agitators who had infested
the County for several years were being told to move on.

J. M. Shamblin, son-in-law of W. D. Fields, who lived on
the Walnut Grove plantation, and who had taken a conspicuous
part in the formation of the Young Men’s Club, gave a warning
that he would not allow any political agitators among the
negroes on his plantation. On the evening of August Ist he and
his wife and her sister were seated about a table in the large
hallway of the house, which was on summer evenings the family
sitting room. The room was lighted by a lamp by which Shamb-
lin was reading. A large Bible lay on the table. His little
daughter Maude was playing on the floor. The door which
led from the hallway to the front gallery was open. It was
just after dark when someone from the outside shot Mr. Shamb-
lin with buckshot and he fell mortally wounded.

Although the shot scattered, no one else was hit, but one
shot was imbedded in the family Bible and others in the wall
of the hall.

TWENTY YEARS AFTER

W. D. Fields, who lived a mile away, heard the shot and
was the first person to reach the stricken home. Near the front
gallery he found paper wadding which came out of a muzzle-
loading gun.

Dr. Mayfield, physician at the State farm near by, was sum-
ales and told the family that Shamblin could live only a few

ours. :

After the moon rose he and Fields found a piece of paper
fastened on the gatepost on which someone with a lead pencil
had written in a bold crude hand a strange rambling note. An
Inspection of the paper showed it had been torn out of a tablet
or notebook which bore the letter or billhead, ‘“H. H. Frost,
Proprietor Red Hot Bar, Dealer in General Merchandise,

oo etc. at Richmond. The death message on the paper
read:

“i am Just From town and Full of Hell in the neck for all
dam misleaders, July, 18881. (sic) July 29, 1888

Mr. Shamblin: You have been Holding democratic meeting
with the negroes and you have said that eny negro dont vote a
democratic ticket on the election day is sticking a knife in your
chiles side the Republican partie have declared that no demo-
crate shall be aloud to hole Eny democrate meeting in Eny
private place among the Eigrant Race of negroes, it is said
Grandpapa Harrisons pants will not fit benny but benny is go-
ing to wear them before the end of time the Republican parties is
going to hold up their heads if they die hard we will have no
democrate to mislead the ignent negro Race astray. You are
a man to lead them a stray and then cut their throats and suck
their blud I am a republican and have no use for a dam demo-
crat this is a lesson to all dam cut throat democrats to hold noe
more meetings with the ignorent negro race of people.”

When this note was shown Mr. Shamblin, though dying
he told Mr. Fields that it was written by a negro named Wil-
liam Caldwell who was a tenant on the plantation and lived a
mile away.

A few months before he had caught Caldwell and another
negro in the theft of a bale of cotton from his gin. They had
been indicted and were out on bond. Ike Brown, a negro wit-
ness against them, had died suddenly and it was thought Cald-
well had poisoned him. Caldwell had said that if Shamblin
was out of the way he could not be convicted.

Early the next morning Fields found tracks of two persons
who had walked from Shamblin’s gate across plowed ground
towards Caldwell’s house. One of them was barefoot and

197

| | soi
CALDWELL, William, black, hanged at Houston, Texas on July 31, 1591.
oo |

~~ | _ (Galveston DAILY NEWS, soe deat Ay ets)

.
addite drys

: fer of Ur. Shamblin Nee ne tire : p

“gall and the last thing be dia

about 10 o’clock that the first arrivals fron
the press gang found theit way in. At tris
hour the crowd was so packed around the
front gate, despite tbe fact that an officer had
been placed there te keep ther: back, that the
Presa peop'e had to more around teu the side
gate to got in without being trampled upon by
the cayer multitude. Many of those at the
fence had passes to enter, but other had the
sag hb msgp and they could searvely get

The jain was not confined to the sidewalk in
front of the entrance, but extended out into
the street, reaching almost across it Tue
News correspondent was admitted about 10
o'clock and inside he found Sheriff Ellis and
Deputice Pruett, Sutton, Conway, Anderson
and Parker busily engaged swovthing things
for the fatai swing. On the first floor several
Were waiting to eee the execution. By invita-
tien your correspondent immediately proceed-
ed to the room occupied by the doomed man.
It was the south front room overlooking Caro-
line street, and with the Windows raised a cool
breeze dasbed in through the iron bars and
ptayed around the watts as giecfully oa if it
celebrated a marriage feast instead of singing
the dirge of a legal execution. There was
@ bed in one corner of the room and three or
four ‘chairs conveniently located. Sheriff
Ellis, Deputies Pruett and Conway, Justices
of the Peace A. M. Gentry and F. Schwan-
der, Rey, B. Lee, colored, of Mount Vernon
M. KE. church, Rev. T. Edwards, colored, of
Sloan Street M. E. eburch, Mr. A. Cartnichael
and one or two others. The prisoner at that
moment was in a small washruom Opening
into this, making preparations for the last
event of his mortal existence. In response to
8 question Sheriff Ellis stated that be did not
show the telegram from Governor Hogg, re-
ceived yesterday, to the prisoner until this
morning about 7 o’clock. When the doomed
man read ithe showed no signs of emotion,

absence

| ‘time, cud had from thet time visited him reg-

ularly, and had finally got his consent to join
.the eburch, They had communed together
hours at a time and the prisoner had told him
thie morning he was ready to meet his God,
Thic statement was made before he left his
before leaving

‘Was to read part of a che in the Bible, af-

Ht
aay
iil

the multitude

“T feel an bold as apy man can feel under
such circumstances."

His bearing suited the words exactly,

“Are you ready to go?’ the voice from be.
low sung out. :

“Yes,” he quickly answered, and raised his
kerchief to wipe away. the perspiration with
his red milk, A few maments inore he guzed

aa she was being turned back by the officers he
said: Hf it is hor rejuest let her eee me, let
her shake hands with me. |W hy do you weep
and cry, mother?’

She said; Are you prepared to nieet me in
heaven?”

“Yes,” he answered. He then ahook ber
hand aud asked the sheriff to open the door
enough for him to kiss her. It was done and
they kissed very affectionately. In making
the request of the sheriff the prisoner said
he knew Sheriff Ellis was tou honorable a
man to refuse such a request. As the last kise
was given be said: “Mother, be prepared to
mnect me at the bar of Gid.”” She said she
‘would,

The appearance of his mother was the only
event that took away the perfect cuolneas of
the prisoner and broke down in @ measure his
brave bearing. After she retired he went back
to the lavatory and washed his hands. He
then seated himself and with the” tninister
looked over several parts of the Bible.

At the hour of 10.45 he was quiet and con-
templative. - At this time Sheriff Ellis spoke
tu the persons who had gathered in the hall
and told them to clear the way by going up
stairs, meaning to the place of execution. The
prisoner here walked across and gazed through
the window once more down upon the multi-
tude standing on Caroline street, but he said
nothing. After he had looked a little time the
sheriff called: him back into the @oom to hear
the death warrant read, which waa done in a
clear voice by the sheriff himself, and was lis.
tened to very attentively by the prisoner, who
stood with his hands on bis hips or behind
him: All heard every word that was uttered,
and the pnsoner showed no “more ncern
than alt other one in the party. When the
sheriff? was done, the Prisoner broke the e.
lence, in a firin voice saying: “I am at your
Pequest,”” looking at the shenff as he spoke,
He then walked across the floor and looked
down on the crowd in the street.

In response to a question by your corres.
pandent. He said:/ “Rev. Lee has done geod
work ferme. He never spared any tine, and
I wish to bestow my blessings on him for his
kindness and on Elder Edwards. I will be
happy to meet them at ‘the judgment bar on
the day of resurrection. /Oxly one thing has
hurt me, that is the viait of my mother. I
don’t mind dying, because I know 1 have gut
to die some day anyhow.’ Sheriff Ellis herg
ordered the way cleared, and the prisoner » ith
officers and others marched up the rather steep
steps to the gallows. The prisoner was imine-
diately surrounded by the officers with the two
ministers. The scaffold overlooked the large
crowd of perhaps 200 people, and the prisoner
after moving with a firm tread up staris to
the foot of the scaffold immediately
advanced a step’ and took the stair
leading up to. it. The ministers were
at his side as soon as he landed. Others up
there were Sheriff Ellis, Deputies Pruett,
Conway, Sutton, Parker, Jailer Anderson, W,
H. Bailey, Dys. Burtoughs and Burroughs,
Dick Riddle and A, Carmichael. :

SSS

Cire CrP Ceri

Hiag, AR Kasley agreed to gn te Atetin on the
Ph inatant, bet he failed fe geo where bey bbe ect
tract ie broken) and To teg the kindneee of you
and Rew Lew to ec to Ralles’s office and take eald
mortgage and place it in the handecf Marthe
Hail. I du not want Mr Raley to defranad

Martha out of ber land. Kespertfauy
We ( ALOWRLL,

Hwornto aod subserited befora me thie det
day of July, 1-01 PoL SM Aw aNber

Justice of Peace, Pracinet No. 1,

Ceonnty.

By request there is one letter left ont.

Your correspondent, in a talk with the Rev.
Lee, the spiritual adviser of Caldwell, learned
that he had made every effort to obtain from
Caldwell a confession of hia guilt. He had
urged hits to tell in sacred confidence, that he
would never violate if against his wishes, but
Caldwell persistently and always deéuied his
wilt. Hesaid that Caldwell never showed
even the slightest Indication that be kiew any-
thing of the murder.

There were a large number of people who
came down from Fort Bend county to witness
the execution. Atneng them was the venera-
ble father of Sharnblin, the murdered man.

The foliowing is a brief history of the crime:
The criine was comraitted in August, 1A&%, and
Caldwell was arrested a few days after the
deed had been committed, but on , account of
the fecling in Furt Bend against the prisouer,
60 brutal had been his crime, he was brought
to the jail in this city for safe keeping. After-
ward, however, he obtained a change of venue
afd the case was transferred to this eounty,

The case frst caine up in December, 1443,
and it was continued, as it was also at the
Webruary, April aod June terme. At the Oc
tober terin, however, he was convicted of mur-
der in the first degree. The case was then
taken to the court of appeals, where the judg-
ment of the lower Court was atfiriied. Failing
in the state courts, the case was taken to the
United States supreme court for the want of
jurisdiction.

His only hope then was in executive
clemency, and itnmediately a petition was
gotten up asking the governor to interfere,

The evidence against Caldwell was circum
stantial, and this ts believed to be the prin-
cipal hope upon which the friends of the
doomed mun built their hopes for comuta-
tion of sentence.

Mr, Shamblin, who was a prominent dem.
oerat and citizen of Fort Bend, was shot down
and instantly killed one night while sitting
talking with his family. On the following
morning @ notice was found posted at his
front gate, saying, “Let this be a Warning t
all d—n democrats,” or somethurg that sho» ed
conclusively that the man who wrote the note
was the one who committed the murder and
intended this as a warning to other dernocrats
who had been inducing negroes to vote the
democratic ticket.

The paper upon which this warning wag
written was torn from « note book and the
scrap was found to fit exactly into the ziy-
zag edges fourd in Caldwell’s- note book,
from which a leaf had been torn,

Harrie

Adjourned Council] Meeting.

corrected a former decision to the effect that
Mr. Sutton had not been elected superin-
tendent of the public schools of the city, and
to decide that he had been elected to that
place. This decision ‘was reached after inves.

tigation. ", :
Flynn thought that six were » majority and
not five. He proposed to appeal froin the

A petition was reed from E. L. C bes and
Scanlan be applied

deme soerrd:
wae ioe faasit
be held reat
aml Severna
brvdge. The
the aMfirinat)

A toemeiliat ie
tof the Satine
the city iste
meat fur tie
every ME tier
to coin plete t
proprateon t
the advaltorer:
in the month
tion lo suspen
inetion of He

A totion
draiming of +
ner of Comn
vided for the
abutting prop

Pruett’ ror
journed it be

Reisner. tus
be authorized
fore the edu:
certain « barge
Against an

The board
foi UWing reyw

Hower. 7
Mayor and City

Your teoard
work assigned +
have been in #
poistment by yp:
plied with all
charter and ord

In doing thei
that the urdina
board of apprai
Tollow ing point

That « board
hold for not les
ment to he mads

members of the
vided for by the
of the com urisa:
that they reima:
terw of their et
to be regulate!

And that ali a
be referred to th

Your board of
the existing la»
Praisements is %
oughly famillar
of the city and +
Wwe make the ax

Aud that they
of the city of H.
ris, as embraced
uni form.

They respects
Missioners cour
members, in a b
values so estabi,
county.

They further
promptly accept
aod appoint @ ov
tests as may be
spectfully submit

Meeting aajor

€
The cases of t!
Sauter, charged
battery and fixed
o'clook before J
tinued on totias
to get further
were ready for
granted to next )
further arresta
was a large crow
the trial.

This evening H
a delightful an
Hutchins park:
treat, and a large
ered there to he

This evening t
U, gave a lawn fe
It was earety ais

seis

~ Young John T.
shot in the thigh

Mies Anna Juftt
the Capitol.

H. H. Truely an
to-day at the Capit

D. R. Pearson ©
the Capitol this fo

Jd. L. Fountain
guest of the Capit:

F.C. McReyno
El Campo, is regi»

Hoa. A. T. Mc

NO appeal,
SULNROSTRO, Jose, and CHAPA, Melquiades, Mexicans, hanged at Brownsville, TEXey 5-19-191/

"Brownsville, TX, 5-19-1916-a double hanging took place here today when Jose Buenrostro
and Melquiades Chapa, aged 25 and 23, respectively, paid the penalty for the murder of
4, Tl, Austincand his son, Charles, at Sebastian, August 6, 1915, when a band of 1) Mexi-
cans raided the town of Sebastian, These were the only men of the band arrested,

"The trap was sprung at 2:13 o'clock by Sheriff W. T., Vann, and 29 minutes later the ?
men were pronounced dead, ,

"The men went to their death calmly, mounting to the scaffold without faltering, Doth
made short addresses in Spanish to the crowd, protesting their innocence of the crime
and giving a short history of their lives in Cameron County, in which they had always
resided, They made the following written joint statement in Spanish: 'Jose Buenrostro
and Melouiades Chapa, Senores: We give thanks to the public for what they have done for
usy' and the following: 'I, Melquiades Chapa am innocent of the crime of which they
accuse me, but I pardon all without esception as I hope for the pardon of God,!
"Suenrostro's statement was written by Chapa in the same tenor, These were the first
legal hangings in Cameron County since 1892,"

NEWS, Galveston, Texas, May 20, 1916 (345.)

"Brownsville, April 19, 1916 = With only 1 month to a day to live, Melcuiades Chapa,
who is to be executed here May 19 on charge of homicide, decided today that he wanted
to learn English, and requested his jailer to supply him with a Spanish-English dic-
tionary, Chapap was born in Cameron County but never went to school and never learned
the English language. Deputy Sheriff Cottingham, his guard, agreed to teach him,
Chapa and Jose Buenrostro were convicted of the death of the Austins, father and son,
at Sebastian, Buenrostro will die on the same day," NEWS, Galveston, April 20, 1916

(946, )

"hustin, May 18 - Gov, James E, Ferguson, acting on the recommendation of the board of
pardons, declined to commute.,. Austin and his son were shot to death when a band of lL);
Mexicans raided the little town of Sebastian, Gameron County, on Aug. 6, 1915, The Aus-
tins were carried a short distance from the town and put to death, All the raiders ex-
cept Buenrostro and Chapa escaped, The evidence offered at the trial in Avril of this
year, showed that Buenrostro fired the shots which killed the Austins and that Chapa
stood guard nearby during the tragedy, Buenrostro and Chapa did not appeal their cases
to the court of criminal appeals," NEWS, Galveston, May 19, 1916 (6/7.)

A History of
Jefferson County, Texas
From Wilderness

To Reconstruction

By W. T. Block

A Master of Arts Thesis at

Lamar University

Printed by
Nederland Publishing Company
P.O. Drawer 1326
Nederland, Texas 77627

=, arrest of Moore in Jefferson County by Captain
John Cozzens and Marshal Felps of Houston and
the confiscation of Moore’s “counterfeit bank bill
printing press and engraving tools” and $200,000
in spurious notes. Although he counterfeited the

| currency of many Louisiana and Mississippi banks
as well, Moore’s reproduction of the $50 note of a
St. Louis bank was almost perfect.

In November, 1853, a Nacogdoches newspaper
noted that the “gang of men” at Madison were
again “engaged in the manufacture of bogus
money. Large quantities are being circulated

throughout the state.”29 In June, 1856, Moore
| and Glover, who were leaders of a group of
Regulators, were killed by a Moderator posse near
Ballew’s Ferry. The Galveston Tri-Weekly News
reported that a box under Moore’s bed contained
the “famed Sabine bogus mint,” engraving plates
for $2%, $5, $10, and $20 gold pieces, crucibles,
“bogus metal,” and $600 in bright counterfeit
coins.30

The most publicized criminal case in antebellum
Jefferson County was the climax of the series of
assassinations and Regulator-Moderator distur-
bances in Orange County in June, 1856. The crime
eon of Jack Bunch, an 18-year-old mulatto,?! had
T/, soaiked the violence. In November, he was tried at
Beaumont on a change of venue, and his execution

resulted in a spectacle similar to a county fair.

In company with a cousin named Ashworth,

Bunch was an accomplice in the murder of Deputy

Sheriff Samuel Deputy on the Sabine River near

Green’s Bluff (by then known as Madison). Two

factions organized along the lines of race. A group

of sixty whites, known as Moderators, decided to

pursue the killers when Sheriff Glover declined to

arrest them. After declaring the sheriff’s office to

be vacant, the Moderators warned the numerous

mulattoes and their white associates to leave the

county on penalty of death. The latter organized a
Regulator faction and went into hiding.

— ie

29(st. Louis) Times, quoted by (Houston) Telegraph
and Texas Register, April 25, 1851; (Nacogdoches)
Chronicle, November 15, 1853.

30(Galveston) Weekly News and Tri-Weekly News, July
15, 1856. (Galveston) Weekly News, June 24 and July 8,
1856.

31+ Analysis ol! The “1850: Census.” Texas ‘Gulf
Historical and Biographical Record, VII (May, 1972), p.
LOO, res. 122;

719

Before the conflict ended, houses and sawmills
were burned, thirty families were forced out of the
county, and the series of assassinations followed.
When the Moderator posse assembled in Madison

on June 15, Bennett Thomas, a_ Regulator,
quarreled with Willis Bonner, a Moderator, and
killed him. Jack Cross mortally wounded Burwell
Alexander, a Regulator, and when Dr. Andrew
Mairs knelt to tend his friend’s wound, Cross killed
the physician. While passing through the county,
two travelers, mistaken for Regulators, were am-
bushed and killed by the Moderator posse. Peace
was restored when the Moderators captured Moore,
ex-Sheriff Glover, and Joel Brandon. The latter and
other Regulators were released at the Newton
County line upon their promise never to return.32

A change of venue accomplished little for Bunch
since anti-Regulator feeling was equally high in
Jefferson County. Defended by Gray and Lewis, an
early Beaumont law firm, Bunch’s trial commenced
on November 12, 1856, with ‘“‘but little effort on
either side .. . and the defense hopeless.”33 A jury
rendered a guilty verdict, and the judge assessed
the death penalty. Until his execution, Bunch was
guarded by twenty men, for it was rumored that
the Regulators were coming in force to free him.34

On the date of the execution, a large crowd
assembled on the courthouse square at Beaumont.
In full view of the public, the condemned youth
died on a scaffold so crudely constructed that
Bunch had to mount a ladder which was then
twisted and pulled out from under him.%5 AlI-
though only nine years of age at the time, J. Martin
Hebert, who later became a well-known rancher,
subsequently recalled that his father made him
witness the execution in order to see what
happened to boys who disobeyed the laws.3&

32(Galveston) Weekly News and Tri-Weekly News, July
15, 1856; (Galveston) Weekly News, June 24 and July 8,
1856; Olmsted, Journey Through Texas, p. 244; Muir,
‘Free Negro in Jefferson and Orange Counties,’’ Journal of
Negro History, pp. 200-203; Robert E. Russell, ‘The Early
Days of Orange,’’ Beaumont Enterprise, April 23, 1922, p.
1-B.

33 (Galveston) Weekly News, December 9, 1856.

ae
— ao

34 Ibid.

mee

‘ 35 (Galveston) Weekly News, December 9, 1856.)

<naorK

36 Manuscript Returns of Jefferson County, Texas,
Schedule I, Population, 1850, residence 227; Stratton,
Story of Beaumont, p.170.

Unfortunately, the early citizens’ deeds of
cultural advancement and daily living are poorly
chronicled in the county’s archives when compared
to their misdeeds. There are virtually no school
records prior to 1900, and the church archives
begin about 1880. There are two other causes for
the general lack of information. All early records at
Sabine Pass were destroyed during a series of
hurricanes, one of which completely devastated the
city on October 12, 1886. Jefferson County had
no newspapers prior to 1859, and only one copy of
the Beaumont Banner survives.

Early in 1859, Professor J. T. Fuller founded the
Sabine Pass Times, which he published weekly
until his death in November, 1860.37 His assistant,
16-year-old E. I. Kellie, continued publication until
he entered the Confederate army in April, 1861.
Kellie later recalled that, after printing each
edition, he hurried to the waterfront to “Shawk’”’
copies of the paper aboard the docked vessels.38
The Times, described as being ‘commercial,
literary, and political,’ had a circulation of 625
copies.39

In 1860, A. N. Vaughn, a Beaumont school
teacher and the mayor of Beaumont, founded the
Beaumont Banner, a publication which was often
quoted in the Galveston newspapers.49 The Banner
was described as a “‘scientific’’ weekly with a
circulation of 400 copies.41 Like the Times, -the
Beaumont newspaper was short-lived and for the

37 Manuscript Returns of Jefferson County, Texas,
Schedule I, Population, 1860, res. 325; File 73, Estate of J.
T. Fuller, Probate Record, Jefferson County, Texas; (Gal-
veston) Weekly News, August 25, 1859. The surviving copy
of the Beaumont Banner belongs to Chilton O’Brien, a
Beaumont attorney. Correspondent Henry R. Green
described Fuller’s sedate pressroom employee (not Kellie)
as resembling a “‘bishop of the Episcopalian Church’”’ more
than a printer’s devil.

38m I, Kellie, ‘‘Sabine Pass in Olden Times,” Beau-
mont Enterprise, April 16, 1905.

39 Manuscript Returns of Jefferson County, Texas,
Schedule VI, Social Statistics, 1860.

40 1pid., Schedule I, Population, res. 292; Volumes B,
pp. 239-240, 243, and C, p. 38, Commissioners’ Court
Minutes, and C, p. 64, Personal Property Record, Jefferson
County, Texas; Record of the Board of Aldermen of
Beaumont, 1860-1861, Jefferson County courthouse.
Vaughn was assessor-collector of Jefferson County after the
Civil War and a Sabine Pass merchant from 1869 until
1878. He then moved to Jasper County to manage the
Texas Tram and Lumber Company commissary and died
there. See Beaumont Journal, March 4, 1906.

same reason. In May, 1861, Vaughn and threé
other Beaumonters, William A. Fletcher, George W.
O’Brien, and Jefferson Chaison, enlisted in Com-
pany F, 5th Texas Infantry, of Hood’s Brigade, and
publication of the Banner ceased.42 Consequently,
until 1880, Jefferson County remained dependent
(except for short periods) upon out-of-county
publications for the dissemination of news.

From the inception of the Texas Republic,
politics was a vital ingredient of social interaction
within antebellum Jefferson County. Lacking other
communications media, each candidate carried his
stand on the heated political issues directly to the
people, and the political debates or rallies provided
the frontiersmen with another diversion from the
cares of daily living.

While interpreting the antebellum political be-
havior of the county’s residents, one must consider
that casting a ballot might entail an all-day journey
by water or horseback to one of the county’s five
or six polling places. By 1851, the number of
qualified voters had reached about 250, but was
halved the following year when Orange County was
separated. When Hardin County was organized,
another loss of population reduced the voter list to
125. By February, 1861, newcomers arriving in the
county helped increase the ballot potential to
about 300 votes.43

As early as 1838, Jefferson County’s residents
cast 103 ballots in the presidential election, favor-
ing the popular Mirabeau B. Lamar with a five-
to-one majority.44 When Stephen H. Everett
voiced his intent to retire from the Texas Senate in
April, 1839, Henry Millard, William McFaddin,
John Jay French, Robert Burrell, Joseph Hutchin-
son, and eighteen others petitioned the senator to

41 Manuscript Returns of Jefferson County, Schedule
VI, Social Statistics, 1860.

42 Beaumont Journal, June 17, 1906.

43 (Galveston) Weekly News, October 7, 1851 and
November 16, 1858; E. W. Winkler (ed.), Journal of The
Secession Convention of Texas, 1861 (Austin: Austin
Printing Company, 1912), p. 89.

441 otter, Everett to Lamar, Beaumont, September 12,
1838, as reprinted in Charles A. Gulick and Katherine
Elliott (eds.), The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar
(reprint; 5 volumes; New York: AMS Press, 1973), II, p.
222;

8 TEXAS CRIMINAL APrLALS 336
BURK, Lyncefield, l-year-old white man, hanged at Waco, Texas, on Aucust 27, 1880,

"Waco, August 27, 1880 - Lyncefield Burks, for the rape of Sarah McBee, 9-years-old, on
August 28, 1879, was hung here today. A large crowd witnessed the execution, house=tops,
sheds, floats, etc, being used to get a glimpse in the jail yard, where the execttion took
places Reverands B, A. Rogers, Episcopal, and J, D. Shaw, Methodist, held services and
attended him to the scaffold, He was cool and resolute to the last. He publishes a
Statement in the TELEPHONE early in the morning. On the scaffold he asserted his innocence,
and asked everybody to be good Christians and meet him in Heaven where he was sure going,
He took death cooly, The drop fell at lj:18, His neck was not broken, and he died from
strangulation, His pulse ceased in 11 minutes and his heart ceased beating in ll; minutes,
He was pronounced dead and cut down in 19 minutes from the time the drop fell,

(Following is an account of the respite of Burks, granted by the governor on July 29, to~
gether with a history of his crime, the trial, Burks' biography, etc.; all of which was
published in the HERALD at the time, but is republished for the benefit of such of our
readers as may not have read it.): A telegram has just been sent to Governor Roberts signec
by Mayor Sturges and other prominent citizens, asking a respite of 10 days, that a petition
for a commutation, with a statement of facts, may be laid before the execttive, Sheriff
Ross has afreed to defer the execution until ]; a¥clock to await the governor's answer, and
everybody is on the qui vive to see what the old Alcalde will do. Bets on the streets are
two to one that he will show no mercy, on account of the state convention being so near at
hand. At 2:30 p.m, the governor replies,declining to grant a respite. A second telegram
has just been sent to which Senator Coke's signature, greatly to the astonishment of many
citizens, was secured, This latter telegram asked for a respit. This last telegram to
Governor Roberts, signed by Governor Coke, had the effect of moving the old Alcade, He had
refused 3 times in the last 2) hours to commute the sentence, To the fourth a last request
with Coke's name signed, he has just returned a reply, respiting Burk for 20 days. As the
afternoon wore on, a thunder storm threatned to interrupt telegraphiccommunication with
Austin, This made Burk uneasy and excited the crowd, The message from the governor came
just as the sheriff had concluded that it was not worth while to wait longer, A few min-
utes later and Burk would have swung, There is considerable diversity of opinion among
citizens as to the propriety of the governor's action, Burk received the respite without
any exhibition of feeling, but said he was glad of it, He is greatly buoyed uD NOWe
"Lyncefield Burk was born in Jackson County, “labama in 1839 and is in his llst year.

His early boyhood was spent in Franklin and Coffee Counties, Tennessee, where his parents
removed from Alabama, Later the emigrated to Missouri, where Burk grew to manhood, En-
tering the Confederate Army,he served through the war, and at its close came to Texas, se=
ttling in Burleson Count in May, 1865, Little is known of his life in this section of the
state, save that he removed to Bryan, from there to Calvert and thence to Waco, reaching
here in 1877, Last year he was farming on a rented placed near the little village of Robin-
son, six miles south of Waco, On the same place, ostensibly as his housekeeper, lived Mrs,
McBee and her daughter, Sarha, the little victim. The child was just 9-yearseold, She is
rather bright and forward, and not overly large for her age, Burk was arrested on July 29,
1879, and both he and the woman were jailed, The grand jury found an indictment against
him, and he was put on trial at the December term of the district court, The woman was
never tried, the state utilizing her testimony to convict Burk, The jury found him guilty
and affixed the death penalty, The case was carried to the court of appeals, and by that
court affirmed, at the Galveston term, this year, Failing in the courts, Burk made an
appeal to the governor, Colonel Jenkins, one of his counsel, went to Austin last wek,
carrying all the facts in the case, as well as a petition to the executive, with a great
many signatures, This asked for a commutation or a respite, The old Alcalde declined to
interfere,

"He has been receiving religious attention for some time and was baptized renently in the
Brazos River, becoming a commnicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In disposition,
he was taciturn, stolid, and unsocial, of mre than mediocre intelligence and education,
The child, Sarah McBee, has entirely recovered, and is now living in this city with her
mother, They are domiciled in a rather disreputable locality," HERALD, Dallas, Texas,
Ausut 28, 1880 (1/).)

8 TEXAS CRIMINAL APPEALS 336
BURK, Lyncefield, ll-year-old white man, hanged at Waco, Texas, on Aucust 27, 1880,

"Waco, August 27, 1880 - Lyncefield Burks, for the rape of Sarah McBee, 9-years-old, on
August 28, 1879, was hung here today. A large crowd witnessed the execution, house-tops,
sheds, floats, etc, being used to get a glimpse in the jail yard, where the execttion took
place. Reverands B. A. Rogers, Episcopal, and J. D. Shaw, Methodist, held services and
attended him to the scaffold, He was cool amd resolute to the last. He publishes a |
statement in the TELEPHONE early in the morning, On the scaffold he asserted his innocence,
and asked everybody to be good Christians and meet him in Heaven where he was sure going, |
He took death cooly. The drop fell at 1:18, His neck was not broken, and he died from
strangulation, His pulse ceased in 11 minutes and his heart ceased beating in 1}; minutes,
He was pronounced dead and cut down in 19 minutes from the time the drop fell.

(Following is an account of the respite of Burks, granted by the governor on July 29, to-
gether with a history of his crime, the trial, Burks' biography, etc.; all of which was
published in the HERALD at the time, but is republished for the benefit of such of our
readers as may not have read it.): A telegram has just been sent to Governor Roberts signed
by Mayor Sturges and other prominent citizens, asking a respite of 10 days, that a petition
for a commutation, with a statement of facts, may be laid before the execttive, Sheriff
Ross has afreed to defer the execution until ); etclock to await the governor's answer, and
everybody is on the qui vive to see what the old Alcalde will do. Bets on the streets are
two to one that he will show no mercy, on account of the state convention being so near at
hand. At 2:30 p.m, the governor replies,declining to grant a respite. A second telegram
has just been sent to which Senator Coke's signature, greatly to the astonishment of many
citizens, was secured, This latter telegram asked for a respit., This last telegram to
Governor Roberts, signed by Governor Coke, had the effect of moving the old Alcade, He had
refused 3 times in the last 2); hours to commute the sentence, To the fourth a last request
with Coke's name signed, he has just returned a reply, respiting Burk for 20 days. As the
afternoon wore on, a thunder storm threatned to interrupt telegraphiccommunication with
Austin, This made Burk uneasy and excited the crowd. The message from the governor came
just as the sheriff had concluded that it was not worth while to wait longer, A few min-
utes later and Burk would have swung, There is considerable diversity of opinion among
citizens as to the propriety of the governor's action, Burk received the respite without
any exhibition of feeling, but said he was glad of it, He is greatly buoyed up now.
"Lyncefield Burk was born in Jackson County, Alabama in 1839 and is in his lst year.

His early boyhood was spent in Franklin and Coffee Counties, Tennessee, where his parents
removed from Alabama, Later the emigrated to Missouri, where Burk grew to manhood, En-
tering the Confederate Army,he served through the war, and at its close came to Texasy se-
ttling in Burleson Count in May, 1865, Little is known of his life in this section of the
state, save that he removed to Bryan, from there to Calvert and thence to Waco, reaching
here in 1877, Last year he was farming on a rented placed near the little village of Robin-
son, six miles south of Waco, On the same place, ostensibly as his housekeeper, lived Mrs,
McBee and her daughter, Sarha, the little victim. The child was just 9-yearseold, She is
rather bright and forward, and not overly large for her age, Burk was arrested on July 29,
1879, and both he and the woman were jailed, The grand jury found an indictment against
him, and he was put on trial at the December term of the district court, The woman was
never tried, the state utilizing her testimony to convict Burk, The jury found him guilty
and affixed the death penalty, The case was carried to the court of appeals, and by that
court affirmed, at the Galveston term, this year, Failing in the courts, Burk made an
appeal to the governor, Colonel Jenkins, one of his counsel, went to Austin last wek,
carrying all the facts in the case, as well as a petition to the executive, with a great
many signatures, This asked for a commutation or a respite, The old Alcalde declined to
interfere.

"He has been receiving religious attention for some time and was baptized renently in the
Brazos River, becoming a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In disposition,
he was taciturn, stolid, and unsocial, of more than mediocre intelligence and education,
The child, Sarah McBee, has entirely recovered, and is now living in this city with her
mothers They are domiciled in a rather disreputable locality," HERALD, Dallas, Texas,

Ausut 28, 1880 (1/h.)

BURK, Lyncefield, white, hanged Waco, McLennan Co., August 27, 1880.
Lyncefield Burk, a 41-year-old white man, was hanged at Waco, Texas, on August 27,
1880, for the rape of 9-year-old Sarah McBee, also white, which occurred on August 28, 1879.

2 26 2c 2 2k 2c 2k 2 ie 2k oie 2k aie 2k ae 2 2k oie 2k oe 2k 2 2k 2k 2k 2 oie 2k ie 2 fe 2g 2k ie 2k fe 2k 2k ie 2k 2k 24 2 2 2 fe 2 24 2 2S 2S Ok 2k 2 2k 2 2 2k a 2 2s 2 is 2 OK

8 Texas Criminal Appeals 336.

BURKE, Jim, black, hanged at Bonham, Fannin County, Texas, on April 28, 1893,

} THE CRIME
"On March 23, 1893, Jim Burke was tried and convicted in the district court of Fannin
County on the charge of rape and the death’penalty was assesed; and-on the 25$h of «
March, Judgement of the court was pronounced and-April 28, 1893, set for the execution
Wien asked if he had anything to say why judgement should not be passed, he grinned -
and saids 'I' don't know, judge. JE don't know how to talk im my case, If I was to
say anpytfing, it might make it wusser." Jim Burke is a small, slender, very black
negro, about 20 years of agé. He seemed quite «indifferent to his situation and was
very little affected by the verdict when first read.
"On Auge 1, 1892, the offense for which he was tried was committed in Lamar County,
about nine miles southwest from Paris, near Ambia, and was transferred to this county
on the court's own motion, The defendant was not able to employ counsel, and two
attorneys wf this bar wereappginted by the court, who guarded the defendant's rights.
"Mrs, M, E. Clements, a white woman, 5l-years=old, was the injured party, According
to her testimony, which was strongly corroborated in almost every material point,
she was at her home alone, her children at school and her husband away on business,
when Burke came to the door and asked for some bread and water, She told him she had
none for him, He then started into thehouse with his person exposed. She started
for the gun, which was near at hand, but before bhe could reach it he caught her by
the throat, and, choking her down with his right hand, accomplished his purposee She
struggled with him and resisted to the last, but her right wrist had been broken
some time before and her right arm was almost powerless, In the struggle a table was
overturned and the defendant lost his hold on her throat so that she could scream,
but defendant clung to her until he had satisfied his lust. He then sprang up and
hurriedly left the house. A neighbor saw him, soon after he left the house, going
north toward Paris. .
"The crime was quickly madeknown and pursuit instituted, He was seen and fully iden-
tified by several parties, who saw him just before the deed was committed, which was
about l; PM, and by others until his arrest near Paris after dark, He was taken before
Mrs. Clements, who fully identified him, as did other witnesses, The sheriff then
arrived and hurried the prisoner to the Paris jail. A few days afterward, an examining
trial was held before a justice of the peace at Paris, but before the trial proceeded
very far someone in the excited crowd thrust a cpooked walking cane around defendant's
eck and jerked him out of his chair. A struggle then ensued between the sheriff and
the mob, but without anyone getting hurt the prisoner was landed safely in jail. That
night a mob of some 600 met at the jail determined to lynch hin, The firm stand taken
by the sheriff and some speeches by the county judse and other officials appeased the
mob, The officers secretly conveyed to prisoner to Clarksville and from there to
Dallas for safekeeping. At thelast October term of the Lamar county district court
this case was, as before stated, transferred to this county with theseresults,"

THE EXECUTION.

