The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-28
PICKED UP ON sKIDAWAY.
David Allen Arrested for the Murder
Of George Smith.

charged him with the murder of George
Smith on the night Of July y, or the early
morning Of July - last, strenuously denies
any connection with the crime.
Justice M. F. Molina yesterday gave
| MORNING News reporter a detailed state
ment of the arrest and the causes which led
up to it. He disclaimed any feeling III the
matter further than conviction that Cas-
sidy is not guilty of Smiths murder, and
that he is anxious to apprehend the man
who is guilty. He doesn't think that the
| Cassidy jury acted otherwise than deliber-
ately and conscientiously in finding their
verdict, and he admits that the strong cir
cumstantial evidence which was accumu-
lated against Cassidy. is enough to warrant
the belief in the public mind that Cassidy
! is guilty.
Last Sunday Moses Kreeger was cunning
| on Skidaway Island, and he had the boy
| Owen Jones as guide to the hauntS of the
birds While on the DR.. Waring place the
| boy pointed out the cabin where Allen was
staying, but said he was afraid TO go over
there. He said Allen had been hiding there
since last July The people were afraid of
| him because he said that he had killed
white man on Tybee Island because the man
owed him for work and would not pay him.
Mr.. Kreeger intended to state these facts
| to Mr.. Richards, one of Cassidy's attorneys,
| but did not at the time. Mr.. Richards was
so much impressed with this new feature of
the case to which he had already devoted so
much time and thought, when he
| heard it, that he consulted few
friends and began an investigation.
| He called on Justice Molina and Aliens
| arrest was decided upon. Mr.. Kreeger
was called from the city, but on his return
with Justice Molina and Constable Wether
horn in the guise Of hunters he drove out
to Isle of Hope and crossed over to the
- I,Nxr odd
without enlightening him as to what he
wanted, started on the hunt. After awhile
the boy was again sounded and he repeated
| the rumOr about Allen, and said that the
! islanders would be glad if he was taken
away, that they were watching him so
that it would be impossible for him to
escape. The party then worked around
into the neighborhood where Allen
was staying. They found him without diff
ficulty. Justice Molina says he acted sus-
picOusly as the posse came up He was
| working with drawing knife. Constable
| WetherhOrn approached him, and as Kree-
ger and Molina covered him with their
fowling pieces, the officer slipped the hand
cuffs on his wrists. A little negro girl
wanted to call her "Auntie,n bvt Allen said
mo- Justice Molina asked Allen where
his room was, and he pointed it out,
| but search resulted in nothing,
except the discovery of a lot of womens
and children's clothing. John Mungen, an
island negro, came along about that time
and was asked if that was Aliens room.
Allen interrupted him and said YES, you
| know that's my room, Uncle john The
old negro replied that he wouldn't tell lie
for him, and directed the party to a tene-
| ment house near by. Constable Wether-
| horn made a search there and found a Smith
| & Wesson revolver and pair of brogans,
| which Justice Molina says have been meas
ured and they fit the footprints in the sand
near the scene of the struggle on Tybee
| beach. One shoe has patch corresponding
with such as must have made the much
disputed footprints.
The party's suspicious were deepened by
| the confused statements given by Allen as
to the time he had been on Skidaway
| Island, which he put at nine months, and
also the statement that he had never heard
| of man being killed on Tybee. He denied
from the first that he had anything to do
with the murder. He said he had never
worked on Tybee Island and had never
told any one on Skidaway Island or else
where that he had killed a
man. When the party had crossed
over to Isle of Hope and started for the
city, Allen admitted that he was at the
wharf when the Cambria landed on the
morning after the murder, and had seen
the officers arrest Barney Reyes and white
woman and white man. He admitted that
he had wife but he had not seen her since
he left Savannah. He said that he left the
city because in the lOngshoremen riot he
had been involved in a fight on the wharves
and had been told that a warrant was out
for him.
Allen was seen in Jail. He was suffering
! from palptation of the heart, and was evil
| IDENTIFY in great pain. He is a tall, dark
mulatto, with a very shaggy beard and
crop Of hair. He is ignorant, but IS not a
depraved looking negro. He is about 40
| years old, and was reared at Augusta, be-
ing slave of DR.. Milligan
When the war closed he came to Savannah
| On July 81 last, with the striking
negroes he was on the wharves as a mem
Der of the Union Labor Society. trying to
| prevent nOn-union men from taking the
place of the strikers, and he was one Of the
assailants of Sandy Morell.
Aliens story in brief is that he was at his
home, on East Broad and President streets,
on the afternoon and night of July II last,
and he says that ne went home to dinner
about 3 o'clock that afternoon, and did not
return to the Bay until the following morn
| ing. Dan Dukes driver for l.. Putzel, took
| supper at the same table with him, and he
met and spoke that evening TO his landlord,
| Mr.. Duggan, and his sister. He mentions
the names of several companions who were
with him that day, among them ST Plant,
| Barton Jones and Others whom he was with
on the wharf when Cassidy was arrested.
He admits taking part in the general fight
| which occurred on the wharVes between the
striking longshoremen and the non-union
men, and that he left the city, and has been
| a fisherman on Skidaway Island since that
| time hiding there to avoid arrest on the
warrant charging him with assault to muir
der When he was arrested he offered no
! resistance He thinks it was at least four
weeks after Smith was killed that he left
the city, but the warrant shows that he was
in the city on July 21 so that he is mistaken
about the time. Since he has been in Jail
| Allen has seen no one except his wife, who
called yesterday and she will endeavor to
! interest friends in his behalf
1t is due Allen to say that the Skidaway
Islanders deny that he ever told them he
had killed anyone, and the boy Owen
| Jones says he never hea' d him say so, but
from the general suspicion he swore out the
warrant for his arrest There does not APP
pear to be much in the charge as far as de
veloped The warrant of July II seems to
have been the motive Of Aliens fight, and
on this he will doubtless be held TO answer
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