The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-10-29
THE BARNARD BOYS.
FIVE MEN SENTENCED TO BE
EXECUTED
In Hancock County, Tennessee,
December 23rd-Sentence of the
Court Read by Judge Caldwell
Judge TurMey Dissents.


Knoxville Journal of the 27th
The supreme court decided the Bar
nard case yesterday morning.
The opinion, an elaborately writer
one, was delivered by Judge Caldwell
Judge Turney dissented.
The opinion as delivered affirms the
decision of the lower court, and on Mon
day, December the 23d, the five Barnard
boys, unless executive Clemency inter.
teres, will pay the death penalty for the
murder of Henly Sutton. The killing
occurred in Hancock county last Ian
uary.
The prisoners, big John" Barnard
sr., Anderson and Elisha and cousins
John Barnard and Clint Barnard, were
present in the'court room when the YER
dict was rendered.
AS Judge Caldwell sealed their fate,
not muscle of their bodies moved. Nct
even change of countenance was per
ceptible in the five men. They took the
affair in the same light as they did the
shooting, in cold blood, of Henly SUIT
| ton.
After the opinion was Delivered the
prisoners were marched back to the iaiI
and locked up to await transportation
to the scene of their crime in Hancock
county.
The case has attracted widespread at
tention, due, perhaps, from the fact that
never i'll the history of America, with
the exception of the anarchists execu-
| ton, have five men been condemned to
death for the same crime
| For weeks past, it mas been expected
that an opinion in the case would be de-
IIvered by the supreme court every dav
The high tribunal did not act, however,
until every fact was fully determined.
Relatives of the RarnardS have been in
Knoxville for weeks past, awaiting the
outcome. The aged father of Big John
and the other boys has been almost a
constant attendant at court. The result
will probably kill him.
The fact that led up to the murder, for
which the hve men are to die, was a
teud, of long standing between Sutton
and Big John, which grew out of a law
suit between the two, over a piece of
land.
Sutton was wcll-to-do farmer, but a
notorious and desperate man as well.
One afternoon in January last Sutton
left Sneedvile, in Hancock county, for his
home some twelve miles north of that
place. He was riding horseback and
was alone. Just before he reached his
home he was shot and killed. John Bar
nard, sr., who is known as Big Tohn,"
was supposed to have committed the
murder and was arrested on the charge.
Then followed the arrest of his two
brothers, Anderson and Elisha, and
cousins, John Barnard, jr., and Clint
Barnard.
The case came up for hearing at the
May term of court and attracted wide
spread attention. Judge Brown pre-
sided and both the prosecution and de-
tense were represented by able counsel.
1t was charged that the RarnardS were
lying in wait for Sutton, and that Big
John" fired the fatal shot from ambush.
The defense claimed, however, that SUIT
ton and Barnard met at a place in the
public road where it would have been
impossible for the Barnards to have Sc
Creted themselves, and that no such ac-
ton on their part was ever considered.
Sutton was carrying a Winchester rife
and so was big John" Both raised
their guns about the same time, but
Barnard was little the quicker OF the
two and he shot Sutton through the
heart, the ball passing entirely through
his body. Sutton's rifle was found to
have been cooked.
1t was also claimed that Sutton had
threatened Big Johns" life and in
tended killing him on sight, and, OF
course, Big John" prepared himself
Both men had been armed for several
days before the fatal moment, each with
a finger on the trigger ready for any
emergency. 1t was further claimed that
the four other Barnards had nothing to
do with the killing and were not in
company with Big John" for any such
purpose.
The opinion Of the supreme court
however, which has gone over the case
carefully, does not sustain the latter
claim.
Sutton, whom the Barnards killed, had
a reputation of his own. He killed his
father several years before his own death
1t is also said that he attempted to muir
der his brother.
The Barnards have been confined in
the Knox county Jail ever since the con-
vening OF the supreme court. Their at
torneys, Messrs. Gillenwaters and
Shields, did not leave stone unturned
for the Communication of the sentences,
without avail, however.
Strenuous efforts will now be made to
have the sentence commuted through
Governor Taylor, and the friends of the
condemned will labor to this end unceas-
ingly. 1t is thought, by those who are
in any position to state, that Governor
Taylor will refuse to interfere, and will
permit the law to take it's course.