(Describing night before execution): "The city presented the scene of anight before
the advent of a big circus, only there were more people here, Boys were blowing
whistles, music could be heard at various places and all seemed forgetful of the
fact thaton the morrow two human beings would be sent across the dark waters to the
great unknown,"
Paper state's Burke's correct name to be Thompson, Sullen and silent, he slppt only
a few minutes on night before execution, On morning of death stood with head pressed
against side of cell and muttered and mumbled out unintelligible pliant. When break-
fast was served, did not change position and refused to eat, Had scarcely eaten for
2 or 3 days preceding, ‘When asked by reporter, admitted crime and when asked how he
felt about his fate replied: 'I don't have good feelings about it,' and mttereds
'Bad feelings; bad feelings; all bad feelings." Then broke out into loud laughter
and look of terror replaced by a vacant stare, Declined dinner but requeste d and
Qas given wine. However, refused to drink it when given to him, The execution of
him and Sam Massey took place in Luke Wilson's pasture, a half a mile east of the
jail, No less than 20,000 people were clustered about scaffold which was built
facing west in the edge of a little thicket, while in front was open glad of 10 acres,
Sheriff Chaney with deputies and prisoners left jail at 2 PM, arriving at scaffold

at 2:25. Burke's knees shook and he was literally lifted upon steps., During
religious services, sat on scaffold, grinning, blinking and smoking cigaretts.
When efforts were made to get him to make statement, he sat with meaningless smile on

18 The

distance the detectives stopped to ask
several small children about some
negroes they had heard were work-
ing on a near-by farm. The chil-
dren pointed out the farm.

But the farmer said that the
negroes had quit work about
noon, and had asked for their
pay. They had told him they
had a job at an oil station in
Dallas, ‘and were going to
town.

HE farmer showed the de-

tectives the shack where
the negroes had lived. They
had been gone only about ten
minutes,

Certain that the two they
were so anxious to find were
almost within their grasp the
detectives questioned the other
negroes in the shack.

They learned that the two who
had just left were brothers, and
that their names were Thurman and
Bluitt Burkley. ‘

The detectives also learned from
other members of the Burkley family
‘that some officers had been there a short,
time before their arrival, and had obtained
a gun from the house, a gun that the two
brothers had been using the night before.:
But the officers had departed without finding
the negroes, .

The detectives then called to Deputy Sheriff Bud’
Walker, passing by the shack, and requested him to.
guard the house while they took one of the Burkley

brothers with them to look for the two negroes they were

trailing.

Before they had driven more than half a mile,;around the
field they met Ted Hinton, Deputy Sheriff, in his roadster.
The negro boy with the detectives threw up his hand sud-
denly. The detectives noticed the movement, and looking
closer saw two negroes seated in the rumble seat of Hin-
ton’s car.

“Those your brothers?” they asked.

The negro boy nodded. Hinton’s two Passengérs were not
handcuffed.

Both cars stopped. “Who are those boys?” Hinton was
asked.

“Two fellows I found down in a cotton. field picking
cotton without any sacks.” Hinton answered,

The detectives had climbed out of their car, and were
looking over the two negroes in the rumble seat. They

Stared back at the white men, nonchalantly, completely
at ease.

Master

(Left) The car in which Abe
‘Schreiber and his sweetheart

Detective

were last ‘seen

anything “exe
on them?P’’ om *
Hinton asked. _
“Will you let us have $ i
those two negroes?” .Lieutenant ie
Fritz inquired, in reply, — Bon neues
“Yes.” Hinton replied, (Above) .
The detectives separated the two negroes and started Luther,
ney . : Detective
questioning them. Complete denial of any knowledge of Where ME
a crime was all they could get at first.
More city detectives joined the first three. Then several
more deputy sheriffs drove up. (Right)?
Question after question was put to the negro brothers. wounded.
At last Lieutenant Fritz took the prisoners back to the woods for
shack, where they were joined by two more of their ° oe

(Left) Abe Schreiber, who was
Pauline Corman’s companion
on the fatal night of June 27th,
1931. Next morning his body
was discovered entangled in a

barbed-wire fence

Weakened from shock, exposure and loss of blood, Carver was unable to
talk at length of the tragedy. He gave a statement in short Sentences, pausing
frequently to rest. When he had finished he was so weak he was unable to sign
his name. A pen was handed him by Dr. J. H. Stephens, Superintendent of
the hospital, and he made an X by his name.

Carver told of going with Miss Prince to see a girl in Oak Cliff. As the
latter was not at home, he and Miss Prince had driven around until time for
prayer-meeting. After the church services they had gone to the Crystal Ice
Company where he was employed.

“When we were on the way home we stopped on Dash Lane,” Carver said,
“and played the radio in the car. Two negroes came up to the automobile.
They didn’t say anything. One of them made me move over, and he got under
the wheel. The other went to the other side of my coupe.

“They made Katheryn sit on my lap.

“The negro at the wheel then started the car and drove around for fifteen

minutes, maybe twenty, and finally stopped the car near Balch Springs, about’

two miles from where they first came up to the car.

“While they were driving around they were arguing about which road to take,
and one of them said, ‘Go on.’

“When they stopped the car they told us to get out and both Miss Prince
and myself did so. The negro on the right had a pistol. The other did not
have one.

“They wanted to know whether | had any money and | told them I had a
watch, which was a 17-jeweled white Elgin. I handed it to the negro and then
they made me go into the woods.

“I walked towards the woods and the other negro kept Miss Prince by the car.

Luther

“The n
turn aro.
I think |}

“The ne
on .coats
pistol w:
than the
car they

Thus
gave the
he was b
revealed
the youn
complete

Trapping the-Twin Killers of the Texan Lovers 19

brothers. Another group of officers came in. These, too, kept questioning the
snegroes. After another forty-five minutes of questioning, Thurman and
Bluitt Burkley broke down. They offered to show the officers the body of
Katheryn Prince.
While some of the officers guarded the negroes, others walked across
a field to the spot where they said the girl’s body would be found.
Katheryn Prince’s mutilated body lay crumpled in a cotton
field, just off a little-traveled road near Balch Springs,
and less than a mile from the home of her parents.
The officers found it at 2 p.m. on Thursday, August
31st.
Mace Carver’s death was expected any moment,
despite an operation which had removed the
bullet, and a blood transfusion. In his con-
scious moments he kept asking if they had
found the girl he loved, never dreaming
that she was dead.
The girt had been shot through, the
heart and her face had been bruised.
’ Dr. George Stephens of Mesquite
examined the body and found evi-
dence that she had also been crim-
inally assaulted, although the ne-
groes continued to deny the
attack, a
“Miss Prince was apparently
holding both hands over her
heart when she was shot,”
Dr. Stephens réported. “The
bullet .penetrated through her
right forefinger, left wrist,
and left breast. Death was
almost instantaneous.
“Judging from the path of
the slug it was fired from~
above the girl,” Dr. Stephens
reported further. “She was
either lying on her back or
kneeling. There were also
marks of severe bruises on her
head and neck.”

"THURMAN BURKLEY, _ eigh-
teen, the younger of the two
negroes, was the first to sign a state-
ais ment. Both previously had admitted
« their participation in murder after a
futile attempt to attack Miss Prince.
Thurman’s confession dated August 31st,
1933, follows:

“My name is Thurman Burkley. My ad-
dress is with my brother, Jarvis Burkley, at a
farm house off the Scyenne Road. | am eighteen
years old. My brother and | left the city market
last night about 9:30 p.m. We were driving my
brother Jarvis’ car, and we
were accompanied by another
brother of mine named Jluitt.
When we got to Jarvis’ house,
Jarvis got out and stayed at
home. Bluitt then drove the
_car and he and I drove down
to a little side road the other
side of where Jarvis lives, and
we saw a Chevrolet car driving

along slowly.
“When we got even with it
we could see a boy and girl
_ in the car, We drove on past
them and we saw. them pull
up pretty close behind where

we were parked.
(Continued on page 59)

(Above) Left to right: Detective
Luther, Detective Hinton and
Detective Daniel seek for clues
where Mace Carver was left todie

‘egroes and started
any knowledge of

three. Then several

(Right) Mace Carver. Critically

wounded he lay concealed in the

woods for seven agonizing hours.

When found, he rallied sufficient -
ly to describe his assailants

the negro brothers.
isoners back to the
wo more of their

PAP Ait

Trapping the Twin Killers of the Texan Lovers 17

Telegrams were broadcast over the State asking officers in other cities to watch for
the killers. Chief Deputy Sheriff Bill Decker Ordered every man brought to the
county jail who could not explain his presence in the locality. Within two hours
more than. fifty prisoners were crowded into the lobby.

Early Thursday morning officers and residents of Mesquite, Pleasant Mound and
Dallas began combing the brush near the Urbandale school and the wooded area
along the Texas and Pacific Railroad right of way for the girl and her abductors.

The tip which led to the arrest of the first real suspects*came from A. McCutcheon,
a farmer living near the scene of the crime. On the night'of August 30th his son,
Shelton, was driving on the road shortly after the shooting ard ran out of gasoline.
Two negroes drove by in an old car and young. McCutcheon stopped the pair
and asked for some gasoline. The negroes seemed nervous, he said, and told
him they had only a quart or so in the tank.

McCutcheon, remembering his son’s story of the negroes, had a hunch
that they might: know something about the crime. He telephoned
deputies. * ~

- City Detectives John F, Daniels and J. T. Luther were
‘joined at Parkland Hospital by Detective Lieutenant
Will Fritz. After talking with Mace Carver the
three went to the scene of the crime, beginning
a feverish search for the girl. T. H.
Prince, armed with a shotgun, joined
- the officers in the search for his

daughter,

They began inquiring in the
neighborhood for negroes who
lived near by. At a store at Zip
City, a woman told them there
were several negroes at a brick-
yard near Mesquite. They drove
to the brickyard.

MAN who drove a_ bread
truck spoke of seeing four
negroes the day before in a cot-
ton field on Dash Lane. :
“Those negroes stopped me and
tried to buy two loaves of bread,”
the man said. “I told them I was
a wholesale man and not allowed
to sell bread retail. Then one of
the negroes spoke up and said
that the other two boys had just
come up from Dallas, and that

he needed the bread mighty bad
for lunch.”

The bread man took the offi-
cers to the spot where he had
seen the negroes. But there was
no sign of them at that time.

Driving up the road a short

er was unable to
sentences, pausing
vas unable to sign
Superintendent of

Jak Cliff. As the (Above)
ind until time for. “Here,” says Deputy
o the Crystal Ice. Sheriff Hinton, point-

ing to where Katheryn’s
- , body was found. Detective
ane,” Carver said, Daniel (left) and Detective
o the automobile. Luther (center) look on

and he got under

“The. negro who was following ‘me told me to

around for fifteen 3 turn around and when | did so he shot me once. Then
ich Springs, about I think he shot me again.
“The negroes were young and slim. They did not have
vhich road to take, = $ M-coats. They were very black. The one that had the
; pistol wore suspenders and had on a hat. He was taller
both Miss Prince than the other, about six feet. When they came up to the
The other did not car they cut off the radio, and took the key.’ :
Thus Mace Carver from his bed in Parkland Hospital
told them I had a gave the officers a description of his attackers, even while
che negro and then 1 he was being revived with oxygen. An X-ray examination |
revealed that the bullet which had penetrated the rear of (Abo . .
‘ , . . ve) The gun used in the slayings
Prince by the car. a the young man’s neck had severed the spinal cord, causing of the Texan lovers. It was found at a

complete paralysis from chest to feet. farm house off the Scyenne Road

ikose painfully, fe his feet for
the fopmal readitig of the indigimeay
by digitict aBornaey:

how do:

Sloe apneic hour’ st Fork.

wea ‘a in some. par

a.
se ae ate
nan Bo sa ail

> . #
Pat sat abet
if tie

Sb
SIAR gts roy
ibs Ret

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¥ naa ht

Sree
pues

BUXTON, Lawrence Lee, black, injection (Harris Co.), February 26, 1991.
“Man executed for 1980 slaying death.

“Convicted killer Lawrence Lee Buxton was puto to death by lethal injection early
Tuesday for the 1980 slaying of a Houston grocery shopper at Huntsville’s Walls Unit. Buxton
was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m. CST. Asked if he wished to make a statement prior to the
execution, Buxton replied: ‘Ready, warden.’

“Just two hours earlier, the U. S. Supreme Court refused to halt Buxton’s execution. The
justices denied two applications for stays and two petitions for certiorari, said court spokeswoman
Kathy Arberg. Justice Thurgood Marshall dissented on all the rulings, while Justices Harry
Blackmun and John Paul Stevens said they would have granted one application for stay, Ms.
Arberg said.

“Buxton 38, faced execution for the 1980 slaying of Joel Slotnik, who was fatally shot
when his terrified 5-Oyear-old son refused to follow the orders of gunmen who were robbing a
suburban Houston supermarket. The 40-year-old Slotnik had stopped by the store following
Yom Kippur services to get some bread and milk.

“The 5th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Monday to halt the execution, sending
the case to the Supreme Court...In their appeals, Buxton’s lawyers argued jurors had not been
given mitigating evidence, specifically of his impoverished youth in the care of a drunken father.
Attorneys said the information could have convinced jurors to impose a life sentence, rather than
the death penalty...

““T’m not going to lose any sleep over it because he deserves it,’ Don Smyth, who
prosecuted the case said, Monday. ‘But you’d rather the whole thing never happened. You’d
rather Mr. Slotnik got to see his kids in college. It’s said.’ The Slotnik family moved to Ohio
shortly after the slaying, Mr. Smyth said.

“Buxton was charged with capital murder while already serving 35 years in prison for six
robberies of savings and loan offices. Investigators for the Harris County district attorney’s office
discovered a similarity between the thrift robberies and the supermarket holdup where Slotnik was
killed. His wife and an older son were waiting outside in their car and later identified Buxton as
the man who fired the shot. Buxton, a former meat cutter and federal meat inspector, had
removed a ski mask as he was leaving the store. Smyth said the family recalled Buxton as a large
man, with a head and upper body out of proportion with his legs and with virtually no neck....
Buxton, a 10th-grade dropout, was described by Smyth as a ringleader of a gang.”-/tem,
Huntsville, TX, 2/27/1991 (7A).

Oma

Inmate executed

for 1986 slaying

HUNTSVILLE (AP) — A con-
victed killer who demanded that
his lawyers halt their efforts to stop
his execution was put to death ear-
ly Saturday for the slaying of a
Houston taxi driver.

Jerome Butler, who had spent
about half of his life behind bars,
was given a lethal injection at 12:15
a.m. and pronounced dead at 12:26
a.m.

“T just want to say I*wish every-
body a good life and things like
that. Everything is OK,” he said.

-He nodded to the prison warden
and to a chaplain, coughed several
times and stopped breathing.

Butler, 54, insisted earlier he
wanted “to get it over with” and be
put to death for shooting and rob-
bing 67-year-old Nathan Oakley in
1986.

“This is what I’ve been waiting
for — for this moment — to know
this man can not take away an-
other wife’s husband and children’s
father,” Oakley’s widow, Robbie,
said Friday. “It’s been a difficult
3% years. I wish I could be there to
see it.”

Butler, who passed competency
tests, was the first execution volun-
teer in Texas since Robert Street-
man ordered his attorneys to make
no further efforts on his behalf.
Streetman was put to death Jan. 7,

1988.

Butler was the 34th inmate, and
the oldest, to be executed since
Texas resumed carrying out the
death penalty in 1982. The total is
the highest of any state. National-

Jerome Butler had said he wanted
‘to get it over with’ and be put to
death for a 1986 shooting.

ly, he was the 122nd person execut-
ed since a 1976 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling allowed states to re-
sume use of the death penalty.

Prosecutors said Butler may
have killed Oakley because the cab
driver recognized Butler as the
man who killed his friend, A.C.
Johnson, in 1973. Butler served 10
years of a 30-year prison term for
that slaying.

Altogether, he spent 27 years be-
hind bars, beginning with a 23-to-
47-year term at Sing Sing Prison in
New York in 1959 for robbery, at-
tempted sexual assault and acces-
sory to rape. He was paroled in
1972.

He was on death row since No-
vember 1986.

Austin CrExas)
AMER ICAN- STATESNAN

SAT. 4Y-2I-Fo

Off icial: s‘prepared®

he was older. %.:

How stom Chronicle. , Ape! = 1190

By KATHY FAIR. eae An”
Houston Chronicle

HUNTSVILLE — Harris County.

prosecutors have taken precautions
to ensure that the scheduled execu-

4 ayes

to's stop execution! :

1 IONE RN THES Bar

ifs
cae:

writiss GS id dom
Day,’ Cosper’ said,’ but the’ Texas

Court of Criminal Appeals will be
available should Butler’ decide he

: wants to appeal his death sentence.

tion of a Houston man can be wdeette q

if he has a last-
minute change
of heart about
wanting to die.
Jerome But-
ler, .av former
cook and truck
driver whose
life of crime be-
gan at age 14, is
scheduled to die
after midnight
tonight for the

bery-slaying of Skyjack cab driver: |

Nathan Oakley, 67.

Butler has vowed to sabotage any.

efforts by third parties to interfere.
“I just want to get it over with,” he. ,

told state District Judge Ted Poe

last month during a sentencing hear-

ing.

Prison records list his age at 54,.

but Butler, explaining to Poe why he

did not want to seek a new trial, said: ;

“I'm 57 now and I'd be in my 70s
when I got out,” he said. “What am I
supposed to do then? Go live under a
bridge?”.

Should Butler change _ his mind

about wanting to die on schedule,
both the state attorney. general’s
office and the Harris County district

#4,

attorney's office have cerned to aie

pone the execution... x it:

“The only qualms we have is if
(Butler) decides he wishes to attack
his conviction,” said Caprice Cosper,
an assistant district attorney. If that
happens, “we'll make sure it gets
stopped. We're setting up a mecha-
nism so that two judges would be

available in case he changes his .

mind.”
State district courts will be closed
today in observance of San Jacinto

Attorneys with the Texas. Re-
source Center, which traditionally
has championed the cause of death
row -inmates, have said they. would
not attempt to stop Butler's peat
Cosper added.

The Texas Resource Center has

halted the death of another convict
who waived his appeals.) in-air,

The last inmate to ‘ “volunteer, to
die was another Harris County killer,
James Edward Smith, who had been
scheduled to die in May 1988 for the

: 1983 robbery and shooting death of

insurance agent Larry I D. Robes of,

ai . - Missouri City. badge
1984 vob oe Butler © os,

eet “i -
Despite Smith’s' dema ae gis he:
be executed, his mother succeeded in’
halting her 37-year-old son’s death”
just six hours before: he, was, to
receive his lethal injection, | a? oa
Cosper said there are several’ dif-
ferences between Smith’s and But-
ler’s cases, including the fact that’
psychological evaluations have been’,
made of Butler to ensure that he.
knows what he is doing, In Smith's
case, those evaluations had nat been
conducted. . als icy ‘then,

“He’s competed sf ‘Colphe said of
Butler. “He’s aware of what he's
doing.” ab

Robert Streetman,. whine death
sentence was carried out in January
1988, was the last beeen ect va
executed. ee ee

If Butler receives his lethal sabes
tion as scheduled, he will be the first
Texas inmate executed this year and
the 34th inmate put to death in the
state since capital punishment was
resumed in 1982, .2: di reel tt

He has spent 27 years behind bein
including serving time for arobbery-
assault in New York and 10 years of
a 30-year sentence for the strangula-
tion in 1973 of A.C. Johnson, 69, an
employment een operator in
Houston.

atetieianiameaneantll

’ minute change of heart, he would

_ to accept their death sentences with=;* '
* out a lengthy appeal. : ell ih

. tion-style slaying of Houston cab- his mind about appealing for relief in

my
"would be the first Texas, prisoner’ ~z: Butler, a former: cook and truck.

‘Pork: Chop” ‘awaits fate; tells...

Hoste

SS DAH; res fs he was slats to ‘life; by the

eigen man wa ti i ste ‘time he was eligible for, releaee he *

ws ; «:t would be too old to leaye prison. °

“I’m 57 now and I'd be in my 70s ;
HUNTSVILLE "A’ condemned .. when I got out,” Butler said. “What.
man who told fellow prisoners he’ ‘d am I vipieeel | to do? Go live under a

‘ ywait for them in hell was calmly | pridge?”

awaiting his fate Friday.

Y Jeromeé utle was. scheduled to”
treceive:#a® le al “injection ‘shortly
after raldniight? Barring any’ last- *

& | “He said he'd wait for (the others). .
gin hell,” Kinnamon gaid. Kinnamon, -
48, is under a death sentence for the
"1984 slaying of Ronald — ina ©
‘Houston bar. as

3 . Harris County prosecutors and the

“igptate attorney. general's Office were’
Butler hag: never denied responsi-*? ‘prepared: ‘to halt the lethal injection :

bility for the 1986 robbery andexecu- Should the career criminal change

‘join a handful of killers who elected .

driver Nathan Oakley, 67, Butler.~the federal courts. | =). ;

executed this year and'the 34th since .g driver who is ‘nicknamed “Pork

the state resumed capital punish-. Chop” for one of his favorite foods, .

ment, in ;1982,.The last prisoner, to : began his criminal career at age 14.
volunteer to be executed was Robert, a8 a gang leader. He has spent 27°
Streetman,; who died in 1988. foil years behind bars over the past four’ «.
ane ante, in: my, life. seen {: decades, and once said the time he
umore peady;.ta die,” said, served, in, New. York’s Sing Sing .
i eer ‘another Harris‘ penitentiary for robbery :and at-: ‘

Carl.

‘County:jcondemned) .killer.;who isi; tempted sexual assault convictions»

hooded inthe cell next tq Butler. “It’a,,;; made ‘ake prisons “look - ay

on. account 9 his age he don’t want to” cakewalk.” aaa

continue’ his: appeals. Hes doesn’t’ ‘After his ‘felease iene Sing Sing in

want to.be among the walking dead. a 1972, Butler headed for Houston and; __
At, -ay sentencing hearing last, within five months had been charged *

month, ‘Butlers, told: state District ..° with the murder of another Houston *

Judge Ted Poe; that if. his death | man,),A.C.. Johnson, who had been
' chicken, fried corn and iced tea.

sentence were, overturned on appeal « shot, and stuffed in the trunk of his

| to court records.

a0 The ‘witness folincka Butler after
“he reached over the front seat of the

death:row pals: See you in| hell. :

alChronicle:, Apri “Dl [qo ms eee ee

ne ‘ be ee :
car, } Bi icing Me: “4

‘He ‘served 10 years of a 30-year

» sentence for that offense, and when

released in 1984 Butler was returned
to New York to serve another year
behind bars for violating terms of his
parole there.

By February: 1985, he was back in
Houston and in July 1986 was,
charged in Oakley’s death, after a

- witness: watched him pump three
~ shots. into the back of the victim's’
. head after Oakley picked him up at a

convenience store. Butler was only
two blocks from his — according

nah as mi

‘cab, robbed Oakley of an estimated
= and then ran toward his house.

About 3:45 p.m. Friday, Butler left
“death row.at the Ellis I Unit in
..Walker County for the 30-minute
“ride to the death chamber..at the

, Huntsville “Walls” Unit.

«Prison spokesman Charles Brown
said: the convict spent most of his
final*day sleeping, smoking ciga-

‘ca ‘-petteg.and watching television. He

had.no visitors but talked briefly
with (@' guard, a prison mailroom
employee and fellow convict Clifton
Russell. He ordered a final meal of a
T-bone steak, four pieces of fried

majority,

Il. Thes
alia, that

uy;
Preme Court held in McClesk
os Y,

Statistica]

evidence alone—ie

eld : that the J

> inter
? Without

cheme of capital

currently

Ed.2d 347 of habe

raisin

2d 518, 523 (si cx

8, 107 § :
the S.Ct. 323

a IV.
vhs a ths tae
er denying the Petition fo
r

ALVIN B
dissenting. . RUBIN, Circuit Judge

nd—of racial}
Suffice to a

evidence specif
discriminato

12, The district court Testated Buxton’s
. I I ll F T, .
»

Constitu-
ing Scheme
Scheme js

7, 97 L.Ed. 2d

s citation of °
er Support. of his
& a claim

ied,

? the district

BUXTON v. LYNAUGH

149

Cite as 879 F.2d 140 (5th Cir. 1989)

jority concludes that this decision, on the
basis of which the state judge denied the
petitioner relief froma death sentence, was
made after a “full and fair hearing.”’ Ina
simple tort case involving only damages,
let alone a case in which a man’s life is at
stake, controverted material facts would
not be decided in such a truncated fashion.
Because the judge’s reading of the affida-
vits, without appearance by the witnesses
or examination by counsel, does not provide
the full and fair hearing that the habeas
corpus statute commands as a prerequisite
to crediting the state court’s judgment, I
respectfully dissent from Part II of the
opinion and from the judgment.

It is undisputed that Carr-Fitzgerald and
Crow, Buxton’s trial co-counsel, submitted
affidavits to the state court containing con-
tradictory factual accounts. Carr-Fitzger-
ald swore in her affidavit that a juror had
“conceded (paraphrase) his vote during the
guilt phase of the trial when he did not feel
the defendant was guilty contingent on the
agreement by the other jurors that the
death penalty would not be imposed by
their vote.” Crow swore that Carr-Fitz-
gerald later told him that she had over-
heard one juror tell another: “ ‘Hell, I
didn’t even believe he was guilty and now
you want me to kill him?’”

Without hearing the testimony of either
witness, the state court credited Crow’s
affidavit, and found that no juror miscon-
duct had occurred under the facts Crow
asserted. The federal district court pre-
sumed that the state court’s accreditation
of Crow’s affidavit was correct, pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), and affirmed the
state court’s denial of Buxton’s claim for
ineffective assistance of counsel for failure
to challenge the juror misconduct. Were

1. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) (1977).

2. Vorwerk v. State, 735 S.W.2d 672, 674 (Tex.
App.—Austin 1987) (emphasis in original); see
Daniels v. State, 600 S.W.2d 813, 816 (Tex.Cr.
App.1980).

3. 28 USC. § 2254(d)(2) (1977).

4. See Advisory Committee Note to Rules Gov-
erning 28 U.S.C. § 2254 cases, Rule 8, 28 foll.
§ 2254 (1977).

5. See Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 101 S.Ct.
764, 66 L.-Ed.2d 722 (1981); cf. Cabana v. Bull-

the state court to have credited Carr-Fitz-
gerald’s affidavit, the majority acknowl-
edges, “there is a strong possibility that a
Texas court would have granted an eviden-
tiary hearing on the question of juror mis-
conduct,” since members of the jury would
have violated Texas law by “makfing] an
agreement to render a guilty verdict in
exchange for a lighter punishment.” ?

When reviewing the application of a ha-
beas petitioner convicted in state court, a
federal court presumes that the state
court’s determination of a factual issue af-
ter a hearing on its merits is correct “un-
less the applicant shall establish ... that
the factfinding procedure employed by the
State court was not adequate to afford a
full and fair hearing.”* If the district
court determines that the state court’s pro-
cedure did not provide for a full and fair
hearing, the district court holds its own
evidentiary hearing.‘

The majority correctly holds that “fact-
finding based [solely] on a record can in
some circumstances be adequate” (empha-
sis supplied). In cases in which the histori-
cal facts are not in dispute and there are no
conflicting affidavits, both the Supreme
Court® and this court® have held that a
state court’s fact-finding procedures may
afford a full and fair hearing without per-
sonal testimony and examination of wit-
nesses.

When affiants have sworn to conflicting
affidavits placing historical facts in dis-
pute, however, a trial judge is unable to
make an informed judgment that one affi-
ant is more credible than the other solely
on the basis of the contradictory affidavits.
Every practitioner knows that it is easy to

ock, 474 U.S. 376, 388 n. 5, 106 S.Ct. 689, 698 n.
5, 88 L.Ed.2d 704 (1986), overruled in part on
other grounds, Pope v. Illinois, 481 U.S. 497, 503
n. 7, 107 S.Ct. 1918, 1922 n. 7, 95 L.Ed.2d 439

(1987).

6. See Uresti v. Lynaugh, 821 F.2d 1099 (5th Cir.
1987); Smith v. Estelle, 711 F.2d 677 (5th Cir.
1983), cert. denied, 466 US. 906, 104 S.Ct. 1685,
80 L.Ed.2d 159 (1984); ef. Camarillo v. Estelle,
670 F.2d 473 (Sth Cir.1981).

150 879 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

obtain a witness’ signature on an affidavit
prepared by a lawyer: how facilely the
lawyer's narrative spills from the word pro-
~ cessor; how readily the affiant puts pen to
paper. Every practitioner also knows how
often the lawyer’s version of events crum-
bles when the witness is called to testify
and is cross-examined on his personal
knowledge of events.

A judge, like a juror, determines facts
from contradictory witnesses by assessing
each witness’ credibility. This determina-
tion is based not only on each witness’
testimony in court before the judge, which
may differ substantially from the affiant’s
statement on a piece of paper, but is in-
formed by the judge’s observation of the
witness’ demeanor on direct and cross-ex-
amination. The rigors of a “live” eviden-
tiary hearing thus not only enhance the
likelihood that a witness testifies truthful-
ly, but enable a fact-finder to conclude
from personal observation of each witness’
behavior that one witness is truthful and

the other mendacious. Because Buxton~

was not afforded the opportunity to
“present relevant evidence and rebut the
evidence of the opposition,” 7 and the judge
did not have a chance to assess either wit-
ness’ credibility during direct and cross-ex-
amination, the state court’s fact-finding
procedures were inadequate and failed to
provide Buxton with a “full and fair” hear-
ing under § 2254(d)(2).8 It is, indeed, ironic
that the state court credited Crow’s affida-
vit which contained only second-hand hear-
say—what Carr-Fitzgerald allegedly told
him—over Carr-Fitzgerald’s first-hand ac-
count.

To support its conclusion that the state
court’s fact-finding procedure was ade-
quate, the majority relies on our decision in
Evans v. McCotter.® In Evans, we “as-
sum[ed] arguendo” that a state trial

7. Campbell v. Minnesota, 487 F.2d 1, 4 (8th
Cir.1973) (footnote omitted).

8. Ibid.
9. 805 F.2d 1210 (Sth Cir.1986).

10. Jd. at 1214.

court’s determination of fact from conflict-
ing affidavits was

sufficient under [§ 2254(d)(2)]. See, C95
Sumner v. Mata, ... Smith v. Estelle;
... Camarillo v. Estelle.’

In addition to the obvious fact that this
portion of Evans is obiter dicta, not prece-
dent, the three cases Evans cites do not
support the conclusion reached by the Ev-
ans court and the majority in this case. In
Mata and Smith, no historical facts were
in dispute; neither case, therefore, ad-
dresses whether a hearing may be con-

sidered full and fair when a court deter- ©

mines controverted facts on the basis of
conflicting affidavits. In Camarillo, we
actually “remanded for an evidentiary
hearing” because the “prisoner’s right to
relief turn[ed] on facts which [wel]re in
dispute.” 12

Having no precedential support, the ma-
jority ultimately roots its opinion on the

~ ground that the state trial judge who cred-

ited Crow’s affidavit was the judge who
had tried Buxton and, therefore, “saw both
Crow and Carr-Fitzgerald in action” and
“may have developed” more “respect” for
one attorney than the other. A judge’s
familiarity with attorneys practicing before
him does not, however, establish his ability
to ascertain their credibility as affiants,
and takes no account of the effect of direct
and cross-examination on testimony. The
credibility of a lawyer retained to represent
an individual in court, gua counsel, is vast-
ly different from the trustworthiness of an
individual testifying about historical facts.
The lawyer is an agent, an adversary, an
attorney at law, and, except for unusual
circumstances, may not be a witness in a
cause in which he is counsel.!* A witness,
in contrast, speaks on his own behalf,
swears that his testimony is true, and his
factual averments are subject to the scruti-
11. See Mata, 449 U.S. at 543, 101 S.Ct. at 767;

Smith, 711 F.2d at 682; see also Uresti, 821 F.2d
at 1101.

12. Camarillo, 670 F.2d at 474.

13. See e.g. ABA Model Rules of Professional
Responsibility 3.7.

MATTER OF BRISTOW 151
Cite as 879 F.2d 151 (Sth Cir. 1989)

ny of a presiding judge, counsel, and other
witnesses.

Rather than presuming that the state
court’s finding of fact was correct, the
district court should have held its own evi-
dentiary hearing to determine which affi-
ant’s account of events was more accu-
rate.4 Because the fact-finding procedure
employed by the state court was not ade-
quate to afford Buxton a full and fair
hearing, I would remand the case to the
district court so that it may conduct a real
evidentiary hearing to determine whether
the facts recited in Carr—Fitzgerald’s or in
Crow’s affidavit are true.

Jimmy REED and Cindy Reed,
Plaintiffs—Appellees,

SHELL OFFSHORE INC.,
Defendant-Appellant.

No. 88-3144.

United States Court of Appeals,
. Fifth Circuit.

July 25, 1989.

J. Daniel Picou, Bailey & Leininger, Me-
tairie, La., for defendant-appellant.

Craig J. Robichaux, John W. Anthony,
Talley, Anthony, Hughes & Knight, Boga-
lusa, La., for plaintiffs-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana,
Robert F. Collins, Judge.

(Opinion May 15, 1989, 5th Cir.1989,
872 F.2d 680)

ON PETITIONS FOR REHEARING ©

Before REAVLEY, WILLIAMS, and
JONES, Circuit Judges.

14. See Campbell, 487 F.2d at 4 & n. 3.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

The Court has considered the motions for
rehearing filed by both parties. We deny
the relief requested in those motions but
correct our prior opinion in two particulars.

First, our jurisdiction is founded in this
offshore platform case not upon diversity
but.upon the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act (“OCSLA”), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1331,
et seg. Thus, we rely on Louisiana law
because of its incorporation by OCSLA as
surrogate federal law. We erroneously
stated in the original opinion that we are
“Erie-bound.” In this case, the technical
basis for jurisdiction has no effect on our
dependence upon Louisiana law. See
Knapp v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 781 F.2d
11238, 1129 (5th Cir.1986).

Second, the concluding sentence in the
panel opinion is revised to reverse and re-
mand for a new trial limited to the issue of
the extent of liability pursuant to the cause
of action stated in Louisiana Civil Code
Article 2317, ie. submission to the jury of
an issue on the degrees of causation or
fault of Reed, Shell and B & D.

° E Key NUMBER SYSTEM

In the Matter of John W.
BRISTOW, Debtor.

Johnnie Wayne BRISTOW, Administra-
tor of the Estate of John William
Bristow, Appellant,

v.
CONAGRA, INC., Appellee.
No. 88-4669.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

August 7, 1989.

Appeal was taken from order of the
United States District Court for the North- °

BYRNES, Floy

d Newton, white, elec. TXSP (Tom

Green) Januar 11, 1929

STALKING THE HATCHET

seasonably warm days that occur sometimes in early

spring. In Angelo Heights, a fine residential district

of the City of San Angelo, Texas, householders had

their windows open to catch whatever breeze might
be stirring. Drue W. Christner, an oil company geologist,
happened to glance out of his window early in the after-
noon and noticed that a horde of flies was buzzing about
the tightly closed windows of the house next door.

He investigated and found all windows and doors of the
residence tightly locked, the shades drawn and flies swarm~ -
ing about the place buzzing angrily. He had a hunch that
something was wrong and, stepping to his telephone, Christ-
ner called the police station. He requested that officers be
sent out immediately to make a thorough investigation
at the house of his next-door neighbor. Police responded

. UNDAY, March Ith, 1928, was one of those un-

Pretty Myrna Juergens, one of the three victims of San
Angelo’s phantom hatchet killer

and opened the door of the residence with a pass key.

As the door swung open the officers immediately were
aware that something was wrong. Policeman Tom Read, a
veteran West Texas peace officer, walked inside and there
discovered a crime, of rather three crimes, the like of which
had never been heard of in the history of the section.

In that vast expanse known vaguely as West Texas, dur-
ing the boom years of spectacular oil development, many
and weird were the crimes that confronted the officers of
new communities. But no mystery in any of the phantom
towns of the great Trans-Pecos oil area ever bewildered
officials as did the crime discovered on that Sunday in the
bustling, but law-abiding City of San Angelo.

