Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-09-10

l was with Stevens the coroner when he held
all inquest over a body i'll Neuse river, a mile and
a half from Klnston, and half mile below the
bridge. There body. | do not know
whether 1t WAS Il white man or coOred 1 was
not on the jury OF inquest. 1t was the body
either of Il brown mulattO or u white man. have
no doubt 1t Was the corpse of Il maa. 1t WAS con-
siCiorably decOmDOsed and hal offensive SMELL
and when pulled ont of the river the flesh tore
from the body. 1t WAS at night; bright
dark night. The coroner had a lantern. | went
within Il foot and II half of tho bOdT / did not
examine the body. and did not s9e whether there
We're any wounds OF bruises on it. To tho best of
my knowledge ami belief the hands OF the cIrpse
We're tied. thIak 1t Vas tonnt last bpring.
saw another body at my bench. My beach ia five
mics below kinstun, ABOUT two miles I'LL half
below the bridge i'll direct llhe. This body was
that OF a colOred man. He waa commonly cloth
ed II laboring mau 1 suppose from hts posi-
tion that his hands were tied over his he al /
do not know hat dIspUsltion WAS made OF the
body. 1T was III tie water about fifty yards from
Mo. The body WAS not brought to land t. my
knowledge, but was allowed to float down tn g
RIVER. SAW one other body. 1t Was half \ mile
below the beach. THIS holy III the water.
got within thirty yar,ta ct it. | atood on the
bank ana looked at it. This was after was hal
ted on the Court House square. l cannot tell
whether this body was that OF Il white or colored
man. did not observe whether the hands of the
body We're tied have no doubt it vas a human
being do not kno" whether it Was the corpse
OF a man or woman. | do not know that it is a
usnal thing III Lenolr county to suffer bodies to
float down the river without bringing then, to
and l notified VIM. LOftin, the coroner elect,
of the fact OF seeing body. do not know
whether any prisoners were in the Jail, in Janua-
~ last. It was about days at or saw tho
first body that saw tbs second body. The body
over which the inquest vas held Was the last
saw. This was about two Weeks after | saw the
first body floating in the river.
Ct. w. Tillou, a witness for the State,
was next examined. He deposed
resided near Neuse river bridge. near Kline
N 4 laaf aft at Nv fx,
all IN that month. L saw and conversel with
persons lodged III Lenoir county jail in that
month. Kater Grady, Daniel Smith or Grady Il
know him by both names) Robert Grady John
Miller and Richard Mobiles we're there that |
knew. delivered two OF them at the jail my
self. They were Eater Grady and Daniel Smith
or Grady. delivered them on Saturday morn
ing, in the month OF last January. kater Grady
had on a pair of brown or snuff coiored pants
and an Old dark. colored sack coat, and q white
shirt. lie was light complicated. bright mulat.
to. These prisoners were taken from Jail OF the
night of the day on which / delivered them. /
attended the coroneT's inquest afterwared on the
river bank, nearly opposite my house, three or
four hundred yards below the bridge on the Cd I.
posite side OF the river from where / live. This
was some time in the month OF last March /
was locker on and not Juror. I sent word TO
the coroner that there Was a body there. found
1t there 1t was not very much decomposed and
had on a shirt and pants but no shoes or coat
His hands were crossed and tied in front OF him.
and think he had buliet-hole in the head
There were marks of burnt powder near it, in
the back OF the head. This was the only bullet
hole that l saw. The pants were browa or snuff
colored and the shirt was white. The face was
almost white, and appeared as If the skin was
rubbed off in places. The hair was curley, and
was black mans hair-that is, it was kinky,
and was partly washed out. The body was that
of Kster Grady. could tell it by the general
contour of the features and the color of the
clothes Ii Was about five feet seven and half
inches in length. The body was buried near
where it was found. in dry goods box. about
four feet below the ground. saw it buried. It
was not very offensive. The coroner, myself
VIM. Hines, Jack Parker, 6and others), were
present. The body was buried about eleven
O'Clock at night. The inquest was held about
nine O'Clock. and the body vas found about FIVE
O'Clock in the afternoon.
This closed the evidence.
Judge Green, counsel for the prisoner,
arose and said that inasmuch az the pris-