Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-05-18
A STRANGE CASE.
Discovery of New Proof Tending to
show the Innocence OF Three Men
Doomed to Death on Circum-
stantial Evidence.
New York Herald special

New York Herald specIal.l
ATLANTA, GA, May 12-Some months
ago the Herald contained remarkable story
of the conviction of two men for murder upon
circumstantial evidence and the subsequent
discovery of new evidence that stayed the
execution of the first conviction. An impor-
tant discovery Just made revives this story
and shows how unreliable the strongest Cir
cumstantial evidence may be. About one
year ago Mr.. Rozier, a well-to-do merchant
of Sparta, Georgia, was murdered while
walking from his store to his house. His
body was discovered by the town marshal,
Griggs, and two men named Lovett and
Barnes, who reported it to the family of the
deceased The murdered man had been
struck with some heavy blunt instrument
that forced his skull in without breaking
it. Suspicion fell upon the marshal and his
colleagues, and a detective was sent for to
work the case up. The circumstantial evil
dence against them was very strong. Their
stories did not fit each other, and were proved
by the facts to have been false in some par
ticulars. For instance, they claimed that
they were in a saloon when the door was
pushed open and Mr.. Rozler bleeding and
staggering, showed himself and said that he
had been murdered; that he then staggered
back to the place where he was first attacked
and there died. The detective then showed
that it would have been impossible for the
wounded man to have walked this distance
without staining the ground and the door
with the blood which was then pouring from
him. The friends of the accused then showed
two spots on the edge of the saloon, but the
detective proved that they were left by ne
gro boy who had cut his foot with a piece OF
glass. In recounting the articles found in
Mr.. Rozier's pockets his son was interrupted
ty Griggs, who said, ''He also had some to-
bacco there" The boy denied that his father
carried tobacco. Griggs, who had not seen
the pockets emphed, Incautiously insisted
that he did have tobacco. And upon
investigation it was found that, con-
trary to usual custom, the deceased had
started home with a piece of tobacco IN his
pocket. The question then arose as to how
Griggs knew that Rozier had tobacco in his
pocket. With hundred such slight links
as this was the chain of circumstancial evil
dence forged, and the unfortunate men were
convicted and condemned. A witness was
also introduced that swore that he was sleep
ing in the house opposite which Rozier was
murdered; that he heard the scuffling, the
heavy blows and the fall of the body. He
then heard a sound as of dragging it away,
accompanied by groans, and was about to get
up and 60 out, when he plainly recognized
Griggs's voice, and knowing that he was the
marshal supposed he was simply dragging
went back to bed. He was subsequently
awakened by the return of the scufflers, the
repetition of groans and curses, and the gen.
eral alarm. He was an intelligent witness
and was certain that he had recognized
Griggs's voice. The case was very skIllfully
worked up by Mr.. Monaghan (detective) and
it seemed that there was no possible escape
for the doomed men. The case was carried to
the supreme court and judgment of the court
below was affirmed. Just here some start
ling developments were made. Detective
Murphy received a letter from the wife of
Griggs, the condemned man, who protested
in the most pitiable terms against the con-
viction of her husband, declaring that she
knew him to be innocent. Touched by her
letter Mr.. Murphy determined to look into
the case, and went down to Sparta for that
purpose. He was speedily satisfied that
good case had not been made out against
Griggs and his fellows, and he went to work
on another tack. He discovered that on the
day of the murder number of roughs, then
belonging to Howe's London circus, which
was then summering at Augusta, Georgia,
had been in Sparta and had disappeared dur
ing the night. He became satisfied from sew
eral small circumstances that these men were
connected In some way with Roziers MUIR
der. This supposition explained what had
hitherto been xplicable-namely, the nd
ture of the wound by which Rozier's head
broken. A sandbag used about circus tent
was about the only weapon that
would do such work as this,
and this ugly weapon is frequently used
by circus fakirs, whose object is usually to
simply stun a man, that they may rob him
and get away. A blow delivered too heavily
puld crush the skull in. Murphy at once
travelling through Canada. He soon made
out case against two employees of the circus,
through the story of tent-pitcher named
Enright. This man said that his two pals
had gone up the road on the day of the muir
der, and had returned the next day loaded
down with swag. They brought pistol and
watch, said Enright, which he described so
that they tailed exactly with the articles
taken from Rozier's body when he was killed.
AT Cleveland, Ohio, Murphy arrested Enright
and took him back to Georgia, where he
made his statement in a clear and convincing
manner. His evidence was not sufficient,
however, to clear the condemned men, al
though it effected stay in the proceed
ings. Through the publication of Enright's
confession the two circus men, then near
Washington, escaped arrest. The two de-
tectives, Monaghan and Murphy, have since
been engaged with the case, Monaghan in
sistipg that Griggs and his comrades were
the guilty men, and Murphy insisting that
the circus fakirs had done the bloody work.
The whole of Sparta is divided on the ques-
ton, and the problem was unsolved and APP
parently unsolvable, when suddenly new de-
yelopments were made. Neither detective
had been able to get sight of the pistol and
watch stolen from Mr.. Rozier's body after
the murder. Of course the discovery of other
Of these articles, if they could be traced back,
would settle the question of guilt. Conse-
luently descriptions of them have been fire.
1uently sent out and the most searching in
luiry made for them. At last the watch
turns up, and in way that certainly seems
to be settling" A negro named Alfred
Cook, living in Albany, Georgia, showed
watch to some one, who was astonished at
MS having such fine one. Upon investi-
cation it was proved that he had
bought the watch from a couple of
tramps who were going through the coun-
try toward Alabama. This purchase was
made few days after the date of the Rozier |
murder. 1t was sent to Sparta and identi-
lied as the watch that Rozier had worn at the |
time of his murder. The description of the |
tramps who sold Cook the watch tallies with |
the description of the two circus men who |
were accused Of the killing. Mr.. Murphy
also proved that the last heard of the circus |
men after they left Augusta on their trip |
after the murder was that they had turned |
up in Mobile. They would have had to pass
through Albany in making this trip. 1t is
impossible to say what the effect of this new
and unexpected testimony will be, as it has
not yet been generally made public. | send
It to you in advance of its public use, and
will advise you of its effect. A more re-
case than this has been, and prom
ses to be, never went to jury.