Tennessee, A-B, 1826-1981, Undated

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THE TRIAL OF JAMES R. BENNETT

STATE OF TENNESSEE
TO THE SHERIFF OF MAURY COUNTY GREETINGS: January 1826

You are here by commanded to summon the following good and lawful men

of said County to serve, as jurors, at the next June term of the Circuit
Court, to be holden for Maury County as aforesaid (towit). Daniel Douglass,
Robert Oakley, Samuel Peake, John Mack, James Black, John Miller, Robert
Caruthers, Jonathan D. Bills, John Petilla, Thomas Shane, William Fly,
Robert Henderson, William E. Davis, John C. Wormley, William Babbitt, Hugh
Brown, Robert Wortham, Thomas Wortham, Peter Voornies, William Stockard,
Abram Looney, John Matthews, John H. McCanlass, William E. McKee, Nicholas
J. Long.

Here in fail not, and have you then and there this writ. Witness Joseph B.

Porter Clerk of our said court this third Monday in January 1826.
Joseph B. Porter Clerk

STATE OF TENNESSEE MAURY COUNTY :
I Joseph B. Porter Clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for
said County do certify, that the within is a true Copy of the record of

said Court relative to the within Venire Facias. In testimony whereof

I have here unto subscribed my name, and Affixed my seal of office..At
office in Columbia.

This 22nd day of June 1826

Joseph B. Porter Clerk

Seal

The Sheriff returns into court the Venire Facias to him directed in the
following words & figures towit. Ordered by the Court, that the Sheriff

of Maury County, summons the following persons, good & lawful men of the
County of Maury, to serve as Jurors at the next Term of the Circuit

Court, to be holden for the County of Maury, at the Courthouse in the

Town of Columbia, on the Third Monday in June next, (towit) DANIEL DOUGLASS ,
ROBERT OAKLEY, SAMUEL PEAKE, JOHN MACK, JAMES BLACK, JOHN MILLER, ROBERT

_-1-

eeTey

CARUTHERS, JONATHAN D. BILLS, JOHN PETILLA, THOMAS SHANE, WILLIAM FLY,
ROBERT HENDERSON, WILLIAM E. DAVIS, JOHN C. WORMLEY, WILLIAM BABBITT,
WILLIAM E. MCKEE, ROBERT WORTHAM, THOMAS WORTHAM, PETER J. JOORHIES,
WILLIAM STOCKARD, ABRAM LOONEY, JOHN MATTHEWS, JOHN H. McCANLASS,
NICHOLAS J. LONG. Herein fail not and have you then and there this
Writ. Witness JOSEPH B. PORTER CLERK of our said Court at office, this
Third Monday in January in the year 1826 and 50th year of American

Independance.

Joseph B. Porter Clerk

ENDORSED

Opened 11 February 1826 Came to hand 18 February 1826
Executed by myself and depicted N.P.

N. Porter Sheriff

Out of the persons by the Court of pleas and quarter Sessions of this

County appointed and by the Sheriff summoned to be a Venire in this Court,

a Grand Jury of Good and lawful men of this County (towit) DANIEL DOUGLASS,
ROBERT OAKLEY, JOHN MATTHEWS, ROBERT CARUTHERS, WILLIAM BABBIT, JOHN H.
McCANLASS, NICHOLAS J. LONG, SAMUEL PEAKE, ROBERT WORTHAN, JONATHAN D. BILLS,
JAMES BLACK & JOHN C. WORMLEY, ABRAM LOONEY, (of whom JOHN C. WORMLEY is
appointed forman) is elected by ballot drawn by a boy under ten years of

age, and are assembled , sworn and charged to inquire for the body of the

County of Maury aforesaid, and under The Care of CALEB THOMAS, an officer

sworn to attend them with drawn to consider of present meets

STATE

vs RECOGNIZANCE

JAMES R. BENNETT

SAMUEL McCONNEL the Prosecutor in this cause comes into Court, and acknow-
ledges himself indebted to the State of Tennessee in the sum of two hundred
& fifty dollars and JEREMIAH THOMISON & MALCOM GILCHRIST securities for the
prosecution come into court, & acknowledge themselves indebted to the State
of Tennessee in the sum of one hundred Dollars, each to be levied of their
goods and chattles, lands & tenaments to be void upon condition that the

said SAMUEL McCONNELL make his personal appearance at the Courthouse in the

ein

Town of Columbia in Maury County, & State of Tennessee, on the first
Thursday of the present Term of this Court to prosecute & give evidence
in behalf of the State, against JAMES R. BENNETT on an Indictment for

Murder and not depart thereof without leave of the Court.
MONDAY JUNE THE 19th 1826

STATE OF TENNESSEE
MAURY COUNTY (TOWIT)

At a Circuit Court begun and holden in and for the County of Maury, at
the Court-house of said County in the Town of Columbia in the same County
on the third Monday in June (being the nineteenth day of said month) &
in the Year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, before
the HONARABLE THOMAS STUART who hold this Court by interchange with the
Judge of the sixth Judicial Circuit in conformity to an act of the General

Assembly, in that case made and provided.

PRESENT SAID JUDGE PRESIDING
GEORGE M. MARTIN CLERK OF SAID
COURT.

P. NIMORD PORTER
SHERIFF

In pursuance of a to him directed to him discharged from this

Court the clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for the County
of Maury, this day returned into Court a record in the words and figures
following (TOWIT).

At a Court of Pleas and Quarter Session began and holden for the County of
Maury, at the Court-house in the Town of Columbia, on the third Monday in
January in the Year of our Lord, on thousand eight hundred and twenty-six,
it being the sixteenth day of said month, before ALEXANDER JOHNSON, WILLIAM
ALLEN, ROBERT CARYTHERS, Justices of the Court aforesaid, and others their

fellow Justices

JOSEPH B. PORTER CLERK
NIMROD PORTER SHERIFF

Ordered by the Court, that the Sheriff summon the following Jurors, good

-3-

Oe i te rae
Sdn, ode Me omit. ee

and lawful men of the County of Maury to serve as Jurors at the next term
of the Circuit Court to be holden for the County of Maury, at the Court-
house in the Town of Columbia on the third Monday, in June next (towit)
DANIEL DOUGLASS, ROBERT OAKLEY, SAMUEL PEAKE, JOHN MACK, JAMES BLACK, JOHN
MILLER, ROBERT CARUTHERS, JOHNATHAN D. BILLS, JOHN PETILLA, THOMAS SHANE,
WILLIAM FLY, ROBERT HENDERSON, WILLIAM E, DAVIS, JOHN C. WORMLEY, WILLIAM
BABBITT, HUGH BROWN, ROBERT WORTHAM, THOMAS WORTHAM, PETER S, VOORHIES,
WILLIAM STOCKARD, ABRAM LOONEY, JOHN MATTHEWS, JOHN N. McCANLASS, WILLIAM
E. McKEE AND NICHOLAS J. LONG.

STATE OF TENNESSEE

VS MURDER
JAMES R. BENNETT

This day the grand jurors returned into Court a Bill of INDICTMENT for

Murder against JAMES R. BENNETT endorced "A true bill John Creager WORMLEY

Foreman of the Grand Jury."

State of TENNESSEE Maury County Circuit Court. June term in the Year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.

The grand jurors for the state of Tennessee elected unpannelled sworn and
charged to enquire for the body of the County of Maury aforesaid, upon their
oaths present, that James R. Bennett of the county aforesaid yeoman not hav-

ing the fear of God before his Eyes, but being moved and seduced by the

instigation of the Devil on the Seventeenth day of February in the Year of
our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty six, with force and arms at
the dwelling house of the said JAMES R. BENNETT in the county aforesaid, in
and upon one THOMAS CALLAHAN, in the Peace of God, and the State aforesaid,
then & there being feloniously, wilfully, & of his malace afore thought, did
make an and that the said JAMES R. BENNETT a certain Gun call-
ed a rifle of the value of five Dollars, then and their loaded, and charged,

with Gun powder, and one leaden Bullet, which said gun to the said JAMES R.
BENNETT, in both his hands then and there, had and held then and thére feloun-
ously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did discharge and shoot off, to,
and against and upon the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, and that the said JAMES R.
BENNETT, with leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the Gun aforesaid, then and
there by the force of the gun powder aforesaid, by the said JAMES R. BENNETT

discharged and shot off as aforesaid then and there felonously, wilfully and
of his malace aforethought, did strike, penetrate and wound the said THOMAS

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sioners were still living when the Pension Act of 1832 was passed. de
By 1832 the average age of those who did apply for pensions was
seventy-five.

Whatever their reasons for settling in Maury County and regard- of
less of how old they were when they came, the names of these 7 vi
veterans have been recorded in some of the early county docu- » :
ments. Some fact about the lives of each may be found either in
early tax records, court minutes, tombstones, or newspapers. How-
ever, it has not been possible to identify one old veteran who met a
violent death in Maury County. The following account was found
in the Columbia Herald and Mail for May 28, 1875:

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&
ee

Nearly fifty years ago, a man by the name of Bennett was tried in sket
Be Columbia for the murder of an old Revolutionary soldier. They met loca
1 eae or at an old “still-house,” which was near the old Pulaski road, some :
: M Bikes six or eight miles south of Columbia. After imbibing freely, the old § at "y
: ee soldier commenced boasting of his narrow escapes from the British tis Yor
Be A bullets during the Revolutionary War and said the bullet had never tage!
Boj been made that could kill him. Bennett had his rifle with him and fi age
swore he could kill him, which the old man denied; whereupon
Bennett raised his gun, fired, and the old man fell and soon expired.
Bennett was convicted of murder, and expiated his crime upon the
gallows.**

ae 3 af : A thorough search of the county records has revealed much informa- :

of, a _ + tion about the case, including the names of the prosecutor and me

some of the witnesses, the date James R. Bennett was charged with cee

murder, and the date he was executed. However, the name of the * {he

; victim has never been uncovered. ee oo
mgt Although every vital statistic about an individual who lived in

a ea the area well over a hundred years ago cannot be found in the

Bo public records of Maury County, much valuable information is

bith there waiting for the diligent researcher to dig it out of the dusty .

records. Clifford L. Lord’s booklet, Teaching History with Com- me.

munity Resources, stresses that “local materials offer challenges for %

ia students of every age and every degree of sophistication.” Lord also

Bree tea states that:

.,. there is no phase of social studies about America that cannot _
benefit from the use of localized materials for illustration, for in-
vestigation, for the achievement of greater understanding and wis-

BS 1° Jill K, Garrett, comp., Maury County, Tennessee Historical Sketches (Co-
¢ lumbia, Tennessee: Privately printed, 1967), p. 134.

eet
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gm 2850 CENSUS OF MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE

Gilchrist, Malcom
Gilchrist, ‘Duncan
Gilchrist, John -
‘McMillan, Alexander
Davis, William
Buie, William. .
Zearber, Margaret
Drake, Ed-ard
Henderson, Pabian
Buie, Gilbert
Thomas, Vichard .
Sprinkler, Moses
McManus, Aaron
Davis, Rubin
‘Hues, James
‘Henderson, Nathanal
Thomas, Elizabeth -
Carpenter, Ebby
Crafford, Alexander
Vinson, James .
‘Bennett, James R,
Allen, Abraham

9 . Standefer, Jesse

Hamilton, James
Jarman, Hall

Hyde, Henry
-Harral, Josiah
Gambill, Jessey

Lynch, James -
‘Alexander, Raster
‘Mimim, Joh

‘Holt, Ambrc.a

Morris, John —

Morris, Newman

Morris, John

Mack Jr., William (or ackey)
Loving, Willian . .
Hackney, Joseph .
Roper, David Y,

Mathis, Robert ,
Wortham, William H.
Carr, James

Gargis, John a
Abernathy, Littleton
Gilbert, . John

Glasgow. Sarah

Roper, Tennessee

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SMITH, James, black, ele@@Procuted Tennessee 8=1),- 36.

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Hawkins County (Rogersville), IN

"In 1875 a man was hanged in Hawkins County for murdering
his wife,'' TENNESSEE'S TROUBLED ROOTS, by Sophie and Paul

Grane: Old Hickory, Tennessee: Earle-Shields, Publishers,

1979, p hl.

lolentytied as W. K. Berry

TheNd York Herald 5//4/, "6
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by revelers (,

on a, fo
*e Seg | vherd marbles used to knoll. 24. 9) fo P
be here, but somebody’s knock- » “He was with some woman,”’
ed them out, or almost all of .. says her daughter, Mrs. Margar-

“That wis F icribie. To come ge. Other meners of }
tip here yesterday and see that oor are buried in that knoll ¢
young’un’s tombstone thrown Dry Creek Road, s

out there,” Mrs. Cora Botige to find the. red. wi them,”" As she ‘bends over to et Wood of Mic ichigan. ‘‘When

says as she stands at k ple trash “ae ‘chunks . : * gently brush coment Chips from | they left, she was slapping the

. daughters’ graves in the owing charred Pe bk wood..; mark¢ she explains the — fire out of him

Springs Cemetery. “We can’t keep flowers on * black, meta toy horse embedded t The cemetery dates back to
~ . When she visited the cemetery graves or othing. Some there was\one of the boy’s " the Civil War, Mrs. Hodge
4 Sunday, the white, rectangular ~ always steals them or tears th i sid was the little |} i recalls. A man named Bennett

ocked i in ‘| hanged a German man here then
; .. & beeatse he Suspected the ped-
it _dier had an affair with his wife,
+e year, but it, (. but she says her grandfather told
ood. All this junk. her there wag never any reason
"Mrs. Hodge ' 3 to doubt the wife's fidelity.

“headstone with a lamb reclining _up, like that,’’ she says, waving

x on its top was on its side about 1 her hand at the scattered debrig .
_ feet from the grave, but by. of brittle, faded p ars We
S Monday morning it had Beas and chunks of pes ‘EES. clean ‘it up

£. __ returned to its proper place by ’ “Look h ete .

be someone. *'Fd love to kndw who this _boy’s
“put it back,”” says Mrs. Hodge. ‘mands as she. steps. e% | Bs : Bi J0oks around, § - ‘‘Anyway,. they. took Bennett

“*" Ty addition to the ‘grdves of another row ¢ grave qWs, @> the small buriakeround. ‘When, 7 to Columbia: ‘and hanged him
~ Eva and Vera Hodge, who died long headstone, “with © a row ; *. we come Up a yeste * ‘the

goon after their birth in January chi 4 Ey. i? dos

p - 10 acres of this land for use as a
1927, the cemetery holds the nephew's

kied, e,”’ she'Ba: Ving rd ¢ p Peuetary and a campground,” _
tomb of her 1-year-old” son Saget a stove e fell ore. ‘on ngos Ga tall cedar’: “top of the §~ - Now the cemetery and the 15
: at 3 se ; : i | ae eee ae = bh adjoining acres belong to her

oa me A ee " ¢ Sons Gus Hodge and Nick Hodge
/ /) f dr. and her brother William
ae f Workman, she
' “Of course, anybody can be
. buried here who wants to,’’ She
> adds.

“disordered at this.’

. “judicious man”

By JILL GARRETT

-.. Herald Correspondent

= San 04 POY 1G

‘he noose around James R. Bennett’s
~« began to tighten long before the
‘ual event as witness after witness
we evidence during the murder trial.
Auch of the testimeny. centered on
annett’s drinking habits.
‘Moses Sprinkles said, “He (Bennett)
ad drunk hard for 12 months or 2 years.
at) sometimes out of his reason by
vinking.” Aaron McManus said

” sett was “Friendly with his bottle.”

scught up
eemviction of counterfeiting in 1822.
had

After his conviction his property
seen auctioned off at a public sale, and
some said his mind had become
bi

Another | remembered Bennett was
drunk at the sale and “talked of killing

- the officers”

~ Chiles McGee said Bennett “drank too
much as well as himself.”” MeGee’s

testimony was not altogether truthful.

He described Bennett as being a
* ang had numerous

‘dealings with him. Yet he did not reveal

‘at the trial that he had some prejudice -

‘against the murderer — MeGee had
been one of the prosecutors of Bennett

during the counterfeiting trial two or

sate ga te we

‘three years before. oe
- Perhaps the most unusual evidence

was given by two jailors. One
remembered that
jail, and for several days afterwards he
was found “frequently going round the»
jail ali night flashing pistols.” What on -
earth was a prisoner doing with a pistol
in jail? ; : oe

was drunk when put in jail, sobered up — eS _ o : |
i a day, and then he got ‘‘a hold’ of « _ covered with a black hood oF :
eos _ Porter then went dow! : the gallows’
- steps and underneath. Te crowd held

more whiskey and was drunk again.

him come out of the jail and get into a
cart to be driven to the gallows, which
stood in the bottom north of the old
cemetery. It was long left there as a
: warning toevil doers.” sy
| ‘The sheriff, Nimrod Porter, was in
_ charge of the hanging. Porter lashed the

= rope tothe crossbeam of the gallows and
the condemmed man was moved into
position over the trapdoor. (Tradition
does not tell us if Bennett’s head was

Bennett was put in

Another jailor recalled that Bennett

- 4ts breath, as the sheriff
knocked the props from
trapdoor. aoe oe

They certainly don’t have jails like
this any more!

The judge told the jury not to pay too |
much attention to the drinking, as every
man saw a drunk in a different way. So
the verdict of guilty and death by
hanging was given. And after the ap-

al, the date set for theexecution. _

The hanging was 2 EVENT.
‘Immense crowds came to Columbia.
The site chosen was a small bottom on
Duck. River (about where the John

Harlan Willis Bridge is today.) The
limestone bluffs here formed a perfect
amphitheater for the event and the cliffs
were lined with people. Whole families
attended. , ?
Caroline O'Reilly Nicholson did not

attend the hanging but she wrote, “A

number of us girls went around to Mrs.

Voorhies to get a look at him. We saw

under the

was “launched into eternity.”

Bennett was taken to the cemetery at
Blowing Spring for burial and his grave
has never been marked. He was sur-
vived by his wife Rachel and four
children, Israel W., James K., Ezekiel,
and Mary (who later married William
Thomason). Ezekiel Bennett would be
murdered by an in-law about 50 years
later, and Mary’s son Israei Thomason
would be arrested for murder of
another. Rachel Bennett later married
John Davis and had another family.

Nimrod Porter was paid $12.50 for
building the gallows and for his service
at the hanging. pee Pay

vate ees

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Bennett dropped through the floor and —;

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Tocareat, TOOMNEER WEOTADAT LUMI WY 1 ra

Burchfield is Electrocuted at Sunrise
Signing of Agreement Closes Finance Parley at Paris

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‘Gruesome And Horrible’ |

2 mee

The following are excerpts from the account of the
death in the electric chair of C. H. Ballard which ap-.
peared in the Times-News Aug. 14, 1936, under the
byline of staff writer Frank D. Rule. Se:

Rule, who is retired from the Holston Defense Corp., |
still lives in Kingsport. He witnessed Ballard’s death, |

but he is reluctant to talk about it. :
_ "Td just as soon let the whole thing be forgotten. I
still believe in capital punishment, even more so th
ears.ago. But. it was a harro
vs aE Urea ‘ icdier noe li
not want to g9 t roug uw again.

i 5°. two. or three
experience.