Policeman Read and his companions found the bodies of
three murdered women. Accustomed as they were to scenes
of violence they could not repress a shudder at this wholesale
slaying. Mr. Christner and the other neighbors who had
gathered, quickly identified them as Mrs. J. W. Juergens,
thirty-seven; her daughter, Myrna, fourteen; and her
mother, Mrs. Rosa Schirra, sixty.

Who was this murdering monster
in human guise, who wiped out
three generations of a family—
and then vanished into the black
shadows whence he came?
Here’s how the Texas sleuths

found out!

Neighbors told the police about the Juergens family and
the more officers learned, the more puzzling the case became.
During the rapid growth of San Angelo in that period,
hundreds of families from the North and East had
migrated to the City, following the beckoning finger

of the possibility of oil. The Juergens had orig-

inally come from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
had moved to San Angelo several years before,
after having lived elsewhere in Texas. They

were a highly respected family, although they
had little social contact with their neighbors.
They were decent, well behaved, quite prosper-

ous people, who made good citizens and good
neighbors.. Mr. Juergens, the neighbors said, was
employed by an oil company at Texon, a town
about ninety miles west of San Angelo, in the oil

nti M)-
ee

193 ]

fields
The fa:
remaine
The
had ga’
was dis
“How
premise
Repli
had see
Others
since th
in the h
“Was
“No
ing croy
front la
were th
Mrs. Sc
daughte
“Wha
heres
“Oh
Office
It deve
from hi
man to
had tak
her; dr

[ET

nonster
ed out
mily—
2 black
ne?
leuths

is family and
case became.
that period,
nd East had
‘koning finger
‘ns had orig-
sylvania, and
years before,
Texas. They
though they
sir neighbors.
juite prosper-
‘ns and good
yors said, was
exon, a town
‘elo, in the oil

here sometimes?” one of the crowd asked.

KILLER OF SAN ANGELO

Dy! i
GEORGE R. KUNKEL

fields. He came in to visit his family once a week or. so.
The family often took trips—during which time the house
remained closed.

The family had no enemies known to the group that
had gathered around the peace officers when the disaster
was discovered. '

“How long since anyone has been seen around the
premises?” officers asked.

Replies were vague. Some of the neighbors thought they
had seen someone in the house “several days” before.
Others said it must have been a week, maybe two weeks
since they had seen anyone. Still others had seen no one
in the house for nearly a month.

“Was there anyone else in the family?” officers asked.

“No, that’s all,” replied someone in the rapidly increas-
ing crowd of curious onlookers that was gathering on the
front lawn. “Mr. and Mrs. Juergens and their daughter
were the only ones here until a few weeks ago when
Mrs. Schirra came out from Pittsburgh to visit her
daughter.”

“What about that young fellow I’ve seen around

“Oh, he’s only the chauffeur,’ a*reply came.

Officers quickly seized on this ‘irigle of the case.
It developed that since Mr. Juetgens was away
from home jso much, he had employed a young
man to act/as chauffeur for his wife. The youth
had taken the child to school daily and called for
her; driven Mrs. Juergens about the city; done

odd jobs around the house; and occasionally had driven the
entire family on long trips. No one seemed to know his
name, where he came from or how long it had been since
he had been around the place. One of the spectators
volunteered the information that he believed the youth
was no longer employed by the Juergens, but was working
at a local filling station. He did not know which one.

Patrolmen quickly summoned Sam Haynes, Chief of
Police, and Bob Hewitt, Sheriff. Together they assumed
charge of the case. Both Haynes and Hewitt are “typical
West Téxas officers”—if any officers in a given locality
may be said to be “typical.” Of long experience, they
know the entire country like a book. They look more
like prosperous ranchmen than officers, and indeed, both
have been engaged in the ranching business. There is
none of that braggadocio about them that is supposed to

Mrs. J. W. Juergens, as she appeared not long before she
met a revolting doom at the hands of the killer

be a part of the characteristics of a “Western” sheriff.
Fortunately, such traits are usually found only in fiction.

Silently, they viewed the shambles of what had once
been a comfortably arranged little home. Every bit of
the house was in the utmost disorder. Drawers were pulled
from bureaus, clothing was piled high on the floors, furni-
ture was overturned and the walls contained dark, ugly
splotches. The three women were dressed in night clothing
and all of the evidence
indicated almost be-
yond the shadow of a

A ital ah cks ris hod _ doubt that two wea-

n ac photo o edroom in ae :

which Myrna Juergens and her mother 7 ep ts ae and, an

—Mrs. J. W. Juergens—were wan- @X%¢—ha been used.

tonly slaughtered at midnight, March Mrs. Schirra’s body

adh pe The master of wholesale Jay face down in the

murder next stalked into another

room and killed Mrs. Juergens’ mother a room, on a pal-

—Mrs. Rosa Schirra—and then stole Jet of quilts. About r
silently into the night twenty-five feet away

EXECUTION ROOM!

Ss
»

rents

WHARTON’S =

HISTORY Ur
FURT BEND GULINT

199) ,
By Clarence K. Wharton

The inscription on this monu-
ment was copied from that which
the Grecian historian Herodotus
relates was written on the monu-

~ ment of the Spartan heroes at
Thermopylae.

THE NAYLOR COMPANY

San Antonio, lexas .:. . 1039

(12 TEXAS CRIMINAL APPEALS 302, ) - see
CALDWELL, Shack, black, hanged at McKinney, Texas, on August 18, 1882,

"McKinney, Auge 18, 1882-A vast mltitutie from this and surrounding counties came to wit-
ness the execution of Shack Caldwell, colored, Caldwell is about 20-years-old, and was
raised in Collin County, On Oct. 16, 1881, he went to the houseof William Norvell and
demanded $3,00 which he said Norvell owed him, Norvell refused to pay, when Caldwell

shot him through the bowels, from which he died in about a week. Caldwell escaped, and

was followed by Sheriff Warden and finally captured in Henry County, Missouri, He was

tried last winter, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged which sentence was affirmed

on appeal, He admits his guilt but says by way of mitigation that Norvell attempted to

cut him with a knife, He is a member of the Missionary Baprtist Church, and was on his

way from divine services when the murder took place.

"Today, about 1 o'clock, theprocession moved to the place of execution, one mile north of
town, The prisoner sang a sad religious hymn all the way to the gallows, ascerdded with
nerve, and delivered the following address without faltering:

"'My Fellow Citizens: I stand before you today, as you are well aware, convicted of the
marder of W. Re Norvell; and, as I look over this vast assemblage, I am to pay the last
tribute known to the law of the land, I do not complain, for I have received nothing but

justice, He that spilleth the blood of his fellow man, so shall his be required of him,

Here today I atone for the same and fulfill the requirement of the law. The divine lay

is plain to all, and is what is required of meg I feel that I am fully prepared to meet
my Saviour, It is hard, indeed, to leave relatives and friends, yet the quiet calm that
fills my soul enables me and strengthens me as I look across the yawning abyss of darkness
and despaire Far over the dark and cold river of death, the waters chilly and bitter to
behold, yet through them my God shall be my support, Life's boat I behold, anchored over
by the farther shore, bright lights burning along the strand, Ere the splash of the
boatsman's oar shall have passed this mortal strand, I shall behold bright winged angels
gathering on the golden sand, and with this angel convoy, I hope to cross the now bright
and shining river, up through the pearly portals to that better land, where I h ope to meet
friends, long gone before, I hope my case will be a warning to all, And just stop and
think onemoment before committing any unlawful act. This world is filled with troubles
and woe, I feel at peace with my God and all theearth, I have freely and fully forgiven

‘all and hope that I have the forgiveness and kind wishes of all, In conclusion, I would

say the officers, one and all, have contributed much to make the monotony of prison life
more tolerable. To Sheriff Warden I give the highest praise for strict official duty, and
he was ever ready to ameliorate my wants as far as was in his power, I cannot refrain from
speaking in the highest praises of my jailer, Dee Hoskins, and lady, their kindness extend-
ing far beyond my @xpectations, bringing brightness to my lonely cell, impartial to all
alike, and sympathyzing with the sufferings of the unfortunate. I bid this world and all
adieu forever, Meet me in heaven is the last prayer of your humble servant, Shack Caldwell,
"Parson Gregg, colored, conducted the devotional exercies in an able and impressive manner.
The prisoner then sang and prayed, arose, bade all farewell and asked them to meet him in a
better world, was blindfolded, and pinioned, and at 2:17PM, was dropped into eternity.

His pulse was full five minutes, perceptible in tens it ceased in eleven and he was pronoun-
wed dead in fifteen.minutes, H is neck was not broken , Between 5,000 and 10,000 people
were present, but all could not see as the gallows was surrounded by a thick grove of

bois d'arc trees." NEWS, Galveston , Texas, August 19, 1882 (1/7).

Gh ws

CALDWELL, Shack, black, hanged McKinney, Collin Co., August 18, 1882.

Shack Caldwell, black, was hanged at McKinney, Texas, on August 18, 1882. He died for
having murdered William Norvall over a $3.00 debt on October 16, 1881.

He KK HG oe ee AG oe ae fe ae oe eA A 2 2 AE 2 2 ER 2 2 a RR 2 ee A 2 2 ee eo ge Ee RK 2 OO OO OK OK OK OK HK

12 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 302.

(Cas A well |

(12 TEXAS CRIMINAL APPEALS 302.) - see
CALDWELL, Shack, black, hanged at McKinney, Texas, on August 18, 1882,

"McKinney, Auge 18, 1882-4 vast miltitutie from this and surrounding counties came to wit-
ness the execution of Shack Caldwell, colored, Caldwell is about 20-years=old, and was
raised in Collin County, On Oct. 16, 1881, he went to the houseof William Norvell and
demanded $3,00 which he said Norvell owed him, Norvell refused to pay, when Caldwell

shot him through the bowels, from which he died in about a week. Caldwell escaped, and

was followed by Sheriff Warden and finally captured in Henry County, Missouri, H e was
tried last winter, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged which sentence was affirmed

on appeal, He admits his guilt but says by way of mitigation that Norvell attempted to

cut him with a knife, He is a member of the Missionary Baprtist Church, and was on his

way from divine services when the murder took place.

"Today, about 1 o'clock, theprocession moved to the place of execution, one mile north of
town, The prisoner sang a sad religious hymn all the way to the gallows, ascended with
nerve, and delivered the following address; without faltering:

"tMy Fellow Citizens: I stand before you today, as you are well aware, convicted of the
murder of W. R. Norvells and, as I look over this vast assemblage, I am to nay the last
tribute known to the law of the land, I do not complain, for I have received nothing but
justice, He that spilleth the blood of his fellow man, so shall his be required of him,
Here today I atone for the same and fulfill the requirement of the lawe The divine law

is plain to all, and is what is required of me, I feel that I am fully prepared to meet

my Saviour, It is hard, indeed, to leave relatives and friends, yet the quiet calm that
fills my soul enables me and strengthens me as I look across the yawning abyss of darkness
and despair. Far over the dark and cold river of death, the waters chilly and bitter to
behold, yet through them my God shall be my support, Life's boat I behold, anchored over
by the farther shore, bright lights burning along the strand, Ere the splash of the
boatsman's oar shall have passed this mortal strand, I shall behold bright winged angels
gathering on the golden sand, and with this angel convoy, I hope to cross the now bright
and shining river, up through the pearly portals to that better land, where I h ope to meet
friends, long gone before, TI hope my case will be a warning to all, And just stop and
think onemoment before commitiing any unlawful act. This world is filled with troubles

and woe. I feel at peace with my God and all theearth, I have freely and fully forgiven
all and hope that I have the forgiveness and kind wishes of all, In conclusion, I would
say the officers, one and all, have contributed much to make the monotony of prison life
more tolerable, To Sheriff Warden I give the highest praise for strict official duty, and
he was ever ready to ameliorate my wants as far as was in his power, I cannot refrain from
speaking in the highest praises of my gailer, Dee Hoskins, and lady, their kindness extend-
ing far beyond my @xpectations, bringing brightness to my lonely cell, impartial to all
alike, and sympathyzing with the sufferings of the unfortunate. I bid this world and all
adieu forever. Meet me in heaven is the last prayer of your humble servant, Shack Caldwell,
"Parson Gregg, colored, conducted the devotional exercies in an able and impressive mannere
The prisoner then sang and prayed, arose, bade all farewell and asked them to mest him in a
better world, was blindfolded, and pinioned, and at 2:17PM, was dropped into eternity.

His pulse was full five minutes, perceptible in tens it ceased in eleven and he was pronoun=
ved dead in fifteen.minutes, H is neck was not brokm ,. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people
were present, but all could not see as the gallows was surrounded by a thick grove of

bois d'arc trees." NEWS, Galveston , Texas, August 19, 1882 (1/7).

BUENROSTRO, Jose & CHAPA, Melquiades, hanged Brownsville, Cameron Co., TX,
May 19, 1916.

Small card:

“Buenrostro, 25, and Chapa, 23, Mexicans, were hanged at Brownsville, Cameron Co.,
Texas on May 19, 1916, for the murder of A. L. Austin and his son, Charles, in a bandit
raid on Sebastian on August 6, 1915. See worksheet, TX-NWU-Bound for an account
from The News, Galveston, Texas, May 20, 1916 (3/5)

ithe Stri e

1 WRONG

en idea
Fuel

Benetot Jahn
whe + ert.
eroewed Yeu.
* and on the
Spcmking of
a bring.
‘he #eneter

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bees formed
Ditcaa sites
~wneiderahir

“infort and,

ple are com
tertalo eny
Yao lage treet
rei welfare
‘on has oly
me You witli
empted legte-
pl apelaveree
which meet
Lhe status of
Lion of tap-
Se .
A
rk Bes taken
Timg the fwei
erciee of the
ht ie 6 me-
—n ot s
errs. & tare-
Attorney-
fhe right idee

+ tefime the
be statete to
ODOR Mw
the State or
culations for
renience ar
bundreds of
letmor rece
eptrotl ag

we as | ye hi

perads of this
\e (legs

ACE

curee*
Perec.
wemt of whas

*
ills
eh ae pet»

eonwted »
wf tke

irk States.

Dut are readily cured
by Dr. Schifimana's Actham Cure. He
ways: “Anthea kept me in terrible mis-
ery for ten years until | used your
Ashes Cure. After the first trial I was
* man. | went to sleep that
wight and awoke next day much relieved
and I have gotten entirely over the Asth-

| tt i now Rine years since | was
* at goo and 81.00

| cured
Sobel oat
i) S R. Schtfimana, Box
Mino. for a free trial

i by all 4
ze sta
ay Paui,

a clog to ieacietatien. vei (hat freeult
would naturally follow With the two
‘branches of Congrese of opposite po
Titiea) faith the government would be
sertouely embarrassed. There ta noth.
ing to gate by a condition of thie kind
tt would not be any advantage to any
hone
H TAX BiG mi iy dle te
We shonid (ax dig corportiogs by
nations! law Pring the interested
pat them on oath. in-
about thelr concerns

parties forward
tetrogate them

aad have the lew ec drawn that where
certain anheafthy combinations are
found to exist. lay on the tax Make ft
fnprofitable for such to do
and i thigk vou bave the remedy. But
while this may be agitated during the

ext Congress, the remedy may
jpmore a Httle tao atrong
‘| have always felt confident that

when the whole matier bas bers gone
over, the Nicaraguan route will be ax
opted as the only practical location
Mr. McKinley. @ith the wisest policy
which wes ever exhibited by any
Preeident. @ss a firm friend of
plan. and Mr Roowevelt, who is wn
mistakatly sincere and boneet, la car
rying out bis policy

Recent railway developments indi
cate that J. P. Morgan and the other
ereat flmancters have accepted the fact
that the iathmiso canal must be con
strecte¢c. He recognises the fact that
the canal will be built. and be wishes
te oontral “the great (itnage whit
j meet be carried from all over the coun

try eaat of the Mississippi and south of |

‘the St. Lawrence t Pensacola. Mobile
New Orieane and Galveston

THEY ALL AGREED.

Watchmen Will
tained at Several of

the ~rossings
Al & theeting of the mayor and ral!
wed suoeriotemdentse beld ot the office

wm the mayor yesterday afternoon it
was Gecided to place watchmen at 4!!
grate «Troeeings where they are. tat
toh | a) Brent With the wareor the fol
“wT ong wrre presen
: Merédes euperiaiences! of the
M Bere
~ WwW Shehee aeelerler per ee
om of the Prien
joie GO. Moawre oe, f tha Bie
e pehewm Suulaera
Rott Jem ‘son oe 5 « &
@inatem Raliwer isgtt sod Mwwe
om wee
A hed met bp ra ad vt
hemefe iby ape eae) Pea eate®
jen be teliow ag i)
i pote (6 fey them Tweptieth st net
net Jewel? arepne Pivet earenus be
piven Twelfth ae birtiewath ereeta /
+ Pree & Pm 8 Baw f Wenty-nevegth |
a toe Pica! gxée wet were ET eoaty
‘gett. aad Pweg ere vitesse and
Pive svtreet ber wien Twraiy ae or
. ene * # |

busi pees |

the}

Be Main-|

Money Needed. Dr. Ull-
man at Work,

The boerd of trustees of the Birming:
hat Mumané Soviety met yeaterdaey
afternoon, and it was decided ta iseue
eh appeal to the publi asking for sub-
#eriptions to help the soelety fn ite
work, Mr @amue! Uliman was named
a4 8 chmimitioe of one to prepare the
appes! and alsa to request the news
papers to give publicity to the docu
ment ‘

Mr. R & Munger resigned as a mem-
ber of the board of trugtees, he having
ho time to devote to the work He has
been requested to remain an honorary
member of the soctety

The-presidend will consider the hin
Ing of a apectal officer to prosecute the

work
j REPORT OF TREASURER
The following report waa made ty
the treasurer
nrecnirrs i
Memrahip feos $40 «oy;
, Bubecriptions ess than 82 ; 3.2%
| Prem city treasurer (fnes from Sep |
} tember 18 to Oetober I wo!
| Tote! a)
DISRt RAP MENTS }
Sports! officer coe selary: fiom
pened, wt aurpe ar fare iw
tommisatons paid on cvllecting +
Stationery ~ te te)
Te Bhilod Church seferers . &Oed
(ash baleace of haod . we
Total 1.25

The secretary has received valuable
iaformation as the operations of
societies in New Orleans Cincintat!
and other cities

LIST OF MEMBERS

A full Dest of the membership of the
society le given aa follows

P G, Bowman, M C. Reynolds
A Gibeon William Reckling. J
Chalifoax, Rev tL. & Handley, R
Blatkbars. De J Po McFerrin, W. H
Kettiig, Mrs Dr. Charles Wheelan
Samuel Uliman, ©. W. Austin, C, B
Jennings. K..S. Munger. Mise A. K

Dr
1.

Waiker ME. Feenker, 1 W. Young.
Dr. George C. Brown, D. R. Copeland.
3. CC. Beott. Mra B. L. Guiece, Otto

Merx, M¥s. Net Hawkine. J, D. Biliott,
A 0 tase, W. M. Drennen, W. Major.
1 KR Whieow. Amszi Godden Co, F &
‘Paal De. A. N. Ballard

CONDENSED TELEGRAMS,

WASHINGTON Brigadier-Genere!
‘Joho M Whileen, the military member
of the coal sirikée arbitration commis.
sion, and Col Carrot D Wright, re-
corder of the commission. hed an ex-
tended ‘conference with President
Reoeevel yesterday They discussed
pretiy fully the erents ieading up to
{he appointment of the commission and

tegtatively some arreiigements for its
} work
NEW YORK ~—Ia fear ef sancthar

term in prison of spending ihe baianre
,@f her Gays in a® insane asylum Miss
ida Craddock. high priestess and paa-
tor of the “Charch of the Youn” in
Chitage wad nileeiomary bere of her pe-
euller belief, come@ltied swhvide yee-
verday by inhaling gee Her body was
found by ber mother, Mra. Decher

The (wemty ninth

The reduced rates on ail
the Inter-State Fair offer a1
those who are afflicted to 0
will thoroughly diagnose
charge for his expert opinion

Thowe suffering fro
mech sertone considers
it te get saffivtent te &
hot the qucation is whet
treating (be specta! dian
Viverybedy recogpine
teow The wise man 4
dy ome particnlar thing
physician who rudestor
entirety may meet wit
briifeet © compere!
which some thet physi
more succesefeliy. sad
there been @ aperte
ing my actice to Thre
entire time end talents
specie) pian of treatm
stiunte cages after other
pe i the moet ¢
nited #tat ox ft have
Meuy @ficeit cases are
sise my enperior enilit)

I RES

Men @he are soffe
thetic macly fame the *
correcting a Condition
haprieaess more serio
expect « cure from the
medicines and deceptive
ber. | giv® your case
pared te meet aft cond
the sherteat pemeible fin
ing te care you la ® fe
oth rel} pou fe tmponat

Or HATHAWAY net ap tnjerinns times
Recognized as thé Lealing &8@ © ost Fucceserul Specielict. I cu
My atmolatety painless cure for Rtricture ie the remait of mr personal shift and pe
ethex yaictan, attheugh many trpttetions are every day attempted Anyene Whe bie
nizes the fart that 4 to da rows and «xeeedingly paiafal to submit te the experi men
in thie particulat Geese etihe you gently and wiizent detention fram bastervs
Aimelve the Strictere, end ceuee their abeerption and removal leering the wtteary «be
tivted, you owe 1) (o powrself to ebtete the moet skfliful treatment

I CURE VARICOCELE.

That Varicocete Is one of the moet dangerous and treacherous sewers sTicting

j he
doom if neglected (: will undermine the petea) strength. @erange and drprese ¢
exatem and ultimately produce # complete oe ef sesgal power t oure Varteocel ¢
methed of cure hae beet teed In thensands of the most s veto? cosee withoat &

trace of weakness anf disease quickly ppears. the staguact 7
x#eling vanish, all dreine af rigor cease, the weakened seminal facts are Mrengthened.
peiabliched The wasted organs ate enierged. you become stronger in every Say, 4nd
and senee of welt betag while good bealth and robust manhood

I CURE BLOOD POISON.

This ts tecegmised ss fhe most severe disease that affficts the bumen feriiy tte
suffering for tts aufertunate vietie, fet the tte teint deecrods te uahore iim oreats
pimples, blotches, sore Threat. palas te the, hones, failing nalr xed ay sp wptem WRicd
thet you comeult me st care, aad lears cient Sa | whether of oot you have the ane a te
Detwes at Hot Sprit besides extensive Respite! capertence and twenty years of i iy
whether the @eewse ix et er not. | wit tell you frankly weather or ant yoo are
beve the Gistase | @f% guerantee te core Yoa,. Be matirr what ether treatment nae
droge cmplored by the majority of phygictane Remember I gusranive & permanent
quick. If wet qelcker tee, (hap any ether keeown treet ment

THE WONDERFUL X-RAY.

Apoerstus, wade specteliy te my orden, are rece
oe eqelpment i« perfect ie every compect aod

treatment ¢rery

eccompany

My % Ray aad Biatic KRiectrica
appliances ever brenght Mownh My @
efered ty bet ectentife dlacaverice

NO CHARGE FOR COWSULTATIC

} went to talk to eFery mae whe Bae the stightest ip oye: Po A -_ ———- wee
an er@tainetion, aud gite Fou my etpert episios am e@vice. for hit we ne €
p> Bae ait should write for complete epmptom Blaske ced Mere about mr eeceesat

cave etrtetly contdeptial Addroes J NEWTON HATHAWAY, es

4 lowes Dbatiding, 24% Bedth Bread street, Atent
a =

cotemiasion certain facts te reference
te the alinged consolidation of the va- | 5
rious raiiread tines. Mr. McChord said 7
the members Informed him (that they |
could aot proceed with tbe investige- | 7
tien aptil the state reallroad comm is- |
siog had tied «a formal complaiat ia |
Washington When this was dome the

*
a ers
within twe hours after sentence bad.
been passed, Ten days ago the dead
bodies of Parmer Hicks, hie wife and
daughter were found ta the Hicks
home, and Sheriff Spradiey tmmedi-
ately begun @ search for the perpetra-
ter of the ortme. A week later Jim

on ee nears sae oan — = — nanaaris en

PORTLAND, Me Huchanas wee arrested end Staity :
anowsal Comveation of t National Wo- Lets corm t® the triple merder pallonal commission would a ence GB;
men's Christian TemBerance Uvitos siete lor upee the tuvemt) gation ii
opened here peeterday. Bvery state LOUISVILLE, Ky.ooThe etate ral! = eee ik
ened territory fe the United Bratee la iroad comtriepicn leat might far waco STARKVILLE Misa da a spirited >.
fr preeen tod Mre t. M N. @teveme lie the tater-state Sommerce Comme ignud exciting coutest yeeterday Oumber~ |
president of [he sation! organisation, | yiom at Washington « forms! compiniat | iaed University (Lebesen, Tena.) foot:
iethvered her aagual address ayalnet the alleged commelidation of (he | ball team wee from M A end

; Lauleville and Maakville, Goutbere reli.) M, College team by a score ~ i tw €
| MADODG OOH, Texad dim Buch bread and ether refiraad Hae te Rem | faring (he fires half the Tenaeepeenns
jkede & Hogre, the murderer of the lteeky Some @aye age © C. MeCbord, | had things pretty meek theotr Oem war,
Hike Memelly @ee tried here peeterday, [ohalrmank of the etate ratirosd com] making three tedch-dewes durteg this
e pice of guilty ene accepted By the wlantod, went te Waelttagten and pre ibelf Bab cee A; oof Mw howe Braces |
ov he (he Se—ro wee legally hanged setied fo lhe teter-etate commerrn oh Guriag the socoud halt, sade ane *!

om a ow a ow a om AO en Pe Pe

(Ai lines gh ae

See appeal: 181 SW 1,65
BURGEBS, Robert H., white, hanged at Beaumont, Texas, on April 29, 1916,

"Beaumont, TX, l-29-1916-Robert H, Burgess paid with his life on the gallows at 12+37 ote
clock this afternoon for the killing of his wife Jan. 27, 1915, He was dead within hy
minutes after the trap was sprung. An hour earlier he gulped a ouantity of poison,
“estorative measures were quickly resorted to, and he was brought around, His last words
were? 'Goodbye, everybody, God have mercy on my soul," As the mask or cap was placed
about his head and his feet and hands igi bound together with new rope, Burgess
pleaded: 'Be good to my baby, all of yous! A dying request was that Sheriff Langham
induce the baby's grandmother to permit it to visit Burgess! mother's grave at Ruston,
Ta He made a lengthy talk as he sat on the steps leading to the gallows and declared
time and again that he swallowed the drug in the hope of saving the sheriff the necessi-
ty of hanging him, It was just as jailer Tevis and A, E, Pollock, the morning death
watch stepped into the cell to assist the condemned man in dressing that Burgess walked
to a table in the death cell, untiled his tie and then reached for a tin cupe ‘Well,
boys, I'm gone,' he exclaimed as he swallow@d some of the contents of the cup, Tevis made
a lunge forward and succeeded in knocking the cup slattering to the floor; But a small
quantity of the drug had passed the man's lips. From then until the noose was knotted
about his neck Burgess kept up a constant, never-ceasing flow of talk, One of his

last acts was to light a cigarette before he mounted the final steps to his death, after
Deputy Sheriff Friar had read the death warrant. At times he appeared hysterical, Time
and again he exclaimed, half-irritably: 'I know I should not hang for this,' Often he
reiterated the assertion that he loved his wife. Once he said he'd soon see her, As
Sheriff Langham placed his hand on the doomed man's shoulder and said, 'Come on, Rob,!
Burgess pleaded with attending physicians to give him 'one more shot of that stuff,!

he freouently compained of a burning sensation in his throat. Several times during

his talk he became so ill it was necessary for him to stop. Burgesspaid the penalty

for the killing of his wife at the home of the latter's mother, Mrs, Tom Rigsby, Jan.

27, 1915, His trial attracted wide attention, He was found puilty of homicide and
sentenced to hang, Mrs, Burgesswas shot twice at the home of her mother, where her
little daughter is now being reared. After lingering several days she died. Rurgess was
arraigned on April 27, and on April 29 given the death penalty, The case was affirmed

a few months ago, The Burgesses had been married, divorced and remarried, and Mrs,
Burgess' suit for a second divorce was pending having been filed on the eve of her mur-=
der," NEWS, Galveston, Texas, April 30, 1916 (/h.)

“oeeHis wife was Miss May Rigsby, They were married in 1910, In January of last year
while he was being sued a second time for divorce, Burgess was served with the citation
and came immediately to Beaumont from Cross Plains, Early the next morning he went to
the home of his wife's parents, Mr, and Mrs, W. T. Rigbby, 620 Alma St., where Mrs, Bur-
gess was killed, ‘hen a jury assessed the death penalty, the case was appealed, The
court of criminal appeals affirmed the case, Since then petitions have been circulated
here and thousands have signed them asking for executive clemency, Physicians have de-
clared Burgess is not sane," NEWS, Galveston, TX, April 29, 1916 (2/5.)

Fre - ws

BURGESS, Robert HL, whiatge, Habged Beaumont, Jefferson Co., TX, April 29, 1916.

Transcription of information on 3x5 cali

| “White, hanged at diesubat, Jefferson Co., Texas, on April 29, , 1916, for the murder of

his wife which occurred at the home of her parents on January 27,1915. At the time,
she was suing him for divorce, According to the case law (181 SW 465), he was ".
traveling tailor, taking orders for men’s ready-made clothing.” 3

BE Ma
Bunn,

i ack at a New Years Eve party in

Vaeo, Dec. 31, 1948, foilowing an’
UMeN gs ser eo ee
1¢@ ence was convicted of mur-
dering William Criner. He was not
tried for the slaying of the wom.
an. Vonnie Pearl Bell. > =)% =
Bunn had a smile ‘on his face as
he was strapped into the State‘s:
electric chair. He was strapped into.
the seat at 12:02 a. m. and_pra-
inounced dead 7 minutes later” oS
~ As his straps were- being” ad-
Susted,.Bunn looked at a reporter}
‘and said, “Please tell my’ mother)
not to worry o,f everything's. go-
ing to becalli wight [\ > See
The eontiemned man’s las
were: "May God bless you"
nd good luck to all of veu

earn

Atha
er

BUNN, Lee Everett, black, electrocuted SP (McLennan Co.), May 3, 1950.
“EVERETT BUNN DIES IN CHAIR.

“Huntsville, May 3.-Lee Everett Bunn, 27-year-old Waco Negro convicted of murder died
in the electric chair at the State Prison at 12:09 a.m. today. In a recent statement Bunn said he
killed a negro man with a piece of iron and a woman with a car jack at a New Years Eve party in
Waco, Dec. 31, 1948, following an argument. The Negro was convicted of murdering William
Criner. He was not tried for the slaying of the woman, Vonnie Pearl Bell. Bunn had a smile on
his face as he was strapped into the State’s electric chair. He was strapped into the seat at 12:02
a.m. and pronounced dead 7 minutes later. As his straps were being adjusted, Bunn looked at a
reporter and said, “Please tell my mother not to worry...everything’s going to be all right.” The
condemned man’s last words were: ‘May God bless you all...and good luck to all of you.”-7imes-
Herald, Waco, TX, 5/3/1950.

eee |

—. -
CS ee

mob violence, the outraged citizens
wanting to take the law in their own
hands.

The killers’ trials were set for Mon-
day, September 10th. During the trials
the court-room and the corridors of the
building were heavily guarded, more
than two dozen officers directed per-
sonally by the Sheriff and his chief
deputy, Bill Decker, moving about.
The trials were conducted behind
locked doors through which admittance
was gained only after each spectator
allowed himself to be searched by the
guards as he entered the court-room.

The court-room and corridors were
crowded to capacity. Curious specta-
tors maintained a_ vigil across the
street, and even peered into the court-
room from the windows of the adjoin-
ing building. Many in the crowd were
residents of the little farming com-
munity in which the two latest victims
had lived since their childhood.

BwunT surprised the court by plead-

ing not guilty when he took the
stand early in the day, He was the first
to be tried. He testified that the confes-
sion he had signed had been obtained
from him while he was afraid of mob
violence. He tried to put the blame for
the whole affair on his brother, Thur-
man. No other testimony was brought
out for the defense but the negro’s own
statement.

Thurman pleaded guilty and also
took the stand in his own defense. He
appeared more alert than his older
brother and testified. more plainly.
Both negroes were calm and seemed
unmoved by the proceedings.

When he took the stand and was
asked by his counsel to tell his story
Thurman turned calmly to Judge Gro-
ver Adams, and the jury, and began:

“Gentlemen of the jury and Judge,
Your Honor, I am guilty of this crime.”

He then told how he and his brother
had gone the night of the murder to
the Pearl Street market and had bought
watermelons. On their way home they
passed the coupe in which Carver and
Miss Prince were seated. They held
them up with a pistol which belonged
to another brother.

Thurman said that he took Carver
into a near-by field to which they had
forced him to drive, leaving their own
car on the road where they had met the
couple. Then he took Carver’s watch,
disregarding the few cents he had in
his pocket.

Thurman said he was nervous, grip-
ping his gun tightly, and while trying
to decide what to do with Carver the
weapon accidentally was discharged
twice. He ran, he said, without waiting
to see what had happened to Carver.

Bluitt and he then took the girl to
another field, he said. After some con-
versation, he said, he returned to the
car, leaving Bluitt alone with her. He
said he did not hear the shots that
killed the girl.

Bluitt’s story matched this except
that he claimed that Thurman also had
shot the girl. He said he heard the
shots that wounded Carver.

The prosecution’s cross-examination
was a merciless pounding, the pistol,

The Master Detective

Carver's hat, the girl’s little white tam
and white purse and a ring she wore
that was later found in the negroes’
house all being shown to the negroes as
mute evidence of their deed. .

T. H. Prince, Katheryn’s father, was
the first witness for the prosecution.
His testimony was brief and merely to
the effect that his daughter did not re-
turn home the night she went to church
with Carver and that her nety was
found the next day in a field half a
mile from their home.

Other witnesses for the prosecution
were Dr. Dudley Laugenour, Emer-
gency Hospital physician, who de-
scribed the girl’s wounds; Sheldon Mc-
Cutcheon, who saw the negroes the
night of the crime; Jarvis Burkley, the
negroes’ brother, who testified about
the car they drove and whose gun they
used; R. C. Works, for whom Carver
worked; Gus Carver, the victim’s bro-
ther; R. L. Farley, who found Car-
ver’s bleeding body; Deputy Sheriff

Plagiarism

Stories have been submitted to this
magazine which are copies of those that
have appeared in other magazines.

Any one submitting a plagiarized story
through the mail, receiving and
accepting remuneration therefor, is guilty
of the Federal offense of using the mails to
defraud.

The publishers of THz Master De-
TECTIVE are eager—as are all reputable
publishers—to stamp out this form of
literary theft and piracy. We advise all
magazines from which such stories are
copied of such plagiarism and co-operate
pds the publishers thereof to punish the
guilty persons.

Notice is hereby given to all who sub-
mit stories that the same must be the
—_- works of the authors who submit

em.

Fred Bradberry, who found the pistol ;
City Marshal Charles Parker of Mes-
quite; Deputy Sheriff Ted Hinton, who
later received rewards for apprehend-
ing the negroes; City Detective Lieu-
tenant Will Fritz; George Dash, who
found the ring in the house he rented
the brothers, and Deputy Sheriff Bill
Decker.

Bluitt and Thurman Burkley were
assessed the death peneity by juries
that found them guilty of the murder
of Katheryn Prince. bi a

Their separate trials moved with dis-
patch, both trials consuming less than
twelve hours. The swiftness of justice
in this case is believed to have set a
record in Dallas, Texas.

Without knowing of the death of
Katheryn Prince, Mace Carver died at
Baylor Hospital Thursday, September
28th, after a long fight for his life.

At 10 o’clock Monday, January 8th,
1934, the Burkley brothers were sen-
tenced by Judge Grover Adams, in
whose court they were tried.

Bluitt was called before the bench
first and asked by Judge Adams if he
had anything to say before he was sen-
tenced.

“Yes, sir,” the negro answered. “I’ve
been a citizen of Dallas ten years and
I’ve never given anyone any trouble.
I’ve been convicted of a crime I’m not

guilty of and I want to ask you, Judge

our honor, if you have room in your.

eart that you give me another trial.
I don’t feel that it’s right for me to
pay the penalty for a crime I didn’t
commit.”

The negro stopped and Judge Adams
without making any reply, immediately
launched into the words of the formal
sentence, ending with “and may the
Lord have mercy on your soul.”

