The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-08-27

f. w e nave Hdu ia etAiS
Immediate vicinity for the last ten weeks.
Corn crop seriously injured-tobacco one
third less than it would have been. No fall
lowing for wheat as yet. Health generally
good. Excuse length. DE-
Another Letter from Prince Edward
The HINES Murder Case.
Corrcspo pom ence o! the Richmond Dispatch
.. FARMvI1LE, VA, August 26, 1870.
The circuit court of this county has been
in session the whole OF this week (Judge
Asa D. Dickinson presldine), and though
few cases have gone before Jurles. quite q
large amount Of business has been disposed
of. The accumulation OF years has been
wiped from the docket, which will greatly
expedite the business Of the court IN fu-
ture. So,
The principal feature Of interest during
the week has been the trial Of Archer Hines
(colored) tor the murder Of Anderson
Fowlkes (colored) in the month of Novem.
Der, 1853. an account Of whose CONVICTION l
forwarded by telegraph on Wednesday night
last. The particulars Of the case, as cleaned
at the trial, were as follows:
For some time prior to the date OF tne
murder an improper intimacy had existed
between the prisoner and the vile Oh the
murdered man. -..-@
The facts coming to the knowledge of the
husband, he warned Hines never 70 come
about his house again, and sent hlm mes
sages to that effect. The reply of the prl-
soner was GOOD d-n him, he had better
mind he is not killed first. I mean to stop
him talking about me ii it is the last thing l
ever do" Several witnesses testified to his
having threatened to kill the deceased on
account of the same difficulty. The. evil
dence further proved that the day before the
murder the prisoner borrowed gun Tor
the alleged purpose of shooting some tur,
keys; that the gun was loaded with mixed
shot--s squirrel and bird shot''-that on
the day of the murder, which was commit
ted lust before daybreak, the gun was re-
turned. the prisoner saying it had never
been fred, and the same load was in as when
borrowed; that the suspicious OF the wit
ness were aroused, and at the coroners IN.
Quest the load was taken from the gun and
found to consist Of some pistol balls made
of pe,rter, and that these balls exactly cor
responded with five or six pistol balls given
by prisoner to the witness when he returned
the gun. ....
The medical testimony was to the effect
that deceased met his death through gum
shot wound In the breast, neck, and Shout
der, the shot covering q space OF SIX or
eight inches that upwards OF sixty shots
were taken from the body !. that they were
''mixed shot, Nos. and 6"; and that the
shot must have been fired from distance
by some other person than the deceased;
His own gun was found lying by his dead
body near his door, which fact would have
raised the hypothesis that ne. met his
death by his own hands but the theory
was dispelled by the testimony OF a
woman who slept in the same room
with the murdered man and his wife
on the night before the murder. She testi-
fed that Just before day in the morning
Anderson went out of doors TO get some
wood for the fire that while out there she
was startled at the report OF gun, followed
by Andersen eXclaiming Oh! Oh j.,
that after while she went to the door and
found the dead body lying there that she
told Lucy Ann, his wife, and that she (Lucy
Ann) took down her husbands gun from
over the door, and took it out and left it
there. This was about the amount Of tes-
timony elected on the first trial, in March
last, which resulted in hung jury.
at this court, however, testimony was
elected showing that after the news Of the
| murder reached the house where the prl-
soner lived the woman who kept the house
started to the scene of blood, and on her
way there she saw the tracks of the prisoner
going to and coming from the place. 1t had
| been raining, and no other tracks had
passed along the road. She also testified
that before the news of the murder arrived
| the prisoner eat his breakfast with the IA
mily, and that they all noticed and re-
marked that something was wrong with
Archer. He was pale and nervous, and his
hand trembled when he raised the cup to
| his lips. This was about the whole OF the
testimony for the Commonwealth, and no
! evidence was introduced by the defence.
The prisoner was in this, as in the former
! trial, ably defended by Colonel J. p. Fitz-
gerald, one Of the leading members Of the
| bar in the county, and he was assisted by
| Messrs. Motion and Bouldin. The services
| OF his counsel were entirely gratultous, the
prisoner being without money or friends.
Your correspondent had an interview
is confined in cell along with another pri-
soner awaiting trial, and was not in irons.
The cell has been recently fitted up by
lining the walls with railroad iron, SO that
escape is next to impossible. AS soon as
your correspondent entered the cell the pri-
soner burst into tears, but soon recovered
himself, and asked if there would probably
be any effort made in his behalf for EXecu-
tive interference. | remarked that his
| counsel would consider that matter, and do
| all he could. He then commenced to shed
| tears again, and said "Colonel Fitzgerald
has certainly worked hard for me, and all Of
his own goodness and charity, for he knows
I've got nothing, and couldn't even pay
him for what he has done if I was let out"
| asked him if he was surprised at the YER
dict after hearing the evidence? He re-
piled: "Weil, when the witnesses said
some things. thought it would go hard,
but a heap they said was not so. 1t all
| come about what they said about me and
! Anderson's wife, and they made it all up
| on that account. But when the jury came
into court and asked the judge about the
difference between murder in the first and
! second degree, and one Of them asked him
| about giV9ag me the benefit of any doubt,
| thought it was going to be hung jury
again, or anyhow they you'd only send me
to the penitentiary, for God knows Pm in
| nocent; fore God am. I had no more
| to do with killing Anderson than you did"
| asked him if he understood the nature Of
the verdict when the clerk read it, and he
| replied, tears again filling his eyes: g Yes,
| know'd it was the death penalty, but [
suffers unjustly, fore God / does" And
| in moment more he said, "What made
you ask me that!" told him that.1 was
sitting in the bar right In: front of him when
the jury came into court, and turned my
he did not understand 1t because it seemed
to make no impression on him. He replied:
:. W ell, j know'd what it was, butt didn't
feel any thing right then; has done since !;
but reckon III feel worse in the morning
when the Judge passes sentence" L then
left him, he requesting me to come and SEQ
him again, and saying nobody had been TO
visit him before, not even q preacher.
The prisoner is about twenty.Stx years OF