The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-27
ACCIDENT OR MURDEEr:
THE SLAYER OF MARY ELLEN SEA-
GRAVES sURRENDERs.
He Says 1t Was an Accident and Tells
an Improbable story--The story De-
MED by Others Who Are Implicated
In the Affair.


MED by Others Who Are Implicated
In the Affair.
Nelson Gray, light mulatto who gives
his age as twenty-seven years, for whom
the police have been looking for two days,
gave himself up last night and admitted
that the bullet which killed little Mary
Ellen Seagraves ON Christmas eve, came
from Winchester rifle accidentally dis
charged in his hands. Gray is truck
man in the employment OF the Memphis
Compress Company, and works in tho
Charleston Railroad yards. on Adams
street. He lives on Vance street, opposite
the house occupied by the Seagrave fam
lily. lie is not married but boards with
his aunt, Bette Evans, who was the first
to inform the police that Gray was the
chief actor in the horrible tragedy
OF Monday night Gray's story is that he
went with his Winchester rifle TO the
house OF Aaron Nesbitt, which.adjoins tho
hut where the child was sleeping, and while
there in company with Nesbitt, fired four
or five times in the air, from the porch in
front OF the house. They then went inside,
and Nesbilt said he would like to shoot
some. Gray was in the act OF handing -
the gun, when
II WAS ACCIDENTALLY DISCHARGED,
and tore through the wall near the Sea-
grave house. Then Nesbitt's wife made
fuss about shots being fired inside her
house, and he left and went home with
! his gun, first fixing or FASTING piece of
paper in the wall where the bullet went
| through. He says he did not know until
some minutes aiterward that tho
! child had been shot, and got his
! Information from Nesbitt, who advised
/ him TO make himself scarce Nesbilt
/ aud Gray took a drink together immedi-
aicly afterward, some fifteen or twenty
minutes after the shooting, and Gray hung
around tile neigliborhood, which was in n
condition Of frantic excitement, until long
after Sergt. Koran had arrived on tho
scene and begun an investigation. On
Tuesday hc took his rifle down 10 Beale
street, and concealed il in the lodge room
OF the United Sons OF Zion. lie then
walked out into the country along tho
road, doubtless
WITH A VIEW TO MAKING MS ESCAPE,
but for some reason or other abandoned
that intention and returned TO the city
last night and surrendered 10 the police.
lie says he bought the rifle OF the noto-
rious 4. ID. Jackson, ex-policeman, on sat
urday, December 10, and paid
him $3.50 70. 1t. Gray's story,
il true, proves Aaron Nesbitt 10
be an unblnshing liar On Christmas
day am APPEAL reporter spent several
hours investigating the tragedy, and had
an interview with him in the presence OF
his wife. lie stoully denied any knowl-
edge OF the shooting and appealed
10 his wife and neighbors that
hc was not in the house when the shoot
ing occurred. Ills wife corrobom;ed him
but the ncghbors did not, and Nesbiit
followed the reporter about from orc VIZ
ness 10 another until a plain intimation
was given TO him that the reporter pre-
ierred 10 make his inquiries alone. Tho
evidence developed by the reporters in
quirics made il look very suspicious for
Ncsbitt aud left no room for doubt that
| the deadly missile came from Nesbiits
house.
An APPRAL reporter interviewed the
prisoner at the staiirn-housc and heard
his version Of the shooting Not satisfied
, with il lac determined 10 visit Ncsbitt's
house and examine the wall 10 see
~ TiiE NEGRO : STORY CONSISTED
! with the physical facts In the case. This
was deemed all the more advisable because
Of the following suspicious circumstances
When the reporter in Ncsbtts presence
asked the latter on Tuesday afternoon
from which direction came the fatal shot
which SHE claimed 10 have heard, Ncsbitt
interposed, and before she could reply lac
, said: "She says Il came from there
a ] l.. a. Nltst Iu.L
. behind the house. from which II could not
/ possibly have come. ms Is proven 10y the
1 course and range Of the ball.
/. Aaron Nesb.ti was seen after Gray had
made his statement. Without informing
him what the prisoner Ind said further
than that he had been implicated, Nesbiit
WIS asked 10 tell what he knew OF tho
shooting. He didn't know n blessed
\ thing: had not seen Gray that evening be-
fore the shot was fired, nor the rifle from
y which IL came since the evening Il was
I. brought home by the purchaser. lie dill
see Gray ut the door Of Sclgmvo's home
-, shortly after the shooting, but was not
= aware that he had done Il until the next
morning.
Mr.. Scagrayos was also seen, and mon-
: toned about the noises heard about his
; house Just prior TO the shooting lilo
! stated that lac heard talking IN l..-- --aI--
OF Ncsbitt, by persons he supposed TO 20
two girls aud man. The latter he heard
n called Nclsc.
!. The range taken by the bullet indicates
Il very clearly that II was fired from very
near the front end Of Nosbilfs house.
a There can be no mistake about this IL
4 must have been fired from his yard There
8 can be no mistake about this. Persons in
conversation were heard there by Sea-
4 graves. Nesbilt knew nothing about their
n presence, 30 he says, nor did his wife, who
o was Ia the house, aud not ten feet from
them.
, Tho child has been buried with tho
I, bullet still In her head. Some Of the
l. parties involved in fact, all OF them
I. have lied like thoroughbrcds, aud the
bullet might be a regular electric light
A. witness. That Is expert case. working ioI
n YOU.
y A Pustsnirr Robbed.
+ Correspondence oi The Appeal
BooSGuLLF, Miss, Dee. %. The pest
4 ! ofiro at This plnre was robbed SUNDAY