Maintaining his innocence until the
‘end, Curley Ballard, the mar. who feared
death and begged for the right to live, paid
dearly today—with his life—for a heinous
murder he was accused of committing to
collect $192 insurance.

The once happy-go-lucky negro who ad-
mittedly bullied his way through a life of
crime, hobbled calmly to his death this
morning to pay his debt to society for the
axe slaying of 17 year-old Willie Green.

Ballard was the first of three negroes
who paid the supreme penalty. He went to
the chair at 5:23 a.m. and after two shots of
the 2,300 volts of electricity ordered by
Judge Shelburn Ferguson, had penetrat-
ed his body, was pronounced dead.

Gruesome and horrible details of the
actual happenings in a death house have

been recounted but none can amply °

describe nor depict the situation as it
really is.

- The weirdness, the hopelessness and
the abject horror on the faces of the con-
demned are far more than can be adequa-
tely described.

“Well, I guess it’s all right,’’ were
Ballard's last words after he had assisted
guards in strapping himself to the chair to
await the shock that was to snuff out his
life. :

The same calm and immaterial manner
in which he has taken the sentence since it
was imposed on him by Judge Ferguson
last April (May), was apparent as the 56-

year-old negro talked freely to the small
crawd of ahout 25 that had eathered to

an.

“n,

“They've let me down. Well, I guess it’s
all right.” se.

He signified he was ready and the black
hood was slipped over the features of the

negro and towel placed about his eyes to
_ absorb the tears that flow with the first
charge of electricity.

A second later guards moved back and
Executioner Moore sent the first charge of
2,300 volts through his body. He grew taut.
His fists doubled into a vice-like grip then
relaxed. A physician stepped in, declared
his heart was still beating. (Warden Neely
says he was actually dead.) A second shock
was then given.

The negroes were the sixth, seventh and

eighth persons to die in the electric chair © -

this year. Their executions reduced the

number in the state prison from 2,242 to.

?,239.
Last night all three ate a hearty meal of
ham, fried chicken, biscuits, coffee and ice

.. cream, Today they smoked cigarettes in

cessantly while passing away their final -
minutes of life.

They were moved to the death house.

yesterday afternoon after taking a shower
and had their heads shaved. Since being

brought here they have been kept in what -

is known as ‘White Row,’ the cell block for
condemned prisoners.

Last night all three ate a hearty meal of
ham, fried chicken, biscuits, coffee and ice
cream. Today they smoked cigarettes in-
cessantly while passing away their final
minutes of life. fara VT

Rallard namnlainnda Affine rein aT ‘

‘

eas

ptoemrneBy RICK.PATTERSON |... p00
a ne &

» stain on his shirt when he was arrested in
Johnson City about e rs after the -
murders, : Me Sapte 2

The crime was refe as the most
heinous in the county . _ iat time. All
five victims, including Burchfield’s wife, .

. Delia, step-son Charles, 12, Mr. and Mrs. J.

-W. Smith and their two-year-old daughter, © -

Ruby, were bludgeoned to death as they ©

slept in the back of Smith’s store-dwelling,

- formerly on W. State Street. The building ©

_was set ablaze. é

“It is believed that the five-fold murder

much publicity that he had killed the
youth for'$192= Tae
Green was attacked on the Bluff City
r , . , Highway about three miles from Bristol -
t : in accordance with the verdict near a golf course. He survived the beat-
of the jury that the defendant C. H. | ing, supposedly from an axe although no
Ballard alias Curley Ballard will on Mon- .. murder weapon was found, for two days,
day July 6, 1936 within the walls of the dying in Bristol Mercy Hospital for
penitentiary at pow on gh ecg ne, hs Negroes on April 5, 1936. © - et
in the manner provided by law in such | & . : . May 21, 193
cases be put to death by electrocution by "yi." flemdtaghies ie ines aaa Ballard,
: the warden of the penitentiary by subs -? indicted for murder along with Ballard,
jJecting his hody - shock by ks sufficient © ‘testified against him and was later ab- :
current of electricity until he is dead. ./.” solved of any blame in the killing. News- was committed with a heavy hammer, axe - Pe
‘ td —from the minutes of paper accounts do not carry any record of | or similar instrument. The heads were | i
Sullivan County Criminal Court her testimony. The jury returned its ver- . badly crushed. One lobe of the boy’s — =
Two men from Sullivan County were dict in 25 minutes, and Ballard was sen- - (Charles’) brains was found on the floor. =)
* among the 125 persons who died in Ten- ~ tenced.the same day. He died 12 weeks “The gruesome find occurred about “= ’ :
nessee’s electric chair from its introduc- later. ~ . “. i+. 4:30 o'clock of Sunday morning when both isis. %

"By RICK PATTERSON
‘imes-News Staff Writer

erefore ordered and directed by

tion in 1916 until 1972. Curley Ballard of ~~ “Well, I guess it’s all right,” were Ballard’s fire companies were called out to the blaze ae

Kingsport, the last man from Sullivan ~~ Jast words after he had assisted guards in which completely destroyed. the little ,.<;
ounty to be executed, was put to death strapping himself to the chair to await the _ building. Sy,

according to the state’s will on Aug. 14, shock that was to snuff out his life. “The bodies were burned beyond =~

1936. i : * recognition,” according to newspaper‘ac- “=~

_ Kingsport’ Times reporter Frank D. OB ine etn coe aa i _ counts. a i + .

Rule witnessed the execution and wrote at : e rons 2

~ the time: “Gruesome and horrible details. . field who was executed at dawn on Jan. 14, id this ache au thei Utes. und taten crowds
_. of the actual happenings ina death house _1925 for the slaying of five persons in. -sonowed Burchfield’s case through the
~» have been recounted, but none can amply Bristol three years earlier. © é “."S eourts. “The . Times’ account. of _ his
~. describe nor depict the. situation as- it Burchfield, 44 when he died and a preliminary hearing reported, “Burch-
“really is. : former restaurant worker, “faced death field maintained his stolid composure

“The weirdness, the hopelessness and stoically,, reiterating his declarations of . during the hearing, and when questioned =. x."
. the abject horror on the faces of the con- innocence before departing for the death by those about him protested his in-- TEx
.demned are far more than can be adequa- chamber,” according to an Associated nocence. Immediately upon the termina- vi i

Press story of that time.

“Before entering the chamber where he
was to be launched off into eternity the
condemned man shook hands with his
fellow prisoners, telling them goodbye in
true mountaineer style. “My mother’s up

*. yonder and I’m going to meet her,’ he
declared,” the story continued.

Then governor of Tennessee, Austin

_ Peay, visited Burchfield in his cell and

thrashed with his conscience for 16 hours “ ’ -
.before declining to stay the execution. ~ I don’t know about that. The evidence

bunk, weeping into his mule BS igPrison of- “No human being can ever know what I 28ainst you is pretty hard to overcome.” _
fidial honored his request to. 0. asi, AhUipnifeead under. \his-responsibiitysiuteLulks "Yes, that's right. Butt had nothing tout
~ giving ae an additional 16 minutes o cannot interfere with the sentence of the do with these murders. If they send me up,

it'll be an innocent man punished.” ¥

tion of the hearing, the crowd thronged
about the accused man, attempting to gain
some statement from him, but to no avail.”

During breaks in his criminal trial, bys-
tanders would lean forward and talk with s.
Burchfield. One such conversation was
recorded, when someone asked Burchfield
late in his trial how he thought it was go-
ing. WER, ated
“Oh, I think I'll come clear. Don’t you?".“. >} \

tely described.”

Ballard, an amputee with one leg
. removed below the knee, walked to the
electric chair on crutches, unassisted by
guards. He was the first of three men, all
black, to be executed within minutes of .
» each other, beginning at 5:23 a.m. that
“- morning. The last man,’ James. Clark of
... Memphis, had his nerve crack an hour
before the execution while a black quartet =
* sang spirituals outside his cell. He spent

Sari,

life. \ courts in this case,” Peay said. :
Ballard was convicted of murdering Burchfield’s case was reviewed by the “Burchfield, if you did kill those people ~ iy
. Willie Green, a 17-year-old, an employe at state Supreme Court, which ordered that and expected to get away with it, you. ss ®
: Ballard’s pool hall which used to be on Oak ~~ he undergo psychiatric evaluation. When _‘Made one great mistake. Instead of going ae.

to Johnson City, you ought to have stayed ©
_ in Bristol. You were caught making tracks

Street in Kingsport. Green had taken out
a life insurance policy with a $192
. Premium. Ballard was listed as, the
beneficiary; during his trial there was

_ he was found sane, the court affirmed the
conviction. Burchfield had been convicted
‘on circumstantial evidence, the largest
part of which was the presence of a blood
Tha ’ sx Mt 5: ¥ ~

‘More On Page2-B \.

eh
}

’

1 Bye ak

at i <n 2 ee &
Ay . ‘

ok -
Pane ft §

a
+ ¥

_ The Death Machine — ees

vocate general Robert A. Roberts, of the s««-
state attorney general's office. {

ere -Under‘the new law, “the jury is*notenet
given an option (should they find the /
defendant guilty of first degree murder)
and can't be picking on poors and blacks as’ “S
the Supreme Court seemed to think” was -
the case, Roberts said.

However, the law cannot prevent the
jury from finding the defendant guilty of
a lesser. offense should it balk at simply
sending the man to his death, Roberts
conceded. “That is the problem that the .-
legislature has. If the jury. feels the
penalty is too harsh, there is nothing to ot
preclude the jury of finding the defendant oe!

neoear nhoawe +4

mittee Alin

Cie

» 4 Times-News Staff Writer Zs

242 REE > oer acre” pak patent

Tennessee's electric chair is a heavy, »
wooden structure over five feet tall stand- |
ing on a platform about a foot high. The

. wood is unfinished and its ends are square
cut. A leather cushion rests on the seat, —

‘ and the back is covered with leather, held
in place by rows of upholstery tacks. The

; leather and the brass tacks add a judicial

air to a structure which has more in com- |,

~ mon with the hangman's scaffold.

' The death machine has no moving parts
save the man who is placed inside it, and

his movements are checked by the straps
which hind hi@head wrict hande ond Inac

etm:

Maintaining his innocence until the
end, Curley Ballard, the mar. who feared
death and begged for the right to live, paid
dearly today—with his life—for a heinous
murder he was accused of committing to
collect $192 insurance.

The once happy-go-lucky negro who ad-

- mittedly bullied his way through a life of

crime, hobbled calmly to his death this
morning to pay his debt to society for the
axe slaying of 17 year-old Willie Green.

Gruesome and horrible details of the

actual happenings in a death house have

been recounted but none can amply °

describe nor depict the situation as it
really is.

The weirdness, the hopelessness and

“the abject horror on the faces of the con-

demned are far more than can be adequa-
tely described.

“Well, I guess it’s all right,”
Ballard’s last words after he had assisted
guards in strapping himself to the chair to
await the shock that was to snuff out his
life.

The same calm and immaterial manner
in which he has taken the sentence since it
was imposed on him by Judge Ferguson
last April (May), was apparent as the 56-
year-old negro talked freely to the small
crowd of about 25 that had gathered to
witness the pre-electrocution ceremonies.
Still denying that he struck the fatal blow
that claimed the life of Green.

“I haven't slept in three weeks, but
Lord I'll sleep tonight,” Ballard said a few
minutes before he was led, between two
guards, to the death chair.

As all but witnesses and officials of the
prison were being led from the death
house immediately preceeding the execu-
tion, Ballard in a calm voice said as he
slipped on the shoe to his one foot, “Boys,
I’m packing up. I’m leaving.”

Without any assistance from the two
guards who escorted him from one of the
three small cells in ‘death row” Ballard
hobbled on his crutches to the chair where
he aided in fastening the straps about his
good leg and his arms.

Before the black hood was placed over
his face, Warden Neely asked if he had
anything to say.

were.

P ¢ Pea gy: hele]

“They've let me down. Well, I guess it’ s
all right.”

He signified he was ready and the black

hood was slipped over the features of the —-

negro and towel placed about his eyes to
absorb the tears that flow with the first

‘ charge of electricity.

_was then given.

The negroes were the sixth, seventh and

eighth persons to die in the electric chair .

this year. Their executions reduced the

number in the state prison from 2,242 to. ,

?,239.

Last night all three ate a hearty meal of
ham, fried chicken, biscuits, coffee and ice
cream. Today they smoked cigarettes in-
cessantly while passing away their final-
minutes of life.

They were moved to the death house
yesterday afternoon after taking a shower
and had their heads shaved. Since being
brought here they have been kept in what
is known as ‘White Row,’ the cell block for
condemned prisoners.

Last night all three ate a hearty meal of
ham, fried chicken, biscuits, coffee and ice
cream. Today they smoked cigarettes in-
cessantly while passing away their final
minutes of life. fare Vv

Ballard complained, after eating last
night, that he was suffering a slight attack
of indigestion and asked for a glass of

water and some soda. His request was’

granted. He appeared to be physically fit
this morning.

About 4 a.m., nearly one and a half
hours before the execution, Ballard had
guards stop the prison negro quartet from
its chanting of negro spirituals long
enough for him to talk.

He protested his innocence to the group
standing in the small chambers of the
death house.

Later he requested a trio to sing the
hymn, “For He Is So Precious To Me.”

Just before the fatal hour a small ssw

sparrow flew between the bars at an open
window of the building and perched above:
the cell of Ballard. A second later it flitted
away after finding an opening. Although
unnoticed by Ballard, the bird found its
way to freedom. Ballard did not.

Just before the fatal hour, a small
sparrow flew between the bars.
the bird found its way to freedom.

Ballard did not.

ey yew tiny

Pa Willie Green, a 17-year-old, an employe at

; } Rallard’s pool hall which used to be on Oak

a ‘ state Supreme Court, which ordered that

§ Kingsport. Green had taken out
wa surance policy with a $192
Pp . Ballard was listed as the.

| -ry; during his trial there was —

id | w They rae

* he undergo psychiatric evaluation. When

~ he was found Sane, the court affirmed the ©
conviction. Burchfield had been convicted

/on circumstantial evidence, the largest

Paxt of\which was the presence of a blood

and expected to get away with il, you

to Johnson City, you ¢
in Bristol. You were c:

have stayed —

* More On Page «-p

)
Saar. |
cs

The Death Machine!

Cys. J 4

f } ee om:
, tA 4

ayes sere-eBy RICK PATTERSON

Times-News Staff Writer -

Tennessee’s electric chair is a heavy, ©

wooden structure over five feet tall stand-
ing on a platform about a foot high. The
wood is unfinished and its ends are square
cut. A leather cushion rests on the seat,

» leather and the brass tacks add a judicial
‘air to a structure which has more in com-
mon with the hangman’s scaffold.

The death machine has no moving parts
save the man who is placed inside it, and
his movements are checked by the straps
which bind his head, waist, hands and legs.
As a chair it has a unique history in that

no man save one has sat in it for longer | \

, than two mirtutes. That man was Andrew
Lewis, condemned to die, who sat in the
chair for photographers in June, 1972
when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned
’ the death penalty and saved his life.

Lewis and 600 other persons in the
- United States were saved~.by_ the
narrowest of decisions, the Court holding
by a 5-4 margin that the nation’s laws

= and the back is covered with leather, held ~
*~% in place by rows of upholstery tacks. The

calling for the death penalty were uncon- .

stitutional. The decision was far from
definitve-though it has had that effect.
Only two of the justices in the majority
held that capital punishment was uncons-

punishment “ for any crime. The other
three justices in the majority held that
_ the law imposed the death penalty“in a
wanton and freakish manner. These death
sentences are cruel and unusual in the

&titutional per se, “cruel and unusual iis

same way that being struck by Hgntning | is 3

cruel and unusual,”

Thus many states, eniasees among

them, have enacted new laws which name
specific crimes punishable by death and
mandate the jury, upon finding the

~ Anew Tennessee law
* makes electrocution
mandatory for first
ere degree murder, """
-but the courts will
._ have the last word..

Penpals malicious and premeditated

illing or murder,” restoring the test for

‘first degree murder as it existed before

defendant guilty of the crime, to set the _

. punishment at death and nothing less
* than death.

Tennessee’s law was passed by the

. legislature in February, 1974, during its
. last session. The act amended Tennessee
Code Annotated section 39-2406 to read
simply: “When a_ person is convicted of
“the crime of murder in the first degree, or

as an accessory before the fact of such a '

crime, it shall be the duty of the jury con-

victing him in their verdict to fix his pun- °

a /ishment at death as provided by law.”

The act also makes the rape of a female
under the age of 12 a capital offense. First
degree murder is defined as any “willful,

_ Court found

the Supreme Court decision, and further
provides the same test where the victim is
a prison guard, an inmate in custody with
the defendant, a fireman or policeman, a
judge, a popularly elected official or

where the murder was committed for hire, .

or the person hires someone else to com-
mit the murder, or the murder was com-
mitted during the act of arson, rape, rob-
bery, larceny, burglary, kidnaping,
aircraft piracy, or ‘unlawful throwing,
placing, or discharging of a destructive
device or bomb.”

In enacting its law, the legislature was
relying on the belief that the Supreme
“nothing wrong with the
death penalty (in and of itself), just the
way it was enforced,” according to ad-

er) ae », : eal
e; dyer. - 4
; ‘
Aa vie re
a . Fed Coie ea be : oe et ee
* aw : he
ig “s ®,
, iN ‘ A picnics. : : j :
ons ie "tens : ‘ =
wing Sagan pay is ives 1 lhcbag ci Sided uabibiiebsinss Bi caasttabaccateis wedi abd base Livi WEN Seg gece HRA gy) CMRI i:

vocate general Robert A. Roberts, of the

state attorney general's office.

given an option (should they find the
defendant guilty of first degree murder)

the Supreme Court seemed to think” was
the case, Roberts said.

* and can’t be picking on poors and blacks as ..

However, the law cannot prevent the |

jury from finding the defendant guilty of
a lesser. offense should it balk at simply
sending the man to his death, Roberts
conceded. “That is the problem that the
legislature has. If the jury feels the
penalty is too harsh, there is nothing to
preclude the jury of finding the defendant
guilty of a lesser charge.”

There were three test cases before the
Court when it made its historic ruling, two
of them involving rapes where the victim
was not seriously physically. injured,
Defending the statute ordering death for
the rape of a female under 12, Roberts
said, “the Court never said the legislature
doesn’t have the power to set which of-

fenses are punishable by death. I think f

more people have been put to death for
horse stealing than everything else put
together in this nation's history.”

When the Court announced its ruling,
there were 21 men on Tennessee’s death
row. Now there is one, a Hamblen County
man, Clarence Collins, Jr., 22, convicted in

he knew of the matter and felt certain the
conviction would be appealed, possibly as
far as the U. S. Supreme Court, if neces-
sary. ;

Asked if he thought the law would

. late July under the new law. Roberts said *

stand up before the U. S. Supreme Court, .

Roberts said “I think it will. That's the

opinion we expressed to the legislature

when they enacted the law.”
Is the new law better than the one

struck down by the Court? Roberts had no”

comment.