Bluitt was taken back to his seat and
Thurman was ordered before the bench
and likewise asked if he had anything
to say.

“Yes, sir,” he began, his fingers beat-
ing a tattoo on the table in front of
him. “I’m not guilty of the crime I’ve
been convicted of, bye been in Dallas
four years and before that | lived in
East Texas, and I’ve never given any-
body any trouble and I want to ask
for mercy.”

Thurman’s request brought no state-
ment from the Judge either, who im-
mediately began the formal sentence
in the identical words with which he
had sentenced Bluitt, except for the last
phrase,

“And may the God that lives have
mercy on your soul.”

Fifteen minutes later the brothers
were in an automobile with Sheriff
Smoot Schmid and two of his depu-
ties, shackled with chains on_ their
wrists and ankles, on their way to
Huntsville. They were scheduled to die
in the electric chair on the morning of
February 9th, thirty-one days from the
date of their sentences.

MANY peace officers and detectives °

who had figured in the spectacular +
hunt for the brother murderers drove ‘
the one hundred and ninety miles from

Dallas to Huntsville, early Friday,

February 9th, 1934, to witness the exe- -

cution.

While the Burkley brothers were
awaiting electrocution, they had talked
freely of religion and of having made
their peace with God.

The clock in the prison yard began
to strike the hour. A silence grim as
death fell over the lethal chamber.
Huge electric generators began’a soft
whirring sound, above which could be
heard a thick, drawling voice exchang-
ing a last greeting with another occu-
pant of the death row, as the con-
demned walked from the far cell down
the corridor to the little geen door.

Bluitt Burkley, the elder of the
brothers, went first. He gave no out-
ward sign of fear as the leather band
was slipped over his eyes.

Warden W. W. Waid, before adjust-
ing the band across his mouth asked if
he had anything else to say. Bluitt
mumbled a_ few _ indistinguishable
words, sounding like thanks for kind-
ness, and his belief that his soul was
right with God. He sat in the chair at
12:16, and at 12:24 was pronounced
dead.

Four minutes later his brother, Thur-
man, faced the chair. He thanked the
warden in a low voice, and said,

“I’m not guilty and I takes my ap-

peal to heaven.” At 12:36 he, too, had —

legally paid for his crimes. ¢

Kane’s an

knocked nw ~~
confetti. Becaus
Kane said to F:

_. “Then, go dow

on the man’s sb
And Ford wa
ent Molway 3
Molway’s shoul:
Molway felt, bi
The third wit
Inspector Kan
instructions. S
and then wen
him. Then
me. I was trs
ing not to le!
weakness | fel’
came close to

. my face and m

her eyes went |
to study the |
Molway and n

“This,” I th:
laugh. She’s g
dicks and put
murder.”

But she dic
me and she
nervous little
her hand on .
was Mary Ch
at the Lynn |

If Miss Cle.
story, she'll kn
that she almo
Saturday afte
ree honestly
it all. I’ve goi
tion in that s
hand on my
in the moth

I KNO'

Bat. 1.2
blurred when
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insane. All I s:
was her hand
wanted to hit

I suppose 1°
A man inat
the nearest pe
of blind, unr
a person wai
like a trappe.
no ‘business |
ing accused o
her action, h:
as it was, was
me.

The rest 0!
ter. My min
didn’t care w
It had been
that had hur

Three more
They were: \
Gerald Harn
Bresnahan, a
pio yes of th

ad seen on¢
-who had slai
and forced
safe from w!
and escaped.

Bresnahan

order
dicial

yf the
youth
is no
eves,
avery
cillers.

is a
times
myth.
inder-
it one
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iole be-

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ant will

The Master Detective

- Trapping the Twin Killers of the

Texan Lovers
(Continued from page 19)

“My brother and I then got out of
the car and walked back down where

- they were. We had the girl sit on the

boy’s lap and my brother drove their
car, and I got on the outside of the
car. We drove them about two or three
-miles and stopped the car and made
the man walk out in the timber a little
piece from the road.

“I shot the boy twice with a little
_ I had gotten from Jarvis’ house.

he pistol is the same one that some
officers got from Jarvis’ house this
morning.

“1 Jeft the man out there where I
shot him, and went back to the car
and we drove to where I took the offi-
cers. Then Bluitt told me to go turn
the car around. Before I went to turn
the car around | felt of the girl’s waist,
and she had something tied around her
waist tight. When I got back from
turning the car around, Bluitt told me
he had killed the girl, and he got back
in the car with me.

“WE went back to where we parked
the Buick where we first found this
couple. We got the Buick and drove
both cars up to the Urbandale school-
house where we left the Chevrolet and
we both drove back to Jarvis’ house in
the Buick. We got home a few min-
utes after 11:00 o'clock.
Signed: Thurman Burkley.”

While Thurman was making and
signing his statement, his brother Bluitt
was in the Police Identification Bureau
being photographed and finger-printed.
The two negroes were then transferred
and Bluitt made the following state-
ment:

“My name is Bluitt Burkley. I have
been living at 3215 Roseland Street,
Dallas. I am nineteen years old.
left the market on Pearl Street Wednes-
day night about 9 o’clock with my two
brothers, Jarvis and Thurman Burk-
ley. We had bought three watermelons
and catried them to Jarvis’ house.
When we got there Jarvis got out and
stayed at home.

“Thurman then drove the car. About
a mile the other side of Jarvis’ house
he saw a car driving along slowly be-
hind us and the car pulled up beside
us and my brother stopped him.

“I got in their car and. drove it and
we had the girl sit in the boy’s lap and
Thurman rode on the outside of the-car.
We drove about a mile or better and
stopped, and Thurman took the man
out in the timber a short distance and

_ | heard two shots. Thurman came back
to the car where the girl and I: were.
Thurman got in the car and we then

, drove with the girl over to where the
officers found the girl’s body today.

We took the girl out in the field
about a hundred yards and then I shot
her twice with a gun I got from Thur-
1 man. The gun belonged to Jarvis.
The gun I shot the girl with is the same

gun Thurman shot the boy with. We
then drove the Chevrolet that we took
from the boy and girl we had killed
and drove it up close to a school house
on the Mesquite highway, and_ then
meng bark to my brother Jarvis’s in the

uick,

Signed: Bluitt Burkley.”

Five hours after the body of Miss
Prince was found at 2 p. M. Thursday,
August 3lst, the grand jury went into
session.

All deputy sheriffs, city detectives
and others were called as witnesses and
the examination continued until 9:30
when the two confessed killers were
taken before the grand jury.

A few minutes after the pair had
been placed behind bars in the County
Jail, farmers from the Pleasant Mount
community started gathering in the
lobby of the jail. Deputy sheriffs were
scattered through the crowd of overall-
clad men.

Bluitt and Thurman were led into
the grand jury room by Deputy Sheriff
Bill Decker. They were handcuffed to-
gether and a chain from the handcuffs
was held by Decker.

The negroes were taken from the jail
in the Criminal Courts Building to the
grand jury room in the old Court-
house under heavy guard. When the
convoy reached the Court-house two
deputy sheriffs were stationed at the
north door, through which the negroes
were taken. Two deputies each were
stationed at the east and west doors of
the building.

The witness room of the grand jury
was cleared while the negroes were in
the inner room. They remained in the
grand jury room until 9:50 and then
were escorted back to jail.

BECAUSE of the similarity of the
Prince-Carver case with that tragic
sweetheart slaying of June 27th, 1931,
when Abe Schreiber and Pauline Cor-
man were murdered, law officers began
questioning the negro brothers about
that crime, and on September Ist, 1933,
at noon, they confessed to that double
murder, also.

The statement from Bluitt Burkley,
obtained late Friday afternoon on Sep-
tember Ist, was as follows:

“My name is Bluitt Burkley. My
address is 3215 Roseland, and was 2626
Colby Street in 1931, I am nineteen
years old.

“Thurman Burkley and Louis Burk-
ley are my brothers. Along in June,
1931, my brother Thurman and myself
roomed together at 2626 Colby Street,
in Dallas, Texas. About that time my
brother, Louis Burkley, visited us for
a few days, possibly a week. On or
about the night of June 27th, 1931,
Thurman (my brother) Louis (my
brother) and myself drove out of town
in my Ford coupe, which I was driving.

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—— oe

I drove out the Holmes Street Road a
good little piece and after cross-
ing that long bridge | came to some
stores and turned to the right on to a
gravel road.

“T drove down that road a good little
piece, and we passed a new-looking
sedan which was parked on the road,
headed in the same direction I was
driving. I drove a good ways past
this car and then stopped. We turned
around and drove back past the car
that was parked and came to the edge
of a hill esi, this car and stopped
there.

“1 saw there were some people in the
car, could see at least oné man and
one woman in the car that was parked
on the side of the road.

“When I stopped my car, all three of
us, namely, Thurman, Louie and my-
self, got out. We all started back to
the parked car and Louie only walked
a few steps and then returned to our
own car.

“TT HURMAN told Louie that we two
were enough. So Thurman and my-
self walked back up to the car and left
Louie in my car. When we got to the
car where the people were, there was
one couple in the car, that is, one man
and one woman were in the car. Thur-
man asked the man if he had a jack
and he said he didn’t, so Thurman
asked him how much money he had.

“We both were standing at the car
and had pistols in our hands. We both
were on the same side of the car, where
the man was, on the side of the car
that the steering wheel was.

“The man replied to Thurman that
he had twenty-five cents or thirty cents
and he felt in his coat pocket. The coat
was across the seat of the car. The
man did not have his coat on. Thur-
man asked the man to get out of the
car and when he did we all three walked
to the back of the car.

“1 killed the man. I shot the man
once and killed him. He was shot twice.
Thurman fired the other shot. I shot
and then Thurman shot. And then we
both got in the car. It was close to
the fence, and the man fell back against
the fence when | shot him.

“We got back in the car and left
him where he fell. I drove the car.
Thurman got in the back seat with the
woman. I drove a good little ways,
about a mile I guess, or less, and I
stopped the car.

“The woman asked both of us. if we
were going to leave the man_ there.
Then Thurman asked me what we were
going to do. So | told him | didn't
know what to do. Just before we
stopped the car, Thurman said “We've
got to do something” and with that
Thurman hauled off and shot the
woman. She was in the back seat of
the car when he shot her.

“He shot her twice. Immediately
after the shots, I got out of the car,
and | came on the side nearest the road,
and opened the door of the car and |
caught hold of the girl’s legs and Thur-
man caught hold of her arms and both
of us carried her over to the edge of
the road and laid her in the ditch at
the side of the road.

The Master Detective

“Then Thurman and myself got back
in this automobile and it was nearly
morning when we got home. Louie was
not home. We stayed about fifteen
minutes | guess and then drove back
out toward where we had been, and
thought we would meet Louie at the
cafe at Hawkins and Central but he
wasn’t there.

“\We abandoned the car we brought
with us on a street, near the city mar-
ket. At our home on Colby Street we
had got another car.

Signed: Bluitt Burkley.”

‘The later statements connecting the
other brother, Louie, with the older
crime were made to Chief Deputy
Decker, and Assistant Jailer William
Moore. The third brother was placed
in the county jail, and the following is
the statement he made:

“Thurman and Bluitt Burkley are
my brothers.

“In June, 1931, the latter part of
that month, | started living at 2626
Colby Street in Dallas, Texas, at the
same address as my two brothers, Thur-
man and Bluitt Burkley.

“On or about the night of June 27th,
1931, Thurman Burkley (my brother)
myself, and Bluitt Bur ley (my
brother), all went out_ together in
Bluitt’s automobile, a T-model Ford
which Bluitt was driving, and we drove
out of town. I remember crossing a
long bridge, and I remember passing
some stores and turning off the paved
road on toa gravel road and crossing a
little wood bridge. We drove some dis-
tance on this gravel road.

“WE passed by-a car which was
parked at the side of this road and
after going about 100 yards or so past
this car Bluitt, who was driving, turned
around and we drove on_ back
quite a ways. He then stopped the
car we were in, and Bluitt got out of
the car and told Thurman to get out
also, and he did, Thurman and Bluitt
started down the road toward that
other car that was parked there.

“When we passed the car it looked
to me like there was a man and a wo-
man in the car, but I didn’t know how
many persons were in it. Before Thur-
man and Bluitt left me there to go
down the road toward the car that was
parked with those people in it, I had
noticed while driving along in our car
that Thurman had a small pistol on
him. After Bluftt and Thurman left
to walk down the road I cranked the
car and drove home to 2626 Colby
Street in Dallas, and did not wait for
my brothers. :

“The next morning Bluitt asked me
why I went off and left them the night
before, and I told him I was scared to
stay out there on that road alone.
Bluitt showed me a watch that morn-
ing, but did not tell me where he got
it. Bluitt told me that he and Thur-
man had got into a little trouble last
night after they left me. I said that
this was mighty bad and he told me he
had shot a fellow last night. Some
little time after that Bluitt told me
that Thurman had shot a lady, at the
same time he had shot the man. I con-

iat Ae tat

tj) peeery

tinued to live at that address on Colby.

Street until my job played out. At

that time | was working at a filling sta-

tion at Second and Forest Avenue.
Signed: Louie Burkley.”

Thurman’s statement of the older
crime follows:

“In the summer of 1931, on or about
june 27th, myself (Thurman Burkley),

ouie Burkley (my brother) and Bluitt
Burkley (my brother) drove out Col-
onial Avenue in Bluitt’s car. Bluitt was
driving, and we drove out the Holmes
Street Road, and we turned off the
Holmes Street Road just after we
crossed the long bridge, turning off the
road where the stores are located, a
short distance after crossing the bridge.

“We turned to the right, and we
drove down that road, and we passed
an automobile on that road that was
parked there. There was a couple sit-
ting in that automobile; that is, a girl
and a boy were in that car.

“So my brother, Bluitt, said that he
knew the man in that car, and he said
that man gave him some hard words
once. So we drove on down the road
and turned around and passed this car
again.

“So Bluitt stopped the car and we
were some little distance past the
other automobile. Bluitt Burkley and
myself got out, and my brother Louie
stayed in the car we were in. Then
Bluitt and myself walked down to this
other car, and Bluitt asked the man in
that car for his jack.

“The man in the car replied that he
did not have any jack, so Bluitt told
the man to get out of the car and said
to the man: ‘Don’t I know you?’ The
man replied, ‘I don’t know, but you
might.’ Bluitt then told him, ‘You are
the same fellow that cussed me out one
day. Bluitt then asked the man to
walk around the car, and I stayed by
the door of the car, on the side the
girl was.

“Then -Bluitt Burkley and this man
came round on the same side of the car
where I was and Bluitt had his gun in
his hand and just at the side of the
road Bluitt shot the man who was in
front of him. I think he shot him
twice, and he fell to the ground.

“60 then Bluitt and myself got in the
car: with the girl and Bluitt drove
the car and I sat in the back seat of the
car with the girl. It was a four-door
sedan as | remember.

“The girl asked us not to go off and
leave the man that was. shot, but
Bluitt drove the car off. We went on
down the same road about a quarter of
a mile and Bluitt stopped the car. Af-
ter a while he turned the car around
and drove back to where his car had
been parked,

“But my brother, Louie Burkley, had
left with it. So then Bluitt turned the

car around and went back the same

way he had come, and asked me what
I was going to do, And Bluitt told me
that | would have to shoot the girl.
“Bluitt said to me, ‘You will have
to shoot her, I shot him.’ So I said,
‘No’ And Bluitt said, ‘Yes, you will
have to or I’ll shoot you,’ and I also

The watch 1
Wednesday ni
was recovered
by Deputy |
negroes told .
buried it.

It was foui
sand under <«
house where |
watch stolen i
jewelry taken
not recovered.
older crimes
brush.

EARNEST t
speedy tn
ties upon th:
negro slayers.
maintained ai
indifference.
Down the |
Church they |
Friday, Septe
Friends of
Cliff High, fe
tist young pé
activities anc
little commu!
reared, gathe
spects to the
from where <
Meanwhile
Mace Carver
death at Bas
had been tra
his conscious
he had loved
was being bu
Sunda’ S
reached

The confe
left: Lieu
Ted Hint:

older

about
kley),
Bluitt
Col-
it was
olmes
tT the
r we
ff the
ed, a
ridge.
d we
assed
t was
e sit-
a girl

at he
> said
vords
road
5 car

d we
the

’ and
Louie
n

girl.”

had a gun with me, and so I shot the
Signed: Thurman Burkley.”

The watch taken from Mace Carver
Wednesday night, August 30th, 1933,
was recovered Friday, September Ist,
by Deputy Decker after one of the
negroes told a jailer where they had
buried it.

It was found under half a foot of
sand under one corner of the farm-
house where the brothers lived. The
watch stolen from Schreiber and some
jewelry taken from Miss Corman were
not recovered. The pistols used in the
lear crimes were thrown into the

rush.

EARNEST efforts were made for a

speedy trial to bring death penal-
ties upon the heads of the youthful
negro slayers, who from the very first
maintained an attitude of calmness and
indifference.

Down the hill from Pleasant Mound
Church they buried Katheryn Prince on
Friday, September Ist.

Friends of her school days in Oak
Cliff High, fellow-workers in the Bap-
tist young people’s and. Sunday school
activities and other friends from the
little community in which she had been
reared, gathered to pay their last re-
spects to the girl, murdered not so far
from where she was to be buried.

Meanwhile the girl’s sweetheart,
Mace Carver, still lay on the verge of
death at Baylor Hospital, to which he
had been transferred, asking in all of
his conscious moments about the girl
he had loved, the girl who even then
was being buried.

Sunday, September 3rd, a_ report
reached the Sheriff’s office that a mob

The .Master Detective

was on its way to the jail from East
Dallas. . County officers immediately
called the City Hall asking for reserve
support from the Police Denartneeit
The lobby of the Criminal Courts
Building was cleared, and the door to
the jail lobby was locked. County offi-
cers were furnished with tear gas. All
Dallas County deputy sheriffs were
called to the jail, and they armed them-
selves with shotguns, pistols and ma-
chine guns.

Seven owners of farms between Mes-
pute and Pleasant Mount told the

eputies that their negroes had been
warned by about sixteen men in four
automobiles, who drove through the re-
gion Tuesday night, September 5th, to
move from the community by Friday.
Four white men were identified as mem-
bers of the gang of masked night-riders
who terrorized the negro residents, and
were summoned before the grand jury
to explain their actions. -

The grand jury appearance was more
of a warning to the night riders than
any move to exact a penalty, however.
Interference with work on Mesquite
farms by driving laborers from the
community could not be tolerated,
Sheriff Smoot Schmid of Dallas, indi-
cated. Activities of the Sheriff’s de-
partment in assuring protection to the
negroes of that area prevented a whole-
sale exodus of house servants and la-
borers from the surrounding region.

WITHIN twenty-four hours after the
crime, which stunned the commu-
nity, by its atrocious cold-bloodedness
and brutality, the two brothers had
been discovered by officers, had admit-
ted the killing and had been indicted.
Sheriff Smoot Schmid was forced to
maintain constant vigilance against

.. The confessed slayers enter Criminal Courts Building in the custody of officers. On
left: Lieutenant of Detectives Will Fritz. Behind: Deputy Sheriffs Bud Walker and
Ted Hinton. In front: the prisoners. At right, Detectives J. T. Luther and J. F. Daniel

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Wednesday, Feb. 27, 1991

| +s

somber duty by AG

By KATHY FAIR
Houston Chronicle

HUNTSVILLE — Executing con-
demned killers is a somber duty that
no state leader is happy to do,
Attorney General Dan Morales said
Tuesday after watching a Housto-
nian put to death.

“There’s not a graver obligation
that I have,” Morales said early
Tuesday morning after seeing pris-
oner Lawrence Lee Buxton, 38, re-
ceive his lethal injection.

A former federal meat inspector
who also led a gang of robbers from
Houston ghettos, Buxton was exe-
cuted for the Sept. 19, 1980, murder
of Joel Slotnik.

It was the first Texas execution
this year, the first since Morales took
office, and the 38th since Texas
resumed executions in 1982.

Buxton was pronounced dead at
12:21 a.m., about seven minutes after
officials began administering the le-
thal dose. The convict showed virtu-
ally no physical reaction to the
drugs, and his only comment when

asked if he had a final statement .

was, “Ready, Warden.”

. “My office recognizes the magni- ,

tude and gravity of the (death pen-

alty),” Morales said afterward. |

“There is little disagreement over
the difficulty, and perhaps even the
personal difficulty, relative to the
need for this sanction.”

Morales, who personally supports
capital punishment, said “the tone
and display of that support has al-
ways been measured with some de-
gree of regret.”

The path for Buxton’s execution
was cleared about 11 p.m. Monday,

when the U.S. Supreme Court re- |

fused to postpone his death and Gov.
Arin Richards denied requests for a
reprieve.

orales said he was convinced
that issues raised by Buxton’'s law-
yers received a thorough examina-
tion by the courts.

Houston Chronicle
Se7b Pow Ea ey s

Executions called

ory
%

The Huntsville Item, Wednesday, February 27, 1991 — Page 7A

Man executed for 1980
slaying death

By The Associated Press

Convicted killer Lawrence Lee
Buxton was put to death by lethal
injection early Tuesday for the
1980 slaying of a Houston grocery
shopper at Huntsville’s Walls
Unit.

“Buxton was pronounced dead
at'12:21 a.m. CST.

‘Asked if he wished to make a
statement prior to the execution,
Buxton replied: “Ready, warden.”

Just two hours earlier, the U.S.
Supreme Court refused to halt
Buxton’s execution. The justices
denied two applications for stays
and two petitions for certiorari,
said court spokeswoman Kathy
Arberg.

Justice Thurgood Marshall
dissented on all the rulings, while
Justices Harry Blackmun and
John Paul Stevens said they
would have granted one applica-
tion for stay, Ms. Arberg said.

- Buxton, 38, faced execution for
the 1980 slaying of Joel Slotnik,
who was fatally shot when his
terrified 5-year-old son refused to
follow the orders of gunmen who
were robbing a suburban Hous-
ton supermarket. The 40-year-
old Slotnik had stopped by the
store following Yom Kippur ser-
‘aces to get some bread and milk.
o The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals refused Monday to halt
thé execution, sending the case to
the Supreme Court.

«“He’s hoping for the best,”
Stanley Schneider, Buxton’s at-
torney, said.

. In their appeals, Buxton’s la-
wyers argued jurors had not been
given mitigating evidence, Speci-
fically of his impoverished youth
in the care of a drunken father.
Attorneys said the information
could have convinced jurors to
impose a life sentence, rather
than the death penalty.
> “Neither justice nor jurispru-
dence would be served by grant-
ing a stay of execution in this
case,” Texas assistant attorney
general Bob Walt said in his re-
sponse to the federal appeals
courts. He also accused defense
attorneys of trying to “constitu-
tionalize sandbagging.” .
: “lm not going to lose any sleep
over it because he deserves it,”
Don Smyth, who prosecuted the
case, said Monday. “But you'd

rather the whole thing never hap-
pened. You'd rather Mr. Slotnik
got to see his kids in college. It’s
sad.”

The Slotnik family moved to
Ohio shortly after the slaying,
Smyth said.

Buxton was charged with capi-
tal murder while already serving
35 years in prison for six robbe-
ries of savings and loan offices.
Investigators for the Harris
County district attorney’s office
discovered a similarity between
the thrift robberies and the
supermarket holdup where Slot-

nik was killed.

His wife and an older son were
waiting outside in their car and
later identified Buxton as the
man who fired the shot. Buxton, a
former meat cutter and federal
meat inspector, had removed a
ski mask as he was leaving the
store.

Smyth said the family recalled
Buxton as a large man, with a
head and upper body out of prop-
ortion with his legs and with vir-
tually no neck.

_The execution was the first for
the new administration of Gov.

Ann Richards and Attorney Gen-
eral Dan Morales.

According to state law, the gov-
ernor may issue a 30-day re-
prieve, an action no governor has
taken since the state resumed
carrying out capital punishment
in 1982. Richards was briefed ab-
out the situation but believed as
long as appeals were pending, it
would not be appropriate for her
to take any action, spokesman
Bill Cryer said.

Buxton, a 10th-grade dropout,

was described by Smyth as a rin- ,
gleader of a gang.

oti le a RIN eNO NT

IVR Pa as eae 4 ea ge ee ae
BUXTON, Lawrence Lee, bl, leth. inj. TX (Harris) 2/26/1991

Last-minute reprieve
is sought for Buxton

By KATHY FAIR
Houston Chronicle

Houston butcher, who gunned down a

grocery store customer cradling his ter-—
rified 5-year-old son during a robbery,

was awaiting execution Monday night.

Attorneys for Lawrence Lee Buxton,
convicted of capital murder in the Sept.
19, 1980, murder of
Joel Slotnik, were
still battling for
Buxton’s life in the
U.S. Supreme Court.

Earlier Monday,
the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals re-
jected claims Bux-
ton’s attorney, Stan
Schneider of Hous-
ton, raised. Schnei- :
der challenged Bux-
ton’s death sentence Buxton
on the basis of instructions given to
jurors and the fact that evidence of child
abuse, poverty as a child and an alcoholic
father had not been presented.

The Supreme Court was considering
whether an affidavit signed by Buxton’s
trial attorney, John Crow of Pasadena,
was sufficient to rehear it. In the affida-
vit, Crow said Texas law had “chilled”
him from presenting mitigating evidence
that might convince jurors to give a life

" ‘sentence rather than the death penalty.
** “If Lawrence Lee Buxton is executed,
—— -my'conscience is clean,” said Don Smyth,

“\". an assistant Harris County district attor-
HUNTSVILLE — A 38-year-old former’

ney who prosecuted him.

Smyth described the prisoner, who had
worked as a U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture meat inspector before being sent to
prison for a string of robberies, as “cold
and calloused.”

He said Buxton had participated in a

- number of robberies in the Houston area,

working with “a loose-knit group of eight
or 10 people” who started out with
convenience stores, moved to grocery
‘stores and then savings and loans.

“It is my highest belief that he ‘was
trying to shoot the kid,” when 40-year-old
Slotnik, an engineer who had recently
moved to Katy from Ohio, was shot in the
neck, Smyth added. The victim died four
days later in a hospital.

Slotnik and his 5-year-old son, Aaron,
had gone in a Safeway Store at Interstate
10 West and Fry while Buxton and two
unidentified, masked accomplices were
robbing the place. The robbers ordered
the customers to lie on the floor, but the
frightened child started screaming.

Buxton ordered the father to “shut that
kid up,” Smyth recalled. The victim

pulled his son to the floor and was holding °

him, when Buxton — who was already on
his way out door — turned, took aim for

Execution

Continued from Page 17A.

several seconds and fired.

“What kind of man would do that?”
Smyth asked. “If there had been
anything in his character to get him
to turn his life around, it would have
been after he shot and killed some-
one,” Smyth added. “But (Slotnik’s
death) didn’t slow him down one bit.”

Slotnik had stopped by the store to
buy bread and milk after Yom Kip-
pur services.

His wife, Linda, and their 14-year-
old son were waiting in the car in the
parking lot when they heard the
gunshot and saw three masked men
run out of the store.

As Buxton ran to his car, he tore
off his stocking mask, according to
trial testimony.

Buxton’s trial attorneys had
claimed there was insufficient iden-
tification of Buxton as the trigger-

B/DIUOIUD UOYSNOH

L66L ‘9% ‘Gay ‘Aepseny

Woe.

man to convict him in Slotnik’s
slaying.

He was not charged in the death |

for more than a year, after he had
been convicted of being part of an
eight-man bank robbery team.

Investigators discovered a pattern
of stolen car reports that eventually
led to Buxton as the prime suspect in
the Slotnik slaying, Smyth said. The
prisoner was identified during a po-
lice lineup as the man Linda Slotnik
and her older son had seen running
from the store.

Smyth said Buxton had developed
a pattern of reporting his car as
stolen after the robberies, in case his
car had been spotted. A month after
Slotnik’s death, Buxton reported his
car stolen, and three years later
investigators found it in a junk yard.
It matched the description of the
getaway car witnesses had seen,
Smyth said.

If executed, Buxton will be the 38th —

Texas prisoner to die since the state
resumed executions in 1982 and the
first to die in 1991.

_ __ | sae eae YRS E TD
~ ELT Sah 2 eatel Came

BUATON,

lawrence Lee, leth, inj, Texas sP 2-26-1991.

Teezdsy locdooa

FEBRUARY 26, 1991"

EDITION _
»EWENTY: a ek) CENTS

Convicted killer executed i in Texas

i i _ ASSOGATED PRESS |

o SRA Wesel cA"
M man convicted in.the 1980 slaying

ofa ‘supermarket customer was ex- |

~ ecuted by injection early:Tuesday. |’ sto
,.. Stopped. by. the store. after..Yom

- Lawrence Lee ‘Buxton’ died at Kippur services to buy: bread. and.

milk.

) “Buxton becding ‘the’ 144th in- |
mate executed i in the United States |
. since the Supreme Court let states
‘resume’ the death penalty in 1976.

ona: 21 a.m: in the death chamber at.

oe -cthe Walls. Unit state prison.

: tor: Asked if he had any last erarda: ae
«Buxton said. only “Ready, war-

den. Bes:

"Buxton, 38, was executed for hes

re _-slaying of Joel Slotnik, he ance 3 ae
when his terrified 5-year-old. son | °

"refused to follow the orders of gun-

men who were robbing a suburban }
. Houston supermarket. Slotnik had |

we . Mx . x 2 -
~ Sede pet be ORR AR tte om ~~ «

> Re — ” a ae ee rae

OT CO ee

ca et At ny te ett OOP P08 a Ogee

fF Ah

“140 879 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

cannot be prejudicial. Because neither er-
ror prejudiced King, the judgment of the
District Court is affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

|
Ckecutd fel. 94]

Lawrence Lee BUXTON,
Petitioner—-Appellant,

ve.

James A. LYNAUGH, Director, Texas

Department of Corrections,
Respondent-Appellee.

No. 88-2156.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

July 21, 1989.

Petitioner sought habeas corpus relief
from capital murder conviction. The Unit-
ed States District Court for the Southern
District of Texas, Lynn N. Hughes, J., de-
nied relief. Petitioner appealed. The

' Court of Appeals, King, Circuit Judge, held
that: (1) state court fact-findings in habeas
corpus proceeding were entitled to pre-
sumption of correctness, even though state
court did not hold live hearing; (2) failing
to move for new trial after sentencing be-
cause of juror misconduct was not ineffec-
tive assistance of counsel; and (3) whether
the Texas capital sentencing scheme was
unconstitutional for failing to provide op-
portunity to consider mitigating evidence
could not be considered for the first time
on appeal.

District Court order affirmed and peti-
tion for stay of execution denied.

Alvin B. Rubin, Circuit Judge, dissent-
ed and filed opinion.

1. Habeas Corpus ¢=741

“Hearing,” for purposes of determin-
ing whether state court fact-findings are

entitled to presumption of correctness in
federal habeas corpus proceeding, does not
necessarily require evidentiary hearing;
fact-finding based on the record can in
some circumstances be adequate. 28 U.S.
C.A. § 2254(d).

See publication Words and Phrases
for other judicial constructions and

definitions.
2. Habeas Corpus 770

State court fact-findings, in habeas
corpus proceeding, regarding alleged juror
misconduct in capital murder case were
entitled to presumption of correctness on
federal habeas corpus review, even though
state court did not hold live hearing; state
habeas court proceedings were conducted
by the court which had originally convicted
and sentenced the petitioner, and thus,
state court was in different and better posi-
tion to make determinations regarding

facts and circumstances surrounding trial -

than other courts on direct or collateral
review. 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254(d), (d)(2):

3. Criminal Law €641.13(7)

Failing to move for new trial after
sentencing on grounds of juror misconduct
was not ineffective assistance of counsel, in

capital murder prosecution; most that

could be concluded from facts as found was
that juror may have had some doubt about
defendant’s guilt during the course of the
proceedings, and under applicable Texas
law, that conclusion would not warrant
new trial. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 6.

4. Habeas Corpus 816

Claim that Texas capital sentencing
scheme was unconstitutional for failing to
provide opportunity to consider mitigating
evidence could not be considered for the
first time on appeal from denial of habeas
corpus relief from capital murder convic-
tion. 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254.

Stanley G. Schneider, Houston, Tex.
(court appointed), for petitioner-appellant.

Robert S. Walt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin,
Tex., for respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“~

BUXTON v. LYNAUGH 141
Cite as 879 F.2d 140 (Sth Cir. 1989)

Before RUBIN, KING and
HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.

KING, Circuit Judge:

After the district court denied his peti-
tion for habeas corpus and his application
for a certificate of probable cause to ap-
peal, petitioner Lawrence Lee Buxton ap-
plied to this court for a certificate of proba-
ble cause. We granted the certificate and
we now address the merits of Buxton’s
petition. Because we find no violation of
the Constitution or laws or treaties of the
United States, 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3) (1971),
we affirm the judgment of the district
court denying Buxton’s application for ha-
beas relief.

A Texas state district court convicted
Buxton of the capital offense of murder in
the course of a robbery and sentenced him
to death. The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals affirmed the conviction. Buxton
v. State, 699 S.W.2d 212 (Tex.Crim.App.

1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1189, 106 S.Ct.

2929, 91 L.Ed.2d 556 (1986). The trial
court set Buxton’s execution date for Sep-
tember 30, 1986. Buxton filed a petition
for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to
Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. Art. 11.07 in the
court which had convicted and sentenced
him. That court entered factfindings and
conclusions based on affidavits filed with
the habeas petition and the state’s brief in
opposition and on the court record without
holding a live evidentiary hearing, and it
denied the requested relief. On appeal, the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied
relief.

Buxton immediately filed an application
for a writ of habeas corpus in the United
States District Court for the Southern Dis-
trict of Texas. He simultaneously filed an
application for a stay of execution which
was unopposed by the state and granted by
the district court on September 29, 1986.

1. In his state court habeas petition, Buxton
framed the argument as follows:

Applicant was denied his right to the effec-

tive assistance of counsel at trial in the follow-

ing respects:

Subsequently, the state moved for summa-
ry judgment on the habeas petition. The
district court granted the state’s summary
judgment motion and vacated the stay it
had previously granted, entering the order
on December 18, 1987. On February 24,
1988, the district court denied Buxton’s mo-
tion for a certificate of probable cause to
appeal. We granted a certificate of proba-
ble cause and heard oral argument on the
petition for writ of habeas corpus. Buxton
also requests a stay of execution, although
no execution date has been set.

In his petition before this court, Buxton
has focused on two claims. The first as-
serts. both that his counsel provided him
with ineffective assistance by failing to
move for a new trial after sentencing be-
cause of juror misconduct. and that the
district court applied the wrong standard in
reviewing the state court’s disposition of
this question. The second argument is
somewhat amorphous; it attacks the Texas
capital murder sentencing scheme as un-
constitutional on the ground that the
scheme allows intentional discrimination
against blacks whose victims were white,
and at. the same time attacks the scheme’s
constitutionality on the ground that it fails
to allow for the consideration of mitigating
evidence. In this petition, Buxton has not
addressed a number of issues he raised
before the district court, and we therefore
do not consider them.

II. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE

Buxton contends that his trial counsel
failed to provide him with effective assist-
ance by failing to make a motion for new
trial on the ground of juror misconduct
even though counsel was aware of the al-
leged misconduct.! Under the standard set
forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466
U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674
(1984), in order to show that counsel’s as-

3.) Counsel failed to attempt to prove an
instance of jury misconduct by means of a
_motion for new trial.

ay up ‘VASILKLO o)

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™O)
™

144 879 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

convicted and sentenced Buxton. That

court entered written factfindings on th

habeas petition, without holding a live eyi-

dentiary hearing. The court Stated that i
had “considered the application for writ o

the witnesses by prison officials, that the
witnesses’ observation of the crime was

such that there was a serious likelihood of
court concluded that there was no need for

a live hearing, and it entered its findings.

misidentification, and that the witnesses’
descriptions had -not been adequately de-

* tailed. 449 US. at 541-48, 101 S.Ct. at
“The Court finds that the facts asserted in

766-67. The Supreme Court vacated the

nus, Ninth Cirecuit’s opinion. The Court held

Fitzgerald affidavits, at least to the extent
that those affidavits were contradictory.
Therefore, the issue presented here is

ton with a hearing to determine the validity
of his ineffective assistance of counsel
claim, based on his counsel’s failure to
move for a new trial because of jury mis-
conduct, which was adequate to satisfy the
requirements of section 2254(d)(2). We
Conclude that the state court factfinding
Procedure here was adequate under the
circumstances to Provide for a full and fair
hearing within the meaning of section
2254(d)(2).

tion with an examination of Sumner v.
Mata, 449 US. 539, 101 S.Ct. 764, 66
L.Ed.2d 722 (1981). In Sumner, Mata ap-
Pealed his state court Conviction to the Cali-
fornia Court of Appeal, alleging for the

tion procedures that there had been no
showing of undue influence on the witness-
es by the police, that the witnesses had had
adequate Opportunity to view the crime,
and that their descriptions had been accu-
rate. Mata Subsequently filed a petition
for a writ of habeas corpus in the state
court, resulting in a denial of relief by the
trial court, the court of appeal, and the
California Supreme Court. Mata then
turned to the federal district court for ha-

that the Ninth Circuit’s failure to indicate
which of the circumstances enumerated in
Section 2254(d) was present that allowed it
to disregard the presumption of correct-
ness ordinarily granted state court fact-
findings was fatal. It remanded the case
for consideration of section 2254(d).

