The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-10
"SMITTY" CARRIED A KNIFE.
VIRGINIA WILLIAMS REASON FOR
sTABBTKG HER PARAMOUR.

The COrOner's Jury Charges Her
with Murder-The woman Tries
to ImpIfcntt John Chisholm in the
KiIIine-she said Chisholm Told
Her "Smftty" Lad Knife and
Gave Her His Knife TO Cut Him
with.
The coroner's jury brought in a YER
dict Of murder against Virginia Williams
for the killing Of James Henry Smith in
Yamacraw. an account Of which was
given in the Morning News yesterday.
The inquest was begun at $50 O'Clock
yesterday morning, and lasted until
o'clock The verdict was arrived at very
shortly after the conclusion Of the evil
dence The jury was composed Of three
white and three colored men.
The woman will be transferred to the
Jail this morning. She was put upon the
stand by the coroner and admitted the
killing, but claimed that Smith had struck
at her first with knife. She did not in
tend to kill him when she struck at him,
she said.
The woman is now trying to implicate
John Chisholm, the main witness against
hex. as an accessory to her crime. She
claims that it was Chisholms knife with
which she stabbed Smith, and that after
the stabbing she gave the knife back
10 Chisholm, who followed her when she
ran. and asked for the knife. The knife
could not be found anywhere by the po-
lice. She had been Chisnolm's mistress
she said, before she took up with Smith
She complained to Chisholm of Smiths
refusal to give her the pawn ticket for
her shoes which he had, and that he
had threatened her. Chisholm told her.
she said, that "Smitty'' had knife, and
lent her his knife.
Both the dead man and his mistress
were tough customers. "Smitty," as they
call him, was a gambler in Bull alley and
on the canal bank. The Williams woman
was a dancer in Bud Lawson's and Tom
Goldens places, and is said to have been
especially good on jigs. She is liable to
dance her next Jig at the end Of a rope.
The woman has several scars from knife
wounds about the head and arms. About
eighteen months ago she was badly cut
up by Laura Harris, another dance house
character, in one of the dives. The Har-
ris woman was convicted in the superior
court of assault and battery, and was
given a six months sentence on the gang
The several homicides which have oc-
CURED in Savannah recently have so ex-
cited the minds of the public on this line
that naturally rumors of killing in every
direction are easy to be heard Of. There
was a persistent rumoT in circulation all
of yesterday that an engineer had been
killed by a fireman on one of the river
boats.
A Morning News reporter first heard
It in the morning from a policeman who
had heard it from another policeman.
Every policeman who was met after that
had heard something about it. The re-
port reached the barracks and an inVes-
LEGATION was made with the result that
nothing of the kind could be discovered.
Nevertheless, the rumor continued in cir
cula tion, and by afternoon had reached
Tybee and the suburban resort.
1t was stated by some that the engineer
of the McCauley had been killed by the
fireman. Others had 1t that 1t was the
engineer of the Nigilant who had been
killed by fireman, and some even went
so far as to give particulars stating that
the crime had been committed with a
hammer. Chief McDermott said last
night that nothing of the kind had oc-
Cured The tug boat Forest City came
up the river in the afternoon. She left
the McCauley, which had taken the
schooner II. B. Kerhn to sea, at anchor in
the roads.
There was another rumor last night
that a negro man had cut his throat in
a gambling game across the river. Moth
Ing of the kind was reported TO the po-
har