This is the way the matter stands in

Tennessee. The electric chair at the state

penitentiary in Nashville is still operable, -

and one man is set to die in it, barring an
almost certain appeal. Capital punishment

ee ea

made one great mistake. Instead of going © %

aking tracks © as

oath oot
>

“the jury is note’) -

is a live issue, the sort that makes or |

breaks poltical candidates.

Inevitably, one day the issue will again ae

be before the U. S. Supreme Court.

If the court strikes Tennessee's law |

down, Roberts said, “the legislature might

as well give up, because if this type won't ~

stand muster, I don't know of any by at
that will.” ; TS sage *
ge aoe
2 ah ear
igi yw y MLDS be Se,
x:
eet

;
|
+

Sunday, Aug. 25, 1974

he Citizens of
Garden my
for the com-
ou gave me in
nary for the
ntative.

my campaign

ou Very Much
‘ick’’ Stout
k'’ Stout

we) e

Continued From Page 1B

in the other direction.”

“Yes, that’s right. But I didn’t have
anything more to do with it than you did.”

What condemned Burchfield was the
bloodstain on his shirt, his wife’s ring
which was taken from him when he was
arrested and which a witness placed on
her finger the day before the murder, the
lack of a creditable alibi and a creditable
excuse for going to Johnson City and the
testimony of a cellmate that Burchfield
offered to pay a taxi driver to swear he
drove him to Johnson City the night of the
murder.

Burchfield testified for over three
hours. He said on the night of November
25, 1922 he was at a dance in west Bristol

_ from 8 until 11 p.m. He said he was at the
Smith home briefly, and then went to the

restaurant where he worked. He then got
into .a taxi and started toward Johnson
City ‘‘where he said he had intended going

to settle up some trouble he had gotten .

into relative to the allesed theft of a still
worm.

“He said he and the mysterious. taxi
driver, who was never produced as a wit-
ness, had three flat tires, one on the
outskirts of Bristol, one near Bluff City
and one between Bluff City and Piney
Flats, re

“About daylight I decided to get out of

the car and walk, the driver said he didn’t
believe he could finish the trip. I walked

down the railroad track and‘at two houses . :
tried to get another car,” Burchfield tes- .

tified. He said he walked through Wa-

tauga in full daylight and was arrested by ,

police around noon.

The cellmate, Frank Smith, who had :

been jailed for three months on a liquor

charge, testified that Burchfield had said °
around Christmas “he would give $50 to -
get a taxi-driver to come to the jail and ©

identify him and swear that he took him
away from Bristol before 2 o’clock in the
morning. Another time he told me-he
didn’t care anything about the grown
people killed, but said he liked the boy.”

Burchfield explained that the bloods-

tain could have come from two women

whom he separated during a fight at the’

dance or that it could have come from raw
meat which he handled at the restaurant

. the day before when he was cleaning a

ref rigerator.

Court appeals kept Burchfield, who was .

illiterate and hence the inconsistency
about the spelling of his name, from the
death chamber for over two years.

One other man from Sullivan County

was executed for murder, according to the ©

memory of Blountville attorney Hal Carr,
who was told the story as a boy by his
father S. L. Carr. A man by the name of

Only Three Have Paid ‘The Supreme Penalty’

Mays, perhaps Jeff, was hung “before | eee

large crowds” in Blountville, the scaffold

set up where one corner of the courthouse

stands. Mays had killed a man by the name
of Massengil with a pitchfork. Carr said his

’ father told him “Sheriff Abe McClellan’s

hand trembled as he cut the rope. with a,
hatchet.”

On July 25, 1970 Fred Bowen was con-
victed of first degree murder and sen-
tenced to die in the electric chair for the
rape-slaying of 12-year-old Betty Jean
Necessary, a case which still arouses
strong emotions and pro-capital punish-
ment sentiments in this area. On July 18,
1972 his death sentence was commuted to
a 99-year sentence by Gov. Winfield Dunn

following the U.S. Supreme Court detision

which overturned the death penalty as
“cruel and unusual punishment.”

Bowen, and the 20 other men who were
living on death row at the time of the
decision, have joined the regular prison
population at the state penitentiary in
Nashville. Warden James H. Rose. said
Bowen is working in one of the industrial

‘shops. and is “doing okay. He’s made a

pretty good adjustment to prison life. He
works and has the samé. privileges as the
other residents. None of them have had
any serious problems.

~ “In fact, the men here for murder do

. better than the average criminal. They are

less of a problem.”

NO
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BURCHFIELD 1S CONDEMNED TO DIE IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR AT NASHVILLE
De Sentence Pravemce by Creamer nay sutoarovy| LATE TELEGRAR
Sedge at. Three This Meraooe :

Pose of Condemned Men Blanches Bul He
Tahoe Sentence Catmiy—Father With Him

SE Tet
t aM nba ard Dealh| FOR eed
jes Crime Fycep BY MARY rae tae

Che Kingsport Times ==

EDCSORT, TOGERREE WENKFSDAY. JANUARY F180

vo. mois * YOUR HEWSPAPEA SIX PAGES TODAY PRICE THREE CENT

Burchfield is Electrocuted at Sunrise
Signing of Agreement Closes Finance Parley at Paris

“ i SCHOOL’ Seer Geld Care PRAT nea ae |
Sigaed Agreeswest Constitutes 13 YAR OU scioot, See cud.cor | (PEAY MAUGEATIO ADoved Slayer Faces Death
STUDENT AUTHOR OF WAY BE POSTPONED, “eget
UNTIL JANUARY 1 Reiterating His baocence
savead monserssee toweree|{‘untume? Mas Mabe Nonts Win Price Pricer Seton
Detared we te | Ratering \ hamber Where He Wise te fe Lewerbad OF tate

[+ Rivet —Poep Hawede 18 Moors on Review of ae
Merrhtehd Prepared te Oke

ee Rcttes sens Yarees Powers of te] Mane fete Boy Fone se!
Drees Anette etre Pro Germany nde fh xe |

Prin tan. Mi Prerated by tress bee leged spe ol wie, be sep min a Uae
Anette soe, merle at the family of JW Smith. rvlntives thon wile. wae
tay eh hw igning ote prin hee 338. arta
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Pm orn cater more te dir, bat he eit prmtevind is
Geet > Aemevirene ieee Pewretiett, aed & water, Mire Henry Fi 1
- iy, ot Chaploin MK. Trwvie romaited
- Rar eld dering the might tie temps aflcving bo ot

ferme aml the devel

oo Rar hlirhd was errsnd we vacelient hereto her!

‘Gruesome And Horrible’
Details Recounted Again —

te *

The following are excerpts from the account of the’) ae
death in the electric chair of C. H. Ballard which ap-;
peared in the Times-News Aug. 14, 1936, i aervghiok

... byline of staff writer Frank D. Rule. cahientiaiia

at mi

Kingsport, the last man from Sullivan
County tobe executed, was put to death

“#. tely described,”

Of the scores, perhapshundreds =
_.ofmenand womenconvicted =

‘of willful killings in Sulliv |
-. only three h

aes
ta ple DR pee clang ay

fi { | as ee
eS:
.| | By RICK PATTERSON

Times-News Staff Writer

“It is therefore ordered and directed by
the Court in accordance with the verdict
of the jury that the defendant C. H.
Ballard alias Curley Ballard will on Mon-
day July 6, 1936 within the walls of the
penitentiary at Nashville, Tennessee and
in the manner provided by law in such
cases be put to death by electrocution by

_ the warden of the penitentiary by sub-
~ jecting his body to shock by a sufficient
current of electricity until he is dead, ...”

—from the minutes of
Sullivan County Criminal Court

Two men from Sullivan County were
among the 125 persons who died in Ten-
nessee’s electric chair from its introduc-
tion in 1916 yntil 1972° Curley Ballard of °°

‘

according to the state’s. will on Aug. 14,
1936. f
Kingsport’ Times reporter Frank D.

-~ Rule witnessed the execution and wrote at
the time: “Gruesome and horrible details
of the actual happenings in a death house

"have been recounted, but none can amply

«, describe nor depict the situation as it
“really is. i ;
-.* “The weirdness, the hopelessness and
_ the abject horror on the faces of the con-
_- demned are far more than can be adequa-

Ballard, an amputee with one leg
removed below the knee, walked to the.

ectric. 0 assisted. by...

ave paid... —

SE Lt ie i? Se ihe ‘ BA ot
%

The Supreme P enal

much publicity that he had killed the
youth for $192.

Green was attacked on the Bluff City
Highway about three miles from Bristol
near a golf course: He survived the beat-
ing, supposedly from an axe although no
murder weapon was found, for two days,
dying in Bristol Mercy Hospital for
Negroes on April 5, 1936.

During Ballard’s trial on May 21, 1936
his step-daughter-in-law, Rosie Ballard,

indicted for murder along with Ballard,
~ testified against him and was later ab-

solved of any blame in the killing. News-

paper accounts do not carry any record of

her testimony. The ‘jury returned its ver-

dict in 25 minutes, and Ballard was sen- -
tenced the same day. He died 12 weeks

later. p

“Well, I guess it’s all right,” were Ballard’s

» last words after he had assisted guards in
strapping himself to the chair to await the
shock that was to snuff out his life.

The first man from Sullivan County to

die in the electric chair was Ben Burch-: ® “Murder was an uncommon occurrence

field who was executed at dawn on Jan. 14,”
1925 for the slaying of five persons in :
Bristol three years earlier. ©

Burchfield, 44 when he died and a
former restaurant worker, “faced death
Stoically, reiterating his declarations of
innocence before departing for the death
chamber,” according to an Associated

_ Press story of that time.

“Before entering the chamber where he :
was to be launched off into eternity the
condemned man shook. hands, with his
PRN ARS ERR oN? ” ”

an County,

”
+ ay

=
28

stain on his shirt when he was arrested in
Johnson City about eight hours after the
murders, ‘ :

The crime was referred to as the most
heinous in the county up to that time. All
five victims, including Burchfield’s wife,
Delia, step-son Charles, 12, Mr. and Mrs. J.
W. Smith and their two-year-old daughter,
Ruby, were bludgeoned to death as they
slept in the back of Smith’s store-dwelling,
formerly on W. State Street. The building
was set ablaze.

“It is believed that the five-fold murder

was committed with a heavy hammer, axe
or similar instrument. The heads were

badly crushed. One lobe of the boy’s ‘s

(Charles’) brains was found on the floor.
“The gruesome find occurred about

4:30 o'clock of Sunday morning when both.

fire companies were called out to the blaze

which completely destroyed. the ‘little .

building.

“The bodies. were burned beyond

recognition,” according to newspaper ‘ac-
counts. '

in this area at that time, and large crowds
followed Burchfield's case through the
courts. The . Times’ account of_ his
preliminary hearing reported, “Burch-
field maintained his stolid composure
during the hearing, and when questioned
by those about him protested his in-
nocence. Immediately upon the termina-

tion of the hearing, the crowd thronged >”

about the accused man, attempting to gain

some statement from him, but to no avail.” -

During breaks in his criminal trial hve.

“SHSSHNNGL ‘ALNNOO NY

Fe Eile EES er Sa EO

of seven inches of which last said mortal wound he the said THOMAS CALL-
AHAN at the dwelling house aforesaid in the County aforesaid from the said
seventeenth day of February in the year aforesaid until the Eighteenth day
of the same month in the same year aforesaid, did lanquish and lanquishing
did die. On which said Eighteenth day of February in the year aforesaid he
he the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, at the dwelling house aforesaid in the County
aforesaid of the mortal wound last aforesaid did die, and so the Grand
Jurors aforesaid on their oath aforesaid do say, that he the said JAMES

R. BENNETT him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN in manner and form last aforesaid,
felonously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did kill and murder
against the Peace and Dignity of the State.

And the Grand Jurers aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid further present
that the said JAMES R. BENNETT afterwards (towit) on the aforesaid Seven-
teenth day of February, in the year aforesaid with force and arms at the
dwelling house aforesaid in the County aforesaid in and upon a certain
other person to the Grand Jurors aforesaid, unknown 4t present, then and
there being felonously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did make
and assult; and that the said JAMES R. BENNETT a certain gun of the value
of five Dollars, then and there loaded and charged with gun powder and

one leaden bullet, which last said gun, to the said JAMES R. BENNETT in
both his hands, then and there had and held to against and upon the afore~
said person to the said Grand Jurors at present unknown, then and there,
felonously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did discharge and

shoot off and that the said JAMES R. BENNETT with the leaden bullet last
aforesaid out of the gun last aforesaid, then and there by force of the
gun-powder last aforesaid by the said JAMES R. BENNETT discharged and

shoot off as last aforesaid, then and there, felonously, wilfully and of
his malace aforethought did strike, penetrate and wound the aforesaid
person to the Grand Jurors aforesaid at present unknown a little above the
Eleventeenth rib of the said person to the Grand Jurors aforesaid at present
unknown, giving to him the said person to the Grand Jurors aforesaid at
present unknown, then and there, with the Leaden bullet last aforesaid so
as last aforesaid discharged, and shot out of the Gun last aforesaid by
force of the Gun-powder last aforesaid by the said JAMES R. BENNETT in and
upon the said right side of him the said person to the Grand Jurors afore-
said at present unknown one mortal wound of the breath of half an Inch, and
of the depth of Eight Inches, of which Mortal wound last aforesaid the said

person to the Grand Jurors aforesaid at present unknown, from the aforesaid

Seventeenth day of February in the year aforesaid until the Eighteenth

day of the same month in the same year at the dwelling house aforesaid

in the County aforesaid did lanquish and lanquishing did die, on which
said Eighteenth day of February in the year aforesaid he the said person
to the Grand Jurors aforesaid at present unknown at the dwelling house
aforesaid, in the County aforesaid of the mortal wound last aforesaid

did die, and so the Grand Jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforsaid do
say, that the said JAMES R. BENNETT, him the person to the Grand Jurors
aforesaid at present unknown in manner and form last aforesaid, felon-
iously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did kill and murder again-
st the Peace and Dignity of the State in and for ninth Solicatorial in the

State of Tennessee

SIGNED THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD

ATTORNEY
PAGE 9 (endorsed) SAMUEL McCONNEL PROSECUTOR

ARCHIBOLD JAMES
ALFRED BUIE
JEREMIAH THOMASON
MALCOM GILCHRIST
MOSES SPRINKLE
THOMAS SPRINKLE
JOHN McNeil

JOHN GILCHRIST

M. LINDSAY

Sworn and sent to Grand Jury

GEORGE M. MARTIN CLERK

June 20th 1826
A True Bill

JOHN CRUGER WORMLY FOREMAN
of the Grand Jury

Thursday June 22nd 1826

State
Vs

James R. Bennett

CALLAHAN in and upon the right side of him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, in
and upon a little above the eleventh rib of the said THOMAS CALLAHAN
giving to him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN then and there with the leaden
bullet aforesaid is as aforesaid discharged, and shot out of the gun
aforesaid by force of the gun powder aforesaid by the said JAMES R. BENN-
ETT in and upon the same right side of him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN a
little above the eleventh rib of the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, one mortal
wound of the breath of half an inch, and of the depth of nine inches, of
which mortal wound the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, at the dwelling house afore-
said in the county aforesaid from the said seventh day of February in the
year aforesaid until the eighteenth day of February same month in the same
year, did lanquish and lanquishing did live on which eighteenth day of
February in the year aforesaid he the same THOMAS CALLAHAN at the dweling-
house aforesaid in the county aforesaid of the mortal wound aforesaid did
die and the Grand Jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid do say!that
the said JAMES R. BENNETT him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN in manner and form
aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did kill

and murder against the Peace and Dignity of the State, and the Grand Jurors
aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid further present that the said JAMES R,
BENNETT, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and
seduced by the instigation of Devil, afterwards towit on the aforesaid
Seventeenth day of February, in the year aforesaid, with the tenth day of
February, in the year aforesaid, with force and arms, at the dwelling house
aforesaid in the county aforesaid in an upon one THOMAS CALLAHAN, in the
peace of God and the state aforesaid, then and there being feloniously,

wilfully, and of his malace aforethought did make an assault, and that the

Said JAMES R. BENNETT, a certain gun called a rifle of the value of five

Dollars, then and there loaded and charged with the gun powder and on leaden
bullet which last said gun he the said JAMES R. BENNETT in both hands, then
and there felonously, wilfully and of his malace aforethought did discharge
and shoot off, to, against and upon the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, and,that the
said JAMES R. BENNETT, with the leaden bullet, last aforesaid, out of the
gun last aforesaid, then and there by force of the Gun powder, last afore-
said by the said JAMES R. BENNETT, discharged, shot off, as last aforesaid,
then and there felonously, wilfully, and of his malace aforethought did
strike, penetrate and wound the said THOMAS CALLAHAN in and upon the right
side of him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN a little above the Eleventh rib of

him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN then and there with the leaden Bullet, last
aforesaid discharged and shot out of the gun last aforesaid by the said
JAMES R. BENNETT in and upon the said right side of him the said THOMAS
CALLAHAN a little above the Eleventh rib of him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN,
one mortal wound of the breath of half a inch, and of the depth of nine
inches of which last said mortal wound, he the said THOMAS CALLAHAN at

the dwelling house aforesaid in the County aforesaid from the said seven-
teenth day of February in the year aforesaid until the eighteenth day of
the same month in the same year did lanquish and lanquishing did die. On
which Eighteenth of February in the year aforesaid, he the said Thomas
CALLAHAN at the dwelling house aforesaid in the County aforesaid of the
mortal wound last aforesaid did die, and as the Grand JURORS aforesaid,
upon their oath aforesaid do say that the said JAMES R. BENNETT him the
said THOMAS CALLAHAN in a manner and form last aforesaid, felonously, wil-
fully, and of his malace aforethought, did kill and murder against the
Peace and Dignity of the State. And the Grand Jurors aforesaid upon their
oath aforesaid do further present that the said JAMES R. BENNETT afterwards
towit on the aforesaid seventeenth day of February in the year aforesaid
with force and arms at the dwelling house aforesaid in the County aforesaid
in and upon one THOMAS CALLAHAN then and there being felonously, wilfully,
and of his malace aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said
JAMES R. BENNETT a certain Gun of the value of five Dollars, then and
there loaded and charged with gun powder and on leaden bullet, which last
said gun he the said JAMES R. BENNETT in both hands, then and there, had
and held to, against and upon the said THOMAS CALLAHAN, then and there
felonously, wilfully, and of his own malace aforethought, did discharge
and shoot off and that the said JAMES R. BENNETT with the leaden bullet
last aforesaid out of the gun last aforesaid then and there by force of
the gun powder last aforesaid and of the gun by the said JAMES R. BENNETT
discharged and shoot off, as last aforesaid, then and there felonously,
wilfully and of his malace afterthought did strike penetrate and wound the
said THOMAS CALLAHAN a little above the Eleventh rib of him the said
THOMAS CALLAHAN giving to him the said THOMAS CALLAHAN then and there with
the leaden bullet last aforesaid so last aforesaid discharged and shot out
of the gun last aforesaid by force of the gun-powder last aforesaid by the
said JAMES R. BENNETT in and upon the said right side of him the said
THOMAS CALLAHAN a little above the Eleventh rib of him the said THOMAS
CALLAHAN and mortal wound of the breath of half an inch and of the depth

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657, 658 NASHVILLE:

Baxter v. The State.

rations of the deceased the same force as testimony as if she had
given her sworn statement in the form of a deposition, if they believed
the witness’ statement as to what she said,

FROM WILSON.

