Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-11-24

From StG6 Correspondent.
HNEsvILLE. LIBERTY COUNTY, November a.
Judges on the circuit believe in early rising,
and, as a consequence, the usual hour for con-
vening court is o'clock, and by this hour this
morning the grounds around the judicial tenn
pie were dotted with vehicles Of every descrip-
tion, many Of the occupants having come
distance of fifteen or twenty miles. The gath
ering was larger than even on the opening day,
many who had not been drawn as Jurors, sum-
moned as witnesses. or were concerned In It'll
CATION, being attracted by curiosity, as It was
known an important civil suit and very proba-
bly, the murder case, in which so much interest
was felt, would come up for trial Promptly
at the hour OF eight the court was declared
opened, and the counsel being ready on both
sides "a rather remarkable circumstance, the
most important ejectment suit that has ever
been tried in the court of this county was
Col. r. E Lester and A. p Adams, and the
plaintiff by Garrard & Meldrim and Farmer q
Shepard. We give briefly the main features OF
this
EJEcTlfENT SUIT,
which progressed until nearly 10 O'Clock, when,
after the testimony of the plaintiff was in,
motion to insult was made by the defense,
and, after lengthy argument, was granted oy
the court
The plaintiff as administrator upon the estate
of Allen r. Johnston brought suit for the re-
covery Of the land at JohnSton's station. ga
vannah, Florida and Western Railway. The
case differed from ordinary eIectmeng cases IN
that the titles for plaintiff had been destroyed
by 1.-The raid" while the records OF Mcintosh
county, in which the land was originally STU
ated, had been destroyed by fire. The case
turned upon the doctrine Of prior possession,
but it appearing that the defendant claimed
under the wife of A r. Johnston, the court
held that the plaintiff had not made out
case and a non suit was awarded.
The disposition of this case was followed by
a recess until two o'clock, at which hour the
murder case, of which have in previous let
ter briefly sketched. was announced to be re 'dy
for trial, and the empanneling OF jury was at
once commenced. While as usual IN cases OF
murder both State and defendant strike freely,
1 was particularly struck with the number who
went of for cause" being
OPPOSED TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
In a panel OF forty eight there were nine
who, to the regular question, Are you con-
scientiously opposed to capital punishment,
responded in the affirmative, and understand
that there is a strong sentiment in this county
in favor of making solitary Imprisonment for
life the penalty for murder. Subsequently, re-
ferring to this matter in conversation with
Judge Mershorn, he informed me that recently
in a murder case in Clinch county, of two
hundred and fifty men it was found
that there were 80 per cent. OF
1 not believe, however, that the sentiment
in favor of the abolition of capital punishment
is generally on the increase, in view or the TACT
that there is heard everywhere the opinion
expressed that the fullest penalty or the law
should be imposed wherever conviction for
such crimes, which are too frequent, is secured.
1t is intimated that many Of those who are re-
lieved from serving on jury on murder case
on their statement that they are opposed to
capital punishment are not really opposed to
hanging for murder, but desire to avoid the re-
sponsibility of serving on such jury, or are
opposed to the hanging of the party on trial.
Perhaps there are some who are like the citi-
zen of Echols county, who, when the question
was propounded him replied: We'll, don't
know; never seen any one hanged" have
wandered into this depression as showing the
difficulty Of obtaining good jury where case
of murder is to be tried However, In about
an hour, the reqaislte twelve men, good and
true, were obtained, and are as fol ows:
Arson H. Martin, Jno b. Mallard
Sam1 B. Girardeau, Chas G.. Johnson,
Frank w. Law, Lawrence w. Bradley,
Edward d. Thompson, Joseph l. Daniel.
WEAVING THE LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF EvI-
DENcK.
AS have stated, the serious charge against
Jasper VI. Price was based entirely upon cir
cumstantial evidence, there being no witness
of the horrible murder OF this aged man. The
difficult task OF weaving the links In the chain
of evidence sufficiently strong to be entitled to
the consideration of the intelligent jury was
very skillfully aud ably accomplished by the
state, Mr.. P. W. Meldrim conducting the ex-
animation OF witnesses and Colonel Lester for
the prisoner attending to the cross examina-
ton, which was very searching. The State In
troduced the following named witnesses: DR..
Alfred l. Hendley, Frank Edwards (colored),
Zachariah Hall, Henry Hall, ID. j. Harrington,
Miss Chelsea Moody, Mrs. Miles Moody, John
johnson, James MOODY, Sr., M Sullivan j.
Harrington and H. c. Parker. The direct and
crosse examination of these witnesses occupied
several hours. Reviewing the testimony ana
sitting out the important statements, we can
present the following as showing
TIE CIRCUMSTANCES POINTING TO PRICE AS THE
SLAYER
of the old man, who was his half uncle, and
who had reached the advanced age of 81. The
provOcation for the deed was presented by the
State through several witnesses 10 remarks
which Price had made on different occasions
previous to the murder, that my uncle Rich
mond Peacock has accused me OF stealing some
grapes from his yard, and the next time meet
the old man I'll tackle him about it, and il he
don't take it back I'll pat an end to him."
Similar threats were made to other witnesses,
but on crosS-examlnatl0n the witnesses stated
they attached no particular importance to
these threats and did not inform the deceased
of them This ill-feeling towards the deceased,
occasioned by the charge of theft against Price,
which occasiOned such threats, was the provo
cation. Now for the circumstances connecting
MIN with the crime On the morning of the
18th OF February last Richmond p. Peacock
left his home, about mile distant from James
Moody's house, where Jasper N. Price was
staying, and proceeded to rice mill some
miles distant. and on his way homeward
stopped at d. j. HarTington's, where the post
Office is located, and got his mail. This was
about two o'clock, and that was the last seen
of him alive. Later in the afternoon Miss
Chelsea Moody and her two little sisters,
nieces of the deceased, were returning
home from neighbours, and were Mortified
at discovering in the road, about half mile
from their home, the dead body Of their uncle
Richard They FASTENED home and told the
news to their mother. Jasper N. Price was in
the house at the time, who had returned about
an hour previous with his gun, having left In
the morning about eleven O'Clock las he stated,
to go on hunt He expressed no surprise at
the finding of the body, and expressed q doubt
jected to turns and might possibly have met
with an accident. Mrs. Moody and her children
at once started for the place where the body
was seen, Price following some time after
wards On an examination OF the body it was
diScovt red that he had been shot through the
right side and instantly killed From the
wound was picked some buck shot, and q
piece of a wad 1t was cloth and was washed out,
and was subsequently recognized as being a
part of the same material which composed
dress belonging to Miss Chelsea Moody. This
was produced IN court this afternoon, together
with another piece Of the same goods, which
is OF apeculiar pattern. Mr.. Harrington testified
that he had bought ten yards of the material
from g. Eckstein & Co., in Savannah. for Miss
Moody, who was employed at his house at the
time Miss Moody identified the wad as of the
same stuff as her dress, and stated that about
a week previous to the murder Price, who was
asked her for some cloth for wadding, and she
tore a frill off this dress, which she had not
worn in some time. Mr.. Peacock's horse and
buggy were found on the roadside, near where
Ii, lax lint tUha ha Cd