Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-08
TIE muRpER CASE.
Not GmIIty.
Bellamy Acquitted; the Jury Not
Even Retiring For Con
~vnararsmu

give a reliable account of the inn
portant case which has occupied
nearly the whole of this week and |
a portion of last in the county Grim /
inal Court. 1t would have best |
pleased if we had been able TO give |
in detail the evidence of every wit
ness separately, but a shorthand
reporter would have been essential
to this, and that is a luxury unat-
tainable in GAINESVILLE, so we have
eontented ourselves with taking
what notes were possible and giving
to the best of our judgment pro and
con the substantial features of the
evidence. Two obstacles, have, we
fear, rendered our statement inper-
feet even for this purpose. One was
our inability to comprehend the de-
tails of locality through the imper-
fections of the maps presented, of
which we got but an imperfect view;
the other was the extreme rapidity
with which questions were put,
especially in cross examination,
forcing us to lay down our pencil
and gaze in establishment on Judge
Lurton on one side and Mr.. Daniel
on the other while they poured in
question after question as if they
were rolling them off from Il phonO-
graph. One other plea i'll extenua-
ton: we have been seriously indis-
posed during the week, SO much so
that we had to become indebted to
our friend Mr.. J. J. West for part of
the testimony. We will add that
the notes taken by him are the
clearest and fullest of our collection.
James Brown and his wife, Ag-
mes Brown, lived at small village
entitled Poplar Springs Furnace. 1t
received this name from a furnace
which was worked there before the
war, but has been disused for about
twenty years. One of the houses,
apparently the largest in the village,
is known as the old clearinghouse.
The negro couple above named lived
in a small cabin attached to this
house and used the dining room of
the house itself as a kitchen in
which the woman cooked for a
party of boarders. among whom was
Mr.. Thomas Keats, who lived close
! by in what has been known as the
office of the furnace. A few hun
dred yards further, up hill, lived
DIR. P. F. BeIlamy, the defendant
/ in this case. Mr.. Keats, though
not named in the indictment as the
prosecutor in this case, has been the
active promoter of the prosecution,
| having engaged counsel at his own
| expense and spent several days in
GAINESVILLE early last spring work
ing up the case for investigation
before the Grand Jury. The build
ing we have styled the boarding
house was the property of Mr.. Keats,
and the deceased and his wife were
his servants engaged by the year.
We will now state the events OIL
Nov. Z, 1877 (Which was the day OF
the murder) 50 far as they are un.
disputed. On that day Mr.. Keat,
despatched JAS. Brown to a certain
l I,l - ,,,b;nb l,ol Nf,O,, A o,,ol;,,c n
to cut wood. 1t does not seem t,
be argeed for what purpOe this
wood was to be cut. One theory
was that he intended to reopen ;
road that used to run up the cOaling
to place called the Diggins house
it was otherwise stated that it wa:
only for firewOod.
Early in the morning Brown
started for the house of DIR. Bethany
to pay back some meal that he haC
borrowed of him had bag of mea
on his shoulder. He soon returned
got his axe and went down into the
hollow, soon after which Agne
Brown (whose testimony we have
mainly been following so far saw
DIR. Bellamy and his wife start OF
from their house riding Bellam!
was ON a mule. About or firing
was heard in the hollow, and sOor
after the woman put on dinner
When it was ready she rang the bel
for her husband, but he did not re
spond as usual nor come home
After waiting awhile she rang again
with the same result, and Sc on after
wards (being now alarmed) went t.
search for him. She left the hous,
twice calling for him, but was afraiC
to go far, as the house was no
locked. Soon after this her step
daughter, Minerva Ogburn, came il
and the two went together. Coins
further into the hollow this time
they found Brown dead with five O
six bullet wounds on the left side o
his face and some sticks of Woo
burning (but nearly burnt OUT clos
beside him. His body was eXtens
lively burned on the same side as tn
balls had hit him.
The evidence to connect Dr. Bel
lamy with the crime all centres il
the testimony Of boy named Oil
yer Ogburn, son of Harrison 0gburn
who is II brother of Agnes Brown
above mentioned. All the evidence
therefore against Bellamy falls
that of the boy Olive falls, all tn
rest having been merely cOrroborat
, i've of his. This boy had been men
toned by his aunt Agnes as havin;
, come to her house on the mOrnin;
of the murder; she says he cam
soon after the shooting had beer
heard by her. He came, she said
: for some shirts he had at her house
, which she gave him, and soon afte
i he left. She thought the boy NIGH
be zen years old.
Olive Ogburn on being placed o.
the stand pOntradicted both theS