Appeal in error from the Circuit Court of Wilson county. ROBERT
CANTRELL, J.

R. E. Toompson and J. M. QUARLES for Baxter.

Attorney-General Lea and W. H. WILLIAMSON for the State.

DEADERICK, C, J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant was indicted and convicted in the circuit
court of Wilson county, of murder in the first degree, and
sentenced to be hung.

He has appealed in error to this court, and has been
defended most ably and earnestly.

Several errors are assigned for which it is insisted the
judgment should be reversed,

The indictment, in formal language, charges the defend-
ant with the murder of Martha Lane, in said county of Wil-
son, and the first objection is that the trial was had without
an issue. But the record shows that defendant was brought
to the bar of the court, in custody of the sheriff, was arraigned
upon the indictment, and plead not guilty as charged, and for
his deliverance put himself upon the country; whereupon, to
trv the said defendant upon his plea of not guilty, comes a
jury of good and lawful men, ete., and duly elected, ete.,
“to well and truly try said defendant upon his plea of not
guilty to said charge in the indictment,” ete. ;

Then follows the entries respiting the jury, ete., until
the verdict was rendered, October 9, 1885.

This, we think, a substantial issue, and the jury were

524

DECEMBER TERM, 1885. 658-660

Baxter v. The State.

sworn to try the defendant upon his plea of not guilty to
said charge in the indictment. It is very manifest though
not in the usual language, that the jury was sworn to try
the issues made by the charges [659] in the indictment, and
the defendant’s plea of not guilty thereto. State v. Smith,

- Peck, 1381; 13 Lea, 258.

It is also objected that the “dying declarations” of de-
ceased were improperly admitted. The deceased was a feeble
old lady, and at the time of the fatal assault, between 8 and
9 o’clock at night, was alone, at her home in Lebanon. She
was stricken several blows’on the head by a rock, weighing
three or four pounds, held in the hand of her assailant, and
her skull was badly fractured.

For several days she was unable to give an intelligible
account of the assault. Within fifteen minutes or half an
hour after she was stricken, neighbors and a physician were
at her bedside. er physician stated that he regarded her
wounds as fatal, but at first did not regard the case as utterly
hopeless. She was unable to articulate for several days. The

lows were inflicted on Saturday night, and on the next Thurs-
day thereafter she expressed her conviction that she would
die. She lived about sixteen days after the wounds were in-
flicted of which she dicd.

His Honor, when the dying declarations were offered,
caused the jury to retire, and then examined some six wit-
nesses, who proved the condition of deceased, and her declara-
tions to them, severally, that she could not recover; and would
die.

Three of these witnesses, including her physician, were
allowed to prove the declarations of the deceased before the
jury. As to these three witnesses, all the declarations proved
by them were made after her declarations to them and to
others that she could not [660] live. To some she said re-
peatedly in the same conversation, that she could not get
well, that she would die, and similar expressions, and never
expressed any hope of recovery.

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660, 661 NASHVILLE:

Baxter v. The State.

In the case, Anthony v. The State, Meig;’ R., 285, it
was urged, as in this case, that the “dying declarations se
inadmissible upon two grounds, first, because contrary to the
bill of rights, and also because there was not sufficient evi-
dence to show that deceased knew or thought herself to be
in imminent danger of death. In the case cited, the res
says: ‘The principle asserted in the bill of rights, and that
as to the admissibility of dying declarations, are coeval rules
ef the common law. The first was inserted in the bill of
rights because it had been maintained with difficulty against
the crown, by the popular party. The other had. never
been debated between them, and hence was’ omitted. The
court adds: “That our view of this question is correct, 13
made manifest by the fact that after more than forty years
from the adoption of. our first declaration, this acsaglr
against the admissibility of dying declarations on account 0
its being contrary to the bill of rights, 1s for the fast time
made, so far as we are aware, in our courts of justice.”

The case of Anthony v. The State, was decided in 1838,
and for nearly fifty years since our courts have repeatedly
recognized it as authority. ce.

The admissibility of dying declarations is one of severa
exceptions to the general rule Tejecting hearsay oe
They are admitted upon the principle that they are made 7
extremis, when the party is at the [661] point of death, an
every hope of this world gone, every motive to falsehood
silenced, and the mind influenced by the most powerful con-
siderations to speak the truth: 1 Greenl. Ev., sec. 156.

This sense of impending death may be shown by the ex-
press language of deceased, or be inferred from the evident
danger, or by the opinions of physicians, or other attendants,
as in Anthony v. The State. It is the impression of almost
smmediate dissolution, and not the rapid succession of death,
in point of fact, that renders the testimony admissible: 1
Greenl. Ev., sec. 158. Such are the rules governing such
cases, as held by other authors, and by our own and other

526

DECEMBER TERM, 1885. 661, 662

Baxter v. The State.

decisions. Any hope of recovery, when declarations are
made, renders them inadmissible.

Tested by these rules, we think the declarations in this
case were properly admitted.

But it is objected that parts of said declarations not fall-
ing within the rule that the declarations of the deceased are
admissible only to those things which the declarant would
have been competent to testify, if sworn in the cause, should
have been excluded.

This is a correct statement of the rule. Such declara-
tions must speak, in general, to facts only, and not to mere
matters of opinion, and must be relevant to the issue: 1
Greenl. Ev., sec. 159.

‘His Honor, in order to ascertain the admissibility of
the dying declarations, in the absence of the jury, examined
six witnesses. This has been heretofore held to be a com-
mendable practice in such cases. The defendant, upon the
announcement of the court [662] that he would allow three
of those witnesses to testify as to the dying declarations, ex~
eepted to the ruling of the court, without specifying the
ground of the objection. The jury was then recalled, and
Dr. Kidder, one of the three witnesses, allowed to testify
before them, as to dying declarations. He states how, by
signs and pointing, the deceased sought to inform him who
assaulted her, before she was able to speak so as to be under-
stood; and after he had ascertained the locality indicated by
her, and that it was a negro who assaulted her, he obtained

‘the names of several, and their names being repeated to her,

she answered no, until defendant’s name was given, and then
she said, “Yes.”

Defendant was arrested and brought into her presence,
and she recognized him, and said he was the one. Defend-
ant denicd it, and Mrs. Lane replied: “Yes, you did, and
you know it.” Defendant was then removed, and Mrs. Lane
said, “Jim knew he did it. THe looked like it.”

After a lengthy cross-examination, this recital appears:

627

PORE RE TET HR

65°, 656 NASHVILLE:

Douglass v. Baber.

“SE See

proper allowance to be paid out of the estate, a decision ese
while it may appear ‘harsh in some cases, certainly seems
proper enough in this case where the complainants were im
cause of the expense. ‘There is nothing in Porterfield ~
Taliaferro, 9 Lea, 242, in conflict with this view, for the
lands descended are not sought to be reached because the
personal estate is exhausted, but because the legatees have =
right to throw the burden of the debt borne by their legacies
upon ‘the undevised realty. | .

The third exception raises the question of ad ancements
suggested by the original bill. But, obviously, this is no case
where that question can cut any figure. The legatees are
rot seeking to share in the undevised land as heirs, in which
event alone an account of advancements would be proper.
They are asking that the assets of the estate be marshalled,
so as to throw the burden of the debts of the estate upon the
undevised [656] realty, instead of the property bequeathed
by the will. Zs

” ‘The fifth exception makes the point that an administra
tor pendente lite cannot pay out funds of the estate, and
therefore complainant’s exception to the master’s report should
have been sustained. But we do not find any exception to
the master’s report made by the complainants on this ground.
Besides, the claims which were paid out of the personal as-
sets of the estate have been found by the master and the
chancellor to have been just claims, and properly paid.

The sixth exception suggests that the right of action af
the legatees is barred by the statute of seven years In favor
cf heirs: Code, secs. 2281, 2786. The objection assumes
that the cause of action originated or accrued in the lifetime
of the testatrix. But the right of action of the legatees to
marshal assets between them and the heirs did not originate 10
the lifetime of the testatrix. It only accrued when ea
legacies were taken to pay the liabilities of the pene :
is not pretended that the bar of the statute has attached sinc

then.
522

DECEMBER TERM, 1885. 656, 657

Baxter v. The State.

The exceptions to the report of the Referees will be
overruled, and the decree of the chancellor affirmed. The
complainants will pay the costs of this court. The costs of
the court below will be paid as directed by the chancellor,

JIM BAXTER y. THE STATE.

1, CrrmtnaL Law. Practice. Isswe. When the record shows the de-
fendant was brought to the bar of the court in custody of the sheriff,
was arraigned upon the indictment and plead not guilty as charged,
and for his deliverance put himself upon the country, whereupon to
try the said defendant upon his plea of not guilty, came a jury of
good and lawful men, etc., and duly elected, ete., “to well and truly
try” said defendant upon his plea of not guilty to said charge in the
indictment, ete. Held, that though informal, it showed a substan-
tial issue, (658-659).

[Cited in: 7 Bax., 286 (approving) .]

2. SAME. Evidence. Dying declarations. When the deceased, a fecble
old woman, was violently assaulted, on Saturday night, and was una-
ble to articulate for several days, and on the next Thursday expressed
her, conviction that she would die, and afterward made declarations
as to identity of the assailant, and lived sixteen days after she
was assaulted, it appearing she thought all the time she would die.
Held, the declarations were competent evidence, (659-661).

[Cited in: 12 Pickle, 214 (approving).]
3. Same. Practice. Exceptions to evidence must be made in the trial

court, and must be specific, or they will not be regarded in the Su-

preme Court. The rule is the same in civil and criminal cases.
(663-664).

[Cited in: 10 Pickle, 89 (approving).]

4, Evivence. A party who elicits illegal evidence can not object to it
if responsive to the questions. (663).

Same. Churge of court. Province of jury, It was not,error for the
trial judge to instruct the jury that they should give the dying decla-

523

‘oggT “7 oun Seuu°y Sucurq*y pesuey ‘yoeTq “sourer ‘us IXVE

662-664 NASHVILLE:

Baxter v. The State.

‘Defendant excepted to declaration of Mrs. Lane, as proved
by this witness, but the court overruled the exception, and
permitted the statement to go to the jury.”

It is not seriously insisted that there was any inadmis-
sible testimony by this witness, except the declaration of Mrs.
Lane, after Jim left the room: “Jim knew he did it. He

looked like it.”

Dinah Roberson testified as to Mrs. Lane’s declaration
that defendant struck her.

[663] On cross-examination, witness said: Some one
asked in presence of Mrs. Lane, if Jim had any folks here,
and she replied, “No; he is nothing but a loafer.” And at
the end of this witness’ testimony, a similar objection to that
taken to Dr. Kidder’s testimony appears.

Mrs. Yeargin, the last of the three, stated that Mrs.
Lane told her Jim Baxter struck her, and said, “I wish you
had been here Sunday to see Jim Baxter, the one that hit
me. He would not look at me.” ”

No exception was taken to the evidence of the witness,
and in such case, no exception can be taken to it in this court.
The rule is the same in civil and criminal cases: 9 Yerg-,
410; 1 Heis., 223; 10 Yerg., 346; 7 Cold., 181-2.

The objectionable evidence in the testimony of Dinah
Roberson, was elicited by defendant on cross-examination,

and it is equally well settled that a party who elicits illegal
evidence cannot object to it, unless it is shown not to have

been responsive to the question.

Where the record, or the question itself, shows the an-
swer is not responsive, and is illegal, it may, and should he,
stricken out by the court, at the instance of the party ex-
amining the witness. But it is otherwise if the answer is
elicited by the examining party, and it is not shown to be
not responsive, and no motion is made to exclude it on this
ground: 2 Swan, 473-4; Ibid, 579-80; 7 Baxter, 141-2, and
this is upon the presumption in favor of the regularity and
correctness of the proceedings below, and upon [664] the

528

DECEMBER TERM, 18835. 664, 665

“Baxter v. The State.

duty of appellant to put the court in error before he can
have a reversal of the judgment. The objectionable part of
Dr. Kidder’s testimony is, that after Mrs. Lane had told de-
fendant he struck her, and after he had left her presence
she said, “Jim knew he did it. He looked like it.” She
had just told him he struck her, and he knew it. But, con-
ceding that it would not have been competent for Mrs, Lane
to testify in court, if she had lived, what she said after de-
fendant had left her presence, was the refusal of the court
to exclude all or any of the declarations proved by Dr. Kid-
der, upon the exceptions taken, error ?

We think not. The objection is gencral, applying to
every declaration proved. Beyond question, nearly all those
declarations were strictly admissible. The objectionable part
is but an emphatic reiteration of what was properly proved
and is admissible, unless properly objected to. :

Mr. Greenleaf says: “It is also to be noted as a rule
applicable to all objections to the reception of evidence that
the ground of objection must be distinctly stated at the time
yin will be held vague and. nugatory:” 1 Greenl. Ev., see:

Tn a ease in 1 Swan, incompetent evidence was admitted
without objection; counsel afterward asked the court to ex-
elude all testimony as to damages, except for actual expenses
ete. This court said this was properly refused, because Sia
request embraced much competent evidence. This court
adds, “Tf the counsel had moved the court to exclude all
illegal [665] testimony admitted without objection, dariiig
the progress of the trial, the motion would have been more
definite and certain, yet still too vague and uncertain to put
the court in the wrong. To have this effect, the illegal evi-
dence objected to must be distinctly stated and indicated.”
1 Swan, 174, 175. , :

; Here the court was asked to exclude legal and illegal
evidence all together, which was. properly refused. ‘

In the case at bar, the exception was to all the evidence

Vol. 15—34 529

actnaunrentnmmantagin

TOS PEPE LEE SIEM LOO ETE

24th GILES McGEE, a Witness for the State swore that he knew the Prisoner for
nine or ten years and had considerable dealings with him and never knew him
any thing but a judicious man in his dealings with the Witness. He had seen
him drunk, after Prisoner had a still and drank too much as well as Witness
himself it never occured to Witness that Prisoner was deranged but that he was

intoxicated, when drunk at the sale of his property he was violent, he was as

sensible as most men.

25th JAMES STOCKARD, swore that he had seen the Prisoner both drunk and sober,
and that drinking affects him more that other men, he has done business for
Witness and with Witness. He is a particular man when on settlement he used
big words even when sober. He had drank more since the sale of his property

than before and it took less to affect him. He was always in his proper reason

when sober.

26th JOHN KNOX, assisted jailor for Maury County more than two or three years
ago he knew BENNETT. He boarded with him in the morning, he was cool when
drunk he would talk big speeches to the Judge told Prisoner he

must quit behaving so, or he must leave his house, Prisoner quit making his
big speeches. The first night Prisoner was put in jail he was turbulent, and
noisy, the next morning he was quiet, during the day he had whiskey and in the
second night he was turbulent and noisy and in early part of the second night.
Witness being disturbed by noise which Prisoner made went up immediately over
to his cell and heard Prisoner addressing himself to his absent father-in-law
whom he clearly appeared to think was present. That he had not been kind to
his daughter as he ought to have been, the Witness called to Prisoner and
ordered him to be silent. Prisoner asked who that was and being told it was
the Witness he replied if it is your wish I will and Prisoner remained quiet
until that night when he again became turbulent and noisy. Witness again

commanded him to be silent and he obeyed since that time Prisoner has had no
whiskey and has since been quiet, peaceable, Witness resided with other rooms
of the prison and from his situation could not hear Prisoner as readily as he
could have heard at whitmans. It was also proved that the deceased was a
beggar passing through the County wholly supported by the charity of the people.
At PILLOWS he asked for Whiskey and showed a few little change tickets. It

was likewise proved that the deceased was shot in Maury County on the 17th of

February 1826 and that he died of that wound in Maury County on the 18th of
February 1826.

~90~

a one mile, Witness says the Prisoner talked wild and simply, and

he heard him coming up behind the Witness hooping and hollering and when he

came up, he seized the Witness by the hand, talked foolishly, asked for the
family of Witness four or five times in the course of one of two hundred

yards, the Prisoner did not seem to be drunk, but threw his head about from

side to side, leaned over his horse and behaved so strangely as to convience

the Witness, that he was deranged, he the Prisoner also praised his wife to the
Witness in an extravagant manner, whether Prisoner had been drinking or not-know
his conversation was unconnected he could not understand hin. He did not suspose
that it was whiskey for he’ rode well, Witness has seen him drink before, he had
not seen him since that time, and did not see him for a year or two back he lived

about 3 miles from his house.

15th THOMAS L. NEELY, for defendant swore that he rode with the Prisoner about
one mile and quarter on the day the deceased waa shot. The Prisoner complain-
ed to the Witness of the cruel manner in which he the Prisoner had been treated
by his neighbors, Witness told the Prisoner that he the Prisoner knew how to
behave himself and he the Witness hoped the Prisoner would do what was proper.
The Prisoner raised himself up in his stirrups and said my brother WASHINGTON
had to draw his sword of war before he could make peace, on cross examination
the Witness said that the Prisoner rode and walked well, but talked scatering,
sc much so that the Witness concluded he was not drunk but that he was not in

his proper mind for he could ride and walk well and it was the

part of day, he also believes the Prisoner said something about the Camp, and
that some one had stolen his corn, his whiskey or bacon he never saw the

Prisoner drunk but once, Prisoner told the Witness that he had been. at GLASS'S
that morning, Witness said he had not seen the Prisoner but once or twice for

18 months before.

16th ROBERT GLASS, for Defendant swore that on the day deceased was shot the
Prisoner came to the house of the Witness which is 3 or 4 miles from the Prison-
er's house. The Prisoner said he had come, to inform the Witness that some
whiskey which the Prisoner was on that day to have had ready for the

Witness was not ready and stated to Witness that he the Prisoner thought it

his duty to come and let the Witness know that he could not comply with his
contract. After which the Prisoner was wild and incoherntly talked of his
wrongs and of the injuries done him by his neighbors, he did not look like a

drunk man, although Witness smelled whiskey on his breath the Witness was of

opinion the Prisoner was not in his senses but whether deranged from whiskey
or not the Witness could not tell, he also said he had not been acquainted
with the Prisoner for several years he did not talk as he had done 4 or 5

years ago.
REBUTTING TESTIMONY, called by the State.

17th JOHN NEELY, swore that on the morning of the same day on which the deceas-
ed was shot, the Prisoner rode up with THOMAS L. NEELY, to the house of Witness.
Further the Witness thought Prisoner had been drinking, and he talked of many
things. Prisoner told Witness, that there was many things, Prisoner told Wit-
ness, that there was an old man at his house, who had set up with him (Prisoner)
the night before to see who stole his the Prisoner property, and as no thief
came, the Prisoner had said to the old man, Damn you! maybe it is you that stole

my things, as nobody else comes.

Witness thought the Prisoner had been drunk, although he was not drunk. Witness
said further that he had seen him when drinking before, and he was the same way.
He was quarrelsome when drunk. Prisoner when talking seemed wild and scattering

in his conversation said Prisoner could trade well.