{1] The Supreme Court makes clear in
its opinion that although the factfinding at
issue was made by an appellate court, on
the basis of the record, that court “clearly
held a ‘hearing’ within the meaning of
§ 2254().” 449 U.S. at 546, 101 S.Ct. at
768. It goes on to Say:

Section 2254(d) applies to cases in
which a state court of competent jurisdic-
tion has made “a determination after a
hearing on the merits of a factual issue,”
--+ [It does not] Specify any procedural
requirements that must be Satisfied for
there to be a “hearing on the merits of a
factual issue,” other than that the habe-
as applicant and the State or its agent be
parties to the state proceeding and that
the state-court determination be evi-
denced by “a written finding, written
opinion, or other reliable and adequate
written indicia.”

Id. at 546-47, 101 S.Ct. at 768-69 (quoting
28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)). Thus, Sumner teach-
es that “hearing” as it is used in section
2254(d) does not necessarily require an evi-
dentiary hearing and that factfinding based

on a record can in some circumstances be
adequate.

[2] In Smith », Estelle, 711 F.2d 677
(5th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 906,
104 S.Ct. 1685, 80 L.Ed.2d 159 (1984), we
considered a similar contention that a hear-

beas relief. The district court denied the
e€ writ, and Mata appealed. The Ninth Cir-
cuit reversed. Without mentioning section
t 2254(d), the circuit court found that there

f had been considerable pressure exerted on
habeas Corpus, the additional pleadings

filed herein and official court records in the
- case.” After that consideration, the

‘Smith. Id.

_ BUXTON v. LYNAUGH 145

Cite as 879 F.2d 140 (Sth Cir. 1989) eisiteont
idavi t adequate under sane. We held first that the

ing by affidavit was no

pis te his sanity. Jd. at 1214. As an
ae : tly “broad and gen- tion as to - held
pa ae pe siege! his attorney had alternate ground for our —* re
ps ar pina him with effective assist- that the oe Lis obecauts ed
—_ ith’ Iso. by affidavit—ha n
2, Smith’s attorney a y WE for an
me ge oe setting forth facts, “for “there — meng < beside tice
i oa : meen ng in
tradicted in their evidentiary heari he 7
the most part ... uncontradicted in th ” We reasoned, citing Sumner an
sane ith’s affidavit, indicating court. e , anil
particulars ed eer taken in representing Smith v. Estelle, that the state ‘ hae
the actions he . Py: procedure for determining the petitio

4 hey 7 Id.
" factfindings, clearly. making credibility de- ‘stances and section 2254(d)
a 9 ‘ ’

. 19. es : 9 (5th
terminations in favor of gp a vies v fede Complain 5. a
; rse to Smith. Jd. at 681. ; Cir.1987), . also..co 7
deterred th the state court's factfindings, ion factfindings are the nega cor -
hol tise that “the term ‘hearing’ is not BOC: and fair hearing and therefore se nc al
conarily. eqml.,t0 the erat cag shiner Ae St the petlipce pleaded
ing’” ting Camarillo'v. Es- orig. In resti, the ede
tats, ‘610 F 2d 47a, 476 (Gth Cir.1981)). We facta reac to show that he received inef-
e 9 ° “a

pointed out that the requirements enumer- ¢tiv6 assistance of counsel on his guilty

ing—that the nse, the state filed an affida-
din Sumner for a hearing—th fe plea. In response, ;
talons applicant and the state be ahr ‘0 vit of Uresti’s trial counsel concerning bt
the proceeding and a 2 iid ae she facts of his Se shu OP fact ined
ce ae ; ied, an Ww rt entere m :
ps ee tention that She required: Hear o i ae affidavit, rejecting many of
cre dipeasarity include an opportunity p aah contentions. Again —
6 sete live testimony or be subject to Sumner and Smith v. Estelle, eee san
cross examination. : the “state court's hearing by affi on [of
In Evans v. McCotter, 805 F.2d 1210 (5th = seiciont to invoke the presump
Cir.1986) we reaffirmed the concept that a correctness].” Jd. at 1101.

hearing by affidavit may be adequate un- We recognize that there are cases which

der section 2254(d)2). de LO at ne hold that a state factfinding was inade-
_serted in Evans was

i i to invoke the presumption of correct-
potion, ot sip ignanra sued — in certain situations when — _
the petitioner and the state edie sub- finding was based on affidavits a aN el
dicted one another. The a worn to by example, in Campbell v. sr neetrgarbain
mitted by the petitioner —. opinion Eighth Circuit held that = . ian Sed
palenry oa his Sn e and incom- _ had erred in relying on affidavi sited
that the a he = the state filed to the state appellate court ind poe
Re mile 2 = 4 affid: = its of personnel factual dispute, 487 F.2d 1, 4 ( t! : ; ve
chon teas Date nt f Corrections, In his state criminal proceedings, “ee
eg eee nabttal thet putower was disputed the legality of = keane meen
eri a ae the state sub- produced i = ve ove “haem
not insane. f ; prauniie a
aera ee ictaat Gtk was Court held that the search had been legal,
petitioner whic

by section 2254(d)(8) which provides an =
tion to the presumption of correctness bys
factual determination “is not fairly supported by
the record.”

ine the trial
Smith, we went on to examine =
. cand record for evidence giao apa
it also sup
ance, and we found that i ee ae
Iding that the state court fa
be aed correct. This was made necessary

i ae

sistance was so ineffective as to require
that his conviction or sentence be over-
turned, the petitioner must show both that
counsel’s performance did not amount to
reasonably effective assistance,” and that
the “deficient performance prejudiced the
defense.” Jd. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064
The first prong of the standard inquires
into whether counsel’s failures were so
egregious as to amount to the denial of
counsel guaranteed the defendant by the
sixth amendment. The second criterion
evaluates whether the defendant has
shown “there is a reasonable probability
that but for counsel’s unprofessional er-
rors, the result of the proceeding would
have been different.” Strickland, 466
US. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068 (citations
omitted); Earvin v. Lynaugh, 860 F.2d
623, 625-27 (5th Cir.1988). Strickland al-
lows the habeas court to look at either
prong first; if either one is found disposi-
tive, it is not necessary to address the
other. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 697, 104
S.Ct. at 2069. See also Murray v. Maggio,
736 F.2d 279, 282 (5th Cir.1984). :

Buxton contends that his trial counsel’s
failure to move for a new trial meets the
requirements of both of these prongs. He
argues that counsel knew of the juror mis-
conduct and yet failed to act, thereby fall-
ing below the standard of reasonably effec-
tive assistance, and that action would have
resulted in a new trial. Buxton asserts
secondarily that the district court applied
the incorrect standard of review to the
state court’s factfindings, given that the
findings were based on the affidavits sub-
mitted with the pleadings and the paper
record. We deal with the second of these
contentions first.

A. The Presumption of Correctness

With his original state court habeas peti-
tion, Buxton filed the affidavit of Sybil
Carr-Fitzgerald, one of his court-appointed
lawyers at trial. Carr-Fitzgerald averred
that she inadvertently overheard the jury’s

2. See note 9, infra, for a discussion of the effect

142 - 879 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

conversation during its deliberations. She
stated she “overheard a juror loudly state
that he had conceded (paraphrase) his vote
during the guilt phase of the trial when he
did not feel the defendant was guilty con-
tingent on the agreement by the other ju-
rors that the death penalty would not be
imposed by their vote.” In her affidavit,
Carr-Fitzgerald went on to state that every
effort was made to obtain an affidavit from
the juror involved and that questionnaires
were sent to all members of the jury panel,
but the attempts to substantiate further
the claim of juror misconduct failed.

Attached to its response to the petition-
er’s original state court habeas petition, the
state filed the affidavit of Buxton’s other
trial counsel, John Emmett Crow. Crow’s
version of the episode of alleged juror mis-
conduct was that Carr—Fitzgerald had over-

_ heard the jury deliberations and at the time

had reported the content of what she over-
heard: “ ‘Hell, I didn’t even believe he was
guilty and now you want me to kill him?’”
Crow also asserted that his efforts to ob-
tain an affidavit from the juror who had
made the statement were fruitless.

In its findings of fact and conclusions of
law on the habeas petition, the state trial
court—the same Texas state district court
that convicted Buxton—found expressly
that the facts asserted in Crow’s affidavit
were true and served to demonstrate that
petitioner received reasonably effective as-
sistance of counsel. It made no explicit
finding with respect to the Carr-Fitzgerald
affidavit, although it implicitly rejected
those portions of it which are inconsistent
with Crow’s affidavit.2 The federal district
court, in its findings, reviewed the state
court’s factfindings with a presumption of
correctness, citing 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)
(1977) and Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 589
101 S.Ct. 764, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981), aad
held them to be correct. The district court
went on to deny Buxton’s ineffective assist-
ance claim, holding that the facts alleged in
Crow’s affidavit would not have supported
@ motion for new trial, even if one had been

this choice had on the resolution of Buxton’s

: BUXTON v. LYNAUGH 143
Cite as 879 F.2d 140 (Sth Cir. 1989)

made on this ground.*

Buxton argues that the district court was
incorrect in its deferential review—i.e.,
with a presumption of correctness—of the
state court’s factfinding, given that there
had been no live hearing in state court. He
cites Smith v. Estelle, 711 F.2d 677 (5th
Cir.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 906, 104
S.Ct. 1685, 80 L.Ed.2d 159 (1984), to sup-
port his position that when no live hearing
is held in the state court, and the motion is
instead determined on the basis of affida-
vits, a presumption of correctness will not
arise under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 unless—as in
Smith—the affidavits are “uncontradicted
in their particulars.” 711 F.2d at 682.
Buxton argues that because in this case the
affidavits were contradictory, the absence
of a live evidentiary hearing in the state
court should force the district court to re-
view the findings more critically.

Buxton’s argument. must be analyzed
within the framework of the federal habeas

habeas claim.

3. Buxton’s counsel did make a motion for new
trial, but did not assert this ground in support of
the motion.

4. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) reads as follows:
(d) In any proceeding instituted in a Feder-

—_ al court by an application for a writ of habeas

corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the
judgment of a State court, a determination
after a hearing on the merits of a factual
issue, made by a State court of competent
jurisdiction in a proceeding to which the ap-
plicant for the writ and the State or an officer
or agent thereof were parties, evidenced by a
written finding, written opinion, or other reli-
able and adequate written indicia, shall be
presumed to be correct, unless the applicant
shall establish or it shall otherwise appear, or
the respondent shall admit—

(1) that the merits of the factual dispute

were not resolved in the State court hear-

ing;
(2) that the factfinding procedure employed
by the State court was not adequate to af-
ford a full and fair hearing;
(3) that the material facts were not ade-
quately developed at the State court hear-
ing;
(4) that the State court lacked jurisdiction
of the subject matter or the person of the
applicant in the State court proceeding;
(5) that the applicant was an indigent and
the State court, in deprivation of his consti-
tutional right, failed to appoint counsel to
represent him in the State court proceeding;

statute! The general requirements set
forth in the statute—that a state court
after a hearing made a determination in a
proceeding to which the petitioner and the
state were parties, and the determination is
evidenced by a written finding—are clearly
met here. However, the statute also sets
forth eight circumstances under which a
state court’s factfinding which otherwise
comports with the statute will not enjoy a
presumption of correctness. Among these
the pertinent exception is “(2) that the fact-
finding ‘procedure employed by the State
court was not adequate to afford a full and
fair hearing.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2).
That is, if the federal district court deter-
mines that the state court’s procedure did
not provide for a “full and fair hearing,”

the district court would be forced to hold

an evidentiary hearing of its own.®

The state court’s procedure we are scru-
tinizing here was, as we noted above, con-
ducted by the court which had originally

(6) that the applicant did not receive a full,
fair, and adequate hearing in the State court
proceeding; or
(7) that the applicant was otherwise denied
due process of law in the State court pro-
ceeding;
(8) or unless that part of the record of the
State court proceeding in which the deter-
mination of such factual issue was made,
pertinent to a determination of the suffi-
ciency of the evidence to support such fac-
tual determination, is produced as provided
for hereinafter, and the Federal court on a
consideration of such part of the record as
a whole concludes that such factual deter-
mination is not fairly supported by the
record:
And in an evidentiary hearing in the proceed-
ing in the Federal court, when due proof of
such factual determination has been made,
-unless the existence of one or more of the
circumstances respectively set forth in para-
graphs numbered (1) to (7), inclusive, is
shown by the applicant, otherwise appears, or
is admitted by the respondent, or unless the
court concludes pursuant to the provisions of
paragraph numbered (8) that the record in the
State court proceeding, considered as a whole,
‘does not fairly support such factual determi-
nation, the burden shall rest upon the appli-
cant to establish by convincing evidence that
the factual determination by the State court
was erroneous.

5. See advisory committee note to Rules Govern-
ing § 2254 cases, rule 8, 28 foll. § 2254 (1977).

146 879 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

based on its conclusion that there had been
probable cause to issue the warrant. That
conclusion was, in turn, based in part on an
affidavit submitted by a police department
detective. On habeas review; the federal
district court held that the evidence had
been legally obtained. The Eighth Circuit
reversed, holding that where there is a
substantially disputed question of fact, a
factfinding procedure based on affidavits
alone does not afford the petitioner a full
and fair hearing. The court therefore re-
manded for an evidentiary hearing on the

question.

Further, in Cabana 'v. Bullock, 474 U.S.
376, 106 S.Ct. 689, 88 L.Ed.2d 704 (1986),

- overruled in part on other grounds, Pope

v; Illinois, 481 U.S. 497, 107 S.Ct. 1918,
1922 n. 7, 95 L.Ed.2d 439 (1987), the Su-
preme Court noted that there could be cir-
cumstances under which a state appellate
court could not make factfindings adequate
to satisfy section 2254(d)(2) based on a pa-
per record. 474 U.S. at 388 n. 5, 106 S.Ct.
at 698 n. 5. The court discusses the possi-
bility that an appellate court might be
forced to make an Enmund’ determination
of whether a particular defendant killed,
attempted to kill, or intended to kill on the
basis of a paper record alone:
There might be instances, however, in
which the presumption would not apply
to appellate factfinding regarding the
Enmund criteria because appellate fact-
finding procedures were not “adequate,”
see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2). For example,
the question whether the- defendant
killed, attempted to kill, or intended to
kill might in a given case turn on credibil-
ity determinations that could not be accu-
rately made by an appellate court on the
_ basis of a paper record.
Id. (citations omitted). The Court in Caba-
na was concerned with, inter alia, whether

7. Enmund v. Florida; 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct
3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982) (eighth amend-
ment forbids the imposition of the death penalty
on “one ... who aids and abets a felony in the
course of which a murder is committed by oth-
ers but who does not himself kill, attempt to
= intend hoor a killing take place or- that
ethal force will be employed.”

S.Ct. at 3376. - pes eon

a jury was the only factfinder competent to
make the Enmund determination. The
Court held that it was not, and that a
habeas court, when faced with an Enmund
claim, must examine all of the state court
proceedings, not simply the jury instruc-
tions and verdict, to determine if an En-
mund finding had been made at any point.
The footnote, then, discusses when a state
appellate court factfinding made on the
basis of a paper record, might not merit a

presumption of correctness in the federal
habeas court.8 ; "rats

This footnote in Cabana guides our in-
quiry into when factfinding procedures will
not be adequate to merit the presumption
of correctness, but it does not change our
disposition. Unlike the hypothetical situa-
tion posited in the footnote, we are not
reviewing a factfinding made by -a state
appellate court on the basis of a paper
record. Rather, this is a decision made by
the trial court that conducted Buxton’s trial
and sentenced him. The judge before
whom Buxton was tried was in a different
and better position to make determinations
regarding the facts and circumstances sur-
rounding that trial than other courts on
direct or collateral review. The trial judge
had the opportunity to watch the trial as it
progressed, he saw both Crow and Carr-
Fitzgerald in action, and he was familiar
with the jury. He had knowledge of the
configuration of the courthouse, of where
the jury room was, and of whether a com-
ment made by a juror in that room could be
inadvertently overheard. Further, the trial
judge may have developed a respect for
Carr-Fitzgerald’s competence that would
give him pause to wonder why she failed to
move for a mistrial on the ground of jury
misconduct at the time, if the evidence she
gives now is true. As a federal court in
collateral review, we are far removed from

8. The hypothetical situation proposed in this
footnote has at least once been realized. In
Hyman v. Aiken, 824 F.2d 1405 (4th Cir.1987)
the Fourth Circuit followed the footnote to hold
that neither the state appellate court's, nor the
state post-conviction court’s Enmund findings
merited a presumption of correctness given that
they were based on credibility determinations
made on the basis of the record.

BUXTON v. LYNAUGH 147
Cite as 879 F.2d 140 (5th Cir. 1989)

the trial proceedings and therefore defer to
the trial court’s determination of the fac
surrounding ‘that trial. ;
Moreover, in cases of federal review of
state trial proceedings, there are considera-
tions of comity that militate against federal
courts reviewing factfindings with a less
deferential ‘standard. As the Supreme
Court in Sumner stated, ;
Federal habeas has been a source of fric-
tion between state and federal courts,
and Congress obviously meant to allevi-
ate some of that friction ‘when it enacted
subsection (d) in 1966°as an amendment
to the original Federal Habeas Act of
1867. Accordingly, some content must
be given to the provisions of the subsec-
tion if the will of Congress be not frus-
trated.... A writ issued at the behest
of a petitioner under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is
in effect overturning either the factual
or legal conclusions reached by the state-
court system under the judgment of
which the petitioner stands convicted,
and friction is a likely result.

Sumner, 449 U.S. at 550, 101 S.Ct. at 770.
While we are mindful of our obligation to
protect a state prisoner against violations
of his federal constitutional rights through
habeas corpus, we must also keep federal-
ism in mind, and maintain a high level of
caution when reviewing the proceedings of
a state court. Therefore, we agree with
the district court’s application of the pre-
sumption of correctness, and we find no
evidence to rebut that presumption here.
We therefore conclude that the statements
in the Crow affidavit are true.

B. The Legal Conclusions

{3] The application of the presumption
of correctness to the state court factfind-
ings has, of course, no effect on our review
of the legal conclusions reached on the
basis of those facts—we, as always, subject
the legal conclusions to de novo review.

9. If, however, the facts as alleged in the Carr-
Fitzgerald affidavit had been believed, there is a
strong possibility that a Texas court would have
granted an evidentiary hearing on the question
of jury misconduct. McIntire, 698 S.W.2d at
658-59; Dugard v. State, 688 S.W.2d 524, 528-29
(Tex.Cr.App.1985).

After such a review, we agree with the
conclusion that, according to Texas: law,
juror misconduct cannot be found on the
facts as found here.

Under Texas law, to make a showing of

juror misconduct, the petitioner must show
“(1) juror misconduct that (2) deprived him
of a fair and impartial trial.” Vorwerk v.
State, 735 S.W.2d 672, 673 (Tex.App.—Aus-
tin 1987). When, as here, the alleged mis-
conduct consists of improper consideration
of punishment during deliberation on
guilt/innocence, under Texas law the peti-
tioner must show not simply that punish-
ment was discussed in the guilt/innocence
phase, but also that “members of the jury
[made].an agreement to render a guilty
verdict in exchange for a lighter punish-
ment.” . Id. at 674 (emphasis in original).
Even in the event the jurors concede that
leniency was discussed during guilt/in-
nocence deliberations, in the absence of a
resulting agreement, juror misconduct has
not been found. Daniels v. State, 600 S.W.
2d 818, 816 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). The most
that we can conclude from the facts found
here is that a juror may have had some
doubt about Buxton’s guilt during the
course of the proceedings. This would cer-
tainly not suffice to support a successful
motion for new trial, nor would it even
require that the court grant an evidentiary
hearing on the question. See McIntire v.
State, 698 S.W.2d 652, 658 & n. 12 (Tex.Cr.
App.1985).2_ Thus, the second prong of the
Strickland standard for ineffective assist-
ance, which requires the petitioner to show
that the failure of his counsel caused the
petitioner to suffer prejudice, has not been
met. ;

III. McCLESKEY CLAIM

[4] Buxton’s second argument is that
the Texas capital sentencing scheme is un-
constitutional.!° His argument was origi-

10. Buxton first raised this argument in his
Amended Application for a Writ of Habeas Cor-
pus in the state trial court. He framed the
claim as follows:

The Texas capital murder scheme is uncon-
stitutional as written and as applied because it
operates in such a way as to allow intentional

“Lovett Cady, charged by the State with the crime of
murder, you have been arraigned before a Jury of your
peers and after argument of counsel and a careful dis-
passionate examination of all the witnesses, you stand con-
victed according to the law and the evidence. It now be-
comes my painful duty to pronounce the sentence of the
law against you for the shedding of innocent blood.

“The crime of murder is one of awful malignity in the
sight of God and of man, even when perpetrated on an
enemy and under ordinary circumstances. How much more
then, in your case, when you have in cold blood and with-
out apparent provocation taken the life of an unoffending
man. If, in the midst of a sudden passion which sometimes
overtakes the wisest and the best, you had dealt the fatal
blow, your guilt might have been somewhat extenuated;
but you deliberately planned the murder and as artfully
sought to hide it after it was consummated.

“You laid your plans in secret—you conspired against
the life of Samuel Sinclair, your nearest neighbor, and
you executed your hellish purpose under cover of your own
roof. You ushered his soul into eternity by shooting.a bul-
let through his body while he stood, an unsuspecting
victim, within the door of his own domicile, enjoying, as
he had a right to suppose, that security and immunity
from harm which a man’s house, or his castle as the law
regards it, seldom fails in a Christian country.

“Your heart seemed steeped in depravity and totally
bent upon mischief. You must, therefore, feel the justice
ef the sentence about to be pronounced on you, for al-
though you are represented to be poor, and in social posi-
tion not high, you have had the highest privileges which
the Law affords to any citizen. You have had the benefit of
able counsel who have faithfully performed their duty
towards you—a jury of twelve impartial freemen, enter-
taining no prejudice against you but selected by yourself
and sworn to do you justice. By these you have been pro-

{ 66 ]

Re he ie
Beak

*
3s

nounced guilty of murder, so cowardly and cruel as to
leave no doubt upon my mind as to your guilt.

“In granting you twenty-one days respite I extend to
you far more mercy than you showed your victim. You
gave him no time to make his peace with God. To you I
grant all these privileges and I earnestly recommend you
to set about preparing for the awful moment when you
will have to meet your victim at a higher Bar than this
and account to your God for the blood you have shed
which, like Abel’s, cries from the ground.

“Lovett Cady, you have my deepest sympathy, not that
you have to suffer the punishment of the law, for that is
just—but that you should have been so depraved, so lost
to virtue and to every manly feeling of compassion, as to
lift your hand to shed the blood of a brother man. I ad-
monish you, therefore, as your fellow mortal, bound to
account for all my acts, that you will humble your heart
for your horrible crime. There is no pardon here for you
except the Executive clemency, and it would be more than
folly for you to indulge in such a hope. God, however, is
an all-merciful as well as all-powerful being and able,
though your sins be as scarlet, to make you white as snow.

““My sentence is, therefore, that on Friday, the 29th day
of the present month, you be taken from the jail by the
sheriff of the county between the hours of 9 o’clock a. m.
and 4 o’clock p. m., and be hung by the neck until you are
dead, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

After Judge Todd concluded, Cady said, “I confess that
I killed Sam Sinclair, but I was compelled to do so to save
my own life. I was shut up in my own house and afraid to
leave it. I had been assaulted, beaten and left for dead by
the bandit crew who, finding they had not killed me, was
determined to have my life anyhow. Three guns were kept
loaded for three months to kill me and for no other reason
than that I kept an opposition house. I can prove this. My
case has not been rightly handled, or I would not now be

[ 67 ]

under this sentence. Before God and this Court, this is
‘true. I appeal to anyone who has known me from my in-
fancy, if I was ever inclined to injure any man unless com-
pelled to do it. Before God and this Court, this is true.”

Clarksville Standard, reporting the verdict, said, “We
are told that the prisoner listened to the sentence without
evincing emotion, but his wife who was present and, as has
been supposed, instigated the murder, was very much af-
fected though, as one would suppose, as we are told, that
from looking at the two she was the least likely to be
troubled by any of the softer emotions. Cady is a small,
thin-faced man, about 50 years of age; his wife a stout
woman of threatening manner and coarse expression,
perhaps 40 years of age. They have, we believe, two
daughters.”

The Standard’s issue the week following June 29, 1855,
said, “About 3 o’clock Cady was hung, about two miles
north of town in the Round Grove. He deported himself
under the scaffold with a gravity and propriety becoming
his situation, participated in prayer and avowed religious
convictions and hopes. The Reverend J. W. P. McKenzie
ministered him and expressed the hope his two daughters
would never be held accountable for the act of their father.
His wife attended him to the scaffold and stayed with him
to the last. She shrieked as the halter was adjusted to his
neck and when he swung off she ran to him and endeavored
to hold him up until Sheriff West removed her. Driving
the cart from under him allowed him to fall about three
inches. Pulsation of the arteries was perceptible for about
twenty minutes, but there was little struggle. After hang-
ing 35 minutes he was taken down and found still warm,
so much so that his wife for a little time entertained a be-
lief that he might be restored.” }

[68 ]

THES 1s, &
HED RIVER VALLEY
THEN AND NOW

A. W. NEVILLE

STORIES of PEopLe and Events
In the Red River Valley During the First
Hundred Years of Its Settlement

ILLUSTRATED by JosSE CISNEROS
5

PARIS : TEXAS : 1948

Execution of Lovett Cady

j I n 1854 Pine Bluffs was a village near the bank of Red
- River, northwest of Clarksville. Among other establish-
*#° ments there were two groggeries, as places where whisky
rast was sold then were called. One was kept by Sam Sinclair,
=< the other by Lovett Cady. They were competitors in bus-
. iness. One day in September, 1854, Cady poked his rifle
- out of a window in his place and shot Sinclair who was
“standing in the door of his place. He was arrested, put in
*- jail in Clarksville and in December the grand jury indict-
- ed him and two others. George Frazier, charged with
fen complicity in the homicide, was tried immediately and
“ acquitted, whereupon Cady asked and was given a con-
__. tinuance until the Spring term of Court. Ten days later
_~ Miller Husbands, the other man charged as an accomplice,
© was tried and acquitted.
é i _ At the June, 1855, term of Court, Cady was put on trial
ny and a verdict of first degree murder was returned by the
--s Jury ten minutes after it retired to consider the evidence.
‘41 Cady had offered no evidence in his own defense. He had
“Stated under oath that he had been assaulted and beaten
© by three men, friends of Sinclair, and that he had not
“dared to go outside of his own house for three months.
_.., He was apparently unable to substantiate this, at least
he did not do so. The trial and verdict was on a Wednes-
day and on Friday Judge W. S. Todd sentenced Cady to
». be hanged on Friday, June 29, and called his attention to
’ the fact that he had granted him 21 days of life—far more

than Cady gave the man he murdered.

Judge Todd’s language in sentencing Cady, is worthy
of preservation in addition to the records of Red River
County. He said:

[65 ]

of the previous week. Upon some of the

Willis Bonner, a Moderator, and killed |
him after a shootout in downtown Madi-
son. An hour later, all hell broke loose
when Jack Cross collided with Burwell
Alexander, a friend of Glover’s, at an
intersection on Front Street, and the
West Texas gunman mortally wounded
Alexander in the neck. As Dr. ‘Andrew
Mairs knelt to attend his friend’s wound
and try to stop the bleeding, Cross killed
the physician also. For an entire week
no further violence occurred, but the
Moderators, considering themselves out-
numbered, maintained an armed camp
at Madison in the event of a Regulator
attack. :

Tiring of the inactivity, Merriman de-
cided to take the offensive. Long before
daylight on June 22, he assembled twen-
ty-eight Méderators at the courthouse
and told them they would attempt to take
Glover and his band by surprise. As
the committee of safety rode north
through the wilderness, they waylaid and
killed two strangers, passing through
the county, whom they mistook for
Regulators. By dawn the committee had
surrounded the cabins of Brandon and
Moore. Forewarned in some manner,
Bazille Sapp and another man escaped
to the Sabine River swamps, but the
remainder of the Regulator stronghold,
caught unprepared as they slept, offered
no resistance and surrendered.

By then, Merriman was apparently
feeling remorse for the wanton killings

Regulators’ agreement to remove them-
selves 150 miles from the county’s bor-
ders:and never return, the Moderators
accompanied Brandon, Thaddius Pate and
William Blake to the Newton County line
and released them. Their hatred of Sher-
iff Glover and Moore, however, was too
intense for that course of action, and
the Moderators determined to bring the
pair back to Madison to stand trial for
their crimes.

WHEN Moore surrendered, a system-
YY ati¢ search of his cabin was con-
ducted. Bazille Sapp’s saddle bags were
found to contain a quantity of forged
land certificates and counterfeit: coins.
When a Moderator discovered a locked
trunk under .a bed, Moore was asked to
produce the key, but he refused. A boot
kick dislodged the lid, however, exposing
to view the “far-famed Sabine Bogus
Mint—consisting of dies for making
$2%, $5, $10, and’ $20 pieces and dou-
bloons—together with a large assort-
ment of crucibles and bogus metal, and
five or six hundred ‘Adllars in counter-
feit $5 and $10 pieces—new and bright as
a new pin.”
Panic-stricken, Moore grabbed a hid-
den revolver and began firing, but the
bullets from. several- guns quickly cut
him down. He died on the floor of his
cabin with the cocked revolver still
clenched in his fist. a
Glover, arguing that he was the duly-
elected sheriff and knew nothing of
his uncle’s illicit activities, refused to
return to Madison as a prisoner; and
Cross, soon disgusted with the stalling
techniques, drew a pistol and killed him.

The Moderator posse, convinced that they

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‘

”

had destroyed the Regulator leadership

yand ended the civil strife, then returned

to Madison and disbanded. Tempers
cooled rapidly in Orange County there-
after, but things were never the same
again. More than thirty Mulatto fam-

ouisiana, and half of them abandoned

2 ilies had evacuated to Calecasieu Parish,

Yexas permanently.

Jack Bunch was. recognized and ar-
rested in Montgomery County. On a
change of venue, he was tried and con-
victed of first degree murder at Beau-
mont, Texas, on November 12, 1856. Two
weeks later he was executed on a scaffold
so crudely constructed that the con-
demned youth had to climb a ladder
which was then twisted and pulled out
from under him.

Sam Ashworth fared somewhat better.

‘After a period in West Texas, he fled to

the Indian Territory and lived with the
Choctaw tribe for several years. When
the Civil War began, he enlisted in the
Confederate Army and subsequently was
killed at the Battle of Shiloh in April
1862.

Jack Cross continued his flight east-
ward. Early in 1857 he killed a man
named Jake Morrison at Lake Charles,
Louisiana, and later was executed, the
victim of a lynch mob who left him
swinging from the branch of a live oak

tree. Hence, Cross died by the sword he

knew so well,

After a two-months cooling-off period,
Aaron, Abner, and William Ashworth
and a few Mulattoes brought their fam-
ilies back to Orange County. Historical
records of that period are scarce and
rague, but it becomes apparent that the
iarge cattle herds of Orange County
dwindled rapidly after that year, a new
breed of Southern planters and_ slave-
holders soon arriving to cut up the rich
prairie’lands into cotton plantations. In
the census enumeration of 1860, Aaron
Ashworth, once worth more than $30,000
(and the wealthiest Jefferson County
resident in 1850), had managed to retain
about one-half of his 1850 estate, but his
large herd of 3,000 cattle had dis-
appeared.

Abner and William A horosth. ‘each of
whom formerly owned herds totaling
1,500 steers and large tracts of land, had
lost nearly all of their wealth, and the
62-year-old William was reduced to the
status of a day laborer. Whether or not
their economic ruin was brought about
through property confiscation or forced
sale at give-away prices in unknown at
this time.

Time and fate have a way of becom-
ing great equalizers. With the advent of
the :American Civil War in 1861, three
companies of soldiers were organized in
this unhappy land and went forth to Vir-
ginia to fight, but no more than six ever
returned. All the others became victims
of battlefields and disease. And what
_the ravages of war did not accomplish,
a hurricane did. On September 13, 1865,

| massive storm took a large toll of life .

6. Orange, formerly Madison, and left

only four buildings standing in the once
“pretty as a fairy tale” river port city.

“The Barrens” overlooking Redrock Lake on the Coppermine River.

He Lived with the Barrens
(Continued from page 15)

dying in England, and his son was called
to him. In England, Jack Hornby met
his young cousin, Edgar Christian, the
son of a distinguished soldier.

Although very young, Edgar Christian
was planning to go adventure-hunting in
Africa. After meeting Jack Hornby, a
oe to the North became his one a in
life.

Hornby acceded and_ they landed in;
Montreal in the spring of 1926. In Edmon-
ton they met Harold Aldard, a twenty-six-
year-old airman whom Hornby had re-
fused to allow on the Bullock trip, put-
ting him off with a promise to let him
go along later. Aldard reminded Jack
Hornby of that promise and, since this

couldn’t be one of his solitary, living-. '

with-the-country trips anyway, Hornby

agreed to take him, too. <

They traversed Great Slave Lake in a
big square-sterned canoe, heading for one
of the few stands of spruce on the Thelon.
To the man who ordinarily scorned even

the shelter of the dwarf trees on the

edge of the Barrens, this was going to be
an easy winter. He had to make it so,
knowing that neither of his companions
had been up north before. They would
make no dog-trips and just do the neces-

_ sary hunting, fishing and trapping. Then,

on an unhurried canoe trip back, they

Photo from National Film Board

would prospect for pitchblende. And, of
course, they would collect more data about
“the area.

They threw up a fourteen-feet by four-

teen-feet log cabin (a luxury Jack Horn-.

by often did without) while waiting for
the migration of caribou, those splay-
footed creatures of which the Indians
say, “They are like ghosts, they come
from nowhere, they fill up the land and
then, like ghosts, they disappear.” But
this year the caribou did not come.

Had Hornby been alone, even the ab-
sence of the herds might not have wor-
ried him, but he had two inexperienced
companions to consider. They couldn’t
survive, as he could, or as Indians could,
on a shoestring of. food and a reserve
of strength until a special effort was
needed.

By December, despite an occasional
caribou and some fish, food supplies were
getting low. Hornby, as he had done be-

fore, denied himself for others—without

their knowing it. His companions didn’t
drift away when the food was short as
Indians might have done. Jack Hornby
could have managed it alone but that
thought never entered his mind. On
Christmas Day spirits were low. The two
young men were discovering that winter
in the North wasn’t full of dramatic
adventures as they’d expected—the hero-
ism was of a different sort.

Jack Hornby promised them a treat for
dinner. “Caribou head,” he announced.

He’d saved it for the occasion. That north- .

Looking down Jasper Avenue in Edmonton in 1925.

Photo from Public Archives of Canada

Old West _.

3 , eid 226 SW =2nd= 61,6, sai si Ma
BUNN,, Lee Everett, black, electrocuted Texas State Prison (McLennan) on 5-3=1950

RS |
"Discovery of a blood-stained automobile containing a torn and bloody coat, a purse and a
bumper jack, and other items, also stained with blood, set police and other officers off a

New. Year's day -search for two missing Negroes, Bill Criner and Venie Pearl Bell, and for a
third Negro whose name police don't know, The coat was identified by friends of Venie Pearl

as belonging to her, They said she had it on when they last saw her, in company with Criner
and a tall stranger at a tavern at 3:30 AM Saturday, The automobile, a 191.7 Ford sedan
belonging to Providence Hospital, where Criner is employed, was found at 8:51 o'clock Sate
urday morning on the old Robinson Road, just inside the city limits, by Mrs, A. S. Byers of
2609 Robinson Road who telephoned police, Patrolman Hobart Howell and Kenneth Howard, in-
vestigators, noted the cushions of the car were bloody, and found the torn and bloody coat,
and the jack, in the car. Nearby they also found a bloody purse, belonging to a woman,
Other articles they found were a man's hat and astring of imitation pearls, Detectives

T, L. Bennett and R, G. McClain joined the investigation, Ownership of the car was traced
to the hospital, Hospital authorities said they hadn't seen Criner since Friday night.

