The sun. (Fayetteville, N.C.) 1883-188?, 1885-03-25
An Interesting Trial for Murder-The
Old Man Manuel"

An Inferesting Trial for Murder-The
! Old Man Manuel"
In the Fall of 1868, a horrible
crime Twas committed in the county
of Cumberland, in this State. A
colore man by the name of Manor
had blen shot, and instantly killed,
IN his own house, at a dead hour Of
the might; suspicion fell upon a col
ored hlan by the name Of Jacob
Manuf and he was at once arrested
and imprisoned upon the charge Of
murdeF.-Jacob Manuel was an in
telligett man of about thirty-fve
years of age, and had, up to that
time, borne IA good character. 1t was
alleged. that. being moved by jeal-
ousy, be had gone to the cabin in
habiteA by Manor, had stealthily
crept up to the house, and thrusting
his gun through the cracks Of the
low hut, had put a heavy charge of
buek-shot through his victims head.
was at that time p~racticing law
in the town of Fayetteville, and was
applied to by the "old man Manuel"
Jacob. father, to undertake the de-
fence IF his son.
The old man, e have forgotten
his giv-n name), was about seventy
years Of age-very tall, straight and
~spare-,he was of a red copper color,
with tlhck, bushy, white hair-neat-
ly, but coarsely dressed, and had a
stern but rather sad expression Of
countepaoce; he was Of more than
sordina1 Intelligence, was quiet, lea-
sy and even dignifed in his man
ners, slow and deliberate in his
speech, and showed hat he had suf-
fered, and that he could "suffer and
be still" The old man told me the
story Of his life. how born to the
hard lot Of a "free negro" he had
struggled; how pinched by poverty
and without friends, he had tniled
and starved to provide even the bar
est necessaries of life for his family
! how his wife had died many years
ago. leaving him with six small
children-how he had ~striven to
raise them in credit-how some Of
, them had wandered from the right
road-how he had tried to bring
them hack to virtue, and how he had
failed All this he told in his art
: less, slow deliberate way. He then
added with some emphasis-"Jacob
has been a good boy, God knocs, and
I do not beliere him guilty Of this
crime
Through sympathy and pity for the
; old man, | undertook the defence Of
his son. Soon l became interested
/ in the case. and exerted myself to
. the uttermost. The trial came off,
the evidence, though mainly circum-
stantial. was terribly strong, and
> Jacob was convicted Of MURDER
about twelve o'clock at night the
: jury filed into the Court room, and
: by the dim light Of a few candles,
+ they solemnly delivered their verdict
/ of "guilty IN the manne and form
as charged in the bill Of indict-
= ment.'
The old>esan was standing by me
{ at tlN time: he showed no feeling
and made no sign. he merely whis-
lnebsqds6tHod AxTese-, "sn}u' 'H71o~ n
o is not guilty"
IF Jacob was sentenced to be hange'
AN appeal was taken to the Su
" preme Court, the judgment was at
hrmed-another sentences: the da.
10 for the execution was again set, an
% then. to save the mans life. Their
p remained only the hope of a pardo
!. or communication Of sentence.
IL Through the kindness of Sherl1
70 Hardie and others, who sympathlze
with the old man, petitions for pal
ID don were signed, and by the old ma
TO presented, in person, to Governo
Holden, who granted several re
prieves: but Governor Holden wen
i out of office and his successor, to-
no Caldwell. declined to further inte1
~ fere with the execution Of the ser
+ tence. The day for the executio
ID was rapidly approaching. lfelt the
~ and | feel now, that though the eli
- cumstances relied on for convictio,
ID were strong in themselves an
X strangely we'll connected, vet til
III man was not guilty-that he was
" be offered up as another victim upo
the altar Of circumstantial evldenc
10 But vet as the day drew near, as tt
preparations for his execution WEI
almost completed, | felt that a
., would soon be over with poor Jaco
nd Not so, however. with the "old ma
~. Manuel" he never doubted, h ne
a er abated n jot of heart or hop
NJ he kneu his boy was innocent an
he would not believe that his inn
,iv cence would not. providentlaliy,
made manifest. Old as he was. al
infrm as he was, he walked fro
Fayetteville to Raleigh, a distan'
of sixty miles. and then p%resentlr
another petition for his sons pa
lat don, he mutely awaited the Cove
a nor's action.
d. Just before the sun went dow
o1 on the day preceding that appoint,