18th AARON McMANUS, for the Defendant deposed that he was well acquainted with
the Prisoner. He saw the Prisoner some time before, perhaps three weeks. He
seemed noisy, drinking, running on with nonsense. He was in the habit of drink-
ing at home. Friendly with the bottle. He wanted to please law, and was out-
ragious and spiteful, Witness has said in his family, he was afraid he would

do mischief, either kill somebody, or somebody will kill him. Prisoner would
talk big dictionary words, that the Witness could not understand. Some years
ago Prisoner was thriving well, has been inferior in his mind since his mis-
fortunes. He did not make as many big speeches before he got broke, as he has
done since. Witness also stated that 2 or 3 years ago, he saw Prisoner raising
his mill. He was drunk and got mad with some hands, who were helping him to
raise, and drew his gun on them, and run them off. Witness also stated, that
when he had seen the Prisoner sober he was friendly and peaceable, but he had
not seen him so for some time before the killing, and Witness believed that he

was pretty constantly drunk, on which account the Witness felt to pass

the road by the Prisoner's house, and had frequently passed by secretly.

19th ALFRED BUIE, a Witness in behalf of the State swore that he had seen

BENNETT drunk many a time, that he was very and quarrelsome when

~~.

when drunk, when sober he was peaceful. Witness had seen the Prisoner at
gatherings when he had seen him drunk. Witness saw the Prisoner the night
after the killing, he was drunk. He states Prisoner was a smart man and a
good trader Witness says he is certain Prisoner was drunk, because he had
seen him so before many times, and he behaved in the same manner. He thought

the Prisoner was not crazy.

20th WILLIAM SMITH, deposed that his acquaintance with BENNETT had for some
time been very limited.. He employed him as a Distiller in

the year 1816 he was the best, Witness has recollected to have seen. He was
then a very singular man enclined to use large and as Witness susposed unmean-
ing words. Says he was a shrewd trader, and very endentous, but Witness thinks
he was of a boisterious temper. For 4 or 5 years past Witness has had little

as no acquaintance with the Prisoner.

2lst JOHNSON CRAIG, swore that he was well acquainted with the Prisoner for
several years. He thinks the mind of the Prisoner was hurt with Liquor and
especially since the sale of his property. Wifness thought the Prigoner did
not look right for some time. Witness gaw the’ Prisoner the morning before the
killing, he was much intoxicated. He saw him 2 or 3 times in 6 months before,
he managed his business pretty well. Even when sober he talked at random, and

had a peculiarity of mind.

22nd WILLIAM HUNTS, swore that the Prisoner always was a singular kind of man.
Witness for the last 12 or 18 months had seen the Prisoner but 3 or 4 times and
he would hardly form an opinion of him. He was always called a singular man.
He traded well, and property fast, though not half witted. Witness has not
heard many men talk in the same style that the Prisoner did at first sale of
his property the Prisoner was more drunk than the witness had ever seen him.
He walked about and talked of killing the officer and said he would rather die
than that his family should suffer, he seemed to be much distressed and said
it was more than human nature was able to bear. The sale was about two years
ago last May. Witness never saw the Prisoner stagger with liquor except on
the day of sale. Witness is of opinion that the Prisoner has been much more

drunk since the sale than ever before.

23rd JOHN NIEL, says he has seen no alteration in the Prisoner since he knew
him he was some times drunk some times sober. Witness never considered him

crazy. He drank very steadly some time before the killing.

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HUMPHREYS ,COUNTY, . TENNESSEE.

HUMPHREYS COUNTY. 879

While the circuit court of Humphreys County was established by
act of the General Assembly in 1836, nothing can be learned of the pro-
ceedings of the court previous to 1860, as the records beyond that year
have been destroyed. From hearsay, however, it is learned that the court
tried, convicted and sentenced to death one Joe Bearden, some time during
the thirties, on a charge of willful and premeditated murder, and that
Bearden was subsequently hanged. No cases of importance were disposed
of by the court during the years of 1860 and 1861, and from 1862 until

; the latter pact of 1865, there were no sessions held. In 1866 L. D. Crock-
ett, was fined $5 far gaming; Jease Giwinn was fined $15 for assault and
battery; Sarah and Stephen (uman were divoread, and T. G. Ferguson
was arrested for stealing a here. tut escaped fram the officers. A fter-
ward,{however, Ferguson was captwesd, and upon conviction was sent to
the penitentiary for three years. In 1887 Turner B. Smith was con.
victed of grand larceny and sent to the penitentiary for three years, and
Abner MoCaslin was acquitted of the charge of murder after a long and
exciting trial. In 1868 John Dorsey was sent to jail for thirty minutes.
upon the charge of larceny, and in 1869 James Beach was sent to the
penitentiary for; one year for larceny, while J ep Thomas and W. C.
Thomason were convicted of assault with intent to kill, and were sen-
tenced to penitentiary for the term of ten years each. In 1870 Mond
Wind was indicted and arrested on the charge of murder, but made his
escape from jail before his trial came off, and in the following year Will-
iam P. Pearce was indicted and arrested on the charge of malicious
murder, and he, too, made his escape from jail J. A. Crowell was sent
to jail for twenty-four hours in 1872, upon being convicted of larceny,
and in 1873 John M. Doak was sent to prieum for three years on convic-

-tion of larceny. During the same year H. M. Little, cireuit court clerk,
was fined $10 by the court for contempt, he failing to attend to the duties
of his office. In 1874 Hugh Collins, J. C. Tullass, Uriah Harrison and
Hugh Collier, were each convicted separately of committing assault and
battery, and each fined $5 and costs, and George HL Winfrey was fined
$10 for contempt of court’ In 187 5 Wesley Batson and Thomas Nelson

, (both colored) were sent to jail for one year for laropny, and the follow-

ing year Bill Williams was sentenced to the penitentiary for one year for
larceny, while Bale Wadkins was sent to jail for twelve months for mal.
icious stabbing. In 1878 James Brooks was sentenced to the penitentiary
for three years for larceny. John Boyer was tried for the murder of his
uncle, H. D. Boyer, and was acquitted, the jury bringing in a verdict of
justifiable homicide, and Bale Wadkins was sent to the penitentiary for
three years for slitting the ears of Nelson Goodrich. Bill York (colored)

% ate ka
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665, 666 NASHVILLE:

Baxter v. The State.

of deceased’s declarations; and this taken at the close of the
examination, and no doubt meant chiefly to apply to those
declarations which we have held were admissible.

To hold such an indefinite and general objection suffi-
cient to impose upon the trial judge the duty of sifting every
witness’ testimony, after it is given, to separate a grain of
chaff from a bushel of wheat, would be to impose upon the
judge the duty of the party, or his counsel. They may ad-
mit illegal evidence, if they don’t choose to object. If they
do not want to admit it, they should object as soon as it is
offered, or its illegality appears. At least, if they omit to
make objection until the examination of the -witness is com-
plete, they should point out the parts of the evidence excepted
tc, if it is not all illegal, or in some way indicate with reason-
able certainty the part objected to.

It is also objected that the court invaded the province
of the jury in instructing them as to the weight of the dying
declaration.

[666] The court said to the jury, “Mrs: Lane’s testimony
goes to you, through others, and should have the same force
as testimony, as if she had given her sworn statement in the
form of a deposition; that is if you believe the witness’ state-
ment as to what she said.” The court added: “Mrs. Lane’s
statements are competent testimony, and it is for you to say
what credit is due to her statements as detailed by other wit-
nesses.”

The court only meant that the declarations were to be
received as if sworn to, as a deposition is, and this is just
the light in which they are estimated. The witness’ appre-
lension of impending death being equivalent to an oath, and
the amount of credit due to them was left to the jury under
proper instructions.

It is also insisted that the court erred in admitting Bush’s
testimony in rebuttal he not having been under the rule with
the other witnesses, although defendant, it is said, insisted
that he should be required to retire from the court room

530

DECEMBER TERM, 1885. 666, 667

Mimms and Wife v. Ewing.

while other witnesses were examined. His Honor refused
tc put this witness under the rule, because his evidence was
rebutting, and he was at the time an officer of the court.

It does not appear in this case that any affidavit was
made for the rule. But if it had been, it has been held by
this court that the right to exclude the witness for disobe-
dience to the order, is within the discretion of the court: 4
Lea, 430, citing authorities. We are of opinion that the
dving declarations of Mrs. Lane were properly admitted, and
that they fully identified. the defendant #s the person who
[667] made the fatal assault upon her, and that in this she is
corroborated by another witness to whom Baxter admitted
the commission of the crime.

The result is that there is no error in the record for which

_the judgment should be reversed, and it will be aflirmed.

T. C. MIMMS AND WIFE v. FINIS EWING et al.

TENANCY BY CURTESY. Adverse possession. Successive tenants. It is not
necessary to show privity between successive tenants if they are con-
nected and continued in fact, each claiming ownership in connection
with his possession, to raise the presumption of deed or grant by
twenty years’ adverse possession. But when a husband goes into
possession under his wife’s claim of title, and holds under that claim
while she lives, and after her death continues te possess and claim
in the same right, there is privity between the successive tenants,

' Adverse holding may perfect title to an estate less than a fee.

FROM MONTGOMERY.

Appeal from the Chancery Court at Clarksville. Gro. E. Seay, Ch.

House & Merritr for complainants.

531

380 HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.

plead guilty to an indictment for arson, and was sent to the penitentiary
_for two years, in 1879, and Sheriff White was allowed $89 for the employ-
_‘ment for thirty days to guard the county jail, to prevent the liberation by
-g mob of Sam O. Gwinn, who was + durance vile on a charge of counter-
feiting. Gwinn was afterward acquitted. In 1880 John Williams (colored)
was convicted, after a lengthy trial, of the premeditated and malicious
murder of his wife, and was sentenced to be hanged. The case was car-
ried to the supreme court, where the decision of the lower court was
affirmed, and Williams was returned to Waverly, where his death sen-
tence was pronounced. The day of execution was fixed for May 7, of the
same year, and the place at Waverly. The present sheriff was in office
at that time, and, under his directions, @ scaffold was erected in the court
square, where the execution took place as prescribed by law. An immense
crowd of people came from miles around to witness the hanging, the peo-
ple being estimated at between 3,000 and 3,500. Williams met his death
with coolness, and rode from the jail to the scaffold on his coffin. During
the same year, Conrad Hardwick was convicted of committing a rape, and

was sent to penitentiary for ten years. In 1881 Jerry Turner and Jerry __

Jordan (colored) were sent to penitentiary for life on a charge of rape.
In 1882 Guss Wyley (colored) was convicted of buggery and sent to
penitentiary for one year. In 1883 John Brown was convicted of bigamy,
and imprisoned for two years, and in the following year, Tom Nelson,
Alexander Williams and Mingo Lowing, were each sent to penitentiary
for nine years for larceny. In 1886 Link Luffman was sent to jail ten
days and fined $25 for larceny, and Lewis Smalley was sent to the pen-
- jitentiary for one year for larceny.

The judges who have presided over the Humphreys Circuit Court
and their terms have been as follows: William Fitzgerald, November 19,
1X62, until the war closed the courts; Lucian L. Hawkins, 1865-70;
James EK. Rice, 1870-78; Joe C. Stark, 1878-86. Attorney-generals:
L. L. Hawkins, 1860-62; John P. Dunlap, 1865-70; W. J. Broaddus,
1870; T. C. Mulligan, 1870-78; B. D. Bell, 178-86. Circuit clerks:
John N.. Little, 1860-61; William P. KR. Batson, 1861-62; John N.
Little, 1865-68; W. P. R. Batson, 1868-70; H. M. Little, 1870-78; G.
L. Harris, 1873-78; T. B. Traylor, 1878-86 and is the present incum-
bent.

The chancery court of Humphreys County was established in 1852,
by an act of the General Assembly, and the first session of the court was
opened at Waverly on September 9, 1852, and was presided over by
Hon. John S. Brien, chancellor for the middle division of Tennessee.
Judge Brien served until 1854, when he was succeeded by Judge 8. D.

Correct date of execution ps 4/5 [Jel |

Fer The Cleveland (ohie) Daily Plain Dealer 4fdf7a 12 which.

reprinted a long account of Mt hanging ri rm a Nash vile éan. ee i ei
BEATTY, Bob

"Bob Beatty (colored) was sentenced to be hanged 16 Nov.

1871 for the murder of his wife - I believe he chopped

her up with an axe and threw her body in Fountain Creek,

The newspaper in 1871 reported that this was the first
legal hanging in the county for about thirfy years - ex-
cept by Judge Lynch. He was reprieved and sentenced to

be hanged 5 April 1872, Another delay. He was finally |
hanged in March 1876 = the account of his hanging will

found on the Columbia Hezaldm and Mail, 31 March,
ve 7 ecee"

Lettey ssid des SST Hef Stadt Ua BtaB ATS Halse
. 36401

i Roser ons isd eee

Please read the information and instructiéns on the back before completing this pote reguived by.
ORDER AND BILLING form.

: FOR COPIES OF Mail the
em VETERANS RECORDS complete set of Mijifary Service Records (NNCC) be
a this order to §
ae | ashington, D.C. 20408 7, / o/. £/

1. CHECK RECORD DESIRED REQUIRED MINIMUM IDENTIFICATION OF VETERAN ’ = 7
ve PENSION 2. VETERAN (Give Jast, firgl, and middle names) 3. STATE.EROM - i
Cgthihar LGae (Fm
OUNTY-LAND WARRANT
Tia Crepe ce Mt
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per enurrany : ae!
Key () UNION £{] CONFEDERATE ae
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PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION, IF KNOWN i
6. UNIT IN WHICH HE SERVED (Name of regiment or 7. BRANCH IN WHICH HE SERVED : If other, specity: i
Se ee ee CIINFANTRY CcAvVALRY ‘AntiteRY Gnavy |... a ”
8. KIND OF SERVICE 9. PENSION OR BOUNTY LAND FILE NUMBER 4
eid ae! BAPE 5g peta |. () VOLGMTEERS ~ ([] REGULARS hogs: |
10. DATE OF BIRTH 11. PLACE OF BIATH (City, county, State, etc.) 12. NAME OF WIDOW OR OTHER CLAIMANT 1
756 !
13. DATE OF DEATH 14. PLAGE OF DEATH (City, county, State, etc.) 16. PLACE(S) VETERAN LIVED AFTER SERVICE a
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15. IF VETERAN LIVED IN A HOME FOR SOLDIERS. GIVE LOCATIM# (City and State) i
17. NUMBER OF THESE BLANK - |
FORMS YOU WOULD LIKE Do NOT write below - Space is for reply to you.
SENT TO YOU
: RECORDS
Me Pegg ENCLOSED a (] PENSION (0 BOUNTY LAND CO MILITARY !
C] THIS 1S NUMBER OF FILES FROM WHICH yj
Laake YOUR BILL COPIES WERE REPRODUCED AMOUNT _
DUE -©6 1
t oh
Please remit the above amount in the enclosed addressed envelope with the mt,

white copy of this form,

Rt >

RECORDS Pay
UOMPLETE, FON BUT 4 > oO TY LAND MILITARY
YOUR ORDER NOT FOUND | :

(] We found______.._pension or bounty land files and ________military service files of the same
name (or similar variations). You may order copies by returning the enclosed, marked forms.

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not serve. You may be able to obtain information about him from the State archives.

[] See attached forms/leaflets/information sheet.
C] Please complete items 2 (give full name), 3 and 4, and resubmit.

*MO/@G ¥OO;G ey] UIY]IM Ssesppe puR eurBu INCA BdA} 10 jufid

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SEARCHER ~_| FILE DESIGNATION
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CASHIER

NATIONAL ARCHIVES TRUST FUND BOARD ar are oy 26 (79)

CUSTOMER COPY

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Date received by
National Archives

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ORDER AND BILLING ;
FOR COPIES OF s
am VETERANS RECORDS Military Service Records (NNCC)

form.
Mail the
- Washington, D.C. 20408 _
REQUIRED MINIMUM IDENTIFICATION OFA~VETERAN

complete set of
this order to

1. CHECK RECORD DESIRED

Ler PENSION

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{J UNION

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16. PLACE(S) VETERAN LIVED AFTER SERVICE

NUMBER OF THESE BLANK

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al RECORDS | moc,
3a. YOUR NAME "AND ADDRESS ENCLOSED (1) PENSION 1 BOUNTY LAND 1 MILITARY
C) THIS IS NUMBER OF FILES FROM WHICH
YOUR BILL | COPIES WERE REPRODUCED AMOUNT ‘ae
i DUE $
Se Leteyrs are amount in the enclosed addressed envelope with the |
white copy of this form. ‘ :
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UNABLE TO , a ree
COMPLETE “ PENSION LITARY
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*MO/@q YOO/q ay} UjY]jM Ssesppe pue euleU INOA SdAI #0 YUIIg

name (or similar variations). You may order copies

[] When we are unable to find a record for a veteran, this does not necessarily mean
not serve. You. may be able to obtain information about him from the State archives.

f"} See attached forms/leaflets/information sheet.
[) Please complete items 2 (give full name), 3 and 4, and
{] Other:

by returning the enclosed, marked forms.

that he did

resubmit. |

[] See reverse

FILE DESIGNATION

Z LL.
CASHIER 7

NATIONAL ARCHIVES TRUST FUND BOARD

_ CUSTOMER COPY

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DBATH CELLS GIVEN
10 CONDEMNED PAIR

‘Ghettanaped: Wass Negroes to Die
“at 5 A.M. Today. 2

Men Convibted of Assaulting

White Girl to Get Last! Y
Wants Satisfied.

wot 1
NASHVILLE, Sept...6: (F)—At dawn
tomorrow two Negroes jwill die in the
electric chair atithe state penitentiary
here for criminally assgulting a ng

white woman at Cc Lanocoga. ¢
Andrew Wilcoxen Oscar B
their convictions. affirmed by the

nesse me court, were to be 4
cocuilae a.m They were jake to
cells th raw at the prison @t 5.

p.m, today, just, twelve hours
they were to die
Warden A. W, Neely said the \
were calm and appeared to be
cheerful mood when they went to |
death cells. The} guards in death
the warden said, were ins 4
give the Negroes anything they w
for their last ia 08

The Negroes they were a
19, a few days a é
on the criminal
the supreme sina! mare.

tions, Gov. McAlister interviewed |

The last ¢ wa at the pi
here was that of| John/'Thomas &
a Negro. Shaw was convicted at N .
ville of murder for the death of
young Negro girl who died after be
criminally assaulted, Warden N@ ply

penitentiary was Seam or four

oa other Negroes are at the prigon
under sentence of dea for tine t.
One is to be executed Oct 1 and

other Oct. 31 by
. ’ . |

- - +

BATTISE, Babe, and THOMPSON, Decur, blacks, hanged at Nashville, Tenn., July 18, 1901,

"Nashville, Tenne, July 18, 1901. = The first legitimate execution ever witnessed in this
county took place this morning, when three negroes were suspended from the same ecaffold,
The hanging took place in the jail yard, and was witnessed by about 200 people, The cone
demned were Babe Battise, Ducer Thompson and Abe Petaway, and they calmly mounted the
steps and took their places on the trap without exhibiting the least evidence of trepi-
dation. Thompson and Petaway made short talks in which they proclaimed their innocence
and the pardon of their sins, and Battise spoke rather intelligently for over five
minutes about his hopes of the hereafter and admonished his hearers to eschew his example,
The caps were then adjusted and the trap was sprung at 10:15 by Sheriff Hurt. The fall
was about 5 feet and themen were pronounced dead within 13 minutes, Petaway and Battise
had their necks broken, and Thompson succumbed to strangulation, The bodies were de-
lievered to the undertakers, There were about 3,000 people outside the jail, while the
execution was being conducted, the best of order prevailed..eBattise and Thompson were
hanged for the brutal murder of Cain Miller, a negro spotter for the police, Thompson
was the proprietor of the Bucket of Blood, a notorious dive in Blackbottom, and he was
heard to say to Battise that he would fix Miller, The murder was committed on the night
of December 8, 1900, and Battise and Thompson were under duress within two hours after the
commission of the deed, Thompson charged Battise with the crime and to the last

affirmed his innocence, Battise at first proclaimed his guiltlessness, but finally
admitted that he killed Miller and said it was done at the instance of Thompson, under
whose complete domination he was, The evidence brought out the truth of Battise's
statement and showed him to be the tool of Thompson, who planned the whole affair, The .-
men were sentenced to hang on the seventh of last May, but were respited until June 18,
and the second time until today," JOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, July 18, 1901 (5/7.)