He sometimes drove the car. Not until late in the afternoon did a group of Negro girls,
friends of Venie Bell, hear about the discovery of the coat, They came to the police
station and told Sgt. Oliver Chambers, Sheriff C. C. Maxey, and State Highway Patrolman
Nelson Higginbotham that the coat belonged to their friend, Venie Bell, who resides at

806 North Eight Street. Several of them said they were with Criner for a while New Year's
Eve; two of them saw Criner with Venie Bell at a tavern between 1 a, m and 3:30 a. my, they
said, They said they didn't know the name of the Negro man who was with the couples they
described him as very tall' and hatless, and told police what sort of clothes he had on,
The woman said they thgught Criner 'must have had money,' because they said Friday was pay
day at the hospital and he was free with his money Friday night. Police said the coat be-=
longing to Venie Bell appeared to have been cut as well as torn, They hadn't been able to
locate any of the missing people at hospitals or elsewhere, and a search of the region where
the car was found had yielded nothing new."' TRIBUNE-HERALD, Waco, Texas, January 2, 19))9(1-1)

"Grand jurors had a 7=page statement to study this morning concerning the slaying of Bill
Criner and Vennie Pearl Bell, both Negroes, District Attorney Gene Maddin said he took the
statement from Lee Everett Bunn, Negro, who is charged with the New Year's Eve double slaying,
Bunn was charged before Judge Nash Oliver this morning, ae
"Bunn, a 26-year=old, 6-foot, leinch, Negro, was arrested at his home 1912 South 23rd Ste,
just 36 hours after a blood-stained auto was discovered on the old Robinson Road near the
Circle, About midmorning Sunday Deputy Sheriffs Leslie Stegall, Mose White, and Travis Due
Bose found the battered body of the Negro woman in a shallow creek near where the car was
parked, Bunn Said the slaying climaxed a New Year's Eve celebration in which he was invited
by Criner to join their party. He said the pair were carrying him home when Criner Suddenly
stopped the car and began striking him, Bunn, with a short iron bar. Bunn told officers he
jumped from the car, and snatched a bumper jack from the floor of the rear seat and struck
Criner as he came out of the car. . .
"Bunn also said he struck Vonnie Pearl as she came from the car, He said he was afraid she
had a knife. He told District Attorney Gene Maddin that he struck both of the victims re-
peatedly and then loaded both bodies back into the car and drove out on the Robinson Road

to dispose of them, He said he threw the woman's body in a creek as he passed over the bridge
but saw that she did not fall in the water so he got out of the car, went down’ in the creek,
hed and threw the body into the water, He said he then drove back toward Waco, threw Cri-
ner's body in a ditch and covered it with Johnson grass and then drove the car near the

Circle and abandoned it. He walked to his home a few blocks away and went to bed,

"Police Chief M, Burton, Detective Captain Wiley Stem, and Detective W, E. Westmoreland found
a man who knew where Bunn lived and arrested Bunn while he was still in bed, Maddin said
Bunn at first said he left the couple in a Negro tavern earlier in the night but later told
the officers of the slaying. Bunn was identified by several witnesses as being the man

seen with Criner and Vonnie Pearl earlier, After making the statement, Bunn took the officers
to Criner's body, Officers said they found a bloody shirt and newly washed trousers at Bunn's
home, Bunn said they were the clothes he had worn the night of the slayings —

"Criner was an employee of Providence Hospital, combng there as a patient when he was 12-years-
old, e had been badly burned in an accident. His life was saved by the hospital staff and

i oe t dh
he wanted. to work fpr them without pay ous oo ed oks Chatrfeur Por the hospital ror a number of

ears and was driving one of the hospital's cars at the time of his death, Vonnie Pearl Bell
lived at 80) North Eighth Street and was about 20-years-old," TRIBUNE-HERALD,. Waco, Texas,

January 3, 1949 (1-2).

"Vonnie Pearl Bell did no t die from blows on the head but drowned <in a small muddy creek
according to autopsy report by Dr. W. W. Klatt, pathologist." TRIBUNE-HERALD, L-l=-19)9(p Lh-3)

f the

«. LARGE, patrolling the
las, Texas, about 2:15 in
1, 1931, noticed a sedan
The Overton Road is half
olmes Street Road, near

was a gay young couple.
chreiber and Pauline Cor-

ight is dangerous,” Deputy

| to get away from the
claimed,

us!” Pauline, petite seven-
ily echoed. “This is the
ve them the slip. No one
ve are! Isn't that funny?”
n: “You’re running risks

d girl asked jokingly, to-

‘or a while. Then Deputy
to town. He was the last
Pauline Corman alive.
workman resident of the
3 the same road. Bright
‘nly he stood still! Some-
caught his eye! There to
wire fence, partially hid-
dy of a youth. Coming
the boy had been shot in
Juickly, the man retraced
* scene,
ed as Abe Schreiber. A
nion, and later the girl’s
ht breast, was also found.
e View Road, which is a
toad, and the Missouri,
tracks, about one’ hun-
1 at the railroad crossing;
spot where that of her
ms had been robbed.
couple had left Miss Cor-
reet the night before, was
s Street, between Preston
ack seat of the automobile
iber bullet was buried in

cers how he had warned
he had returned over the
and found the car gone.
and girl had heeded his
mes.

n’s body revealed that she
d been killed.

sth the Sheriff’s office and
instigated. But this hor-
most revolting and shock-
Jallas County, was to re-
* * *

x of Wednesday, August
ised over two things.
that evening with his girl.

TEXAN LOVE

Both young people lived in the Pleasant Mound com-
munity, near Mesquite.

Katheryn was a graduate of the Oak Cliff High School,
and a member of the First Baptist Church.

“If it’s just the same to you, Mace,” Katheryn said over
the telephone, “come early enough for us to call on Mil-
dred before prayer-meeting time.” re

“O. K.!” As Mace went out to help his family finish the
night work on the farm, he was whistling a gay tune. He
was planning just what he was going to tell Katheryn.

Later when he stopped his coupe at the home of Miss -

pone the gay tune was still running’ through Mace Carver’s
ead,
“You surely do look pretty tonight!” he told Katheryn.
“Thank you!” She smiled at. Mace in her Sentle, serious
way. “I’m ready now. Let’s go to see Mildred.”
But Mildred did not happen to be at homey and they
had to drive a while until it was time to go to church,
After the services friends gathered around the couple, for
Katheryn and Mace were popular,

“Katheryn, you're looking fine to-night,” more than one | -

friend remarked.

“T’'ve been telling her that, too,” her sweetheart chimed
in.

About nine-thirty the couple left the church, and Mace
said:

“Mind if we go by where I’m working before we start
out home?”

“Not at all,” Katheryn answered.

So the next stop the coupe made was at the Crystal Ice
Company station on Second Avenue, South Dallas, where
Carver was employed.

“Hey, you, Lanky!”” Mace called good-naturedly to one
of the attendants. “I’ll be reporting for duty at midnight.”

And that was the last time this couple was seen alive.

J T. Prince, Katheryn’s only brother, arrived home about

* eleven’ o'clock that fateful Wednesday evening, August
30th. Mrs. Prince knew when he went to hig room, for she
was listening for the sound of Mace. Carver’s car outside,
that would tell her that Katheryn, too, had come home.

Twelve o'clock came, and still no Katheryn.

“Father, wake up! Katheryn’s not come yet, and I’m
worried about her.” ;

“I'm awake!” the voice at her side said: “I’ve been wait-
ing and listening, too.” :

“I wonder if something has happened to her! Katheryn’s
such a thoughtful girl! It’s not like her to stay out late,

-and cause us anxiety.”

One o'clock. Two. The parents, fully convinced that
something was wrong and unable to sleep, arose. They
called Katheryn’s brother. :

“She’s probably spending’ the night with Mildred, or
some of her pals,” he said to reassure them. “Go back to
bed, and stop worrying. Katheryn’s all right.”

They went back to bed, but they could not stop worry-
ing.

Next morning, after early and frantic telephone calls
had failed to reveal Katheryn’s whereabouts, T, H. Prince,
the girl’s father, called the officers,

It was then that he learned that Mace Carver, wounded
and semi-conscious, had been found in a ditch where he had
apparently been lying for several hours.

The youth was taken to Parkland Hospital, where the
wounds in his neck and right wrist were declared critical.

Right) Miss Kath-
eryn Prince, sweet-
faced and serious. She
left her home to drive
with her sweetheart
on the night of August
30th, 1933, and never
returned

BURKEEY Brothers - Texas - Continued.

"Condensation of remainder of articke: Brother Louie, 23, made a statement, admitting

truth of Bluitt's statement and said when his brothers had left Bluitt's car which he

was drivinng, he drove home without waiting for bruthers, The next morning mam Bluitt
asked why hehad left them, he explained thathewas scared. Bluitt showed him a watch

but did not say where he had gotten it, Also said that they had gotten in som trouble

and that he (Bluitt) had shot a man, Bluitt subsequently told him that Thurman had shot the
woman,

Mace Carver was still alive and had bem transferred to another hospital.

Officers began auestioning them about the Corman-Screiber case when they noticed similaritese
In his confession of Corman-Schreiber case, Bhurman said they had initally confronted couple
and Bluitt had shot Schreiber because he thought Bchreiber had curshed him on a previous
o€€abion, Said Bluitt had ordered him to shoot woman and threatened to shoot him if he did
note

Following quote from article: "The body of MissCorman was found shot through the breast, as
was Miss Prince's between the Bonnie ViewRoad and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway tracks
about 100 yards west of Sargeant Switch, It was slightly more than a mile fromvhere
Schreiber's body was found, entagled in a barb wife fence qnd nearly hidden by tall weeds on
the Overton Road, half a mile west of the Holmes St, Road near Miller's Ferry bridge. He
had been shot through the left sideof the chest. Both had bea robbed, Xk

"The tip which led to the arrest of theBurkley brothers was reported to have come from Aes
McCutcheon, a farmer living near the seene of the Pleasant Mound crime, His son, Shelton,
was driving thatnight on the road shortly after the shooting and ran out of gasoline.
Thurman and Bluitt Burkley drove by in an old car and young McCutcheon stopped the pakr and
‘asked for some gasoline, The negroes seaned nervous, he said, and told him they had only

a quart or so in the tank. However, wha he investigated, he found plenty. Ag soon as

news of the crime reached him, McCutcheon connected his son's story of the negroes with the
shooting and telephored deputies. He then placed the negroes under surveillance and signale
the deputies when they drove by, he said, The two priseners were arrested within a few
minutes of each other and when their later statements connectéd Louie with the okder crime
the third brother was placed in the county jail." NEWS, Dallas, 9-2-1733 (1/1)

The following condensation of article appearing in NEWS 9-12-1933 (1/8).

Both brothers convicted AKAXX#HKSKARA by juries assessing death penalty for each, for mr-
der of Katheryn Prince, Tried separately while Carver still lay at death's door, During
trials courtrooms and corriders of pbuilding were heavily guarded by more than 2 dozen
officers directed personally by the sheriffs. Trials conducted behind locked doors and
only spectators admitted were those able to convince guards they intended no violence and
were not armed, In spite of heavy rans, courtroom crowded to capacity and other crowds
maintained vigil from steps of old courthouse building and peered into courtroom and wine
dows of adjancent Hall of Records building. Crowds orderly. Brothers defended by court
appointed counsel, Bluitt surprised everyone by pleading not guilty. He was first tried
and said confession had bem obtained while he was afraid of mob violence, He tried to
put all blame on Thurman and no other evidence offered by defense Bxcept his testimony.
Thurman pleaded guilty and took stand in defense, He appeared more alert than Bluitt

and testified moreplainly. Both brothers were calm and seemed unmoved by proceedings.
When he took stand and was told to tell his story, Thurman turned calmly to judge and
$hen jury and and began: "Gentlemen of the jury and Judge, Your Honors I am guilty of
this crime.' He related details, saying that he was nervous and gun accidentally dis-
charged when he shot Carvere Said he ran without waiting to seewhat had happened to
Carver. Hesaid he and Bluitt took girl into another field and, after some comversat ion,
he left Bluitt there with her, returning to car, and did not hear theshots, Bluitt's
story was the same except that he claimad that Thurman had also killed girl. Girl's
father, T.. H. Prince, sobbed on stand when he told how daughter failed to return home.

TRAPPING THE

TWIN KILLERS of the

BY K. NUNN

A story of the incredible horror
that came into the lives of two
fine young Southern couples; a
story that should hold thought-
provoking warnings to thou-

sands of young people all over

America

“‘Who’s afraid?” cried seventeen-year-old Pauline Cor-

man (above) when Deputy Sheriff Large uttered his warn-

ing. Little did she realize the sinister fate that was even
then awaiting her

Overton Road near Dallas, Texas, about 2:15 in

the morning, June 27th, 1931, noticed a sedan

parked over at one side. The Overton Road is half

a mile west of the Holmes Street Road, near
Miller’s Ferry Bridge.

Large stopped. Inside the car was a gay young couple.
They gave their names as Abe Schreiber and Pauline Cor-
man,

“Parking on a lonely road at night is dangerous,” Deputy
Large told them seriously.

“Aw, have a heart! We had to get away from the
crowd,” nineteen-year-old Abe exclaimed.

“The gang sticks too close to us!” Pauline, petite seven-
teen-year-old brunette, laughingly echoed. “This is the
first time we’ve been able to give them the slip. No one
in the world has an idea where we are! Isn't that funny?”

Large laughed, but said again: “You're running risks
parking on the road like this.”

“Who's afraid?” The boy and girl asked jokingly, to-
gether,

The three laughed and talked for a while. Then Deputy
Large left them and drove on into town, He was the last
person to see Abe Schreiber and Pauline Corman alive.

Sunday morning, June 28th, a workman resident of the
neighborhood, was walking along the same road. Bright
sunshine flooded the world, Suddenly he stood still! Some-

Dv: SHERIFF W. R. LARGE, patrolling the

thing at the side of the road had caught his eye! There to |

the left, entangled in a barbed-wire fence, partially hid-
den by tall weeds, was the body of a youth, Coming
closer he saw to his horror that the boy had been shot in
the left side and in the chest. Quickly, the man retraced
his steps to summon others to the scene. .

The boy was quickly identified as Abe Schreiber. A
search was made for his companion, and later the girl's
body, shot twice through the right breast, was also found.
It was lying between the Bonnie View Road, which is a
continuation of the Overton Road, and the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railroad tracks, about one hun-
dred yards west of Sargent Switch at the railroad crossing;
a mile and six-tenths from the spot where that of her
fiancé was found. Both the victims had been robbed.

The automobile, in which the couple had left Miss Cor-
man’s home at 1401 Peabody Street the night before, was
found in the 2200 block of Paris Street, between Preston
and Central, South Dallas. The back seat of the automobile

_was blood-stained, and a .38-caliber bullet was buried in
“the upholstery,

Deputy Large told’ fellow-officers how he had warned
the couple. He also related that he had returned over the
same route a short time later and found the car gone.
Naturally he thought the boy and girl had heeded his
warning and returned to their homes.

An examination of Miss Corman’s body revealed that she
had been assaulted before.she had been killed.

A persistent investigation by both the Sheriff's office and
the local police was immediately instigated. But this hor-
rible double slaying, one of the most revolting and shock-
ing that had ever happened in Dallas: County, was to re-
main unsolved for over two years. .

x * _* “* *

Mace Carver, on the morning of Wednesday, August
30th, 1933, was particularly pleased over two things.

He had a job, and a date for that evening with his girl.
Katheryn Prince.

§ triple-corded noose of confessions tightened Friday around Thurman Burkley and Bluitt
Burkley as the two brothers and a third, Louie Burkley, admitted the killing of Miss Pauline
Corman, 17, of 101 Peabody, and her companion, Abe Schreiber, 29, of Galveston, on the Over=
ton Raod in June, 1931, Arrest of the third brother, Louie, in the afternoon by Chief Depyty
Sheriff Bill Decker was followed by a confession which corroborated fonfessions obtained from
thurman and Bluitt in regard to the Corman-Sbhreiber case, No new charges had been filed
against either of the brothers already inditted for the mrder of Miss Kathry Prince and Mace
Carver near Pleasant Mélund wednesday night, and no,.charge had been filled against Louie, who
by all 3 confessions was not an active participant in the Corman=-Schreiber slayings.

"The three confessions cleared up .a crime which has been marked unsolved for over 2 years
after persistent investigation of both the Sheriff's office and local police. Bluitt
Burkey admitted shooting Schreiber and Thurman to killing Miss Carman. Louie's confession
substantiating details of the other statements signed by the negroes, Biaitt and Thurman
appeared greatly relivved after making the confessions and said they were glad to have the
secrets off their consciences. Bluitt requested Chief Deputy Decker to be allowed to go back
XKXK in his old cell ‘where there was a Christian boy,' and both requested to see a preacher
so they could 'get right.' A negro preacher was called in by Mr. Decker to talk with the
negroes who were assured by him of thekindrststreatment possible He also told then he would
be glad to talk to them at any time regarding the crimes or any others.
"The statement from #KX@MK Bluitt Burkley, obtained late Friday afternoon, was as follows:
'My name is Bluitt Burkley. May address is 3215 Roseland and was 2626 Colby St. in 1931, I
am 19-years<old, Thurman Burkley and Louis Burkley are my brothers. Along in June, 1931,
my brother Thurman and myself roomed together at 2626 Colby St, in Dallas, Tex, About that
time my brother, Louie Burkley, visited us for a few days, possibly a week, On or about the
night of June 27, 1931, Thurman (my brother), Louie (my brother) and myself drove out of town
in my Temodel Ford coupe, which lias driving. I drove out Holmes St. Rd. a good little piece
and after crossing that long bridge I came to some stores and turned to the right onto a
gravel road, I drove down that-road a good little piece and we passed a new looking sedan
automobile which was parked on the read, headed in the same direction I was driving, ..” drove
a good ways past this car and then stopped. ‘We turned around and drove on back past the car
amixkkenxskm that was parked and then came to the kdge of a hill beyond this car and stopped
there, I saw therewas some people in tthe car and could see at least.one woman and one man
dn the back seat of the car that was parked on the sideof the road, When I stopped the car
this time, all three of us got out, We all started back to the car and Louie only walked a
few steps and then returned to our own care Thurman told-Louie that us two were enough, . 80
Thurman and myself walked backup the car and left Louie in my car. . When we got to the car
where thepeople were, there was one couple in the car. Thurman asked .the man if he had a
jack and he said he didn't, so Thurman asked him how much money he had, We both were
standing at the car and had pistols in our -harids. We each had a pistol, We both were on
the same side of the car, where theman was, on the sideof the car that the steering wheel was
on, The man and woman were in the back seat. The man replied to Thurman that he had 2o¢ or
30¢ and he felt in his coat pocket. The coat was lying across the seat of the car. The man
did not havehis coat on, Thurman asked the man to get out of the car and when he did.we.all
three walked «to back of the car and left the woman sitting in the car. I killed them an,
IT’ shot theman once and killed him, He was:shot twice, Thurman fired the other shqt, I shot
and then Thurman shot, And then we both got in the car, It was close to the fence, and the
man fell back against the fence when I shot:him, He .fell backward against the fence, We
got ‘back in the car and left him where he fell, I drove the car. Thurman got in the. back
seat with thewoman,« 1 drove a good little ways, about a mile I guess, or less, and.1 stepped
the care The wman asked both of us if we were going to leave the.man there. Then Thurman
asked me what we were going todo. So 1 told him I.dinn't know what to do, Just before we
stopped the girl, Thurman:asked the girl "How about.it?'. She said she.was sick, When I
old Thurman I didn't know what to do, he said 'We've got to do something,’ and with that
Thurman shot the woman, This was in the back seat of the car when he shot her, He shot her
twice, Imeediately after:the shots, I got out of the car and I came on the side nearest the
road and opened the door of the car and I caught hold of the girl s legs .and Thubman c aught
hold of her arms and both of us carried her over to the edge of the road and laid her in the
ditch at the side of the road, Then Thurman and myself got back in the automobile and it was
after midnight when we got home and Louie was not home, We,.stayed about 15 minutes I guess
and then drove back out toward where we had been, and thought we would meet Louie about the

cafe at Hawkins and Central, but he wasn't there, We. abandored the car we brought with u
on a street near the city market. At our house on Colby St. wahad got another Gar. We

finally got home and got to be, it must have been a little after 1 o'clock in the morning,'
(Signed)BLUITT BURKLEY

28 SOUTHWESTERN 198,
BURLESON, Richard, black, 21, hanged Groesbeck, Texas, April 12, 1895.

"Groesbeck, Texas, April 12, - (Special) - Richard Burleson slept all
night, srose this morning, ate » hearty breakfast and was quite cheer-
ful. Atx 10:30 Sheriff Gresham read the death warrant to him and told.
him to vrepare for death. His svirftual advisers, J, H, Linn, of Mexia,
and J. H, Beckham snd J, M, Jackson, of Sroesheck, were with him several
hours, but he refused to accept Christ or acknowledge his cuilt, At
11:50 a.m. he ate a light dinner and prepared to arrange his toilet,
At 2 o'clock he bade his brother goodbye, who was in an adjoining cell,
charged with aggravated assault, He walked up the See steps leading
to the gallows as though the end was not so near, The trap did not work
at first and necessitated some three minutes' delay. He became impa-
tient and told the officers that he could hang three or four niggers in
that length of time himself, He never shed a tear or seemed to dread
death inthe least. At 2:05 he shot through the trap. His neck was bro-=
ken; he never quivered nor moved a muscle. At 2:20 he was pronounced dead,
When his bofy was cut down such a crowd had gathered on the platform
to see him that the platform fell with a crash, but, fortunately, neo
one was_ hurt. He sold his body to Dr. W. M. Brown for $5. He was 21
years old at the time of his death, and lived in Limestone County, at
Tehtossna, where his mother and wife, MKAMMXKAXHRA whom he married
three months before he was arrested for this crime, reside, He spoke
in high terms of the officers. The crowddwas estimated at 4,000, and
everything passed on very quietly. The crime for which Burleson was
sentencedto be hanged was a most horrible one, and one which stirred
the community as it had not been stirred in many years. The evidence
was circumstantial, but no evidence could be more closely linked toge-
tjer tjam was tjat pm wiocj je was comvicted, May 2, 189h, the mur-
Gerer followed the venerable Mr, J, G. McKinnon out of Mexia and asked
permission to ride in his wagon, which was readly granted him; he assaulted
the helpless old man shortly after he had gotten into the wagon and with
some heavy objec t tied up in 9 jacket beat him over the head until life
head been crushed out of his victim, He then robbed the dead body and
leaving the scene of the crime fled to aK Tehuacasa, where he was
living, A few hours later he was arrested at his home. In order to
give hime legel trial the sheriff slinved scross country and put him in
jail at Corsicana, where he has been kept ever since, with the excep-
tion of the time when he was on trial at this place. Aug. 9 the grend
jury AXX indicted Burleson for murder inthe first degree, Sept. 3 he
was tried and convicted by a jury composed of the hest citizens of
the ceunty. The court appointed Messrs, Ellis, Blackman, Jackson and
Hays, all of them good lawyers, Judge Rufus Hardy presided, His case
was carried to the court of criminal appeals, resulting Oct. 27 in an
affirmance of the judgment of the lower ceurt. This was the first legal
hanging in Limestone County in seventeen years." TIMES-PICAYUNE, New
Orleans, La., -13-1895,

URLs Richard, bllacky hanged Groesbeck, Texas, on oe 1895, 4)

"THE STORY. OF ,THE CRIME"
cine crime for which Richard Burleson paid the penalty on the, gallows ‘aden. was tae.
the murder of an old.and respected citizen of, the name of Jd, G. McKinnon who lived
about 7 miles southeast of Mexia, in this county, On May 2, 189), Mr. McKinnon, who
was./0 years of. age, went to Mexia in a wagon alone. to make some purchases, Just be-
fore his return home y about 1 o'clock, he bought some bran and coal oil and handed the
clerk a $20 gold piece to pay for it, The clerk went to the bank to get the money |
changed and gave the old man $10 in currency, $5 in gold and 75 cents in silver. A
negro was sitting in the store at the time, and after the change was given to the
deceased, he(the negro),> was requested to assist in loading the bran on the wagon,
which he did,
"Mr, McKinnon drove out of town in the direction of, home. Immediately thereafter sev-
eral witnesses testified to meeting hom in bhe Prairie GroveRoad, about 2 miles from
Mexia, between 1 and 2 o'clock, and also meeting a negro, describing him, who was in
the rear, of Mr, McKinnon, carrying something in a jacket and, going, in the same di- |
rection, The next seen of deceased he was found lying in the road, three miles
southeast of Mexia, with his skull curshed, apparently with some dull instrument,
totally unconscious and in-a' dying condition, He was carried to a house nearby, where
he died the following morning, never regaining consciousness or giving any clew to his
assailant,
"Near the scene of the deed was found a blue jumper or jacket with blood stains upen
it, which was the first clew to the perpetrator of the crime, Ly being ascertained
that a negro was at the store and gaaw the money paid to the old man, suspicion was, at
once directed toward him and it was soon learned that his name was Richard Burleson
and that he lived at Tehuacana Hills, about 6 miles west of Mexia,
"Officers at once went out and arrested him finding the exact amount of money on his
person that the deceased had when last seen, and of the same specie. Search was made
of his house and an old pair of pants were found in a meal barrel with spots Bf blood
on them, The officers succeeded in sluding the citizens who were diligently searching
for him, and by landing him in the Navarro jail prevented his being summarily dealt wh
with by the crowd of incensed neighbors and friends of the deceased,
"He was tried at the August, 189), term of court. The evidence, though all circum-
stantial, was very conclusive against him A pair of pants which belonged to the
defendant and were foundat his house were matched with cloth and sewed with thread
exactly like patches found on the jumper at the scene of the murder. He was identi-
fied by several witnesses as being the sameman seen following deceased just before
the killing. Thejury, after having been out several hours, returned a verdict of
guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed his punishment at death. His case
was appealed and was affirmed by the court in October last. Sentencewas passed
by the court at the January term, and the date of his execution was fixed for
this, the 12th day of April.
"Before the trial therewere considerable reports circulated threatening violence
toward the defendant, and thedistrict judge, Rufus Hardy, reconvened and instructed
the grand jury to inquir into the truth of such reports and to indict any person proved
to be guilty of participation in any attempt to hinder the courts of law. After the
convictioh of the defendant there was no further trouble apprehended and all seemd
pacified and he was sent to Corsicana and thence to the Dallas County jail where he
bemained until 2 days ago,"

"THE EXECUTION"
"Groesbeck, Limeston Co,, Texas, April 12, 1895=At 2:00 PM Richard Burleson wam
susp anded in the air and the mrder of J. G, McKinnonwas expiated, Shortly before 2
o'clock hewas led out of his cell, guarded by SheriffGresham and 5 deputies, and
walked up the steps in a firm and composed manner, He was asked by the sheriff if
he had any statement to make, Upon replying no he placed his feet upon the trap
door with extreme coolness, His hands were tied behind his back, his feet were
pinioned, the noose was placed around his neck, and, as it was being adjusted by
the sheriff, he complained of it being too tight, saying 'I don't want to be choked,'
The cap was then adjusted and the trap sprang at 2:02, The body fell with a drop of 7
feet and his neck was broken, be being pronounced dead and cut down at 2:12,
"The scaffold was errected in the rear of the jail lot, and the execution was witnessed
by a crowd varouisly estimated at from 4,000 to 5,000 tihich behaved in a very orderly

manner e

"TheNewsreporter -flisited him this morning in thejail and in an interview he said:

'I was taken up without an examining trial, If I had had a trial I should have been
turned Loose right away. Then never did identify me, and the witness who swore
about my clothes is’ damn badly mistaken, Any way, I am innocent, and did not kill
Mr, MeKinnon nor knew nothing about it.' From the time of his arrest, charged with
the atrocieus murder, till the drop ‘fell, he persistently protested his innocence.
"As far as the treatment during his imprisonment was concerned, he was very anxious
to state: 'I have been treated very kindly by Mr. Gresham, the sheriff, and all the
officers who have had me under’ their charge in Corsicana and in Dallas.'

"Last night the condemed man reiired at 8.o'clock, soundly sleeping all night, He
arose this morning and ate a hearty breakfast. At about 10 o:clock a minister visited
§B? him and read the scriptures which the condemned man received somewhat impassively
~and engaged in prayer and singing, after which he replied that he felt better and.
appeared more composed, EN. d tba

"At 10:15 Deputy Barron took,his measurement for his coffin,’ which he underwent, with
his-usual calmness. Drs. Brown and Cox went to see him to purchase his body, and upon
questions being asked him he stated: 'I prefer to sell my body to a doctor, but.
actually do not Care what happens to it and don't knowhow much to ask for it,'

"He took $5.00 for his body and gave the.money to his half-brother who is confined

in jail charged with a felony. -

"At 10:30 his death warrant wasready by the sheriff and he said nothing when it’ was
concluded. When’ the minister asked if he was sorry for his sins he said: 'I am not
guilty of the murder and my mind is quiet." DAILY NEWS, Galveston, Texas, April 13,

13, 1895 (2-5).

ser

10 SOUTHWESTERN -2nd- 559
BURNS, Floyd Newton, white, klectrocuted Texas State Prison (Tom Green Co.), 1-11-1929,

"San Angelo, Texas, March 11, 1928-Newt Burns, charged with the murder of Mrs, W. J. Juergens
her daughter, Myrna, about 12<years-old, and Mrs. Rose Schirra, Mrs, Juergen's mother,
whose bodies were found in their home here today, was believed tonight to be under arrest
at Sulphur Springs, Texas, Word of Burns! arrest was the first tangible develppment since
the police, at the instance of a neighbor who found the house locked, today forced an en-
brance and discovered the bodies, fearfully mtilated, a bloody hatchet, ice pick and
butcher knife nearby. W J. Juergens, an employee of the Big Lake Oil Company in the pro-
duction offices some distance from here, was notified by telephone of the discovery and
stated he was starting immediately for San Angelo, The house, as found by the police, was
a shambles, Furniture drawers, bedding and clothing were heaped about in confusion, Blood
was everywhere. Although the place had seemingly been ransacked, the authorities believed
that this was done merely to obscure the motive, All three victims had apparently been
Slain after going to bed. At a late hour the police had not learned why the girl, a student
in the Academy of the Immaculate Conception, was taken from school on Friday afternoon,
March 2, The school authorities stated that the girl had run in from theplayground announ-
cing that her father had come for her and that she was to be away about three days. She
was gone so quickly that they could not say definitely if she said that her father had come
to stay in San Angelo with her or whether she said that she was going with him to Texco
where he is employed. Sheriff Bob Hewitt left tonight for Sulphur Springs, several hundred
miles away, to bring back Burns, against whom three separate complaints charging murder ©
have been filed, Burns, who was the Juergens! family chauffeur, has been missing, together
with the Juergens' motor car, since last Tuesday," TIMES PICAYUNE, New Orleans, La,, Mar.
12, 1928 (1/6)

"Sulphyr Springs, Texas, March 12, 1928-Admission that he slew three members of the family
By whom he had been employed as a chauffeur for four years was madetoday by Newton Burns,
Qheyears-old, The bodies of Mrs. J. E, Juergens, her daughter, Myrna, 12, and Mrs, Juergens
mother, Mrs, Rose Schirra, were found in San Angelo yesterday at the family residence, more
than a week after they had been struck down and killed with a hatchet. A few hours after
the finding of the victims, Byrns was arrested on suspicion by authorities at Sulphur
Springs, He signed a statement today confessing the crime, A ouarrel about a check to
which Burns said he had signed the names of one of his victims preceded the triple slaying
on Mar. 3, said the statement. Mrs, Jaergens was slain first, he asserted, Her daughter,
who was in the room at the time, was next struck down and Mrs. Schirra was killed when

she entered, the statement to the officers said. After the killings, Burnes spent the
night in a San Angelo hotel and before leaving the city returned to the Juergens'! home and
ransacked it, taking $0 and some jewelry, he admitted, Byrnes was taken from this city

by officers tonight/ Their destination was believed to be Fort orth," TIMES-PICAYUNE,
New Orleans, La,, Mar. 13, 1928 (23).

Aioypogeh Phage Ot, Tanto (ieorgnere. por H1Y)94h

"San Angelo, Texas, March 28, 1928 = Newton Byrnes, 2li-years-old, who confessed he slew

three members of the family which employed him as chauffeur, was convicted of murder by a
jury here today and the penalty fixed at death. ;

"Byrnes was tried for the killing of Myrna Juergens, 12, one of his victims, His attorneys
asked for a short prison sentence for their clment, contending the crime was not premedita-=

ted and was committed in a sudden passion, The jury deliberated fifty minutes.

"Myrna Juergens, her mother, Mrs. W. J, Juergens, and Mrs, Rose Schirra, mother of Mrs,
Juergens, were slain with a hatchet in their home March 3, Byrnes said he killed them
after a quarrel, He had been employed as chauffeur of the faily for four years.

"The date of sentencing was not set." TIMES-PICAYUNE, New Orleans, lLa,, 3/29/1928 (1/6).

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TERT Pas ee

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above
te necessary eed his wife and ebildren had
urther wae wer wee: ne to Waco. That night he took a

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pons. off to each of t iddle of many other articles of beauty and wt

ere ‘congress from Louisiana. oe ie
aa te committ ra -|@ ced in sfost OF THE ABOVE ARTICURS
ps es victed the rollowing been collected from the art marts of B

t da be hanged. and iets.

‘11 No. 5SS—By Mr. Zengel— ppe the decision was iff appreciated by people of culture.

>. #5 priate the sum of $2500, is insan yy.
wf yes be neceseary ; MONDAY, MAY 30, 1908,

as
t the provisions of act eane. 8 h
— the ral assembl ; of” 1894, has persis refused to talk | At ine ee residence, will be eold the &
|, wn act to authorize t refund- and ep. On all else mob i ar Sie hat ate household
xes paid to the states twice on fluent talker, but the MO | ““Torms—Gash N, at 10:30 O' CLOVES?
by reason of dual assess- ferred to he would : BY D Da Na
other error. Committee ou ap- ip as jumb Auctio eet, Office 112 Cur e

"Bill No. 50—By Mr. Herbert— f a good family, his father
: ! it the local boards of ime being @ prominent
r officials of any town, city and county syrgeon and
Pe toting of a. from lunatic asylum
erfe w e passage but
a o prescr punish- .
the violation of this act. Com- ga GALE Of HOUSTHOLD FURNITURE,
PLANTS, WTC.

i eS) -BY Mr. Herbert—A hy es.
- —An : ., 2

ail persons or corporations in N MARTIN EYLAND VS. WIDOW &. X19)

treet car lines, | murder of his i JOHLNGON.

° feity, to equip

with the latest im- soe ee ne mwats at Civil District Court tor the Parish of Orlesweray

Pe Lew ng xi hie d BY VIRTUE apes of Geri ¢ucias ¢ ail
Neat wi motive in ng w of a eri ¢acias to.
d oe yhoo Mag | wes to keep them fro ha- | directed by the honoretle the Civil Distlite

; ailiation and disgr Court for the garish of Orleans, in the eae

P ? a entitied cause, I wilt to sel] at :
é' which he had every reaso proceed ee aw

» Bil Would ge place in a few days if he auction, on the ps
rin) WEDNESDAY. June 8, 1898,
oy rema} here. Che following deecribem:

* Burt made a long rambling statcment B..
in reference to his te 8 : on Gt. Ann street, be
mec for oan eets, one we ing >
undries, pl ete.,
horrible | atehery, W ai | Ce le. —s
tively deny committing. : above suit.
on

the e@pot,
e- AUCTI SALES Otvit ft of AN Ot eT ieee

ae Bil . iy— Sberi the ‘ : ae
pencils A}; all “th Hane of pron dS ____ AUCTION SALES. A. wae attorney Yor plaintiff. be
30 fn the state of Louisiane an ' my Je a

of Loulsiana, or any
in the etate, to eight

ny compact, y= i gal FORM 1, BYROM® OO., UTD., VE. C. LOM- yuDI@EAL ADDY BRTISEM ENT.

