The daily gazette., 1878-05-21
KATE SOUTHERN,
The Story of Siss FOwler's
Death Told by 1.-THE Com
victd Woman.
A CRAZED wIFE's ACT.

uti oip 10 tphfiNtDafsth'toit vi tiiC titlStS Iltdl
led thereto, and of seeing how she stand.
the death sentence, your correspondent
set out three days ago for Jasper, he lit
tie mountain town, the county seat OF
Pickens. Riding to Marietta by rail,
then took buggy for Jasper, passing
en- route thereto through country ex-
ceedingly rich in minerals. saw one
house-a log hut-ornamented with a
fine marble chimney, the marble being
as glossy and perfect as the best that is
used in tombstones. 1t is native to Pick.
ems and lies in immense quarries.
KATE soUHERN's CELL.
The room is sixteen feet square, the
centre being occupied by a closely barred
iron cage about eight feet square, in
which the murderers are kept. Peering
through these bars as we entered the
room, wecould see the murderess crouch
ing on the bed, which rested on the
further ends of the cage.
THE CONDEMNED woMAN's STORY.
She told her story rapidly and intelli-
gently, being guided here and there by a
suggestion from her lawyer or II query
from your correspondent She had re all
the account of her crime, trial, &c, as
reported in the Herald, and said.-"You
make too much of me in there. 1 am
II plain country girl, without any educa-
tion, or anything worth writing about |
have worked steadily all my life, and ex-
pected to have to work all the rest of my
days, AS to the killing of Siss Fowler
! can tell You nothing of that, because |
know nothing; but / can tell you the
circumstances of my life and my come
ton with her. She was married some
time ago to Il man named Conort. After
she had lived with him u short time she
left him, and after that lived n wild aDd
reckless life. All sorts of bad stories
were running around the country about
her. 1t was said that she caused a man
giving his name) to leave his wife. AT
ter this transaction she fell in love with
"Bob" (Southern). This was before we
were married. Bob was a sort of care
less fellow and he lived with in secret
way for some time. l did not know this
then. When he courted me / told him
loved him and we were married. The
fourth night after we were married he
was out until about three o'clock in the
morning. L questioned him, of course,
rs to where he had been and he would
not tell me. 1t worried me a great deal
and l commenced trying to find out
found out from two girls that he was at
parry at Fowler's that night, and they
got him to drinking, that he and Siss
went off together and stayed out until
about two O'Clock. i went to him with
what | had heard, and he then told me
he would tell me the whole story. He
then told me that before he married me
he had been living with Sis Conort
but that he, of course, never intended to
lVTNr hnE I...af IL l...G..
were to be married she met him and
told him he coH1d not marry me, but
that he should marry her. He refused
to agree to this, and she then told him
that she was going to become mother,
and that if he didn't marry her she would
go into court and have him arrested for
bastardy. He was very much worried
by this, but quieted her somehow or
other and left her. He had no further
trouble with her until the fourth day
after we were married. She met him
that morning and told him he must come
to her house that night to a sort of party
they were going<to have. He said he
would not come, and she told him if he
didn't there would be the biggest expo
sure ever seen in the mountains and a
law suit to boot. He then became afraid
that she would do what she threatened
and agreed to come.
RECKLESS woMAN's wILEs.
When he reached the house that night
she took possession of him, and got him
to drinking. He got excited and halt
tight, and She then took him off to her
room, whore she kept him until two
O'Clock. He then come home to me. You
can imagine what my feelings were when
he told me this story, l then heard OF
various threats that she had made. She
said that if Bob Southern had married
me eve should never hive in peace to-
gether." She abused me all over the
country, and started a story ofmy having
been seen in "the big swamp" with a
man late in the day. This story was a lie
and was proved to be one. | finally be-
came afraid to live in the same neighbor-
hood with her. / was afraid she would
burn my house down or insult me at
church or in some other public place
and then ! was afraid of the influence
that she had over my husband. L knew
he was afraid of her, and that she had
taken him from me the first week of our
marrige she might do no again. There
were many terrible things / heard she
said of me, and my husband and myself
finally determined to move out of the
nsighborhood just to get rid of her des-
perate persecuti ons. We did SO, going
about fifteen miles. (This in the moun-
.AihOuN touhtiJJ d' gu a'tioSo oiC
distance) We lived there quietly and
happily together for some time. 1 at last
discovered that / was soon going to be-
come a mother. This fact made me very
nervous and exctable, and as l was threa-
tened with epilepsy, Bob advised me to
let him take me to my mothers, where /
could get her treatment and advice. 1
agreed, and we therefore returned into
the neighborhood in which Siss Fowler
lived. The first thing l heard when
reached home was that there was going
to be frolic at our house that night and
that Siss Fowler was going to be there.
This was, of course, very disquieting
news to me; it made me feel awful.
knew that she would use every means to
get her hands ON DO b again.
THE RIVALS AND THEIR FATAL MEETING.
When the folks had assembled we
found that they had brought fiddler
with them, and were going to dance
Father opposed this at tirst, but finally
consented / did not dance at all, or take
part in any of the games. l was sick and
tired, and would have gone to bed except
that the house was SO crowded and could
not do so. / was in no fix to sit up so
late. Siss Fowler was very defiant and
cross, and we had some words during the
evening. At very late hour l was sit
ting on the bed talking to my husband
Siss passed in front OF us several times,
and finally accused me of having tried to