BAIRD, C. William, hanged at Fayetteville, Tennessee, on May 2, 1907.

"Fayetteville, Tennessee, May 2h, 1907-This morning at 5 o'clock in the county jail, Cc. W,
Baird, convicted for the mrder of his wife and sentenced to death, was hanged by Sheriff
Taylor. Baird was one of the coolest and most concerned persons at the jail. He walked
up the.steps leading to the top of the cells, from which he stepped on to the scaffold with
steady steps am without a tremor, ‘William, you.,have been a good prisoners; you have never
given me any trouble. Now,.if you have anything to say you cansay it, My advice to you
is to tell the truth,' were: the words spoken by Sheriff Taylor to the condemned man, 'I am
not guiltye I have a statement in my pocket,’ was Baird's reply, Just then, Mayor Goodner
said: 'Mr. Baird, you have only a few moments to live. Speak the truth.' Others requested
him to tell nothing but the truth, 'You gentlemen have heard what I have to say. I am
innocent,' replied the prisoner. Sheriff Taylor told him.poodbye and the cwath trap was
sprung. He.was pronounced dead in 11 minutes, The execution was witnessed by a number of
officers and ciii,ens, -The remains were brought up town to the undertaking establishment
of Fermwali & Son, where they were viewed by a large number of people. The body will be
taken to Blanche for interment tonight. Following is Baird's statement which he gave out,
protesting his innocence: | ‘ :
"tTo.whom it may concern: On next Friday I will die convicted of killing my wife. The
charge against me is an infamous falsehood, I did not kill my wife and God in heaven is my
witness and will bear me record. I did not want any other woman or man to get phesession
of the land as was charged against me. My wife was all the wman in the world I wanted to
Live with, and me and her and the two children lived happy together, and I had control
of all our land and never wanted it in any shape only as it was. I was well pteased with
everything as it was. The ball that was taken out of my wife's head weighed 12 grains,
the balls I had weighed 15.grains. I had no other kind of cartridges only the ones that
was brought and examined on the ‘trial. My lawyers told me if my wife was taken up and the
ball cut out of her head and it weighed the, same and was just like the ones I had it would
hang mee 1 told them I wanted her taken up and the ball got out of her head and if it hung
me let it hang me, I did not do it. My wife was a true wife, and a good mother and without
a fault in my sight; now I am to die for the man that shot and killed the only woman that
I loved, My conviction is cruel and unjust, mut I must bear it. I told on the stand all
that I knew and was asked me and more than could have been proven, I told exactly how the
shooting was done and all about it and not a single witness or circumstance confradicted
it. I am convicted on purely circumstantial, evidence, much of which was false, for I am
absolutely innocent of the crime, I am convicted by an unjust court by circumstantial
evidence and public sentiment which was caused by rumors and lies told and printed in the
papers, The court wants to have the name of a man and some poor ignorant people want a
show and something to. talk about. JI am convicted by a prejudiced judge who overrode the
verdict of twelve jurors, the judge is. an honest man, but, was bulldozed by a mob, It
would have been beviter to have been mobbed by a mob than by the court, I am a victim of a
conspiracy. After a great deal of thoucht on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that
two of the men that made up that mob.to take my life away, were the two men that held me up
that night and killed my wife, They were my neighbors; they knew I carriedmoney with me
all the time. They did not intend to kill my wife or me, but intended to rob me and
make me leave the country, This is my honest belief, I have no direch proof and will call
no names, I may suspicion all innocent persons, Some day the truth will be known; murder
@ill out, and I here now call upon the judge who senvenced me to hang and the jury and the
people of Lincoln county to witness that some day you will see your awful mistake gehen it
is too late. You are now blinded by prejudice created by the mob and the Lincoln County
News, which paper hounded me to death because they thought it was popular, lis editor
stated publicly since my conviction that he would make four or five dollars by reporting
my hanging to other newspapers, my blood be upon him and God have mercy on such a news-~
papere The court above will give me justice and there will be no lies told up there; there
will be no papers printed up there, as I know of, but if there is, they will print the
truth, It seems to me thatnothing but an innocent man to die will satisfy the people, so
here I am, and I am not afraid to die, and will met Judge Higgins and the jury and old man
Twitty around the bar of a higher court. You will come on soon and will find me there to
meet you and your prejudtee willbe laid bare, There never was a greater burden put ona

human being to war, no cup any more bitter than the one I have drank, but I have and will
bear it bravely to the end, trusting in the Lord who doeth all thinrs well. del tig,
farewell, alas; farewell to ones I love so dear. In heaven above, we'll met again, this

thought my heart doth cheer,"

"The crime for which Baird was executed was one of the most brutal ever enacted in Lincoln
County, it being the.mrder of a frail and defenseless wman, ‘he murder had no wye-wit-
nesses, and, while there were no witnesses, the circumstantial evidence was so strong that
the citizens of the county, the'jury and the court, did not doubt.the killing by Baird,
Baird's story of the crime was so unreasonable that nobody believed it. He and his wife
had spent the my at Fayetteville, it being the first tim that Mrs. 5aird had been in
town for many months. Baird and his wife were the joint owners of some real estate, He
had become infatuated with another woman, a woman of bad.character, and he had tried to
persuade his wife to transfer her claim to the property to him,.and this she refused to
do,’ Baird made the following statement relative to the murder: He declared that as they
were passing through a woods on their return home someunknown party caught the mule. they
were driving by the bridle and stopped the buggy. When this was done Mrs, Baird.leaned
forward to see what the trouble was and a man standing near the buggy firedthe fatal shot,
The ball entered her left temple, killing her instantly. Jt was so dark he could. give no
description of jhe man = could not tell whether themurderer was white or black, He had no
idea of the mans size. ‘he face of the mrdered woman was powder=-burned, showing that the
shot had been fired at very close range. The strangest fact in the case,was that Baird
raisedno alarm. With the lifeless form of his wife, by his side, he drove on down thepublic
highway, by 22 residences, where lights were burning; by a country store, where a number
of men were gathered; driving in a slow trot, without uttering a word to a living man.
When asked by a jury of inquest why he did not give an alarm he said that he did not know
the people along the way very well. The firststop was mde at thehome of Wm, Edwards, an
uncle of Mrs, Baird, Here he called Mr, Edwards to come and see whether or not his wife
was dead, telling him that someone had held them up and shot her, From the Edwards resi-
dence to the Baird residence, a distance of half a mile, a neighbor drove the buggy and
Baird walked, Another strangefact was the seeming lack of interest manifested by Baird in
the capture of the parties that he had declared killedhis wife, ‘when someone suggested
that bloodhounds be secured and an effort Ima made to.capture the mrderers he s aid that he
was afraid some innocent party might be caught. Baird admitted that he had pa pistol on
his person when the murder occurred, but he had unladed the weaponbefore the jury. of in-
aquest began its investigation, The jury returned a verdict of murder against Baird am
he wasplaced in jail. The feelinz against him was very strong in the south section of the
county = so strong that a mob sought to lynch him, but Sheriff Taylor, being warned of their
intention, spirited the prisoner away. Many facts were brought out in the final trial
that made the fact of his guilt still stronger, The jury returned a verdict of murder in
the lst degree, with mitigatinz circumstances, Judge Higgins failed to see the mitigating
circumstances and serbenced Baird to hang on the 13th day. of April, 1906. An appeal was
taken to the supreme court and the vehdict of the lower court was affirmed last December.
Mrs, Baird was 30 years of age and the mother of two children, girls, aged 13 and 9,
“hey make their home with Mrs, Baird s sister, Mrs, Wm, Beddingfield, of this county,"
TENNESSEAN, Nashville, Teinessee, May. 25, 1907 (1/1.)

ae. * ppexpix
Cree oo Pouce Brier

CITY OF MEMPHIS
Pouice Department
DETECTIVE DIVISION

: File No. 14432
STATE OF TENNESSEE

VS,

CHAS. BARR.

i Case:
Victim:

Homicide, :

W. Obe
Memphis.

Suspects : Chas Barr,

Spencer, of 653 Pearce Street, City of

Negro, of 292 East Parkway,

North,

City of Memphis.

Location: On Highland Avenue, between the N.C. & St.
L. R. R. tracks and Walnut Grove Road.

Date

May 23, 1923

Officers - Detective Sergeants \W. F. Glisson, W.

John Long, Lee Quianthy, Phelan Thompson, Granville
Heckle, Wilbur Miller in command of Detective

Lieuten-
ant D. LI. Jamison.

“CT OF INVESTIGATION

stances Surrounding the murder of W. Obe Spencer.
Description of crime.

; Description

Circum

of scene.
Geographical location.

Sketch Map of local Surroundings

Floor plan (interior)
Condition of weather.
The probable time

Time crime was di

(exterior)

SOA MR goon ,

ot commission of crime,

ScOvered,

Description ot the met]
Or criminals.

Probable motive,

Complete

—~
ie)
pe

10ds emploved by the criminal

a.
~

(e) * list of suspects and witnesses.

102

all oi an ac

EVIDENCE
III. (a) Confessions,
(b) ‘Signed statements. =
(c) Supplemental reports by investigators.
(0). Bast of exkpad 3
(e) Summary and opinion o! investigator.
(é >tior ests, ete. ;
f) Action taken, arr : 7 . se :
"Ags Supplemental reports are those which ee ae
movements of the investigator making same. hey
contain: :
' cers " er-
) Names, addresses and proper description of all 7
= sons interviewed. Description will show :
l. Age.
oc? ee,
3. Occupation. | |
4. Degree of intelligence. .
5. Standing in the community. “ pie ee
6. Probability of prejudice in the case under inve

tion.

CITy OF MEMPHIS
DEPARTMENT OF Porzicr

November 23rd, 1924,
Major Thomas H. Allen,
Police Commissioner,
Central Police Headquarters,
Memphis, Tennessee.

f 4 tiles Tam handing voy
Sir: Simply for your information and tiles I aa al ae -
1 aa p4) J Sega ive Divisio:
herewith final report of Inspector Griftin, Detect i ai
under da | oO 22nd 24, touchi mm the case of the
tf N 19 rouchin O C
November 22nd, 1 ; g
er te of Nov
State against Chas. Barr.

y F ? i can gather no
May I be permitted to add that from what I can gather n
+ »

: would justify
errors were permitted to get into the jaa: — would }u -
a reversal of the case by the State Supreme Court.

Yours truly,
TB. Burney

Chief of Police.

t te Ssetaeyo Suuva
Ayunog Aqyeyg) eesseuuel peynooazqoe Te

mny uo (£4

"9261 fog Fsnsny (

27th WILLIAM STOCKARD, a Witness called for the Defendant also proved that
he did not know the Prisoner for several months before CALLAHAN was killed,
.when he last saw him he was intoxicated he seemed mild five or six months
before this transaction, Witness was on a road in the neighborhood of the
Prisoner's house and hearing shouting and hollowing the Witness looked and
saw a number of indian boys who were traveling through this County flying
before the Prisoner who with loud shouts was pursuing them. The Witness

and another man stopped the Prisoner and with great difficulty prevailed on
the Prisoner - The Prisoner alleges that he wanted to make

the INDIANS drink, Witness thought the Prisoner had been drinking, a good

deal. People apprehended danger from him when he was in Liquor and he was
always a singular man, after his character was called in question he drew

a pistol and then lined the officers who were entering his rooms

to take his land to sell them on his execution, he was then intoxicated.

The above is all the evidence given in the cause at the trial. His Honor

the Judge charged the jury upon the law of the case every part of which charge
including a.charge upon the degree of insanity which now excused crime was
satisfactory to the Prisoner and his Council in what follows. His Honor stated
to the jury that upon the subject of derangement such was the direction of the
humor mind that philosophers might forever speculate upon the subject but

could not define in what it consists, but that if one hundred men should look
at a drunk man they would all agree in saying he was drunk and if a hundred
men more to look at a deranged man that would agree in saying he was deranged,

to this front of the charged Prisoner by his council excepts

Defendant moved for a new trial and in support of his motion produced the
annexed affidavit of the Prisoner and the affidavit of JACOB T. SMITH both on
the same paper marked, A, and made a part of this bill of exception, which
motion for a new trial the court over-ruled and gave judgement against the
Prisoner to which opinion of the ruled and gave judgement against the Prisoner
to which opinion of the court the Prisoner by his counsel excepts and prays
that this his bill of exceptions may be signed, sealed and under which is

accordingly done.
seal . THO'S STUART seal

STATE
VS
JAMES R. BENNETT

-21-

The defendant states he did not know of the facts stated in the affidavit of
JACOB T. SMITH or that he knew them until Linen (?) the trial of the cause
nor did he know their nor did he know of his evidence until

Linen he has been this morning called into court. The Defendant recollected
that SMITH had kept the jail of this morning requested his counsel to have

him called to see what he knew.

JA'S R. BENNETT

Sworn to in open court

July 11, 1826 G.M. MARTIN clk.

State of Tennessee

Maury County Court

I, GEORGE M. MARTIN Clerk, of said Court do certify that the foregoing
is a copy of the records and proceedings had in our Court in the case wherein
the State of Tennessee is Plaintiff and JAMES R. BENNETT is Defendant in a
full and ample a manner as known appears in my office in testimony whereof I
have hense to my hand and affixed my private Seal (having no seal of office)
at office in Columbia via this 23rd day of October 1826.

GEORGE M. MARTIN Clerk
STATE

VS
JAMES R. BENNETT

JACOB T. SMITH who was not examined as Witness in this cause makes oath
that he kept the jail while the jailor was at Murfreesboro to which place he
stayed about 4 or 5 days after the Prisoner was commited. The offiant was
sole keeper of the keys except that for some times he left the keys with W.
Guiss at night and gave the Prisoner no spirits and believes he drank now

before the States that all the time he had c . THE PRISONER he would

sometimes talk wild and acting and at other times appeared calm and reasonable.
Offiant of having heard strange noises (THE REMAINING TORN OFF) before he came
to jail and mnay other bague and strange stories, a day or two before offiant
took charge of the Prisoner, Prisoner told Witness that he had heard guns
firing and had seen lights in jail at night.

Sworn to in open Court
July 10, 1826

GEROGE M. MARTIN Clk. J. L. SMITH
NEXT BILL OF COSTS

~22-

q
:
ac
= vi
4
Ci
ar
wi
50
4

“By JiLL GARRETT,
Herald Correspondent .
sean~/7Alez (FE
The hanging “of James R.

Bennett in Maury County was

long remembered. Almost 50
years later, one of his grand-
sons would get in trouble more
from being Bennett’s grand-
gon than anything else.

Then in i894, 67 years after .

the event, Caroline Nicholson,
widow of A.C.P. Nicholson,
would recall, “I was haunted
by the uncanny face of the

doomed man.”

And Thomas D. -Cathey

-weuid teli members of his

family that he never wanted to

*. see another man hanged. — ,
“ Through the years much .

misinformation about — the
affair has been passed down

and embellished with each re-.
telling. The truth was finally

lost.

In doing family research,
Vera Niemiec, 1580 Mill,
Lincoln Park, Michigan 48146,

- discovered that her. great--

grandfather James K. Bennett
was the son of James R.
Bennett. This did not stop her,
instead she wanted to know
more, —

She finally unearthed the
papers of the trial in the files
of the Supreme Court in
Nashville. The papers were
yellow and fragile, written ina
spidery handwriting.

Discrepancies in_ in-
formation began to pile up. All
histories of Maury County say
that Bennett was sentenced to
be hanged Sept. 26, 1826 — the
jury saying that ‘‘on that day
he shall be conveyed by the
sheriff of Maury County to a
gallows erected on the com-
mon of Columbia and then
hung by the neck until dead,
and may the Lord have mercy
on his soul.”’

The execution was carried
out — many people remem-

bered attending and passed
the information on. The date
in September 1826 has never
been challenged.

But Mrs. Niemiec
discovered that in January
i827, James R. Bennett ap-
peared in person befcre the
Supreme Court of Tennessee
and‘made an appeal. How

could a dead man appear in

court?

However, hidden in the bulk
of the Supreme Court papers
was a notation that . the

phe Hanging ol j@hes Kt.

execution was eventually
carried out on April 2, 1827.

Another puzzle was also
solved with these papers. No
one has ever known the
identity of Bennett's victim.
He has been described
variously as a beggar, a

German, ‘and a Revolinionary
War soldier. see

The victim’s name appears ote
no where in the records of —
=~ Mire

Maury County.
Niemiec’s discovery shows
why — all the original papers

Srater 4 ater JZ
= ake Xb Cue Tip os

Order of execution for James R. Bennett

: the eae

bennett - Pert’ :

from Maury were sent to the
Supreme Court.

The motive has been. said to

be stealing, fooling around
with Bennett’s wife-and in-
toxication. The best tale of all

3 was 2 remark made b the +
victim when he ‘that «

head survived height with
‘the British becay

| 8 fle ond iC was worth . he.
Be targets and $1 pry scribed

Williams, William Allen, John

O. Dayidson, John. Farney,

Ephraim = E. Davidson,
William Kerr, William Pillow,
_ Anthony M. Copeland,

William . Voorhies, .Thomas .

- Gill, Franklin R: Houston and

Williams Jennings. --
Many witnesses ‘were
summoned to testi
the trial and they
forgotten in the
history. Who were the gang of
outlaws in the hills south of the

Blowing Spring? Indians were «
still traveling along the ©
Military Road at this time.
And it seemed perfectly ac-
ceptable for a prisoner in jail

to be allowed whiskey to
drink!

The first witness : was hes

chibald James. As he was paid
for traveling 81 miles, this

man must ae lived in

e.recalled
that in the month of Feb, 1826, at
while corti a th ac! :

another county

nes
of things
county.

