Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-17
WALLACE NOT TO HANG.
FOUND GUILTY OF VOLUNTARY
MANsLAUGHTER.

/ The Murderer Of Allen Bryant to be
! Sentenced in the Superior Court this
! Morning-The Crime of which He was
| ConvIcted-The Prisoners statement
The Judges Charge TO the Jury-The
Verdict.
Moses Wallace, the negro who on the
night Of Sept. IA, killed Allen Bryant, was
placed on trial in the Superior Court yes
terday morning for murder. Fewer spec
tators were present than on the morning
before, and the interest manifested was
decidedly less than was taken in the
Walsh case.
All the parties in the Wallace.Bryant
tragedy were colored. Wallace is a mar
ried man, but at the time he killed Bry-
ant he was not living with his wife, Tena
Wallace. Several weeks before, when
living on William street, he made his
wife leave his house. She moved to
room on York street lane, near Whitaker
street. From the testimony brought out
yesterday it appeared that about IL O'clook
Monday night, Sept. IA, Wallace went to
his wite's room and found Bryant there
under suspicious circumstances.
Policeman Clayton testified thatin few
minutes he heard loud cries of murder
coming from the direction of yard in the
rear of Gen. George p. Harrison's resi-
dence. The officer ran to the gate open
ing on the lane, and caught Wallace with
large knife in his hand. Lying on the
ground few feet inside the gate, Bryant
was moaning and dying. He was stabbed
IN the breast and abdomen, and on the
face and one arm.
ACKNOWLEDGED THE CRIME.
Bryant lived only few minutes. Wal
lace acknowledged the crime, and also
admitted cutting his wife Tena. This
woman was the only witness of what
TRANSFERRED, and as she was debarred from
testifying against her husband, there was
no sworn evidence about the actual cir
cumstances of the killing.
Wallace, the accused, went on the
stand and made long, rambling state
ment full OF repetition. He told Of do
nestle troubles, the blame for which he
laid chiefly upon his wife. He declared
that she preferred false charge against
him, and had him sent to the chain-gang
for wife beating.
The day before the killing he said that
he visited his wife, and they concluded to
live together again. When he went to his
wife's room on Monday night, the man he
found there jumped up from the bed and
attacked him (Wallace) with a knife.
Tena Wallace, he said, also attacked him
with stick and beat him over the head.
Taken by surprise, the husband drew a
knife used in cutting open cotton bales
tor sampllng, and, In self-defense, cut
Bryant and his own wife.
THE PLEA OF sELF-DEFENsE.
Wallace put coat in evidence, which
he said he wore on the night of the kill
ing. The coat was slit in two or three
places, and the defen dant declared that
the cuts we're made by Bryant in the
room.
Wallace was represented by P. j.
OCOnnOr, Esq, and II. e. Wilson,
Esq. Both counsel addressed the jury,
and argued that Wallace did the killing
in selt-deiense and In defense of his wife's
honor.
Solicitor General du Bignon maintained
that the jury had right to infer from the
evidence that Wallace's act was premedi-
tated. The State declared that the coat
bore evidence of having been cut when
not on any one's back. 1t was shown
that Wallace had the coat with him in his
cell during his confinement. The cuts
looked very much as if they had been
made from the inside Of the coat.
VERDICT OF MANsLAUGHTER.
Judge Adams charged the jury that if
they thought Wallace killed Bryant in
self-defense they should acquit him. If
the act was not in self-defense the crime
was either voluntary manslaughter or
murder. The distinction between these
two oifenses was defined, and the case
was given to the jury at 6:40 p. IN.
Those on the panel were: Thomas r.
Johnson, Patrick Kavauaugh, James
DOOlan, John j. Morrissey, John j. Back
ley, John Murray, Edward Roe, Robert
CronK, Ernest Thompson, Michael Copps,
Thomas McQuade, John Connolly.
In less than ten minutes the jury an
nounced that a verdict had been reached
| and the verdict proved to be voluntary
manslaughter. The penalty is imprison-
ment in the penitentiary for not less than
one year nor more than twenty years.
Wallace will probably be sentenced this
morning, at which time it is expected
that Walsh will also be sentenced.