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| Governor Charles Henderson |
What follows are 100-year-old news excerpts from the March 19,
1919 edition of The Evergreen Courant newspaper in Conecuh County, Ala.
The Courant has a number of times adverted to the danger and
treachery of circumstantial evidence in the trial of persons charged with
crime. And the strongest case in point came to light last year in Blount
County, Ala.
A number of years ago up in the mountains of Blount, there
lived a family who did not get along well together, and it was said that the
man and wife frequently had disagreements and quarreled. On one occasion, the
man and his wife and small daughter were seen together in the mountains. The
wife and daughter were suddenly missing and were never again seen at their home
or in the mountain haunts, though the husband was as much at a loss to know
what became of them as his neighbors, yet he was looked up with some degree of
suspicion. Time passed and still the mystery of their disappearance was
unsolved. Finally after the lapse of many months, the bleached bones of an
adult and that of a child were found in a cave in the mountains. The mystery
was solved in the eyes of the populace, and William Wilson was taken in
custody, put on trial for murder, convicted by a jury of his peers and was
sentenced to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for the remainder of his
natural life for the alleged murder of his wife and daughter. He went to the
pen and there did penal servitude for more than three years, often being
whipped, when some time last year, the wife and daughter “showed up.” Those
whom he was convicted of murdering were yet alive. The facts were made known to Governor (Charles) Henderson and he
speedily gave William Wilson his liberty. And the Legislature during its January
session was asked to appropriate $3,500 to compensate Wilson for his term in
prison. When the vote was taken to pay this man the small sum asked there was
not a protest nor a dissenting vote. Wilson, broken in health, went to
Montgomery last week to claim the amount given him by lawmakers.
A feed house at Prof. Worley’s poultry yard on the school
grounds was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning. No other damage resulted.
Ralph McCreary reached home last week from France, where he
landed in October but too late to see active service at the front. He says the
Huns knew his outfit was about to get in the mixup and they were anxious for
the armistice before that happened. Ralph doffed the khaki quickly and is ready
for business. He goes to Arkansas in a few days to take up where he left off to
go to war.
Hon. E.C. Page reached home a few days ago from Detroit,
Mich., where he has been in the trial of a case for more than three months.
Bob Kendall is making an excellent record as sheriff. He has
been on the job so long that he does not seem like a new officer.
Veterans to Meet: A meeting of Camp Capt. Wm. Lee will be
held at the courthouse on April 1. A full attendance is desired as business of
importance will come up for consideration. – J.T. Fincher, Commander.
Pensacola, Fla., March 14 – Bud Johnson, a man who according
to police, confessed to an attack upon a well known white woman near Pace,
Fla., was taken from Sheriff Harvell near Castleberry, Ala. early today and
burned to death near the scene of his crime. Before disposing of (Johnson), the
mob, it was reported here, carried him before his alleged victim who asserted
positively that he was the guilty man.
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