Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-13

d y
hing as al hOndlum city ofhcial,
an9 gave khdn the extreme penalty OF
tue. Aw. MURPHY replied WITH chal-
len - anC47vten the Judge declined ms
oner OF battle posted him throughout the
cry As coward. a liar and thlel. he
asserted that he mad proof that Ford had
OeeIFdlsctF Htf by his employer When .
young na1 t4rsiichiug from the TIL, ana
ne prog afpff Ais 50 often ana so pup
licly IatAAs Judge finally had him ia
dicted for criminal libel. Up u the day
oil his death, Murphy claimed that be nad
ample evidence that would free MIN rom
this charge Bud prove Ford before the
world aAthiep FAD embeZzier. he never
offered that evidence, for tue very day be-
lore va trial q libel, when be eXpectSd
TO orifsse. his qfffnce out in justincation,
ne wak tnueAakbd by a party OF seyenSr
eight men.
The murder was the holdest and most
audacious eve }abmmitted here, done in
midday in the most pOpu'OUs portion OF
the city, with Two lines Of street cars near
by, 'Sq'u944f ia the presence OF a run
dred or more pffs0ns and YET the murder
ers walked of unarrested and without
anybody knowiuEvho they were.
49,. TIE KILLING. ~
There was 81 mdea perjury in the trial
OF the case that t1a jury found il no easy
matter tPpicS 4It Lle truth, but the L9ets
as near S could le got az are as follows:
Cap Murphy hctmDasied by twokeep-
ers OF the160rlShO1ke and party OflD or
90 men, was sup rlniend,ng the cleaping
ot the claiborne canal he was seated
on the dObIstetj &sV "a e corner Of CtAdebrne
and st. Am stFee -. when two men
stepped around toe corner and. without a
word. opened hre bn MIN, He ran into
the middleton u e,slreet, and, drawing his
revolver, FeturHei tne fire. As eeeh OF
his dssaiiants had more than one weapon,
ne was outraatched n shots, ara hnallv
turned ara tied L p vbe street ana around
the corner, pursued by the two murder
ers, who continued firing. At the corner
TWO otheF tssR wsEs stationed. 9sis9j0ined
the hrst party Otr MS assailsnts. and
also open4d IRE (pn him.1 lie fed
down Claiborne stFeets his pnFsEefs grow
Ing more numerous . ; ne ran, until. when
he nnally tuEped vlatQ humane street,
there were 'a-half a Gdz2n men0r more in
pursuit, all firing al kim, until the dis
charge Of firearms reminded People Of
battlefield. On Dumsine STREET one OF
their bullets finallY brought aim down,
when two Of the mardefers walked up to
his body, TUNED it over. and Sired bullet
alter bullet into 1t until life was extinct,
and the body Rsh0rrible sight, with its
dozen or so fatal wAnsds. A large crowd
had assembled by this time. bRt the party
OF murderers disappeared as suddenly
and mysteriously as hey had come.
The manner in which tue. crime had
been committed. the reekless.fusilade on
The street, in when an innocent locker
on was wounded-the evident nspiracy
Of band OF braves to commit murder
aroused the deepest popular excitement,
which was further iplegsiiied by the fact
that there seemed. atHrst. 20 be no trace
Whatever Of the i0uraerersi w hen, how
ever, Judge Ford. ais 9TObher. Pat Ford.
his cousin, Officer John Murphy, and
Officers Buckley, Cau.heid, Favetto and
Bader-in all fYe officers OF his court, all
OF them guardians OF the peace-were ar
rested as implicated in the crime, the
press and people were more than ever in
dignant aud excited.
Nevertheless il took all the influence Of
the press, all the strength Of sober public
opinion, 10 prevail against the prisoners,
even after they were arrested.
FIGHTING AFrER CONVICTION.
The Flrds diI not surrender their hopes
even on cUlvlodOn, and made desperate
efforts foI a pardon The force of public
opinion was too strong, and pardon was
refuseM. This was on Nov. O. 1888. The
hanging had b -ea fixed Tor Nov. 70. When
the news that the pa rdon bad been refused
fGached tn condemned men a wall of an
guish and frenzy went MP from them.
"For Gods sake. give me time to pray
Tor my sinstn Pat Ford screamed: and
his mental suffefing and agony was so in
tense and genuine tAat the Governor
granted a months Fespife.
Finding puzzle opinion still arrayed
against them and littlehOpe or prospect
OF pardon. the lords low made their last
desperate moYe., In the, the trial of the
case the evidente showed that Cap MUIR
ply had beet kilIed BY Pat Ford: indeed.
Pat took the stand himself as a witness aud
L,illngse This was the
reason why he was to6nd guilty, with
capital punisnmeurlniJ adge Ford, on the
other hand, established an alibi by unim-
peachabie witnesses, but, as it was
proven that hgorgaplzed4the conspiracy
against MArphy's Riifeszshe was found
guilty OF manslaugbter. What. then,
was the surprise. OF the public when the
Judge CAM forward a ksW days after the
respite WHh confession in which he
that ne was the murderer
Of Murphy, and that his brother, sent
anced 10 b banged for TIE crime, was
nnocent Of firing the fatal shots. 1t
seemed Impossible to believe this story
1t hrst'fTr q mn
II rIRNrY OF wRfSEssKs.
n QOLEu " lklttsbtb nag seen rat FOfQ
kill Murphy he had confessed it himself;
A dozen others had seen and talked with
the Judge att the engiusI house a halt
dozen squares away at the time of the
the truth ofthe last confess
sion was soon recOgnizeds aud acknowl-
edged by all and confirmed by new evil
ieRceg Itwas true thatJ adge Ford was
a quarter efasmile away When the firing
began. He ran TO the scene OF the tight,
aud came Suddenly face to face with MUIR
pig rs he MAS flying from his pursuers.
He 1t was that killed him on the
i'm prllse OF the m0meptI1a and walked
away amid the smokeoof the battle.
So quic KY was il all Iinne that when
tbs udged rejoined his rflaeuds they had
not, owing 20 the excitement, noticed his
absence. The two brothers were of nearly
tee same age and bore a Wonderful resem-
blance to each other and il was not
strRn "a that witnesses should have mis-
taken tle one for the othea, AS for PATS
eehfessi6n, it was piecebf brotherly de-
Yetion. and sacrifice. He, admired his
Younger brother so much5that, 10 protect
Iamg believing the popular feeling to be
directed mainly against Tom, he had
the crime himself and sought
10 save his brother.
While the Judges confession was ac-
leDted as true, IL did not produce the ef-
pcteX pected Of IL. In vain the friends
81 ghe condemned men pieRded that IL
n 0Wld be a judicial murder to hang the /
nan who had not committed the crime,
md allow the guilty one u escape. The /
a .ft.o.-.aI rar,f,s xga1 that Mo