2 peo: BAsD0. SALE OF CARRIAGES, HORSES,

COUNT of New, Orleans Xo. HARNESS, HTO. , 3
Wes Richardson, | MARINO 4 GLARDONA YS. jaune 208

me of a writ of
RTU a pe Pha

Tun
Up-te-Date Guide te hes Orleans
jet, with three ’
just tions ot pub "Coenen
ngs, heetall, ke” foe Talics Woods July . — #,
t Pet cong. y address, It many, and acquired by eocnden 00 “a
$ Picayune, New Orleans] (b.) West half of southeast quarter ot

tlon 28 of township $, south of ra 14

BUG St. Helena meridian, the r
Sse BUST Tummary,. acquired ue” aston pine

Pays the Pensity for the Murder | "7! era, bine we re
Orleans ig the cause of Wite and Babies. Nov. 30, 1898, and roceuees B. of Coir
Rew constitution has (Special to the Picayune.) g of St. Tamers, P, to. 10, 6m
we ie enendes, as hereafter stated. oa
Austin, Lex., May 27.—W. FE. Burt, (c.) Four acres of land situated slongside 4
ot — — a en; Sart bravely wet | the Innds of Salmon Manufacturing Co
mt’s bill to aliow women to | county jail, at 11:18 ey this oome sett Cant ok Oe federal Ay xe
ries was given its quietus by | log. ‘The execution, which was performed | *- ® alltoad Company, in the town ry
# judiciary committee of | without a bitch of any kind vy Sheriff dell, alld is known by measurements fe
morning. T rted it | White, was witnessed by at least luo @t the post neat the entrance to (#
and it will be laid to rest ple and et least 300 ot ; pasture, golng north 27 degrees. east 9s
hers were on
he vutside to oftch a ghmpae of the eg St py ot Be thence
band when it was brought vut of the ces west, 5 chains and ; theme .
Henry called the house to Toate gint aeeet : comfortable night and om ga? res on Byer ty BR... P a
40 o'clock, seventy-one mew- a , on oe Te tae ecliawe’ ena sangre: eo . of na mete leas, situgty %
t. took his stand on the trap. “Have you foe putes of soetien § ag oe io ve
no prayer. Ada” ong be ner gt asked Sheriff frp. 2008 x. Gammot Panay ie 1903, red
“0 a . : : e condemned map, whose face | !® k P, folio . in Covington, St. Zag ge
NS AND RESOLUTIONS. showed no sigus of emotion, replied og d many rish, La., aud part from W. I,” oe ape

Pipee—Aun iuvitation to attend onal, ang coliected manner; - arch 21, Laie oe in Mer
: “Yes; I have on} we . t. Tammany . in 2, pp, 1 .%
y a. word to gay. With ea HALF of southwest .

rn aecomamsatna

surrent resolution, that a com- | the exception of the dl , 4. THE SOU ! ee
five, three from house and two | bappiest moment of nt is the | o¢ ‘porthwest half of section 26, ip townell ee,
te to investigate the ac- He stood erect on the trap, his head 8, south of range 14 east, 6t. Helena merities ee
relief committee. Lies over. | thrown back and arms hanging naturally C senarsagne Mae prey mT ‘s ve '" ) BS
fyant—Resolution to have the | His arms and legs were then pintoned ong oe Tease Kemp » mesteg Sf,
ims raised 3 feet. Adopted un- | with cord and while work was progress entry qaser certificate dated Aug "1 19035, a
om of the rules, 44 to 15. ing Burt made this remark to the sber | quired by Alton Lumber Company from ee
SRS OF COMMITTEES. oa nec et * one corner of the plat- | Kemp by purchase, recorded in conveyances, é cs
m ' : "tA
Semester, on, lands and ere form with hls hand on the lever ready | fe Des. 18, Hiss 1» book Ss op MS he
No. 3, by Mr. Wooten— “This ie u larger crowd than I ex- All of which property above described x igen

y, with emendment. ted.” acquired, together with the saw mill, let Rik s, |

pec .
Gommittee ou judiciary. Section | at 11:18 the trap wes sprung and io age ag ae “ete, .

twelve minutes be was propounced dead, -*

Bill No. 52, by Mr. Bryant—To | his neck having been froken, His body Wileon Yarnaée
women as notaries. Unfavorabiy. | was turned over to relatives and was
*.. WOTICES. ac a asverecos at 9 orieck, ,
e crime for which . E. Burt eut-
sh—To amend article 127, tered the death penalty was the murder

Code. 0 e wife and two little girls, ag ae

Wade-—To repeal act 42, of | 5 and 7 yeire, mage Ae ae He wurdered CRES OF LAND, iq

owe.
to ae amount of the policy. He then ish de June 26, 1806, recorded im cou
, presumably, to stop the Bow of | ish, made June : .

BILLS INTRODUCED. bioed, tiled @ bandherchief around the on R, he ag is Cr an .
An act to provide for neck of each, drawing it as tight aa pos- Sack a4 a nt of ham vk, 4
% ip a ened in tbe sible. After killin his wife and chitdren TERMS AN CONDITIO ‘ t * *
eocretaty of state of all be wrapped the bodies of the latter I | petance at one and two Salen mg - A
pieces of bed sheots, carefully binding | pie by notes of the purchasers . <n

Saas = Anta oe gue > ha of them with strong cord, He then fast-| pent interest per annum from date
Oe An act for the rellef of ened their feet together with wire, Hl | cation, crcnted hy mortgage; vendor's Mes,
Sdleon for professiowal services wife he carefully wrapped in a blanket, | al} other wens accurity clauses; taxes Sor
gw House bili No. 76 tying it with @ new quarter-inch rope, | current: year 1808 to be assumed by the
nh ean act to compet the which he wound around the body from) | chasers; 10 per cent deposit to be made t
ete Beenged olaces on Bun- | the neck to the feet. He then carried | auctioncer by the purchasers at the
Seovee | nd thereto, and | the bodies down staire — threw them | of adjudication,
of the into a large eletern, located |
*

. A ot sale before H t. Ga
: oe vg + notary wablic, at exp af purchasera, _

‘a

BURT, W. Eugene, white, hanged at Austin, Texas, for murder, on 5-27-1898,

RI
oi as

t sel wo wile piu aceon!
heart,’ that took trons me and ‘sent. .to | for: Taeee th lights” ae
heaven my loved ones, will never see the hefore theni they ar
fulfillment of the ends f; lawful justice..|-theipsconclusions.
* Howsh in: theseast- are But, particularly;
, a

: Ai mane cieraite i , suing.
j.soul-in.the ‘unquen urou
ymies "of hell. See

“ 18}
gong ane erditon
ahd hiss» through: eal 2
moans? of, pain ‘and*anguishs
exautaiy music to DY
tuned t

_ bly B Have Been B Brought to Justice. A

.A Remarkable Document From, i ed wit hi;

ki bl M Bee guilty, of tbe fi Ret é z vi
¢ & ‘ eae od Beat De ee ee be murdered, nor at the: time they: yer
d i ‘ cree iA eae oe se oe = ye said qi) that it pleases’ Hh

Criticg: may pyll: agunder;:
will study, the; masses: Re not a
stand, A few. will know,
--J caused inyestizatiop; to; ue
find that: I can-not be: ned by the ane
of my idols, and‘T am-only. consoled
‘though: that.

sa ees ‘But Toho. “carries ae lebtee
burden, viz.,.the fultillment of the Jaw:
Some weeks. elapsed ere T-was-housed Jin,
teel;: but-not before a ‘consummation of.
: ‘nd SE: been -arvested “within: a
shortey period of time after. leav-

a
d* abovesx agains
frensied soul who saw. vengeance: ny
though he hangs by. the neckStjlkieud
dead, dead, under the order of-the*courtt:
Vigilent officers, yet not so’ shrewd,. to
fad-and rok me of possess! ‘ons, til read hardly; bie
to he-found, , ‘any thingfurther’ ip tay
“Why did the grand jury purstie® a “Vine. ( -theretore.) alye nig. fc : ue
of investigation ‘aside “fron. me ‘and go | tiou.soma-da ie Sh ae
4 ae te i ; :

-{s0\far-and stop. Did ‘they come toa
‘] precipice and did :not “care ‘to-jump off?,
“1 Probably: the sentlemay:y ‘whovwas. lam
could not jump*so far’ as™his colleague
Probably the slender: oratory knew, tha
bird. du hand Wag worth tyojn'tho:
Vhy (

phtain ie of: my
‘hae ee oy novel,

re andesle

“to ‘appear -befure the grand [at een ste re popaltiog~on tims who
rst sitting In October, «,and 4, shou ‘ te es pu yy te

é “the indictmenty wore returned? nods would
ies : SANG, After they adjourned) and Psa we thehyth! Eo
VUE es aes te Kha - ae * IAA, teie wd vad 12) CITE eae ren rien,
Si el Without wy offering apy by
dence, if indeed L could bave done,
: After trina} and in December:
pt again ai
tour. of inepection, ‘Laad 1%
“With ‘some hen, pands
‘odd of :my desiy hav
¢ them at thelr original
toki:me they had “not. heard
wished. to be before them, or they w
have: sent for me.. When:
wished to say, I told im: that
already, been tried and* ca: i
ag its svonld:

from. him a written statement relative to the crime which he is charged

with ove committed in _the murdering of his ve and two ma

nee

a bc Eby
taal always:

Aisne Pgh . . ene ae
yo - a e letter reads as olloys, ohea is most interesting? j

“ip q M

plore Bio recccesss:

Sees, Ca 4

ante fee ce comers

s ‘STATEMENT,

chords: of: human .nature. » Cun it: pos:
Dly be: true? ‘As: one hus ‘said of me, I
have studied human‘nature and human:
ity. gE know almostsevery ‘chord © and nite
tone “in the’ harp: of: life; and I) have Cireumstentiad evidence 8
J haee vate and after. mutch Ee 4.) played: upon them: tomy’. cay 8 content it only tends to establisti a ‘fae
‘. tion, I ‘have decided to way a. ‘few. Ayords and hate: ‘Been ‘gra tidied ‘h ee Beene ener i me prot aa
} sponsiye “melodies, Bass : yve, and such-eyidence be
be acer on not much -in. uuriiguler: “Ihe: praises of mankind: Ihave never | Beither fact or proof, atts at
he existing ‘circumstances under; strived for; but in my happier.days’ the to say that, it is a terrible thingfor.
aL have, been placed, confined. end s09 heartfelt: thanks: that’ Ihave srecirud state of ‘Texas to take ctheJifeso
felbe deported," reof auch a chara, trom ‘mgny, ‘mauy whose trunge ‘i hay human ¢ being on circymsts
jaded. that, ‘itcis any, ‘daty® relieved,’ whoge* nakedness © * lave encexHlone.” It is yet smore
: Popes clothed, whose wants Ingye eaiee| for. the state’ of Texas to take .the'l{
elabo te; upon, further ‘than to’ say f tered unto, have been more sweet to my ‘a-cltizen and afterwards find that it.
: few" words and, es ane reader draw soul, more harmonious to my- nature, unluwfully, taken. > [t is even vet’) ore
more satisfaction to. my being than the {| horrible for the courts of the country;
glitter of much gold. , Frecail to mind an | bung Bugene Burt by ‘the neck until nents
instance when sitting by the’ ‘side of a deal, dead, dead, for.n erime his hang
; has. not committed. Yet | it can no hg
aye blamed’. under the i s
dns} fora tion: tied:
Sone ™ Bowoht
re es- | dangeroust: * How ete

Te, I

ane

‘sion; cither fom se eee Or
‘from matters rehearsed at different? pes a)

ee : Aw u matter pf: fact. thig it

“

pty
waa ed for, thesatigfagtion: ‘of the: Tpakses, fale. by the “tronchery ot one: who hig

people. hava, trembled tnjthe’ ae ane vin
¥ *) ‘but rather for’the understanding of the Mec Tastee to me sees etic: 4 ee povert of my delog Srelda} Sia
ts ut ae ‘ ‘ > distresse » the very gutters (ri
my ping Few , therefore, Bluce I feel that T can hus never been paraded, some ure dead, | with the Jife- fava fluid rig oda 3

og stand your persecution, pardua me if UV} some cemoved to a distance, nrany still | “Lis well indeed that such desporateluren
7 o4 do not yield to your curiosity. It is well | here, but most have forgotten now since | should’ be confined: "tis hotter still btha
0 4 known to the attorneys who were ein thoney, reputation are gone and the cun- 7 they shold be suspended by the neck png.

diy of {ite ix burping low,- [have been til the last quilveria thr t “
Aployed in my behalG as well Ng LO BOME | ore’ ploamad ta vive, When ables rather | shall cease mm Neti gb of thelr heapty

Boy

Se ttin ‘HE. Was: DASHED -

‘ ek arate him in this case was pur
aa Sore tg feeling that

GESTERDAY MORNING AT 11:10| B

pea pin. the’ jail, and he hoped that the sheriff

in) | tot “suit bim, and: ‘about midnight | he | He
tk: jppiied all hie writing up. About abdnight "clock

ureday night Sheriff White visited him

his cell; and told him that he had call-
Fed: to’ assure* him: that all that-he pag
-&° sense of and: not froth
ainst him,
urt replied that he thought » that he had
-fense enough to. understand that, and told

the sheriff that he‘had better: go and go
‘to. be

he had a

morning> that everything was all right

re ‘leaving, Burt told his guards that White
ce had. come to his’ cell on this visit for no

} then and less on

€ —-pleasant—niz bt 5
White said that -+he had a question. that:

stolcak x feseral dem
noticed two occas
in the least. excit
the first one of |
January 20, when:
the jail and told hi
had been taken: in h
would have to han

Burt's

at rt then became
dso as to refresh himself. for the | a

it was then tha
had to hang ‘that h
Father Peter once

-time-that-he-had se

Mmeanor: of calmness

tihe-wontd;

other purpose save to’ ask this question,
| whatever it Was, but that he had migugnt
that_it was’ hest: to wait until mornin

the hope that: he would be more nected
is. guard against traps,
‘but that!-he would find ‘out that he was

‘mistaken ir hisssurmisés
About 12:20: “Thursday: night; or ‘rather
| yesterday: Morning, Burt. after talking™
for a few minutes: with his guards, took
RES Ser
jand,’ leaning it against the cell; took ‘his
seat so“as to throw himself into a reclin-

ing zr

Se es this Hadar priva~

: : foe the hanging. ‘There’ ‘WAS 00:
< oO Sa hada to the: jail: until” if 0 clock:

He Oa The Stateaninn With the
: Only. Copy of His Last Statement... ye
The Scenes of the Day\-His oe Fi
praca bast Afternoon." oh

| firmly to lie dawn, and sleeping’ altogéth-

‘| or rather dozed, according to the guards,

to | went: to-sleep:—

position.--—Placing-hisfeet—on-theta—
ble i int the cell he reposed himself to slum-
ber.."(For some three months now he had
‘not been sleeping any other way; refusing

erin this chair in‘ this position.) He. slept

until 5:10: yesterday” morning, when he {
awoke, and asked what time it was. Ther.
=| told him: and” he
about. another hour’s sleep «coming.
Yt} him,’ and: “turning: slightly ae
n
A few: minutescatter: 7s

to.
his chair.)
parently }

ape some | one. bes thes ‘men. in’ attend-|

| py eclock he got up, and: inva shont, “while

thereafter, or about a quarter to 7, Jailer.
‘Hughes. brought: him.4if his: breakfast. ‘As
the ‘breakfast. was” brought ’in /Burt. re-

Hisashi ban cx might;—glad-that4
i

Psheritts and: ee ihoritte
en Fae counties who came hete

mn ee oe

le te

=As,

‘Pboring” him: ‘in his> breakfast, as “he was
+ hungry. ‘Hughes replied ‘that he,was }
“2-mind* reader, ‘and had: ‘liscovered that, :
which was the reason he had brought it
in so early to him. After eating break-
‘fast, which he did with a relish, Burt bor-
Towed" a pencil: ‘from- €#nard-Lynch,- and

outs

: y that: “Lime every thing was i &
ss, and® ‘the newspaper boys’ were |
ited first, . As soon as they were in-
“the _were. admitted, and then}
b pe iis pipers Nee given, ene

-statement=ivhich— wil
be found elsewhere in this jssue. Upon
the Aueiaaion, of the w une of ae state-

nient’ a his, presence: mAtiCe, ‘this fates
“spent his time talking to his guards, and
“seemed 16: ‘be none the worse for the near

Eaaaiper ‘and g.the.! on the sallow s with-

eh sled orton: singe nerve= quivering = ore viet

“remarked that— he. had’:

had moved him fron
corner of the jail t
the gallows, That >
neryous: that ‘day, §
‘but that after that.

former stoical expr
cient. dded.t
‘expres: ny desi
Sit babe time: that
| Sethe: Peter Lau

nh he | fought. hi
the next .day? Tha

visited) yth®’ Jail me
called Wt: Burt’s cel

Phad. talked” and= pr

Burt A a ays

had" permitted “Del
him, but-had. expl
reason that he sub
was’ for. the reason
to be> impolite: to

man. He’ added t
TLauth “had. visited
but Anat: Burt had
with him. -In-additi
flemen, Dr.“ Smoot”

only, Just prior t0°¢
Pand talked with- hy

~_3¥

B+E+E+E+E4

re pe
on considerate-enough-to+ Se

aintetnen

Confesse:

ee = Yesterday n
pels and atont

ee Statesman ‘
-SAWOrn. statem

DOL a E Clb The sSiatemenr. ile Wid

{ be. found elsewhere: in. this issue) Upon.
AY the-conclusion of. thé writing” of the state-.
re | ment. County Clerk —Jn0.. Hornsby was
- | called in, and Burt-swore to: tHe, state-

ment: fe his presence, ATEN Saha ‘Bart

+u+

atte

ve :

mated: rself rnii hg’ with. orteee
tres ‘ppolneass iin diveira onthe gallows with-

a+e+e

pout oO “quivering—or—evi-
‘dence of the slightest twitching ‘to show:
| that he was in the least concerned about
| his death. — His demeanor all through the
oS Site = Reidy eg | OPyIDg: ordeal was that of a: man of’super-
Se Sens ae ame othe | human nerve.*: A-man-capable of steeling

second. Boor, in ‘th ej | himself? to’ a. perfect: oblivion: of his sur-

‘roundings so fats aa affected: his Dele
| sonal deportement.

of cen ows = ‘ i ia |) | THE CROWD: OF: SPECTATORS, |
Se al oe ¥ Sheriff n| They Charged, en Sail ta” "Their
: frees cell: ‘and: ae eri i oe ih te "
was Brought ‘out’ marched. to. the gal: pe: 1g: J
abet He mounted i ie ea nasaatee a Latiee ts ‘ 5 ; Racuddeted

there Ww ere

Sree

: Ee At en, 1
TF i that nuniber FoF Tet rs; the county force me
=v b0F | tie and” several city } 4+

“
; ‘order: to’ show -up |
: on. the. situation. ~ 500 the: fe ike
‘. ey a Ie must Have en: peopie,: mos ne- }
plese ment of.n . eae | ero: men:.and\ women.” Inthe’. main” it
“ Deputy- ‘Sheriff: Phorpe then. bape ‘Wasea: hungry ¢rowd. of. curiosity seek:
: ork ae fying tates etre fer while i x. They swarmed upon the: jail steps” :
= perfect: mass, waiting -for? ‘an op- |
A at tee PEt vee caer tafe portiinity: of héing admitted. “When Aba} etna
sek Te é Ech Gates Ta Sortelarenge AE ESET ae One. ores, £07 them: thes
Ss owd # allt. time nd-allowed | no opportunity, :
ip ures several | Leys faintly

reveng
Oe e second?) Town ]
ike so,many. ei men. 5
second: Aloor they. feaped'|
mibet “mpon the tops of.
3/ from: where= they”
Mnity © ‘Of *seeing” the
oe on: ety ta bel

ho’ mn tho oe |
3S 3 2 Ho } ¢! f° the @ jail, “where

toni nitly cwith: the disappears
nee the: bod hrough: iG trap. the

their: “perches dike |
coning* down from.
nat. flight. — wea

= ab # 7 we ilwi : bd ot eee Re eee

zis coin t [e erith Wh vp at a :

S. -o'eloc = by. yon ‘the is OWS.” ollowing® him

ce‘at 1 Beets Burt and: t eh tut ea AR ROOD

hey were: all ee the gallows: Sheriff

sted: at one) to” be” as:

tan? instant a

* Sheriff. White

© proper—motment,
z rh ris. shot: down: through the
he fall ba: broken iz Necks} trap. to heh first: floor’ of thé jail, where
ark his- body: it’ hung.=Instantly \with’ the disappear-
; Ndt! Of the: bie as. debe tik the tran: the.

ane Ebemaie tor ‘tumble ‘oft: their perches: like

Reyees for ae | ed the: b fie, bu ta ‘to-any | so: many thickens _ coming --down< from |-
wing: wane eats ah nt as not the slightest: | roost, and’ the roel flight Wag again
; : “3 “ : = aReEN_ Up: : iei5 oe Ase petite et
7 Ot, Of & > finger: rf whe | stairs.and: nee the Roay: of: Burt. in charge
the pret ioe : rt to. deat in 11 12 minutés,|‘of the doctors. “As.soon as Burt was cut
: Ute nh and was cut’ down” down at} down: all the” ‘Spectators were ordered
5 bape 4 es: gh ne for: 13 12 min: ‘out of: the: Jail, ate, the: hanging: of Eu-

tart aha

=~ Wooten, Dr. Moody Dr, ‘Poasane Dr. , o - :
ee and: id Dri R R. 8. Graves a - Add
¢om} = e er Vi oe oe ; bility

od. been: several. ‘men: who ~ please
tae a bes tea be have* for months. past: been In? quite as. 4

ve _ Wien Ba his face.to the east and waik- Son hes gO Sar its: has Burt. These
€ 20 onta: se trap with his face-in that di- are those ‘who - hare stood guard

rection; ‘ “He wore a. dark suit_of: ‘clothes, Cree ie tiveds with him in” his «cell.

i 5p.

a hss bak adres peas

a us beard ella: 240 a ‘small: pow: tie. almoste: ice seé tOvit that he did hiniself
His: beard - | Dowha ind t cheated the: gallows;
hime every

seny, be 01 ee night, and
S01 ks in the: day, but all- oft them
have been with-bis} sometime’ during the

core renee

ot
|
+
fl
a

oe twenty-four”. hours; and’. in this: connec:
tion: itis ‘well’ to néte what’ their im:
“pressions: ‘are-of- the-man:that-they-have }|-——
been;sovfaithfully:: watching for months ‘orni Ee
Of? the: three< guards! interviewed | 7"? erp
y by a: Statesman: reporter Mr, Aber ett
“iyneh-is the-senior guard, hax foo Ree OR
Bart. 1 fOr. acear pas rf. pay hime
s | getting f
Mere:
tie in hi
Fis. dee &
= |-several
“preciat:
brothers
knew thi
been £!
lutely.
were
Mr.

an ee ARE OH a Nt PEN Sct

‘if 14g Sf
ff i fH SL # 4
4 : LF SS #
Z ,
Ud bo bd 4 dike

i # ;
eff;

dy ‘ff 3 fi

ELLE ECE

dt hbdbdch » Sted
;

ffi
sak

“concerne T Weed he ‘two brot!
Memea nor | BU Fh hae
e She when he ‘would | Burt: shoe store.- Ava
eect mat ate ‘trifling incident, | tery. the remains. wie
~ pa aS Tonia) abuse everything, and: Jast resting phice by F
bee vane eres rat ‘mother-of the dece:
i attempt at having”
a : EC” ire . was: rt’s TOMTEST
said: ane ee all not” areeniice of any } buried) quietly” and
ministers other “than (Dr.. Wright: and j and his) wishes. we
} Father Lanth: visiting hime in’ his: cell } as the: grave Was fil
he | during the times] nd? been. there, } veiled walked -thror
That Dro Wright, in -visiting the jail | the grave and. plecs
prisoners. had. visited. Burt's cell several | ers on it and Ww ithe
: t HOoOwWers 3

6 a eh had he nade wv special Visit to Burg: SP ha tenia tl bougte
-waid nothing to uny

Eanth. ie. pace ‘further. that. during. wine necessary: to: the
sof: his conversations with Burt that he |'she was “an old
had never eouplained of beitg ill- treat Fi of? the dende

4 by any. of the jail guart nd the only | having

-}| comiplaiit that he hag acvall, ‘yas that] :
r ces ay tee mid, (iter Hugh hes: would.

rt's storvo.
*~Burt's lust’ reque
neral- should’ be-q
be} flowers “That his
ped in an: ~ Americ
a should REC, his face
BUCS, alt of whit

“every ing that was. 3 £- B 7. AS

de could. fate yioaarbts besim= foo UR

ef also, stateds tit, Te & Drones Bu

Dw with him: several f- od ay Thistea
his conduct on the day}.

fe hadiupon those oe- | Di si oAtoni

ots tet ‘Rive: Wry on” the | i
be a “\stated that upon
ap tnd a 2 tis heing: sentenced

oT TROGS he> had
: Re, BARS a ae, : Sonewould be ade
“had visited hin once Warhibtyr ad vis Whe een Tene need [ate ee th;
the \trial/ for: insanity, hia Just cent on’ his nervey-as he said]. his f et
‘ until ie flinch. on the gal- iv day. fromthe

| Burleson; t€ dtath.
1Het attorney die
“hive Bert also B
Sheriff White ing
‘Brooks in: about t 5
| BiFléson the 820)
| CVEE, ANS | abeve

TBURTS EU NE I a
He ‘Tells pavctl 3 |

ni “Siveral eae
Jetter to”.

Bt eivine- shes

TOW ith =

‘reading as
zee ‘rate 00

he nee n=
=.

sont as. 4b;

oo)

~~:

- a4
¥

cc’ RE SW Oy: fo she

ee ae
2 4, as ag NE

reday: = November! 19, he“ was*
‘trial for, the murder ’ of his:
ees tes ey its weary. length.

- Dur fone all. the

“AT [COD rict=
eae out. a set
rought in a verdict

punishment.

a ae nuiet! ive ane
intact, therefore. “léwe / one; to “take
my brain’ or. any: -other« portion of my:
: yy. I* have: given 10: one, permission
: and) will not do so... If any order or siile

a: shown.-i will ben a forgery., Sr ebser
po sevent After having © received: ny:
body: and prepared:it for burial; you will,
secrac dias bhi Heong: anaree amex tponik

5% —o ee Pease

Ys Brief Review of the: Murder: “of Burt’ s

=the: morning. anh
i sc i a wommn and.

| through

Saath ue Serre aes course ‘of: hie. trial | it
Was clearly ‘shown that. the crime: was:
most peculiar and that: hé' had: ever been
the very best of fathers and.the most Jov=.
‘ing of husbunds.. It:was shown, however: : es
thathe was a: thief andiar by inclination
‘and cultivation: ~ It-was also brought out:
lby the state that‘in- killing -his wife an a
children he Gs 80. to pea tiety; his: longing pee

ee death of. his wife 86 that he:

a aa a

‘Wass thn

Howeve e state: won its ease, and: the
‘prison as. condenined: to: death, »

- Pending the baksane of sentence on i ine
por: ejudge-the ust eriotions: tot: NeW
trial “Were-made and. overruled. “The cases

op.

who: had been
ee ‘some! six sag ‘The. discoy-
ert “of -these. hodies was not together
qunies es for’ the yéason that’ foul. play
had ‘bee Iked OF ‘Bey ray are pis |:

1H anc % t

‘a xr and Oak. their; itredt frorih re ican

he 1. The. next Amorning. Wes

rat ttn ghee ep:

Wis flo, one
My: Burt;> and
ate eds thar eunty |

endceaee af

vals ‘then. ‘taken: to lthe: court Of: ¢riminal —

Fefusing-to-rey
A Thotion- for a reli

-Phe- proceedings: ‘along these.
Hines? shaving been completed, the ‘prison-
erowas-brought: inte: courteand, die aaa
toh hang on Junuary 21.) eo

i : tit hitiareonte:
Lise matad ‘bath he was not: tates re~
yisible-for—the-deed—being-ofmsound-
anind.". “The. ‘governor. and. the: pardon: -
bonrd gave - the- mattérs considerable ime :
“and-thonght:—--'The: pardot-board-iwas alee a

a4
Pe:
.

eee tree cpeaton on. the case, part. of

eF recom mending that-the: jaw :
| teconrse.- The gove- =“

ern had to. prac sel ee :

i: ithe taken: mig telling ra :
nderstood that: they had-been-pe-
“in his behalf, and<he wanted

then. to dixtinetly understand that he did

Titty

a a8 he wi Hited: the law: to take its course. i

~ When: the result of the governor's) de-

ja were” ede known there were

‘pine

a ap 1. $35

: iviog. atthe”
: nai were: ‘lowered to: their Ripe
eryth Plast*testing place by theside of the dead | ° M
Secular | ‘Mother fof dece: é ere: Was DO |
Roecse: ‘Minister. | att pat bay : | Hservices, Tt Jess
ir hint. < Mr. Tally {| its. st’ that Tie. should be”
remenrber. of any. | buried and ;without any ‘crowd |
[Dr. W: right: and | and: his: wiches. Avere curried: out.” Sirst
him ine his.’ cell | as: the: Was. filled. up ® lady heavily
= yelled - walked throngh | ‘the ‘cemetery. to |.
visiting af e@. jail the grave and. plated a. bouquet: Of. flow- |"
Bart's ‘cell ¢everal erg on it and: Walked awaw, There were }

De") AL: ¥ISIC:

fing ‘all ‘necessary. | to Phe cence that “by. nite ely
Burt /that he {she was | out Nand aged | friend physicians? The | Gece
‘iletrented: of the: dead. — =B and | Weaknesses and |
ards, and/ the only | having been be: Jed hy <him~ she | may be recognized: y. certain: unfailing
“at-all; was that ‘red: his boy! in her. declining Sastipaie Backache, headache, bearin ae
see si would | years. ‘Thue closes: the” las echapters in pains, irritability and extreme eae
peneltay away Burt's BLOTME che Ge ge ousness | se indicatee derangement: ¢
he “had called {°) Burt's’ lust Seguaet were’ that his u-| gelicate female of

E Hescngren and neral ehoalu: be quiet, no. preicher, no’ tiale Regulxtoris thesta ee
me the disposition t His: body?should be wrap] noon ndard rene
.. Mr Tally-said | pedcin= ie rican flag “and no: one Characteristic diseases of women. ——

Muality” ~Awas- + his ; tis Seige death save rel} "Sold by-druggists at $1.00 per:

re carried out. | THe BHADFIEL REGULATOR iets Mlanta, ee, ie

away that. Hight. UPnatniene the. aid go.
peek : Ree tates, OLESTET away, taking “the Horth_ ound train os=
Anhatore fa day ie day’ 0 "<*. | tensibly for Dallas.” The next: heard of -
“ can ied oe | S ss moet {him he was lo¢ated.in Chicago some thir-
i “the | ve Binetn: Thinley, ty days thereafter; and: ‘brought back, here”
ete Ae ty a stated. that pom the. occasion “of Burt's | charged. With the crime ot Perel Hi Bi
Shy, replied that being: sentenced: a hang: on November Wife sind enrerer

gels: pee ta t would: be. in dead man in she year! and: |’ [before stuapicions Ww hich had. beet growing | os
{| u half from that: Barer shteen. montha ‘to | 28,2 day_or so, ripened: into ‘conviction, -
16 ~Yesrerday= the “just: aia ‘Bort ealinted and a search. ‘was instituted for the, wife ©
a day fromthe time that: Burt p ous ed) and children Naturally the hose was”
Burléso : led mon Tha e ou ‘visited first to-see. as-to whether-er-not—
eat hae eyentlt thére were aby traces to be found of-thent ”
icted the: | Jie not take long 10 Su oni
of their presence. © ‘The
ares tS eg Breen: flies in-the_

. : rection: and ina very” ss

Bi the’ top-of-an_ old. cistern was)
Loree connate teanieehve abn aspera os
A that was promptty. - lowered® into the —

‘depth revealed: e bodies of th ‘wife and ~

children. Hoating in:the water.tied upin — |

~ told:satkss’. They: were quickly brought to a) ny

3 Pa Rowen any ne surface, atid then the: seareh, Was: be- =

—to- what.

i = =
ae a: OH

red his: te and chiidven = Bore time a
the, officers were baffled’ i : :

{800K aus

Secon
‘Session,

é-ieast a retied about t
lemeanor all through the ,
= that of a man of super-
km: .n capable of steeling.

ee) it ie ; os
“uf, ‘the ‘jail.
“present. to witness. “ite

tors, @ ete y force

ps and several env

Adition to this; number.

mber: of county sheriffs
ies, in. addition. to some
t ‘at to

es Mntside ite: jail: there.
2500: ‘people, mostly ne-.
men; In the Radda

DAS,”
bs, Wal > Whens
Dp Shed 46; Ebene they Jost’
fretting into. boii aioe’
déthroug

par u fe klong of}
. y nd oor: “where |

the sécond:
Pike so many ‘mad men.
floor

they. leaped.
gs pon the. tops of

‘tis from. where they |
nnity of seeing. the:

oe - vealed- to any- -one ‘untib. they were given: out. through the. columns of hee
pect, odlivion of hig Sars + a
é ffected his per-|

: office t ‘through hose | hands it was absolutely, Arecessary, 16: get to get in the
“paper; and furthery that’ it should - not: be eee te us in: sec form: of.

ee: Burt Seiad that’ he* Acaired: to y show: “thi ris pre

| imprisonment. ‘and ‘because of his: friendship for the Statesman representa-_
tives: Having sécured the promise that: his. wishes should be comple: w ith,

about half.|.

‘ Youterliy Ripealte rie after’ the
: Hout five minut 8

ae ys 1 a Sundays Statesmans
That. he would give. the: i ita! said paper under’ ‘certain’ conditions. only.”
These corditions: were that: contents. of said®’ article Av erenot: to” bee re=

van

- paper, this: morning. That no one: should. see the article ‘save: hose in’ the

erence: in: ‘elise naatter “ofS oot

siving: out hisdying statement in-return ‘for ‘fri¢ndships - shown during his”.

hu hentet out pe followin: ‘statement for publication

ee ee ~

5 Austins 4 ‘Tex Xas), May 27 i, at 08 :

Realizing ae ee tl day ‘that if ‘will ‘be hung by it a :
i D
words: = A deliberate hie. ine Site face of such red

‘desire to. way a a very, few
n hellvors: heavens w here: I gO 1.

ath: js anpardonable: either on earth,
sour ‘shall know. 5 ee ms
Bat, now and forever’ i jsolemaly vear that my:
Aatling . wife and sweet little. Lucile and aieone ay gwen fare es did
ZKDOW!, that they. were to, be jnurdered:* L sweat. ‘that ;T was hot an-

ry-orin-any way: connected with their murder, -But-1 also: solemnly
wear that) 1” knew before I left: ‘Anstin who was guilty “And. further; @

‘that int my Tage: no” ‘other-idea” save: that: -of-retributian. ever. ‘possessed. 1 me. +

gain, my firm beliefus “that ere another. dies, who is now: ‘upknown te,
me, will: acknowledge’ that-he- -was-the-schemer, ‘and originated this: -plan_of- &

eer

Spt on ‘me, knowing. that I woul

wh life as satisfaction. to him. = ¢ AG

ee eee iar ied

S, “solemnly. BW car that, he who: ‘slew my, loved: ones: is now. mracad and has a

been, for many, many months, and that was: his- slayer, and with my, owl
saw ‘Vengeance! 80. full’ and complete, ‘and. Eat ees ery. See liga~
this. carcass was: abgolutely. cree Es bre

a fe uglices w as ever ror. a. 1
ment: “ensidered: by. me, es

/And: my desire” fone vengeance, “the: Tuma

see :

ieee + saseiurnstentetan

TH be

2” Phire
ee hold:

remains

grave 0
*Fou
my bur
tors. .
~—“EFift
any: on
sional

| the 3a
or any
denth—
ne “Sixt
intact,
{my bri
body.
and wi
is shov
eS Neve
body.a
please
rhend—t
‘Americ
arte

July. 3¢
tAavo Ss!
tern. 9

BH within
within
+

rand si

bbe: mocanet saree sad sland Se, nd Hhodties
Hwere1

Dud of
pinexp
had.b

n vious.

ce sg
tweak

Tor i
sittin

‘band
1 Me rel

TOW

ete an

Dur
pres
p) Tex:
the
fieti
us
fom
Phi¥
head
‘fiir!

d: showel, an

is surroundings
aa they has: expressed uo
te kee du¥ minister, and while
: Wrig! On Rev. Dr. Bruck
ve both; called on:him during the past
oH that: ea Siti ie have

: Cato, ‘as a pres:
hat. he: had no
would like for

Chen ames eee

We er eo

BUTCHER, Harry F., Jr., wh, elec. TX (Midland) 5/20/1955.
"Harry F. Butcher, 29, convicted of assaulting a Texas

housewife, died in the electric chair at Huntsville state

prison today. His home was in South Bend, Indiana.”

Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 20, 1955.

Reistg

13 & md

ot wg ee
a4c +4

DAE :
Fpeecaendlig that the”

takeits course. fT)...
co ee Bettie the ee

eae ear a , /
é < ¢ ith” ihi
inet oe that they had been p

behalf, and: he! Want
nderstand that he ai

After’ ie
f dominoes. with | je

' <i

to take its course.

t the governor's dk
“were lade known there Were
wenty-four> hours inferyenins
etme nee for the executidn. The
a dant lost no time,
f-the brothers of the
davit that in. his
| fit become insane
nviction, und was,
abject. for hanging
Wtaken before’ the tris)
2 -reaulted in ni order. stay lik
investiga ltivi
proud. The
fon was handed
one: and ten minutes
efor the. time ‘wet for the execution, wt
it was qu 8: suielens, to StO0: AERA r pre

On Mareh 31. Butt was pinced on trial
nthe charge of-lunacy, anda le ngthy
‘tring was resultantcim a hug jury. A
cabot: Le aveck later resulte!
“perfectly: sane. This

figslivigation. and the

dhe. Wak sentence * :

ets “get! asefaon Ci LE
| he sentence for ats ee

sealed ‘the gove Bney
g Jeft

- took

insane nd: in a ste in-
: “othe rs.

ip a Ie ett Sb pte soe ayy ye teenie edy Rein

i ee —— ee — a, 5

Pate BURTON (alias Pink Hines), black, hanged at Houston, Texas, 3-2),-1899,

Born in San Jacinto County June }, 1870, the son of Charles Burton who resides in
fixm First ward of Houston,. His mother was a slave in one of states east of the
Mississippi and it was not known where she was at time of crime, trial and execu-
tion, Father got up petitioh signed by 2 persons asking governor to respite for
30 days bub Governor refused. Burton said he went to school two years, Could
write a little but very poorly. Was one of fewoffenders to pay death penalty who
did not repent, join church and go to heaven, Tried 10-19 and 10-20, 1898,
Affirmed on 12-7-1898, (Note: unable to find record of appeal).
Crime was on July 18,1898, shortly after 1 o'clock in afternoon, Mr, Henry Meyer
was industrious and respected farmer, whose home and farm was about 14 miles
from Cypress in upper part of Harris County, a few miles from Hockley on the
Houston and Texas Gentral Railway, 25 miles north of Houston, Burton had come
to Meyer, ostensibly, at least, to get work, The latter needed no help, but
allowed Burton to remain about the place with a probablg chance of securing work
in neighborhood, Murder committed on Monday, The Saturday previous there was a
barbecue at Cypress and Mr, Meyer was one of persons who gave it and had in his
possession some money that had been taken in by the club as result of the affair,
It was with a hope of obtaining this money that Burton mukdered Mr, Henry Meyer,
his wife, and their 3eyear-old child and attempted murder of Gotlieb Meyer, a
10-year-old brother of Mr, Meyer, Mp. and Mrs, Meyer, after labors of forenoon
and shortly after dinner, laid down on front gallery during hottest time of day
to rest, They fell asleep and it was then Burton killed them. He glided
noiselessly across gallery and with an ax crushed Meyers! skull, Quickly he
followed it with terrible blow on Mrs, Meyer's head, but she screamed, arousing
young Gotlieve who slept inside house, Guided by inspiration, the boy threw
clothing over cradte in which an infant slept and thus concealed and saved it.
Before boy could escape, Burton struck him blow with axe and would have killed
him had he not heard another dying cry from Mrs,. Meyerg and he left boy to finish
killing her, Boy managed to then escape, leaping from window and going to a
neighbor's where he gave alarm, Burton, unable to find boy, began searching
house for the money (about $80 concealed in mattress) but was unable to find it,
Burton then fled leaving Mr, and Mrs, Meyers' dead on porch and child so badly
injured with blow on skull that she died two days later in Houston hospital, Burton
fled into woods, going through a field in which he stopped, ate a watermelon and
left his bloody shirt. Neighbors from surrounding community armed themselves and
went to Meyers' house where they found bodies and began pursuit which did not end
until Burton captured by Sheriff Anderson a few weeks later, Burton, secreted
himself in brush and saw searchers pass in pursuit of him, Freight trains in
Houston watched and Burton, who arrived on one, questioned but gave satisfactory
answers and released. About two weeks later Burton arrested at Coldspring xmg in
San Jacinto County by Constable Robertson, Was arrested under name of Pink
Hines. Burton arrested on plantation where he was working, Positively identified
by young GotliebxrMeyer.
Was hanged at 12:7 on March 2. After black cap was placed over head, said: ‘if
any man sees me tremble, speak out,' Someone called out: 'Y saw it,' and Burton
spoke last words: 'That's a damned lie,' Went to gallows with spirit of bravado,
boasting that he did not have religion and did not want anyone to think that he
did, Last conversations were more in spirit of pleasantry and jocularity than
in seriousness, Appeared to be no malice in jesting, Mind seemed to be clear
and manory to bring up things of funny character, Addressed crowd from south
window of jail in earneethess after asking Sheriff Anderson for permission to do
so, At nine AM ate with relish last meal of chicken, bread and coffee, On
interior wall of cell, wrote "P, E, Burton, doomed to die March 2h, 1899,"
Burton said he had been raised at Evergreen in Xd San Jacinto County near Cold
Springs, Young Gottleib Meyers was among 500 witnesses to execthbion, Neckbroken,
DAILY NEWS, Galveston, Texas, 3-25-1899 (3-1), Denied murders to last.

Texas killer
gets wish GA
for execution Ez

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convict-
ed killer who had demanded that his
lawyers halt efforts to stop his execu-
tion was put to death early today for
the slaying of a Houston taxi driver.

Jerome Butler, who had spent

about half of his life behind bars, was Texas Executes
given a lethal injection at 12:15 a.m. Text Driver's Killer
and pronounced dead at 12:26 a.m.
“I just want to say I wish every- A convicted Texas killer
body a good life and things like that. who had demanded that his law-

Everything is OK,” he said. He nod-
ded to the prison warden and to a

yers halt efforts to stop his exe- -
cution was put to death early —

chaplain, coughed several times and today for tue slaying of a Hous- : ig
stopped breathing. ton taxi driver. ial

Butler, whose age on record was » ee
54 although he claimed to be several . Jerome Butler, who had - FA
years older, was sentenced for the spent about half of his life be- . <
1986 shooting death and robbery of hind bars, was given a lethal in- | »
67-year-old Nathan Oakley of Hous- jection at 12:15 a.m. and pro- |
ton. nounced dead at 12:26 a.m.

Butler, who has passed competen- 3

cy tests, was the first person to be ex-
ecuted willingly in Texas since Rob-
ert Streetman ordered his attorneys

to make no further efforts on his be- ed for the 1986 shooting death -
half. He was put to death Jan. 7, and robbery of 67-year-old Na-
1988. than Oakley of Houston.

Butler was the 34th inmate to be

executed since Texas resumed carry- He was the first person to be

Butler said last month when his exe-

cution date was set. “They could take cate ;
these cuffs off me and walk me back bars, beginning with a 23-to-47-

to (death row) and I still won’t resist. year term in New York in 1959
There won't be no appeals.” for robbery, attempted sexual

assault and accessory to rape.

ing out the death penalty in 1982. executed willingly in Texas since |
a The total is the highest of any state. Robert Streetman ordered his at- |
ab _ Nationally, he was the 122nd person torneys to make no further ef-
s executed since a 1976 U.S. Supreme forts on his behalf. He was put to |
Court en allowed states to resume death Jan. 7, 1988.
capital punishment. ‘
ve State corrections officials said But- Butler was the 34th inmate
J vd ler had not filed any appeals by Fri- to be executed since Texas re-
ne day afternoon. sumed carrying out the death
— ra “I just want to get it over with,” penalty in 1982.
mead

. Butler spent 27 yc ars behind

mo mm

One of Butler’s attorneys, Vic Pe-
corino, had said Butler could be
spared if he had a change of heart.

“Without cooperation from him,
what are you going to appeal?” Pe- QU EL

corino said. pte a oom
Prosecutors said Butler may have San Strauci 5 c 0 Chy

eo ?

I -_

Re iF ik

ronicle

killed Oakley because the cab driver

Lm 0661 ‘LZ dy ‘Aepanjes oe jeuly aeg OJUOUIELDeS OUL

nox

recognized Butler as the man who dign THE: VOICE OF THE WEST
killed his friend, A.C. Johnson, in et RICH
1973. Butler served 10 years of a 30- Rion Seg im sl

year prison term for that slaying.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for
— for this moment — to know this
man can not take away another
wife’s husband and children’s fa-
ther,” Oakley’s widow, Robbie, said
Friday.

EUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A
convicted killer who had demanded
that his lawyers halt efforts to stop
his execution was put to death early
yesterday for the slaying of a Hous-
ton taxi driver.

Jerome Butler, who had spent
about half of his life behind bars,
was given a lethal injection at 12:15

a.m.
“I just want to. say I wish every-

‘Tucson

body a good life and things like that.

~.ded to the prison warden and to
a ied ia Cation several times

Saturday,

Apri 21, 1990

Texas | inmate executed for’ 136. slayi ng:

a.m. and pronounced dead at 12:26 -

Everything is OK,” he said. He nod-

and stopped breathing. f a

Butler, whose age on record was | °

54 though he claimed to be older, '

‘was sentenced for the 1986 shooting‘

death and .robbery of chemin
Nathan Oakiey of Houston.

Butler, who has passed compe: '
tency tests, was the first person to be ;
executed willingly in Texas since |

Robert Streetman ordered his attor-':

neys to make no further efforts on |

his behalf. He was put to — Jan, |

7, 1988. ‘
Butler was the 34th inmate to be

executed since Texas resumed Car- ; 7

rying out the death penalty in 1982. ;

ie Arizona Builn Slar_

Section A- — ~PageT Three .

Saturday, April 21, 1990

The Arizona Republic

;

ion

ler requests execut

“HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convicted killer who has

spent about half of his life behind bars w

‘ O1 his ( as volunteering to
ie executed by injection early today for the murder of a—

cabdriver.

f
04
om J

ed sexual assault and accessory to rape. He was

er has spent 27 years behind bars, beginning with a °
in 1972,

1o 47-year term in New York in 1959 for robbery,

tiempt

Paro

"I Just want to get it over with,” Jerome Butler said last .
month when his execution date was set.

led
Ruch nieke 5 waterwavs for cleannn

; “Butler, whose age on record is 54, although he claims to
be several years older, was sentenced to death for the 1986

slaying and robbery of Nathan Oakley, 67, of Houston.

“Bul

23-

aT hey could take these cuffs off me and walk me back
to, (death row) and I still won’t resist. There won’t -be no

appeals.”

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APRIL 21,1990 |.

w ws

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A

| convicted killer who refused to ap--

peal his death sentence and said “TI

| just want to get it over with” was

executed by injection early Satur-
day for the 1986 slaying of a Hous-
ton taxicab driver.

Jerome Butler, 54, was pro-
nounced dead at 12:26 a.m. at the
Huntsville Unit of the Texas De-
partment of Criminal Justice Insti-
tutional Division.

Prosecutors and judges were
prepared to halt the execution at a-
moment’s notice and Texas Assis-
tant Attorney General Bob Walt
said the state would not oppose a

| Killer refuses appeal, is executed

istay of execution — had Butler

wanted one..
But he didn’t.

“The only thing I have to say is I
wish everybody a good life and
things like that,” Butler said in. his
last statement. “Everything’ is
OK.”

The inmate nodded at werden
Jack Prusley and prison chaplain. _
Carroll Pickett and mouthed the
words, “All right.” : ;

The former cook and truck driv-
er was ordered to die for the June
17, 1986, robbery and slaying of
Nathan Oakley, 67, who was shot
three times in the, back of the head.
and robbed of about $300. :

; SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

FIWAL

TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.

faire : TAL,

co Aramis

Murderer executed for 1980 Slaying

HUNTSVILLE — Lawrence Lee Buxton was exe-
cuted early Tuesd>: ‘or killing Joel Slotnik, 40, of
Katy during a Ser ber 1980 robbery.

Authorities believed Bux 38, intended to
shoot Slotnik’s S-year-old son, who Was crying and
did not lie on the floor as gunmen demanded. In-
Stead, Slotnik was fatally wounded.

— From wire reports

—l pass Times HERSLD

WED, 2-27-9/

Killer executed
for 1980 Slaying

MI HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A
convicted killer w2s put to death
by injection ear), Tuesday for
killing a man whose terrified
child refused to Obey the de-

mS Of gunmen who were
r a supermarket in 1980.
L. @ Lee Buxton, 38, «a5

con. ied of shooting Joel Siot-
nik, 40, of Katy. Authorities be-
lieved that he had intended to
shont Mr. Slotnik’s son, Aaron,

5, vas Crying and did not lie
on .€ floor as gunmen de-
manded.

FLLAS MORNING AZ ua)5
WED WR 9,

1661 ‘LO AMNVONAAA ‘AVAUSANGCAM

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LUUAY LIE FAG WHE wrvenneme--

Texan Executed for 1980 Killing

HUNTSVILLE, Tex., Feb. 26 (AP) —
A man convicted of killing a supermar-
ket customer during a robbery in 1980
was put to death by lethal injection
early today, hours after the United
States Supreme Court had refused.to
halt the execution.

The prisoner, Lawrence Lee Buxton,
38 years old, became the 144th person
to be executed in the United States
since the Supreme Court ruling in 1976
that allowed states to resume execu-
tions. Texas has conducted 37 execu-
tions since then, the most of any state.

The United. States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit refused Monday to
halt the execution, sending the case to
the Supreme Court. The Justices
denied two applications for stays and
two petitions for review, said a Court
spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg. The
Court’s decisions came less than two
hours before the execution.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, who op-
poses the death penalty under any cir-
cumstances, dissented on all the deci-
sions, while Justices Harry A. Black-
mun and John Paul Stevens said they
would have granted one application for
astay,Ms.Arbergsaid. .

Mr. Buxton was convicted of shoot-
ing Joel Slotnik to death during a rob-
bery at a suburban Houston supermar-
ket after Mr. Slotnik’s 5-year-old son

had refused to follow the orders of the
robbers. Mr. Slotnik had stopped at the
store after Yom Kippur services to buy
some bread and milk.

Mr. Buxton’s lawyers argued in their
appeals that jurors had not been given
mitigating evidence, specifically of his
impoverished youth in the care of a
drunken father.

The lawyers said the information
could have persuaded jurors to impose
a life sentence rather than the death
penalty.

In opposing the appeals, Bob Walt,
assistant state attorney general, said,
“Neither justice nor jurisprudence
would be served by granting a stay of
execution in this case.”

Mr. Buxton was charged with capital
murder while serving 35 years in

prison for six robberies of savings and/

loan offices after investigators discov-
ered a similarity between those rob-
beries and the supermarket holdup.

Mr. Slotnik’s wife and an older son
identified Mr. Buxton as the man who
had fired the shot. Mr. Buxton, a for-
mer meat cutter and Federal meat in-
spector, had removed a ski mask as he
was leaving the store.

Mr. Buxton, a 10th-grade dropout,
was described by prosecutors aS a
ringleader of a gang recruited from the
ghettos of Houston.

Avg rornrnvanacnd

—_—

-_ =

— ee

TEXANS EXECUTED |

FOR A 1980 SLAYING

Death Penalty 144th Carried
Out in the U.S. Since 76 |

The United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit refused Monday to
halt the execution, sending the case to
the Supreme Court. The Justices
denied two aly eager for stays and
two petitions for review, said a Court
spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg. The
Court’s decisions came less than two
hours before the execution.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, who op-
poses the death penalty under any cir-
cur i ances, dissented on all the deci-
sions, while Justices Harry A. Black-
mun and John Paul Stevens said they
would have granted one application for
a stay, Ms. Arberg said.

Mr. Buxton was convicted of shoot-|.

ing Joel Slotnik to death during a rob-
bery at a suburban Houston supermar-
ket after Mr. Slotnik’s 5-year-old son
had refused to follow the orders of the
robbers. Mr. Slotnik had stopped at the
store after Yom Kippur services to buy
some breadand milk. ~~ ~

Mr. Buxton’s lawyers argued in their
appeals that jurors had not been given

mitigating evidence, specifically of his)’

impoverished youth in the ca» of a
drunken father.

The lawyers said the information
could have persuaded jurors to impose
a life sentence rather than the death
penalty.

In opposing the appeals, Bob Walt,
assistant state attorney general, said,
“Neither justice nor jurisprudence
would be served by granting a stay of
execution in this case.”

Mr. Buxton was charged with capital
murder while serving 35 years in
prison for six robberies of savings and
loan offices after investigators discov-
ered a similarity between those rob-
beries and the supermarket holdup.

Mr. Buxton, a 10th-grade dropout,
was described by prosecutors as a
ringleader of a gang recruited from the
ghettos of Houston.

. (6LS/-L7-F SPW YU M7

oie Ys, WK OE Re DS

Weigh records of allies |
on human rights issues

By Peter Kent

he Beast of Baghdad, they call Saddam
Hussein, a name he clearly deserves.
But this name reminds me of another

ed States. 2
The third President Somoza of Nicaragua was
known as the Beast to his own people. Few Ameri-
cans knew much about the Somoza dynasty, but
our government certainly knew what it was like.
“He’s a sonofabitch,” said President Franklin

Roosevelt of the first President Somoza (Anasta- .

sio), “but he’s our sonofa-
bitch.” There’s our problem.
Our leaders use beasts Our leaders
when it suits them, and then yse beasts
throw their arms up in sur- . o, 7
prise when these animals run when 1 { sults
wild. In Saddam’s case, he
attacked the wrong country them, and :
(we didn’t mind when he at- then throw "
tacked Iran or gassed the : ;
Kurds), and in Anastasio So- their arms
moza Debayle’s case his bru- up 1N SUr-
tality led to a revolution that “
our government saw as a PIISC...
threat.

We need to see the brutality of our friends as a

threat to our own interests.

Ox, so you didn’t like the Carter administra-

tion’s focus on human rights. Perhaps you believe
we should support any regime that is friendly to us,
regardless of the cruelty it inflicts upon its own
people or its neighbors if they aren’t strategically
important.

But if you don’t want to support a change in
policy because it is morally right, then support it
because it makes political sense.

Think about it: we support the last Somoza. he’s
overthrown by the Sandinistas; we support the
Shah of Iran, he’s overthrown by the ayatollahs; we
support Noriega, he goes into the drug-export busi-

ness: we support Saddam, he goes into the empire-

building business.

I'm glad George Bush is upset by Amnesty Inter-

national’s report on Iraqi torture and murder.

But why wasn’t he upset by the same reports last
year, or the year before. od

And what about Amnesty’s condemnation of Saudi
-\rabia, Syma. Turkey and even the “legitimate” gov-
ernment of Kuwait for torture and murder? ~

It’s time to wake up and smell the napalm. Sup-
porting these Beasts doesn’t make the world a safer
place.

Peter Kent resides in Addison.

My Word Is an open forum for wide-ranging opinion. Contri-
butions of about 350 words (1% double-spaced, type-
written pages) are welcomed. Please mail with phone
number, address and black-and-white photograph to
My Word, Dallas Times Herald, 1101 Pacific Ave.,
Dailas, TX 75202-1902, or send by facsimile to (214)
720-6205.

leader that brought trouble to the Unit-.

Murderer executed for 1980 slaying

HUNTSVILLE — Lawrence Lee Buxton was exe-
cuted early Tuesday for killing Joel Slotnik, 40, of
Katy during a September 1980 robbery.

Authorities believed Buxton, 38, intended to
shoot Slotnik’s 5-year-old son, who was crying and
did not lie on the floor as gunmen demanded. In-
stead, Slotnik was fatally wounded.

- From wire reports

et pass TiMES HERBLD

WED, 2-27-9/

Killer executed
for 1980 slaying

MHUNTSVILLE, Texas — A
convicted killer was put to death
by injection early Tuesday for
killing a man whose terrified
child refused to obey the de-
mands of gunmen who were
robbing a supermarket in 1980.
Lawrence Lee Buxton, 38, was
convicted of shooting Joel Slot-
nik, 40, of Katy. Authorities be-
lieved that he had intended to
shoot Mr. Slotnik’s son, Aaron,
5, who was crying and did not lie
on the floor as gunmen de-
manded.

CEUAS MORNING NEWS

WED 2VPR-S

June, 1931

the family had made them good. Mrs.
Juergens had discovered another such
case and had upbraided the youth for
his action.

The argument had taken place ear-
lier in the evening and had been very
bitter. The women had retired to pre-
pare for bed and Myrna had gone to
sleep. Byrnes was sitting in the house

listening to the radio. Suddenly, he »

said, his rage returned again. Another
argument was started between the two
and in the midst of it he slapped Mrs.
Juergens. With that slap, he asserted.
“something snapped,” and he grabbed a
small hatchet and struck her several
times.

Myrna awoke and came into the
room. He struck her too.

“She screamed and | hit her with the
hatchet,” he said.

Mrs. Schirra also was aroused by
the sound of the commotion and there-
upon met with the same fate.

He professed to have no remem-
brance of mutilating the bodies, but
declared that if it had been done, he
had done it. After the murders, . he
continued, he had changed his blood
shirt and gone downtown to a hotel,
where he spent the night.

The next morning he arose and re-
turned to the house. He rifled the rooms
and took all the money and jewelry
that he could find. The money
amounted to about $40.

Thereupon he went out on a “party” |
with a group of acquaintances. ‘ ee
owing

Until Wednesday of the followi
week he stayed in the city, drinking
heavily. Then he left, taking Juergens
car with him. He drove to San Antonio
and spent the night at the MacLain
Hotel, registering under the name of
Charles Prichar ’ He left San Anto-
nio and continued his aimless wandering
until the car broke down near Jarrell.
He left the car in a garage there and
continued to Sulphur Springs where he
stayed.

“he chauffeur could offer no expla-
nation for his actions and seemed will-
ing to return to San Angelo and face
his punishment.

He was brought back at once and a

special session of the grand jury -

was impaneled on March 13th. He was
indicted for all three murders but was
brought to trial on March 28th on the
indictment charging him with the mur-
der of Myrna Juergens. The case at-
tracted widespread attention.

ATTORNEYS posaptee by the court
defended him. The trial asted only
three days, with a day and a half of
that time taken up in picking the jury.
District Attorney Durham introduced
the portions of the confession relating
to Myrna Juergens’ murder and called
about fifteen witnesses to substantiate
it. The prosecutor had spared no effort
to locate anyone who could verify any
bit of the confession.

The defense offered no witnesses.

Brilliant arguments were made to
the jury, holding the persons who man-
aged to get into the crowded court-
room. enthralled. Thousands were
turned away. :

Mr. Durham and his assistant
pointed out that witnesses had verified

had

The, Master Detective

The defense attorneys argued that
Byrnes had been a friend'of the Juer-
gens, that no one had stated otherwise
and that no one had heatd him make
any threats against them. They claimed
then that, under the Texas murder stat-
ute, he was not guilty of murder with
malice aforethought, although they ad-
mitted the slaying. They pleaded with
the jury to send him to prison.

District Attorney Durham countered
with the assertion that the nature
of the murder showed malice. He
repeated Byrnes’ statement, “She
screamed and | hit her with the
hatchet,” as proving malice.

THE jury was out fifty minutes. It

returned a verdict of death and
Byrnes was hurried to the county jail
and later to the state penitentiary at
Huntsville for safe keeping.

No adequate explanation was ever
put forth as to why the screams of the
victims were not heard. Byrnes said
the windows of the house were all shut,
and officers assumed that to the en-
raged killer the sounds seemed louder
than they actually were. In all prob-
ability the three women met their
deaths in the space of scarcely more
than a minute. They must each have
died almost immediately after the first
blow from the powerful chauffeur.

Byrnes said .many. times while. in
jail that after he ad calmed down
from his anger, he had no desire to
escape. He wanted to take his punish-
ment, but could not seta himself to
surrender and so merely li
pi ero of being arrested momen-
tarily. That is why, he explained, he
confessed. ‘

However, when he was returned to
jail after his trial, he begged the
attorneys defending him to appeal his
case and there was no peaceful surren-
der to the demands of justice in his at-
titude.

His attorneys appealed, but on_No-
vember 7th the Texas Court of Crim-
inal Appeals affirmed the finding of the
district court. Byrnes was Brousht
back to San Angelo for formal pro-
nouncement and on December rd,
1928, was sentenced to be electrocuted
on ee 11th.

e was immediately returned to the
death house at Huntsville and twenty
minutes after midnight on the fateful
day set, was led into the execution
chamber. He appeared unmoved, al-
though he was a little nervous. With
something of a swagger he strode into
the small room, stood for a moment be-
side the chair and said:

“1 ain’t got nothing against nobody,
and I hope nobody’s got nothing
against me.”

He took his place in the chair and
the aig began strapping his arms
and a As the moments passed, he

robably forgot what had obviously
Rica intended for his last words on
this earth, for he started a running
fire of chatter with the executioners that
continued until he was electrocuted.

At 12:31 o'clock on the morning of
pmeeite 11th, 1929, he was pronounced
dead.

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900 W. Lake St.. Dept G-1461, Chicago, an.

The Master Detective

Stalking the Hatchet Killer of San Angelo

excitement spread throughout the city,
ugly rumors began to be heard.

Sheriff Hewitt was in his office ques-
tioning Mr. Juergens. The latter told
the Sheriff that he left San Angelo on
Saturday, March 3rd. He had been in
the oil company’s camp since, and on

‘Thursday had telephoned his . house

from Texon but no one answered.

He might have had a premonition
that something was wrong—at any
trate, he insisted on the operator’s ring-
ing the telephones of some of the neigh-
bors. But they had answered that they
had not seen Mrs. Juergens about for
several days and Mr. Juergens had as-
sumed that she and her mother had
taken the girl and gone to San An-
tonio—a place they visited frequently.

HE thought nothing was wrong and
did not attempt to communicate
with them again, believing he would
hear from them within a few days or
else that he would come in to San
Angelo from the oil fields shortly.
Sheriff Hewitt held Mr. Juergens for
questioning for several hours, and in
justice to him checked his story thor-
oughly. He was absolved immediately
and completely of any knowledge or
implication in the terrible crime. It

was unfortunate that the misleading.

finger of circumstantial evidence should

have tended to point for a moment in-

his direction as it naturally added *o
his grief and suffering. The officials ia
charge, however, did everything within
their power to ease things for him.
Darkness was falling and the pos-
sibility of an unsolved murder mys-

tery or a man-hunt that might last for |

months and then end in the capture of
a man. who could easily disprove his
connection with the crime, was steadily
barons

In reply to detailed questioning con-
cerning Byrnes, Mr. Juergens expressed
the belief that he could have had noth-
ing to do with the crime.

‘One reason | employed that boy was
to have him look out for my family,”
he insisted. “Byrnes knew that, and re-
spected the trust I had in him. I’ve
treated him as kindly as I could—al-

most as if he were a member of the .

family—and he has always done what
| have expected of him. I have the ut-
most confidence in him.

“When we lived in San Antonio sev-
eral years ago | met him. I engaged
him. as a chauffeur and he proved to

‘be most qatisvactory. As time went on,
m

I placed:‘more an ore confidence in
him. When wé moved to San Angelo

-we brought him with us. Sometime

ago we made an overland trip back to

our old home in Pennsylvania and he
-accompanied us and drove the car. He
seemed perfectly dependable. ~

fists as.a big brother ,
‘would his little sister and seemed to —

“He treated

have a great deal of affection for her
and consistently showed her the utmost
kindness and deference.”

Officers were puzzled. Had they |

blundered in getting out a warrant for
the arrest of the young man? Had he

(Continued from page 47)

left the city on some perfectly plaus-
ible errand, and had robbers, after his
departure, surprised the three women
alone and killed them to prevent the
discovery of their crime? It seemed
possible. That is, it seemed likely eto
everyone but’ Sergeant Stevenson.

“That’s too much to lay at the door
of coincidence,” he said. “Mark my
words, that fellow is the one we want,
and he is right now at the home of
some of his or Juergens’ friends.

“T think I’ll start with Mr. and Mrs.
D. W. Lindsey. They came out here
to visit the Juergens once. I knew them
myself. They live near Sulphur Springs
and I'll telephone them and inform
them of the crimes and see if I can get
a line on Byrnes.”

Sulphur Springs is 400 miles from
San Angelo. Sergeant Stevenson put in
a call and soon had Mrs. Lindsey on
the line.

He told her, as gently as possible, of
the crimes. She gave a gasp of horror
and asked who had done the killing.

“We don’t know,” said Stevenson.
“We think Byrnes did, and are looking
for him.”

“Good Lord!” she exclaimed. “He’s
here in my house now!”

“What?” cried the officer. “When did
he ct there? What did he tell youP”

“Why,” the woman replied, “he came
here yesterday. We were surprised to
see him, but he said he had been to
Springfield, Missouri. We asked how
the Juergens were and he replied they
were ‘fine’ the last time he saw them.
He seemed such a gentlemanly boy
when we were out there that we invited
him to stop here a day or so if he
cared to and he has remained.”

STEVENSON believed that Byrnes’

story of being in Springfield was
untrue. If it were, there was a great
possibility that his seemingly innocent
visit was also a blind, and his story of
leaving the cere family in good
health was likewise a lie. He made his
decision instantaneously.

“Call your sheriff there and tell him
you have talked to me and that I said
there was a murder warrant out for
Byrnes, Tell him to hold him until we
get there. Don’t let Byrnes know until
you have him safely under arrest. He
may be dangerous.’

In vureee Springs, Mrs. Lindsey
Was puzzled. The boy had seemed so
harmless. Surely, if he were a brutal
killer, he would not be sitting calmly
on her front porch enjoying the spring
sunshine. Undoubtedly, he would not
have sought safety in a place where he
knew he would be instantly identified
and turned over to the law as soon as

the news of the crime was received.

But she had met, Mr. Stevenson on
her visit to San Angelo and had confi-
dence in him. X

She summoned ‘her husband and
quickly related the story to him. He
went to Byrnes.

“Come on, Newt,” he said. “We're
going to town.”

Without a word, Byrnes climbed into

the car and Mr, Lindsey drove into
Sulphur Springs. It was just getting
dark, but as he drove up to the square
he espied the figure of Sheriff F. O.
Flippen. He jumped from the car and
walked up to the official, telling him he
had a man in his automobile who was
wanted in San Angelo for murder.

Byrnes sat quietly and unaffected, in’

the machine while Mr. Lindsey talked
to the officer, as if he hadn’t the slight-
est idea as to what the conversation
was about.

Sheriff Flippen walked over to the car.

“Get out of there, young man,” he
said.

Byrnes obeyed without a word.

“I’m arresting you for murder. You'll
have to come with me,” he continued.

Byrnes neither remonstrated nor ex-
pressed surprise. He went along with
the official without saying a thing.

Mr. Lindsey, more puzzled than ever,
climbed back into his car and drove
away.

News of the capture of Byrnes havy-
ing reached him, Sheriff Hewitt imme-
diately took Deputy Sheriff Jim White
and started by automobile for Sulphur
Springs.

Seven hours before, a crime almost
inhuman in its fiendishness, had been
discovered. If the theory of the medical
examiners and the tangible evidence
were to be believed, it had occurred
eight days before. The killer or killers
could have been in Chicago or China;
New Yark or Nome. Yet in those few
hours, officers had learned of a suspect,
had,-him’ under arrest, were on their
way to get him, and the machinery of
the law was fast accumulating evidence
that was damning against him.

Careful and painstaking work on the
part of officers had disclosed the chauf-
feur’s identity and much of his history
during those fleeting hours. Hunches,
luck and the fate that often rides in
the saddle with justice, had helped.

Had it not been extraordinarily
warm, perhaps Mr. Christner might
have noticed nothing amiss about the
house and the crimes might have gone
undiscovered for several days, or even
a week, longer. Had not Sergeant
Stevenson thought of telephoning the
Lindsey family Befais news of the crime
had been made public throughout the
state, perhaps Byrnes would have fled.

MEANWHILE, Sheriff Hewitt had
arrived in Sulphur Springs and
had taken charge of Byrnes. The Sher-
iff called in County Attorney Emmett
Thornton of Hopkins County, wherein
Sulphur Springs is located, and began
questioning Byrnes.
Byrnes confessed to the murders!
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APPEALS

Bae ee

CADY, Lovett, white, hanged Clarksville, Red River Co., June 29, 1855.

Cady and Sam Sinclair owned the only two places in the village of Pi ne Bluffs where
whiskey was sold and a bitter rivalry developed between the competitors. In September, 1854,
Cady fired a rifle from a window his establishment and killed Sinclair who was standing in the
doorway of his own business. He and two of his friends, George Frazier and Miller Husbands,
were indicted, but both of them were acquitted. Cady was tried at the June, 1855, term of
court and he swore that he had been beaten and left for dead by three of Sinclair’s friends and
that he had been in such fear of his house for three months. He was unable to substantiate this
claim and he was convicted and sentenced to be hanged on June 29.

The Clarksville Standard, in reporting the verdict, said: “We are told that the prisoner
listened to the sentence without evincing emotion, but his wife who was present and, as has been
supposed, instigated the murder, was very much affected though, as one would suppose, as we
are told, that from looking at the two she was the least likely to be troubled by any of the softer
emotions. Cady is a small, thin-faced man, about 50 years of age; his wife a stout woman of
threatening manner and coarse expression, perhaps 40 years of age. They have, we believe, two
daughters.”

The Standard reported the execution in its issue a week after it had occurred as follows:
“About 3 o’clock Cady was hung, about two miles north of town in the Round Grove. He
deported himself under the scaffold with a gravity and plropriety becoming his situation,
participated in prayer and avowed religious convictions and hopes. The Reverend J. W. P.
McKenzie ministered him and expressed the hope his two daughters would never be held
accountable for the act of their father. His wife attended him to the scaffold and stayed with him
to the last. She shrieked as the halter was adjusted to his neck and when he swung off she ranh to
him and endeavored to hold him up until Sheriff West removed her. Driving the cart from under
him allowed him to fall about three inches. Pu.lsation of the arteries was perceptible for about
twenty minutes, but there was little struggle. After hanging 35 minutes he was taken down and
found still warm, so much so that his wife for a little time entertained a belief that he might be
restored.”-From The Red River Valley Then and Now, by A. W. Neville;. Paris, TX: North Tree
Publishing Co., 1948, pp 65-68.

115 SOUTHWESTERN ~2nd- 965
CALHOUN, Mark Henry, 18-year-old black, electrocuted Texas (Dallas) on June 17, 1938,.

"A 13eyear-old white girl, who lives in the 2800 block of Metropolitan, Southeast Dallas,
was choked, cut, dragged into a basement of a negro school by a young negro, her clothes
torn off and attacked about midnight Saturday (Oct. 9, 1937).

"The girl was returning from a picture show and took a short cut across the grounds of

the Wheatley negro school, Metropolitan and Myers, when the Negro emerged out of the shadows,
grabbed her and started dragging her into the basement of the building.

"She fought her attacker and practically her entire clothing was torn off,

"So, youtfe tough,! the Negro told her, and jerked out a knife, ‘I'll show you how 1
handle tough girls,' and he cut her left index finger deeply.

"Cut my throat instead,' the girl replied, and the Negro said: 'Maybe I widl,'

"He threw her on a bed used by the janitor in the basement of the school and then grabbed

a pistol out from under the pillow to threaten her with.

"Her mother took her at once to the police station where a report was made,

"The girl's clothing was bloody from the finger wound which required 3 stitches to close,

"A number of police officers were sent to the scene early Sunday to comb the neighborhood,
From the familiarity of the Negro with the location of the pistol under the janitor's pillow
police expressed the belief that clues to his identity would be found shortly."

MORNING NEWS, Dallas, Texas, Oct. 10, 1937 (1-).

Metadata

Containers:: Box 37 (2-Documentation of Executions), Folder 6
Resource Type:: Document
Description:: Jackson Bunch executed on 1856-11-21 in Texas (TX)
Rights:: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Date Uploaded:: July 4, 2019

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