Bennett’s house, indepth
quarter mile before bg at

ite Bennett's, he he

| James eat half

“mile down the road and’

camped ferthenight. —

He met Samuel McConneli
' and told him what had hap-
pened at Berinett’s. They —
returned to Bennett's, and he
Said Bennett seemed to be in ;
a a rage. ond &

ent =
On cross TCS
'. James ed that he did _
He also said hehad never seen sg
'. Bennettbefore. ya
McConnell, who became the

prosecutor in the case, was the
calied. He

~ next witness .

. 2

Ae (nging - Part 1

“3 . Atinueg From Pagé 1-¢ i Verdict of
' sennett’s stil] : found by the
j ury

Why did things go SO hard. .
for Bennett? This question
remains unanswered. This .
certainly was not the first
Murder in Maury
after all, on]
be

| cause or reason.
Bennett said tha
Was the mas

Pleasant, and hi ;
was branding. : inte’
Maybe the time. had come
fora hanging. sy fei
(Part 2 in next Sunday's.
Herald) as

Births

At Maury County Hospital
Mrozinski :
The dying man told Allen and Sandra Parks °
he had be Mrozinski, Lewisburg, 7 db., «:
9% o7. girl May 13. =

; > Cates
Bit by bit, details of Ben- Jimmy and Carlene -
= nett’s Character and life were Cates, Hampshire, 7 Ib; 3% Ss
told by various Witnesses, With oz. boy May 13. ;

it.
Lyi Clon - Tas hi :
— Co. : _

DOE & MEANS

ye ee ae ae ee RS oe
BOR ME 2 Wink OCCUPATION | RESIDENCE
ee 7 Levovite of yer Parcuter’e IRE TPT ATI Cigas OLorwW -
Vr Bo Ei Seucley [$20 OTHER

GuLen a Choa. Znt pepe alr ts Kone rnctle Logo LET flow»
bu tht by kaakvlle pee Sacer Suter, (722,+ deed 6 day,
betes ee ie a Wergarr RE fA St Eh Mpe

Yoon wrdine dA Oe dalgsce Kiaisale, eid tA? 200. egautged (fae ted,
Stott hrorvegh, 5 SRE [sud ZL vieitid Zo pee Ube ahah Cap Geox

TRIAL

APPEALS

LAST WORDS

MEL i hopes LY CE bt jpre ¥ lLitia EOE TP Ligeti h
bc Lact hal fil, hrekig bs ip oY Cifflis for aeiglGlie

Feut ently ;

SQURCE

Vis. [AH 3/2£ 1932,

OF be Ye.
at Hote

ae cee

Investigators Focis on Insurance,

en cthet Deaths i ij ‘Strange Case. |

¥, WILLIAM

PRA. ; KEEL 4G Volves® around $15, 596 in life ia
alleg hg fo: suspected in fou tortous d vr shéee., ether. mys-
erious $
off ‘Questions G0 Saige! laughed agitate anes 3, stepson, died in
end defied thee sopowe way Miam!, Fla, April 8, pson ‘also of

. Vv t,” strangulation.

Joy bk Nint; BSOSAG ORARY i 5 |

in- jimmy Allen, 9, 3
Vestigator, said last night. » 9, a son, dead on},

A big reason for the etek; = (Continued on Page 2, Column 1)!

Sinssurance of the suspect. Ae bas i

son and wite.

ali shat
Noyes was the k Robert Allen, \ arrival at Hubbard hospital July Lie Test Results| eee

e knowledge that

oi June 23, 1953, he had passed

r lie detecto
ases with
Said, eating some beans” here, ae

* Alien, 36, of 1002 Argyle ave., ae Held Without Bond x

charged Specificall 1
gharged specitica y yesterday’ with Loser ordered Allen held with

murder of his 19- ! % é A44s ty’ jail
monoid serdavsnr: ani she | Sener oe rea |
arriva at
hospital last Sunday.. Hubbard 53 Cole said Allen ridiculed his
_Best for Chair a ety, questioners, telling them that
And District Rictae General's “smarter detectives than they had
Carlton Loser, Wigierak cAnecct “grilled him and failed.

> vielen told him he would : “He just sits there and smiles

10, 1952.

UME colors, Police

‘in the electsia chaltes RAS . pear and_ says,- ‘You prove it’,” Cole
pe;

Williams said Allen’s teadtiens

A .
r test in two of the >. A former wife whe “died. afterjwere such that he concluded “he

is not guilty of killing his wife

i and son.”

’ Lie detector evidence, however,
is not admissible in Tenncasss
courts, “@4e

Wiliams “paid ‘that itheush
Allen responded normally to test
questions, he did not show any

» Cole said the investigati n

thousand times between the time
we began questioning him at 1:50
_ Sunday afternoon and. 745 lsh
morning,” ie
And, vowed the investigator
“Tm going to prove it.” 2 |

The Insurance Totals 9.

Cole said Allen had a total of
"$3,245 in life insurance policies on
the infant involving four policies.;
He said insurance policies on the
lives of the other two children ana
former wife totaled $3,707. |

He said that on the one =9n re-
maining in the family, Larry, a
‘stepchild, he has $3,190 in insur-
ance, plus $2,254.on his wife.}
Ethel, and £500 on his motier-in-!
law, Mrs, Ethel Fishback. |

Allen also has policies on his |
own life totaling $3,250, the in- |

“vestigation said, } |

“He has been ‘ander Pereuate Jimmy Allen

m at least twi¢e previously 1% ‘ Nhe:
penwastion with the deaths. Cole - A man with policies

-,gaid he referred to questioning by
Miami detectives.

investigator here, said he gave

very much of Sammie Voss.”
This was a reference to the

holdup-killer who died recently in

the electric chair. here for two
murders, as

HA Routine Call-

The current investigation was
‘ttouched .off Sunday when City

Homicide Officer J.) M. Murray
‘tanewered a routine call te Hub-
‘|bard hospital -

There he saw marks on the
throat of the infant Janet, he
reported, and called Cole. They
investigated ,the case together.
*Last night Murray said doctors
-jperforming an autopsy had in-
formed him that two unfired .38
‘Icaliber bullets were found in the
sjehild’s stomach. Detective Lt.
Eugene Curley said indications
were the bullets were “stuffed
down the child’s throat,”

Murray said there were bruises
oa -the lps and mouth of the
child,

Loser said a pathologist in-
-|forined him the cause of death
‘was strangulation, «

Served Term me

Allen's police Perera shows he
earved three years of a 3-7 year
term in state prison here for as-
sault. with intent te commit mur-
der. He was convicted in Rutherr
ford county in 1936,

. The record also showed that he
‘iwas sentenced to nine months in
Rutherford county jail for theft.
Cole said that he and Murray
first questioned. Allen’s. present
s{wife, mother of the children in-
5 volved, and that she was not in-
jvolved in the deaths. ‘ be
“She told me about the baby
dying in Miami under about the
same circumstances.” he said,
“That penta ME Nad a ball

reaction on questions dealing

‘ att ivate| with the deaths. His report was
eet 108. Ova. WHERE errr submitted to Loser at that time.

- Allen a lie detector test for an ir-| “Loser characterized Allen yester-
surance company June 23, 1953, in.\day as being “a cold and un-

cuimuvuuas man, me reminds mel

pit aoreers naa

Bene
Te said. she. save this account
of events leading up to Sunday's
tragedy: ie tg

The baby, Janet, had developed
an apparent cold. AHen said he
would carry her to a physician
for a shot. He left at 10:30 a.m.
vith the child in his care

Asizep in Car

About 1 a.m. he returned 6 the
honie. The mother asked where
the child was and he told her it
was asleep in the back seat of the
car, and that’ she had. swallowed
two .52 caliber bullets. ‘

The mother then went > to the
ear but Allen told her not to wake
the child and suggested that they
carry her to a hospital.

But the mother went om to
the car, felt of the child, and
said, “She's dead.” ~ :
The couple then drove with the

child to a service station at 1302
Twelfth ave., S. The baby was
still lying on her stomach in ‘the
back seat.

From t there they went to Hub-
bard hospital, where the child
was dead on arrival, nap et
The Mother Says, atts att

Cole quoted the mother as say-
ing that-in the Florida case, the
autopsy showed a picce of steel or
La. ball bearing had been swal-
lowed,

Cole said Jimmy Aten died from
peculiar circumstances at Hubbard
hospital, arriving, there vomiting
and gagging. Investigators are
looking into the possibility tha
the boy may have- been a poison
victim. be

Cole said that premiunis ont
policies involved in the child's

--ldeath and on other members of

the family were virtually all paid]
up through the end of 1955.
He said Allen said he was an

interior decorator but that he was
unemployed. e

Mea Steere tae a TO)

PAGE 17

At the Prisoner's house in his blood, shot through near the center of his
body with a bullet. On examination he found the wound mortal, placed the
deceased in a situation favorable to flow of the blood and left him. The
Prisoner told Witness he aimed it for a center shot and said the old man
had been ranging about the hills taking corn, and he the Prisoner shot him.
The Witness thought the Prisoner was in a state of intoxication when he
saw him, but he could walk about, Witness did not doubt but the wound kill-

ed deceased.

9th DUNCAN GILCHRISH, also swore that he heard the Prisoner say he shot the
old man, because he was pilferring his chickens and ducks. BENNETT was
drunk at this time he made the above statement. Witness never saw him so
drunk that he could not do his business. The above conversation was on the
same evening deceased was killed. Witness thinks Prisoner was a shrewd

trader.

10th MALCOM GILCHRIST, also Witness for the State swore that on Friday night,
after the deceased was shot he heard the Prisoner say he had aimed to shoot
the old fellow through the heart and he thought it a pretty good aim. Witness

also said he had assisted in holding guard over the Prisoner on

night, that sometimes he was quite cool at other times he would talk
rashly, had no connection in what he said, and did not care what he said, he
talk scathering, he thought the Prisoner a little groggy he had often seen
him drinking, but never so drunk as to be incapable of business he had been

drinking but not drunk.

11 JOHN GILCHRIST, also Witness for the State swore that he was at BENNETT'S
house on the night after the killing, the deceased was lying and appeared
to be very sick. Witness wished to examine the wound, which the deceased
objected to, Prisoner asked the Witness to walk out. Witness told Prisoner

it was a pitty Prisoner said the old rascal was pilfering his

chickens and ducks he wished he had shot him through the heart. Witness
smelt whiskey on the Prisoners's breath, Prisoner said two or three times

he had shot him, when DOCTOR HAMILTON came to examine the wound, Witness says
he was well acquainted with BENNETT, he had been drinking that night he
smelled the drinking on his breath. Prisoner knew very well what he was
about, Witness did not consider him crazy---Prisoner plunder had been sold.

(Plunder the act of plundering, robbery; pillage, WEBSTER, compiler) Sometime

nd Son

before, he drank before supposed he did. The Prisoner considered that
he was above others in understanding, Witness thought Prisoner in liquor
and not crazy, Prisoner was sometime friendly with witness and sometimes

not, he and the prisoner had been at sometimes before the kill-

ing but at the time and for a period before had been quite friendly.

12th JOSHUA GUEST, also witness for the State swore that he was a jailor
for Maury County, that BENNETT was first committed to jail on Sunday
evening after the death of CALLAHAN an the next morning the Prisoner
talked and looked strange and wild, he the prisoner amongst other things
said he thought he had killed the old but he found he was

mistaken, he aimed to shoot him through the heart but must shot him to
» for he was frequently going around the jail all night

flashing pistols at him.

Also said there was a gang of counterfeiterin the hills, that he the
Prisoner was sworn to tie and to commit to jail the first of the counterfeit-
ers he should come across and the old fellow was one of them, he ordered one
of his family to tie him, he refused to be tied, drew a stick and he, the
Prisoner shot him, he went on foolishly 4 or 5 days after he was put in jail,
he could come to no conclusion whether his mind was deranged or he only
pretended so Witness said after the Prisoner got over his drunken spell he

appeared to be in his right mind.

13th LYMON D. BREWSTER, a Witness for the Defendant swore that he for several
years had been well acquainted with the Prisoner, that he did not think him

a man of very sound mind, that since the Prisoner for making a

counterfeit note, and the subsuquent sale of his property. Witness thinks
his mind was more disordered and he the Witness would not call him of sound
mind, yet he could trade shrewdly, and he does believe a jury of his neigh-
bors would have pronounced him sane, he did not notice him for several months
before this transaction. His conversation was unsteady. The Witness has
observed some insane men on some occasions act rationally. BENNETT was some-
times fluent and sometimes irregular he had not as much understanding as

ordinary men in matters of trade and business he would act

his mind acted irregularly in matters with which he was not well acquainted

his mind was inferior.

14th JOSIAH GORDON, for Defendant deposed that he had seen the Prisoner last
fall, and again the tenth day of January 1826, he rode with the Witness about

-~16-

~— oye ee ° A EEE Cy BAS dee eh RO STEIN, "Hea RP

he thought he was master of his own house, he aimed to shoot him threw the

heart, and he did not think he had made a bad aim. Prisoner also said, the
old man had told him, he inhabited a camp near the Prisoner's house, and the
Prisoner thought that he made too free in his house, and also said that the

deceased was a pilfering old villian and that it was right to kill such. The

deceased told Witness that he had been in the artillary 21 years, and that
he was on his way to meet his son, (there is no record in N.C. or Tenn. of
his serving in war) the compiler on crossed Examination Witness said that
ever since a certain public Sale of Prisoner's property he (Prisoner) had
laid himself open and liable to do many things which he had not been in the
habit of doing. Since that time Prisoner drank more than before. Witness

had often seen him drinking or groggy, or what might be term drunk rarely

saw him stagger, when sober he kept good accounts and traded well. Of

morning he seemed as usual, but after drinking he seemed embarrassed in
his mind, saw him sober several times since the sale of his property, but

does not recollect to have seen him so for several weeks before killing.

PAGE 15

Witness thought he could distinquish between a Drunk man and a Deranged man,
did not think he looked like he was deranged, but thought he had been drink-
ing, that he had lived near him, and had seen him drunk and sober. Prisoner
said that the old man told Prisoner that he could not be killed with a bullet,
but he had done it. Witness further states that at the time of the murder
then was a good deal of talk in the neighborhood about a certain camp, said
to have been found in the hills near BENNETT'S---a few days before when it
was supposed some people preyed and stole from the neighbors. Here council
for the Defendant asked Witness if he had ever seen the Camp himself, and

he answering that he had not, they objected to his saying any more about it
and no more was said. Witness said the deceased of the night of the Murder,
and after he was mortally wounded told him his name was THOMAS CALLAHAN and
that deceased was shot on the 17th of February last in Maury County, and

died on next day in the same County. ‘

3rd JEREMIAH TOMLINSON a Witness for the State swore that he saw the deceased
and thinks he must have been 60 or 70 years of age, a man of ordinary size.
4th MOSES SPRINKLES also Witness for the State went to the house of the
Prisoner on Friday evening after dark. He met this Prisoner out-side of his

door, who told the Witness, that he the prisoner had shot a man. Witness

said to the Prisoner, surely you did not intend to hurt him. You must have

shot him with powder, with a wad only; to which the Prisoner replied, No,
I shot him with a bullet and tried to shoot him through the heart. The de-
ceased said BENNETT you are a murderer, you killed me for nothing. Witness
never saw the Prisoner stagger when drunk, and when sober he was as smart

as common men, and traded well when he was drunk. He also states that the

Prisoner drank steadely also, that he had a still-house. Witness thought
deceased said his name was Calahan or CALAHAM. He further swore that he

had known the Prisoner for 7 years, he: had drunk hard.

PAGE 16

For 12 months or two years, was like other drunk men when Drunk. He is
sometimes out of his reason by drinking. He seemed to have been intoxicated
at the time of the above conversation. He was that night as at other times
when drunk. Witness says that what is above is all that he recollecte to
have heard, although much more might have passed.

He is entirely deaf in one ear an hard of hearing of the other.

5th THOMAS SPRINKLES, another Witness for the State deposity that he went to
the house of the Prisoner on the evening of the same Friday on which the de-
ceased was shot, the Prisoner said to the Witness, I have shot a man. the
deceased said BENNETT you are a murderer, you have murdered me. I am a dead
man (a lot talk coming from dead man, compiler). The Witness further stated
that the Prisoner appeared proud of what he had done, and did not seem to
think he had done anything wrong. He saw nothing in the Prisoner from other
times when Drunk. The Prisoner said he aimed to shoot the deceased through
the heart. The Prisoner was taken into Custody about midnight. He did not
attempt to escape. Witness had seen BENNETT more drunk after and he behaved
as he did then. He seemed like a Drunk man.

6th JOHN SPRINKLES, another Witness on behalf of the State swore, that on
the evening the deceased was shot, he was at the Prisoner's house and heard
McCONNELL ask what was the matter? (alot of visiters for a singular person
as before stated, compiler) The Deceased said the rascal has murdered me;
he shot me through and through, the Prisoner said yes I did, Witness said

Oh no! Prisoner said yes I did.

7th MEREDITH LINDSEY was at the house of BENNETT the morning after the deceased
was shot, and knows nothing else.

