The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-01-22
The Testimony of Mrs. COrnelia
Parker, Widow Of the Dead
Man

The Testimony of Mrs. COrnelia |
Parker, Widow Of the Dead
The following is the testimony of Mrs. |
Cornelia Parker as given in evidence be-
fore Judge Boykin in the hearing OF the
case on the writ of hdbeas corpus at Dur
ham last Saturday. We copy from the
Durham Globe:
The testimony of Mrs. W. 7. Parker,
wife of the deceased white man, is as fol-
lows: NY name is Cornelia Parker, and
I was with him on Wednesday and Thurs
day before his death on Friday; we lived
in a house with two rooms on Mr.. {. M.
Rogers plantation, about twenty-five
miles from Oxford my husband was Mr..
Rogers foreman on the farm; Mr.. Rogers
came to our house the Sunday before Mr..
Parker's death on Friday and stayed in
one room of the house; on Wednesday
Mr.. Rogers sent my husband to Rochelrs
bar, about three miles away, to get
quart of brandy to make egg-nog: when
he came back he brought
QUART OF wHIsKEY,
and pint of brandy and said be could
not get more brandy because that was
the last drop in the barrel; he put it on
the bureau in Rogers room; he also
brought back $50 that he had collected
from Rochell, as rent for Mr.. Rogers; we
did not make the egg-nog on Wednesday
because the coroner had an inquest on
the plantation over colored man; Thurs
day afternoon my husband and MIR. Rog-
| ers had a settlement, and after it was
o1,o, INV b,,ch that wa all
take drink of the brandy; my husband
drank first and drank about three-fourths
of glass full: Mr.. Rogers drank about
q hall glass and | drank between g. tea
spoon and tablespoonful; l did notspit
out what l drank and did not see Mr..
Rogers spit out his. Mr.. Rogers then got
a little white ticker, out of his chest and
filled it with brandy and gave it to me-;
the bottle was easy to turn over and L
poured it into a br own ticker and locked
it up in the closet and put the key in my
pocket; when Mr.. Rogers went to put
stopper in bottle he noticed something
like roots in the bottom and said he
would never drink any more of it and |
said never would either; Mr.. Parker
said that it was nothing but fome dough
that Rochell had been putting in it to
make it go further; the roots were green
ish with white streaks in the middle; Mr.
Rogers poured the brandy. out in the cur
with pocket FtiHfas;e H MI. Keepers then lett
l thought he feared he would get sick
and wanted to be near DR.. Emmett; after.
ward Mr.. Parker drank some out of the
cup and threw the rest on the ground
and said it tasted bitter like quinine; We
went off to Mr.. Woods and returned
about ten minutes after O'Clock; he
went to Frank Ellyson's that night, but
did not stay long; the brandy did not
make Mr.. Parker SICK but it made me;
told Ellen banning, Frank Ellyson ano
Mrs, Horton about my sickness Thurs
day evening; my husband chided me FOL
telling it, saying that it would get al
over the neighborhood; Friday morning
my husband got up and made fire and
asked me il wanted drink. said yes
but | would not drink the brandy; can't
say suspected that
1T WAS POISONED,
but it lookedso filthy; my husband asked
me for the closet key and said he would
drink some, as he was not afraid; knew
he had enemies at Rochelle's-he and my
husband had a fuss Christmas eve night;
some one hadreported Rochell as ablock.
ader, and he said my husband did it; my
husband said he was not afraid; because
he got the brandy from Mrs. Rochelle ]
gave him the key to the closet, but
begged him not to drink it and SO
did my children; he said he was going
to give Brack Bailey, a colored man,
a drink also; insisted that he should
tell him what he had seen in the
brandy, and got up and went to the door
to see that he did it; he told him and
then he drank half of it and Brack drank
the other half; washed out the bottle
and laid it on the chimney; l broke the
small white bottle on the 9th of January
because feared the children might get
hold of it; after drinking on Friday morn
ing Mr.. Parker went out whistling, and
came back soon and asked me if the
brandy tasted bitter to me, and said it
was bitter as quinine to him, and said
he felt afraid; he went out again. and
soon ran back and kicked open the door,
and said the brandy was
GOING TO KILL HIM.
He asked for lard; l got it but was SO
nervous could not put it in his mouth;
some of the children tried to do SO; he
commenced gritting his teeth and had
commissions; ran to the door aud gave
the alarm; Ellen Downing, Mr.. Horton,
Mrs. Horton and Frank Ellyson came; he
called me to him and said good-bye-dar-
ling, l am going to die; have me buried
i'll the burying ground at my fathers old
| place; he lived about half an hour after
he drank the brandy; the colored man
died very shortly afterwards; Mr.. Rogers
said Friday that the brandy he drank
Thursday did not make him sick; my
husband was good, kind man; occa-
sionally he would drink too much; once
he slapped me when he was drinking. but
this was the only time he ever did so; Mr.
Rogers liked him and paid him SIS a
month more than he ever did any one
else; Mr.. Rogers came to the farm about
once a week and boarded with US while
there; last spring We had some strychnine
| in the house to kill crows and bad dogs,
| but it had all been given away or burned
| up; Mr.. Rogers came back Friday in re-
spouse to telegram.
DR.. ]. NJ. HAYS.
am practicing physician in Oxford
saw the bodies after death and found
| every symptom of poisoning; examined
some OF the contents of the stomach for
strychnine and found it; examined some
of the brandy in the bottle from which
Parker drank Friday morning and
FOUND sTRYCHNINE
Examined sediment in wine glass from
which all drank Thursday and found no
poison; if there had been strychnine in
the brandy from which all drank Thurs
day evening it would have caused great
sickness; heard Mrs. Parker say that
some one had killed her husband and she
Il, L. L