Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-05-21
NASHVILLE.
Final Passage of the State Eept
Bill
of W. w. Rea, at fuiasAi'
4 Bungling Job Made Of it.
Sketch of the Crime which led to
his Execution.
Special Dispatch to the Chronicle.

Special Dispatch to the Chronicle.
NASHVILLE, Tenn, May 10.
The house passed senate bill to settle the
State debt at 60-3, 4, 5 and by vote of
AZ to 80.
W. W. Rea was hung at Pulaski to-day, |
after two unsuccessfulg sttosts 5the rop6 |
slipping off the first times and tearing the I
skin from his face as he dropped to the |
ground. He is said to nave given some
sort of Masonic cry for help, but ii was not +
understood by those who witnessed his exc
cution.
Rea was rather good looking man, Just |
thirty-one years of age, ard leaves young |
family, one of them being babe just three |
months old. These circumstances created |
degree of sympathy for him and made |
many sign the petition which was circulat- |
ed some time ago for his pardon, and which |
led the Governor to respite his sentence one |
month. The testimony against him was cir |
cumstantial, but strong and convincing. |
The victim of the murder was q young man |
clerkng in the store of j. K. Trigg, named |
Il. d.
had had difficulty some months previous to
hekilling The murder was committed under
cover of darkness, ON the 23d of July last,
happening at about 8 O'clock in the even
ing. At that time Goodrum was in the
store which was also LIS sleeping room,
engaged in the study of Latin, under the
direction of theschoolmastern named Dwyer
Trigg, the owner Of the btore, lived some
thirty yards away, apd,ealIed 10 Goodrum
to know what a certain word meant Good
rum went to the door, that lie might more
easily answer, and gave the desired dehni-
ton. Just then the shot was fired, enter
ing the open window and wounding Good
rum fatally. lie fell to the floor, aud
Dwyer Immediately rau TO his assistance III
which he was quickly joined by lrig8. |
They saw that something terrible had
happened, but SO sudden was it
that for time they supposed
that Goodrum had shot himself. Irigg sent
q message to his brothers house, only one
hundred yards distant, for him to go for a
doctor. The brother Ii. ". Irigg, by name,
was seated on his own front porch, smoking
and hearing the gun fire and his brothers
message, went immediately TO his stable,
got out horse and had him re4dy to start
on the errand by the time the messenger
reached him Trigg then called a coIored
man and putting HIM ON the horse ordered
him to ride raplaly for doctor, but befoIe
he had delivered the oraer, the other IrIgg
called that Goodrunl was dead and consta-
BILE must be brought In little while the
wbo country around was aware of the
tr gedy and persons focked to the scene,
Coming from remote distances. Rea, who
lived only two hundred yards away, in
quired what was going on, but did
not appear upon the scene The next morn-
in the constable began to look around him
for some clue TO the murder. No one had
been allowed TO 20 to the rear of the store
all night, and that place when examined
revealed the exact spot whore the assassin
had stood The nights darkness had hid
den his form, but when daylight arrived the
bruised weeds and trampied grass revealed
the secret. From this spot could be dis
tinctly traced the footsteps, both going and
coming. These steps lei across the road on
which the store tronted, into an opposite
corn-field, through potato pat h aud di
rectly towards kea's house. Forty yards
from the house the footsteps We're lost, but
the constable went on to question tire man,
and asked him if any one had passed
in the night. Rea said no." but afterward
said his wife had heard the dogs bark at
that hour As Rea's foot fitted the tracks
he was taken III custody and other evidence
sought for. 1t ascertalned that LEA
had borrowed gun On the morning before
the murder, which was loaded at the time
with squirrel shot. Rea had mentioned
when he borrowed the gun that lie wanted
it to kill squirrel f0r hs wife, who was
sick. That evening he fired out the squir-
rel-shot at a beech tree which tree was
peppered with the recent shot, and reloaded
the piece with buck-shOt. The two shots
were heard and remarked when Rel fred
them Under the beech tree was found a
bullet and fragments of paper wadding
which had been used in the gun. The gun
itself was obtained and load withdrawn. The
load was found to be buck-shot the size
being exactly the same as those taken
from Goodrums body. The paper wadding
found III the gun were parts of the same
newspaper found under the beech tree, and
similar pieces were found under the open
window through which Goodium was shot
These pieces OF newspaper were torn from
copies of the Nashville Weekly Banner,
dated March Gath, 1881, and the Pulaski
Citizen, dated June 9TH, 1879. The Banner
of that date had been given 10y Dwyer,
who had some sample copies for dlstrluu-
ton, to Rea, and the Citizsn had been used
by the owner of the gun, who had never
had copy of the Banner in his house. The
shot-pouch also had pieces of the same
papers in it, all the pieces matching togeth-
er as one whole, and forming a strong and
conclusive link in the chain Of evidence.
Rea seemed astonished and dumbfounded
by his conviction, and exclaimed, after he
had left the court room: My God!
I don't understand IL" lie tried
to break away from his gulrd, and made
another attempt to escaE while on his way
to jail.
The only evidence of any weight offered
in the defense was the testimony of his
brother and mothsr-in law, who said they
examined the pouch before sending it to
the constable. aud it WAS empty. little
boy carried it to the constable, who exam
ined it in the presence of a number OF Wit
nesses, and found the paper as testified
Rea insisted that he could explain about tht
paper, but somehow never succeeded IL
anything beyond the assertion.
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.
CINCINNATI, May IA Times-Star spe
cial from Pulaski, Tenn. says W. w. kea
who was to hang today, swallowed Il tea
spoonful of morphine early this morning
He was partly relieved of it, and it was sup
posed that he would live to hang later in the
day.