8th THOMAS HAMILTON, also for the State susposed that about the 17th day of
February 1926 he was sent for to attend a man who was said to have been wound-

ed at the housé of JAMES R. BENNETT. The Witness found the deceased

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"Cool*and collected, John Bailey and George Shelton, the mrderers of Ben Pettigrew, a |
colored farmer of Decatur County, and his two children were hanged at the state peniten~
tiary Friday morning at sunrise, The trap was sprung at,5:06 o'clock and in less than
15 minutes both men were dead. Bailey died in 9 minutes, while Shelton's heart beat for
1) minutes, All during the night the young men kept their nerve and talked freely with
their spiritual: advisers, When they walked out on the trap with a firm tread, they shook
hands with the small knot of guards, ministers and doctors, saying they were very glad to
have met them and without another word placed themselves in readiness for the rope.
~During the early part of the night the men ate a light supper and after a lengthy chat
with their spiritual advisers, Revs. B. G. Regen, Harry “Wise and A, Ross Pittman, they
~sang a few hymns and prayed. By 10 o'clock they were asleep. About 12:30 o clock
Bailey awoke with a start. He sat up in bed and ate some fruit which had beén procured
by Rev. Regen. Outside the death house, four guards, armed with Winchester rifles, kept
watch, while inside were two others who had left their guns on the outside for fear in a
moment of desperation, the prisoners might grab one and cheat the law of its fightful
toll, About 1:30 o clock Shelton awakened, Rev, Regen went into the runway in front of
the cell and had a Long comwersation with him, It was carried on in an undertone, but
“the general trend could be easily read in the earnest pyes of the condemned youth.
Before the bars of the cell on the floor was spread a gray blanket which covered the
trap, while a piece of sheeting used as a .curtain separated the noosed ropes from the
prisoners! view. The ropes had been twisted up so the ends ould not show. About 3

BAILEY, John, and SHELTON, George, whites, hanged at Nashville, Tenn,, on July 26, 1912.

o'clock Shelton, who earlier inthe evening had shown signs of weakening and who had
caused much consternation among the officials for fear he would collapse at the last mo-
ment, called and attendant to the side of his cell and in a firm voice said: 'I know you
havecome out here for a story and you are going to get it. The papers have treated us
very nicely since we have been here and we thank them for it. When you go back to the
city 1 want you to tell the people how we died. Tell not only the people of Nashville
but the whole world that we died game,' At daylight Warden Rimmer and the guards detailed
for the execution arrived at the death ‘house, The black chothing furnished by the state
were carried into the cells. Shelton being the first to dress, While he was clothir
himself, assisted by a guard, Bailey sat clamly on the side of the bed staring out at the
small know of men gatliered in the chamber. Now and then he would flick a small speck

of dust or a thread from his trousers. He ‘could neither read nor write, so the Bible
that had been left in his cell by a minister remained untouched, As bailey dressed,
Shelton, after carefully pulling the size tags and price marks from his suit, picked up
his Bible and read, When they were ‘ready, a‘guard stripped the bkankets from the white
trap door and carefully laid the straps, used onthe hands and feet, in place ready for
the victims, while another unloosed the ropese The silence of the chamber was only bro-
ken by the dull thud as theKnots dropped on the steel door, Breakfast was handed in to
the men and standing by the bed‘6h which the trays had been placed, they ate their toast
and eggs with a relish, or as one guard remarked as he watched Bailey: 'He looks like he
is eating to go to work,' All was ready at 5 o'clock and the room was cleared af all
except the guards, docbors and spiritual advisers. In exactly six minutes, a dull crash
as the trap dropped, c§uld be heard outside the pbuilding, while inside 2 men had paid the
penalty of their crime, Drs. W. G. Black and W. K. Edwards pronoun ed the men dead, and
after an examination stated that their necks had been broken by the fall, “ham the doors
of the death house were again opened, the remains had been laid out.on a table. A

guard was placed over them, Later they were turned over to a friend who shipped them to
Pastor, Tenney the homes of the men, Duning thenight, wien they were told that a friend
of theirswas in town to see them, Sheltonssaid: 'You can t fool us, we know thet he is ke
here to carry our bodies back home,' Neither one of the boys tried to justify himself
in the crime that he had committed and neither expressed any regret at having todie,.
Shelton said that he wanted all young men to profit by his example and to live a better
life than he had," THMSSSEAN, Nashville, July 28, 1912 (9) Photo on this page together

"At daybreak this morning, George Shelton and John Bailey, convicted for the murder of Ben
Pettigrew, colored, and his two young children, will pay the penalty of their crime on

the scaffold at the state penitentigry. Both boys have shown nerve up to the last moment,
although at an early hour this morning Shelton weakened and his blanched face and trembling
limbs showed the tremendous strain under which he was laboring, Promptly at the break of

er To ee ee te ee eh eR eT TEM I LC TM eT Ie nee Tne 7 MERE Sa CRE) Oe a aa ST eee eee oon NEN ee ar Moe

day, the two boys will be clothed in the black suits that are furnished by the state and,
after a prayer, will be led forth to dies..( Concerning. drive from Davidson County Jail to
prison)During the ride out, neither of the men had mch to say. Bailey exclaimedas he
drove through the streets that: it felt so good to be out in the open air once more, Nei-
ther of them seemed to realize that they were to die in. a few hours, and watched with ine
terest the crowds on the street, As the automobile drove up to the door of the death
house, Bailey said, 'Well, I guess this is the end,' Two photographers were waiting and
Bailey and Shelton posed for their pictures in the door, after which they were taken up
to the death chamber and turned over to the care of the prison officials.
"As themen walked up the steps, they glanced up and saw the ropes on which they were to
die suspended from the ceiling, but even this did not make any impression on them, They
were placed in separate cells and given clean clothing, and it was the sight of thes pre-
parations for death that brought forth the first sign of fear, Shelton, as he began to
disrobe, went deathly pale and staggered against the bars of, the cell, but he quickly re-
covered and finished dresséng. A light supper was eaten by the two men,...Before going
to sleep Shelton requested one of the attending ministers to write a letter for him for
publication begging young men hot to live the life he Nadeeee

CRIME
“George Shelton and John Bailey were convicted of killing Ben Pettigrew, a negro, and
his two children, Fred and Pearl, at the foot of theBlue Ridge Hill in the Second Civil
District of Decatur County on Dec, 1, 1911. Ben Pettigrew was one of the county's pros-
perous negroes, am always had money, The two men had lived near thenegro and had picked
cotton for him up until the day he was killed, ‘when thenegro was returning home from work
with his children that night, riding in a wagon loaded with cotton, aeoLten and Bailey met
him and while thenegro was talking with Bailey, Shelton shot him, “helton then reloaded
“his gun and shot the boy, Fred, The girl ran, and Shelton shot her in the back. Bailey
shot but missed her, They reloaded, and the little girl kept running, Bailey then ran
after her and when shefell, held his gun close to her head and fired, blowing her brains
out. They got $2); from the negro man's pockets and setting fire to the wagon, left the
vicinity." TENNESSEAN, Nashville, July 26, 1912 (1-5. (

",eeln speaking of their cases, Shelton and Bailey, ‘who were condemned for the mrder of a
family of negroes, claim that they had been induced into the plot by 2 older men who had
held a grudge against the family, Shelton stated calmly that he had shot Ben Pettigrew,

the father, while the other two men in thecasekilled the 2 children, He said that althoggh
Bailey was in the plot, he did not fire a shot, Both of the boys are married and leave
young wives and children to mourn them, Shelton stated that he had been told by the older
men that it was not against the law to kill negroes, and that they wuld not get into any
trouble over the matter, After their arrest, he said, the two men came to his cell and
told him that if he told on them they would kill both him and Bailey, ‘With the thought
before them thatthey would not get into trouble for shooting a negro the boys kept their
mouths shut about the the other two men until it was too late, and they had réceived their
sentences to hang, and then no ‘one would listen to themeees" TENNESSEAN, Nashville, July
25, 1912 (4/3)

"According to the evidence of the case, the two men had been employed by the negro, Ben
Pettigrew, to pick cotton for him and they worked up to the day of the mrder, While the
negro, with his two children, were driving home with a wagon piled highwith cotton, they
were stopped on the road by Bailey. Shelton was hiding in the bushes, While Pettigrew
talked with Bailey, Shelton shot him dead, Fred, the young negro boy, was then killed,
and the other child, girl, tried to run to house about three-quarters of a mile from the
scene, She was purseed and killed, Bailey blowing her brains out after she had fallen under
a shot from Shelton, The cotton in the wagon was fired by a ‘flash of powder and 2 of the
bodies were hardly recognized when discovered the next morning," TENESSEAN, Nashville,
7=Lhy-1912 (12/3) )
"Nashville, TIN, 12-7-1911-A telephone message this morning from Decaturville, IN, says
that George Shelton and John Bailey, brothers-in-law, aged about 255 were arrested late
yesterday afternoon after leaving the.stand in,the coroner's inquiry into the murder
of Ben Petti grew, a well-to-do negro farmer, and his two children last’ Friday in De-=
catur County, The three were waylaid while on a wagon load of cotton going to market,
Warrante against the 2 men were sworn out by Pettigreu!s brother, Wash, The men are
in jail. Qeinquest has Ret been concluded, Bai ley and Shelton are said to have been
out with their guns at the time of the killing, They claim to have been looking for a
cow. It was this tragedy which gave rise to reports of a race outbreak near Clifton,

; The motive though was robbery, according to Decaturville aubhorities," JOURNAL Atlantg3, Goe
= ¥ Y § 7 pier PLL eee eon we |

» elece Tenn, (Sullivan) 8-l-1936.

Rick Patterson

Times-News

Kingsports Tn. 37662
July 17) 1974

Watt Espy>s Jr.
Headland; Ala. 36345

Dear Mr. Espys:
| , 3

i.
}

beter (4

Sorry for the delay in answering your letter. Mr. Ballard/’s

being black and the times being what they were in 1936 made the

research much more difficult.

OFT ENE AL AIRSET LS

Ballard: was executed:on Aug. 14¢)1996hat the ade ot 56 for

the axe slaying of Willie Green on April 3: 1936. Ballard was

convicted as an indigent defendant on May 23,5 1936. There were

no appeals filed. Fe Sart

@ He was accuded of killing green on an empty road three miles.»

from Bristol» Tenn. where Green lived. Green was an employe at Saas
Ballard/’s pool hall in Kingsport and had just prior to his death Pe cu

at age 20 taken out a life insurance policy ‘for $192 with Curley |
Ballard Cinitials C. H.» no other name known) as the benefact

Coverage of the trial was miniwscule,s citing only that
Rosa Ballard; his step-daughter-in-law was also arrested for
slaying. She and other family members» none identified» testi

for the state at the hearing. Rosa Ballet e was not prosecuted

the sa
fied i

Ballard was also described as a brick mason: he was an amputee

with one leg removed from the knee down. He went to the elect
chair denying his guilts his last words were /'They/ve let me

I guess it’s all rights’! then he helped suards strap him int

chair.

Ballard was the first of three MMM blacks executed within
146 minutes of each other on that day» starting at 5:23 a.m. “Second
was James Smith» 27») who along with another balck» was convicted of ,
murdering Hugh Matlock» 56 year old marble cutter from Fayetteville:

Tn. Matlock was killed in the previous year. jeg ane

James Clarks 23) of. Memphis: was last. He was convicted: of

fatally shooting Richard Sheehan» 27: a former Memphis “high school —
football! star» during a burglary of the Sheehan. home early in thee

morning of August 7s 1935. ear al rae

This last is from AP reports and is all I can provide concerning

git ai caer Hay Oe eee ie
68a abc GD a ei i es tec a

By the way» Green was also a black man. hy

) the other two men.
|
|

Re eg Concerning Burchfield» the man executed in 1925;,0ur accounts |
do not carry any age or mueumggpbmm occupation. I have not yet had eae
a chance to review the transcripts of these gp trials. Once I
do I hope Burchfield’s will turn up an age or occupation.

we do not have a picture of Burchfield» however we do have
a picture of Ballards but only on microfilm. I have made a
print-of— front page including the pictures but since the film
is positives the print is negative and has to be re-shot on
another camera.-

ti : This will be done once I have finished a story and we are
ready to run its probably within the next two months. We have a
smal! Staff here, and as usual I am behind with a lot of other Aa
work/ : | Oe,

a : > 4 4 4 ay
BEERS 43

I/tl be keeping in touch as I learn more. If you run across. ~~
ha any other executions» please let.me know. cee

Respectfully»

Times-News Staff Writer _

Big

;

G > t- a Aer tteonseee . -
Sit tug . ee 2 fee, FOU fee ahs ¥ 3 on ot *

; * ; ‘ te Sie wa : ¥ : Nesey * Fy hah AAP I tien PRY SY NM oe AU Pees TD 8e eee eae OU BR
we : " ‘ et eae SAEED LEI BOM 1 3 TE LAE POT Te eS BSS BE nah ORS eller a! SAR A IRE

heard the report of a gun, and when the wagon got opposite to the Prison
ers's house, the prisoner came out to the road, with blook on his hands,

and invited a Mr. Smith who was with the wagons a little before the Witness
to go into the house saying he had caught the Villian at last, Witness went
in with the prisoner, and saw a man lying on the floor bleeding. Prisoner
said he had shot him, and told Witness to ask his (Prisoner) wife at another
time said he had thrown a cord to his (Prisoner) son. The old fellow refused

to be tied and he (Prisoner) shot him. On cross Examination Witness stated 4
old fellow drew cudgal (compiler note CUDGEL means a short, thick of wood,

such as may be used as a weapon--WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY) on him and refused to

be tied, and he shot him down. Witness saw deceased, who was an infirm old

man, lying grooning, and heard him ask that a Doctor might be sent for. Whilst

Witness stayed the prisoner walked out a few minutes and returned. Witness

went about 4 of a mile down the road and then encampted. He met SAMUEL Mc

CONNELL to whom he related the occurrence after night. Witness returned to

the house of the Prisoner. The Prisoner seemed to be in something of a rage

looked strange, but was not drunk. Upon cross Examination; Witness said he

thought the Prisoner was not Drunk, because he walked and moved about without

staggaring. Witness said the road was about 15 yards from Prisoner's house,

that he never had seen Prisoner before, when Witness away he left the Prisoner
alone with his family.

Page 14

Samuel McConnell also a Witness for the State swore, that on Thursday evening
before CALLAHAN was shot, Witness saw him pass the house of the Witness,

going towards the house of the Prisoner. He CALLAHAN was an old and infirm

man from appearance and badly dressed. On the next morning being Friday,

Witness went early to Prisoners to borrow an Augar, (AUGER, a tool for boring

holes in wood or other substances--WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY) when he arrived at
Prisoner's still house, he saw the Prisoner and deceased sitting together

drinking to , and repeating versus. They appeared to be friend-

ly, to each other, when Witness applied for the Augers they all went up to
the Prisoner's house together. On the Seventeenth day of February 1826 when
the Witness arrived at Prisoner's house between sunset and dark, the deceased
was lying down groaning and bleeding. The Prisoner told the Witness that he
(Prisoner) had shot the old Gentleman, and the Prisoner took down his gun and
placed himself near where he had stood, when the deceased was shot and held
the gun in his hands in the same manner. The deceased said BENNETT was a

murderer and had murdered him without just cause, or reason, Prisoner said

The Defendant makes oath that SAMUEL FIELDER is material witness for
him in the trial of this cause, he resides in Lawrence County, and it has
been entiresly out of applicants power to have him Subpoena or otherwise
to procure his attendance. He gave Subpeana to Council two days since,
but is informed by him, that no opportunity has yet offered of sending

said subpoena. Applicant believes he can have said witness, and be other-

wise ready for trial on Monday next, and not earlier. He asks this delay

only for the purpose of a fair trial.

JAMES R. BENNETT
Sworn to in open Court
June 22nd 1826
GEORGE M. MARTIN CLERK

Page 10

Thursday June 22nd 1826

State Plaintiff

vs Indictment for murder
JAMES R. BENNETT Defendant

This day comes as well THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD, the attorney General who
prosecutes for the State, on the part of the State, as the Defendant JAMES
R. BENNETT in proper person, who is placed at the bar in Custody of the
Sheriff, and being arraigned on in Indictment, Pleads there to that he is
not GUILTY, in manner and form as therein is charged against him, and for
his trial puts himself upon the County and the Attorney General on the part
of the State likewise. And on affidavid of Defendant, the trial of this

cause adjourned over until Monday next.

Tuesday June 27th 1826

STATE PLANTIFF
vs INDICTMENT FOR MURDER
JAMES R. BENNETT

This day comes as well THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD the attorney General who
prosecutes for the State, on the part of the State, as the Defendant JAMES
R. BENNETT in person, who is placed at the Bar in custody of the Sheriff,
who here tofore was arraigned on the Indictment. and pleads thereto that he
was not Guilty in manner and form as therein is charged against him, and for

his trial puts himself upon the County and the Attorney General on the part

~9-

of the State likewise.

Whereupon came a Jury of good and lawful men (towit) SAMUEL C.
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM ALLEN, JOHN 0. DAVIDSON, JOHN FARNEY, EPHRIAN E. DAVIDSON
WILLIAM KERR, WILLIAM PILLOW, ANTHONY M. COPELAND, WILLIAM VOORHIES, THOMAS
GILL, FRANKLIN R. HOUSTON AND WILLIAM JENNINGS, who being elected tried and
sworn well and truly to try the issue of tra_ joined a true verdict rend-
er according to evidence between the State Plaintiff, and JAMES R. BENNETT
the prisoner at the Bar Defendant, and after having the evidence on both
sides, under the charge of the Court, and in the care of an officer sworn
to keep them together separated from all other persons and from conversing
with any other person without leave of the Court, were permitted by the
Court to retire to some convenient place, until tomorrow morning seven o'

clock, and the further trial of this Cause is adjourned over until that

time.

Wednesday June 28th 1826

STATE PLAINTIFF

Vs INDICTMENT FOR MURDER
JAMES R. BENNETT DEFENDANT

This day comes as well THOMAS B. CRAIGHEAD the attorney General who
prosecutes for the State on the part of the State, as the Defendant JAMES
R. BENNETT in person, who is placed at the Bar in custody of the Sheriff,
where upon comes the Jury of good and lawful men (towit) SAMUEL C. WILLIAMS,
WILLIAM ALLEN, JOHN 0. DAVIDSON, JOHN FARNEY, EPHRAIN DAVIDSON, WILLIAM
KERR, WILLIAM PILLOW, ANTHONY M. COPELAND, WILLIAM VOOHRTES, THOMAS GILL,
FRANKLIN R. HOUSTON, AND WILLIAM JENNINGS who on yesterday were sworn in
this cause, and after hearing the evidence on both sides, under the charge
of the Court, and in care of an officer sworn to keep them together, and
separate all other persons, and from conversing with any other persons or
any other persons with them, were permitted by Court to retire untill this
day, at seven o'clock, again return into Court under the care of said
officer, and having heard the whole of this arguement of Council on both
sides, on their oath do say "We do find the Defendant Guilty in manner and

form as charged in the Indictment".
Saturday July lst 1826

STATE PLAINTIFF

-10

VS INDICTMENT FOR MURDER
JAMES R. BENNETT

This day comes the Attorney General who prosecutes for the State in.
behalf of the State, as well as the Defendant in proper person who is placed
at the Bar of the Court by the Sheriff and it is demanded of him by the
Court whether he show any cause, why the Court shall not pronounce Judge-
ment against him. Whereupon the Defendant moves the Court to grant him a

New Trial. And the argument of Council being had thereon as well in behaft

of the State, as of the Defendant, and the argument of Council being so
heard and reason alledged being maturely considered.
It is considered by the Court, that the Defendant said motion for

a New trial be rendered and that he shall not have a new trial. And the

Defendant alledging no further cause, why Judgement should not be pronoun-
ced against him.

It is considered by the Court that the Defendant JAMES R. BENNETT
be remanded to the Common Jail of Maury Co., wnere he shall b kept safely,
until the 3rd Thursday in September next, on which day, he shall be conveyed
by the Sheriff of Maury Co., to a Gallows erected upon the Commons of Town
of Columbia, and between the hours of twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and
four o'clock in the afternoon, the said Sheriff shall cause the said JAMES
R. BENNETT to be hung up, upon said Gallows by the Neck untill he is DEAD.

And it if further considered by the Court that the Defendant paid the Cost
of this prosecution. To which Judgement of the Court of the Defendant
Excepts, and prays that an appeal in the nature of a writ of Error be
granted to him, to the Supreme Court of Errors and appeals to be holden in
town of Nashville Davidson County, State of Tennessee on the first Monday
in January next and his Bill of Exceptions being Tendered, it is signed and
sealed by the Court and ordered to made a part of the record of this Cause.

And his appeal is granted.

BILL OF EXCEPTION

STATE
JAMES R. BENNETT

On this trial of this cause ARCHIBALD JAMES a witness on behalf of the
State Sworn that in the month of February 1826 awhile before sundown as he
the Witness was traveling a road which passes the house of the prisoner,

about a quarter of a mile before he got opposite to the prisoners house he

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Metadata

Containers:: Box 36 (2-Documentation of Executions), Folder 6
Resource Type:: Document
Description:: J. D. Williams executed on 1918-07-08 in Tennessee (TN) Eddie Aisup executed on 1919-07-08 in Tennessee (TN)
Rights:: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Date Uploaded:: June 26, 2019

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