The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-05-04

with 1t until the preliminary tria
on the next day. Soon after Rea
arrest, his wife stated to the office
that when she heard the gun fir
and the noise she called to her hus
band several times, and he not an
swering, she then called to her lit
tie nieces who were sleeping in the
same room, but could not awaken
them. Soon Rea came into the
room and she asked him what al
that noise meant at the store. He
said: II do not know, l will see.
He then went to the door and called
to w. H. Trigg, his nearest neigh
Dor, and asked. whats the mat
ter down there?" The proof is that
from the time the gun was fired un-
til Rea called to ". II. Trigg was,
at least five minutes. At the pre-
liminary trial, the gun was I'M
preached and the loads extracted,
kept separate, and the piece of pa
per and bullet picked up in Rea's
lot. The pieces picked up at the
window were produced and sworn
to; each parcel was placed i'll sepa-
rate wrappers, correctly marked and
left in the hands Of the court, and
the court deposited them in bank
for safe keeping. During the No
vember term Of the court previous
to the murder, Goodrum and three
Others discredited Rea's oath in
court. A short time after there
was a wedding at Rea's house, to
which he thought Goodrum had an
invitation. Several of those pres
ent at the wedding, some closely
connected with him by marriage,
heard him say, and so testified, that
If Goodrum came on his premises
he would kill him. And one lady
testified that she positively heard
him say that he intended to kill
Goodrum. Several others testified
that they heard him make threats
that showed his hostile feelings as
late as May previous to the murder.
The day after the preliminary
trial at which he was committed to
jail in Pulaski, the shot-pouch
was procured at Rea's house and
pieces of paper were found in it.
These were also saved and deposi-
ted in bank for safe keeping. Cir
cult court then being in session a
true bill was found; his case was
called and continued. He then APP
piled for bail. At the bail trial the
pieces ofpaper and ball picked up
in Rea's lot where he discharged
and reloaded his gun, the pieces
picked up at the window where the
gun was fired, the balls taken from
Goodrum's body, the paper and
balls taken from Reals gun at the
magistrates trial and the papers
found IN the pouch, these were care
fully examined and compared and
found to correspond. ALI this ia
ken in connection with the tracks
and threats was so convincing that
the court refused bail. At the last
December term of the circuit court
the case was again called, and the
same overwhelming array Of facts
were again adduced, and the court
unanimously found him guilty of
murder in the first degree, and he
was sentenced to be hung the 81
day Of February last. He then
took an appeal to the supreme
court, where he was recently tried
and found guilty Of murder in the
first degree, without mitigating cir
cumstances, the judgment Of the
lower court confirmed and sen
fenced to be hung the 2lst day Of
April, 1882; which sentence the
governor has respited until the
18th day of May next.
Now for the proof as to the pa
pers and balls, etc. To cap the
climax of all, the paper found in
the lot, the paper found at the win
dow where Goodrum was killed,
the paper taken from the gun and
shot-pouch, dove-tail and fit exact
Iy into each other; so that parts Of
letters and parts Of words and sen
fences that had been torn asunder
fit gcometrically and literally into
each other, the pieces from the win
dow, shot pouch, gun and lot uni
ting and making complete letters,
words and sentences. This Of it
self alone, or taken in connection
with everything else, is the hand
writing on the wall-the ''Mene
meme tekel upharsin"-the finger Of
God pointing out w. w. Rea as the
assassin as surely as the voice from
the clouds amid the lightning and
thunder proclaimed the great Am
to Moses on the mount. In the
Nashville Morning " orld of the Dist
inst, Rea is represented as calling
upon God to witness that he is in
nocent, and the reporter says: eff
it is as he says, it seems not i'm
probable that he is the victim of a
plot successfully laid and executed.
In this case fraud is not only i'm
probable, but impossible, as the
facts will show. No one knew or
could know the dates of those pa
pers, until they were fully compared
with the duplicate copies, which
was done at the bail trial. Now,
the whole question of a plot or
fraud turns on this point: Could
an unknown third party get the
Nashville Banner, of March 81,
1881, and the Pulaski CITIZEN of
June 5, 1879, load his gun with
them, and in so doing tear apart
certain letters, words and sentences,
the picture of a large tape-worm,
etc, and using the same sized balls,
kill GOodrum? Could w. w. Rea,
an innocent party, knowing nothing
of these circumstances, take his
gun, take duplicate copies of the
same date, the same sized balls,
tear these same papers so as to di-
vide the same letters, the same
words, the same sentences, the
same tape-worm, etc, exactly in
the same direction and in the same
place, so as to COMMERCIALLY and lit
orally dove-tail into each other, pa
per, letters, words and sentences:
He says he is innocent and that
some other party did the killing.
If he is innocent he has done exact
" what the unknown aud guilty
third Marty has done with the Ran