The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1884-12-19

them who appeared to be in a great hGr-
~. He passed quite close to them and
they observed him closely, and discover
ed blood on his clothing. Another man
further mp the read wasifpassed by the
same person 4 short time after.
In the meantime the crime had been
discovered; the neighborhood was arcus-
| ed and searching for the criminal. Tele-
| grams were sent up and down the road
descriptive of the man who had been
seen by the party of railroad hands, and
every effort was made to capture him. \
| few days after the crime was committed.
and while the newspapers were full of
the details, a negro came to the house of
a citizen living near Shreveport and ask
ed for something to eat. Strange to say,
the owner of the place had just returned
| from work and was at the moment read
ing from one of the Shreveport papers,
the account of the crime and descrip-
ton of the perpetrator. On looking up
lie was surprised TO see standing before
him man that answered exactly the de-
scription in the paper before him. lie
allowed him TO come into the house and
effected his capture and turned him over
to the proper authorities in Shreveport.
The officers here was notified, and d'y
Sheriff, John A. Barlow, who was in
Shreveport at the time brought him here,
and he was placed i'm Jail to await his
trial. In the meantime Mrs. Mclaughlin
lowered between life and death. Her
skull had been fractured, from which. to-
getfrer with other injuries it was thought
she could not possibly recover. But no
such good fortune. as the death of the
only person that could fix the crime upon
him, was in store for Foster. After sew
cral months she had 50 far recovered as
purpose of identifying the prisoner. She
was taken to the Jail :, where eight or ten
negro prisoners. Foster among them.
were drawn up line. 1t was truly dra-
matte scene. An old. grey haired woman,
the victim of crime too horrible to
mention. brought face 10 face with the
perpetrator of that crime. Without the
slightest hesitaney, she walked to where
Foster stood, and said: '.7his is the man,
I'd knotc hia among a thousand" His
fate was sealed from that moment.
At the December term of our District
court last year, his case was called for
trial, but owing to the absence of witness
es was continued. AT the regular June
term Of court this year he was tried and
convicted Of the crime of rape, the jury
remaining out but a few moments, and
was sentenced to hang. His attorneys
took an appeal to the Supreme Court.
and this tribunal refused to disturb the
verdict of the jury.
TIE EXECUTION.
The accused has been attended for sew
eral weeks by the Rev. 4. II. Blount,
pastor of the colored Baptist church at
this place. He was man considerably
above the average negro i'm point of intel
ligence and education, and has through
out maintained his entire Innocence OF
the crime for which he was to die. On
Friday morning, shert time before his
execution, his pastor and several other
gentlemen, including the writer, visited
him in his cell. lie still solemaly and
steadfastly claimed that he was innocent.
He was urged to make confession and
reminded of the awful consequences of
dying with lie on his lips. His answer
was always the same, Il am innocent,
and cannot confess that am guilty.
The gallowswas the same as the one
upon which the murderer Josh Berryman
died few months ago. Sheriff Trichel,
determined to comply with the law re-
Gently enacted by the Legislature, which
provides for private executions, had built
around it wall of plank, that shut ont
from the sight of the morbidly curious
multitude, the awful drama that was to
be enacted. Only fourteen persons, in
cinding the physician, DIR. a. z. Breda.
were allowed to witness the execution.
- %As'uALti PstSt tNClsC " SIbchx
was led from his cell. dressed in neat
suit of black clothes which Sheriff Trich-
el had provided. At the foot of the seat
fold the death warrant was read to him.
and then Rev. Blonit read appropriate
selections from the Bible, also hymn.
and offered up a feeling prayer. Then
taking off his shoes and requesting that
they be given to Bob, the man who waits
on the prisoners, Foster assembled the
scaffold with an air of as much uncon-
Germ as if his mission were the most or
binary and trivial one. After his arms
were tied behind him. the sheriff asked
him if he had anything to say, to which
be replied in the negative. His pastor
asked, 'shave yon no confession to make?.-
lie answered after some hesitation that
he had not; but upon being asked If he
still maintained his innocence, he said.
s.Mell reckon might ~ well ro,fnss |