The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-09-19
Convicted OF Killing his Brother
in-Law, the Seducer Of his
Sister.

Sister.
The trial of Thomas l.. Shields for m
murder of Joseph q. Sitton on the 5tl
OF last j une began in Charlotte on The.
day, a Jury having been secured m
previous day after a careful sitting of tn,
two hundred names on the venire. tn,
prisoner Was pat on the stand in his oU,
defence, aud the following extracts from
his statement are interesting. as sbo win,
hls excuse for the killing:
by reason of what | knew and hea =,
went to see Mr. Sitton early in m,
morning OF the 5th of June to Undue,
him to marry my sister aud repair he,
wrong. | started over to see him. and
as my general habit, / took my gun
which Was loaded as usual. met him
sitting in a room down stairs. said I,
hlm: Joe, J want to see you a minute
privately and he laid, Let's 90 up stairs.
We went up, aud | set my gun down out
side of the door. | sat down on a cbair
leaning against the side of the door, and
Joe sat down on the bed. Joe said.
Here that book, haven't had much
time to do anything with it." Ii was
the book of my blacksmith, and | took
1t and stuck it In my pocket. | then
SAID II want to see you on more i'm.
portant business | have heard you are
going away and | want you to marry nv
sister before you go; you have seduced
her, and you must marry her, He said
he would die first. arose aud made a
move tor his pistol. AS he did so I
reached outside OF the door for my gun
and shot Immediately. | ven around TO
his hQQd nnh
and got my hand in blood. The account
6ook dropped out of my vest pocket, and
picked 1t up and placed it on the man
teiplece then went out and locked the
door. Went down, met my brother and
his wife aud told them what | had done
went down, called my father and Abner
Alexander, and told them what | had
done, and asked Abner ~ take me to
town. In the room my chair was nearly
half outside; [ could reach my gun. He
was sitting on the bed, five or Ak feet,
facing me. When he rose he sad in all
angry tone "1'll die first" knew he
habltually carried a pistol. | took no
alm. | did not see where Ihad shot
hum until saw him lying on the bed.
| hrst knew of anything wrone between
oitton and my sister on Wednesday be-
fore the homicide. had worked hard
that day. 1t was III o'cloc, at night
when the barking of dogs awose me, and
[ went down. In passing the window Of
my sister room | heard Smebody in
there ; was SO shocked | couldn't speak.
| sat down on the steps and he ard her
say, Joe. and that be oughn't to 20
away. L went upstairs andsat on my
bedside. Thought of going down and
having u row about it, bu concluded
that if my sister would throw herself
away she might go. | saw hun go out of
the window, then put Of tie yard; |
knew him very we'll. l saw him again
on Saturday night, but he lidn't come
inside the yard. Monday light | saw
him again, about Ii O'Clock, but he did
not come iu the house. Or Thursday,
the day after he had been tony house.
Sittou said to me: You hao better have
me to kill that id old og." l told
him | would not have thedg killed. On
vas nearly through eating men [ asked
her when SI.ton was going away. She
said To-day" When j he coming
back ?" asked, and she said she didn't
know, for he had told so many stories
about it. | told her l waste see him,
and she said she didn't care what I did
he married her she reckond she would
not be ruined. She sal, Sitton had
promised to marry her. NJ, sister was
or seventeen years o."
The girl. Mollie Shields orroborated
her btotkerss story.-taou4aD.A had de-
MED it directly after tB killing, and
the coroner's inqust. She now
swore that she was SO distracted be-
tween love, grief, and shane,--that she
was not responsible for hr utterances
at the inquest; and we pesume this is
truth. She now admitted that Joe Sit
had come to her roon window re-
.eatedly, at the signal of +, lamp, and
had finally coaxed her to,dmit hi,a to
her room, and had been detected by her
brother.
The trial was conclude on Friday
after lengthy speeds by strong
on both sides. The Journal
the immense crowd wre held solid
and silent hour after hour s Judge By
mum and Messrs. WilsonS Son spoke
in defence, and w. c. BENEFIT (of S. c.
|. Osborne, and Otkrs, in prose-
cution.
The jury retired, and t first ballot
were unanimous for conrtion. This
seems strange to US, or tn face of the
but We suppose ther are circum-
stances unknown to Us whh affect the
We have given spac to this trial
as a warning to young men nd womeH.
1t illustrates the value of a pod charac-
ter. If Tom Shields hadnot been a
wild, reckless, rakish chracter, he
would not only have escaed punish
.ent. but even been regared as the
avenge of his sister dishonor.
Instead of this, he had all t%h6nfiuences
of unpopularity against himfrom the
start. He had been a Revene officer,
was concerned in two seducOn cases,
(one in Union county n iiGaston),
and was even suspected of bar-burning.
the popular prejudices
were against him and his sorry seems
not to have received credit. And yet
HiuQ F ~ al
-. Tin Sittnn for debauching his sister,
why did he kill hin? They dc not APP
near to have been nemies, and were
connected by marrige, Sittm's sister
being the wife of Al. Shield. But it
is a lesson. Girls no mah signs to ,
men are sure to yid soone- or later.
Youths who have sen wild oats" are c
ed tho ,u of .ooLon;n- L