The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-09
LAURA eIBBON IS SET FREE.
THE JURY ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES
IL REACHING ITS DECISION.

CrueI-He Threatened TO Kill Her
the Night Previous.
a verdict Of mot guilty" was returned
: by the jury last night I'm the case Of Laura
I Glbbon. accused Of the murder Of her hus-
band. John Gibbon. a short distance out
Of the city. Saturday morning. June IL.
I The jury was out but fifteen minutes.
The case. as outlined in yesterdays
Morning News. was an interesting
one and presented several features TO
/ draw a crowd of spectators to hear the
evidence when the court convened at
10 o'clock the upper gallery was crowded
with negroes, large portion being women.
ana the lower floor had its fun share OF
Of visitors also.
Much time was consumed in getting a
/ jury, as the state and the defense chal-
! lenged many who were called. After four
! panels had been exhausted, of which the
state challenged six and the defense TWEEN
~. the following were accepted: Oliver
G. Ryan. Daniel L. Jackson, Edward VIII
link. r. II. Macleod. James E. Meldrim,
William J. Eddy. william c. Workman.
John T. Charlton. Fl. u. Osborne. Joseph
L. Delaney, Thaddeus ). Mercer and b.
Palmer Arson.
| The state was represented by William
L. Morrison, Esq, Judge Falligant having
appointed him solicitor general pro TEN,
during the illness Of Solicitor General
Fraser Mr.. I. 5. Morgan, Jr., represent
ed the defense.
AT IL o'clock the witnesses We're called.
| The states case was TO the effect that
! the woman killed the man maliciously
| The Witnesses stated that Gibbon, on re-
| turning home the Friday night before the
| crime, discovered a man in mis- house. He
tried TO get in, but as the door was locked
| he mad to burst it He found a man there,
! according to one Of the witnesses and hit
| him with a chair. The weapon struck the
! lamp and II went over, was extinguished,
and in the darkness the man escaped.
| An alteration then began between Glib
| bon and his wife, and she left him and
| went to her fathers TO stay. The next
| morning she left there to go home, and on
| the way met her husband. A quarrel en-
| sued ana the two began scuhiing. The
| outcome was that they fell and Gibbon
| was stabbed. Laura went home, consult
ed a preacher living near there, and then
| came to town 10 give herself up to the
| solicitor general and tell him the story.
| After she had gone Gibbon staggered up
| and went home, calling out for help. 1t
| was found out he was badly wounded,
| his intestines, according TO one witness,
| protruding for some ways No doctor was
| called, and Gibbon died. The states con-
| tentiOn was that during this quarrel Lau-
ra took the knife out of his pocket and
| stabbed him.
Laura made a statement in her behalf
| which was somewhat different She stat
ed that her husband treated her brutally
and had done so for some time; that he
| had bothered her while at work with res
| pectable people, trying To get her wages.
She told of beatlngs that she had received.
She defied the story of man being in
her house that night and said that it was
all owing to his temper that the trouble
occurred. According to her story Gibbon
came home the fatal Friday night and
began beating and cursing her and max
ing fuss. Her father came out and tried
to quiet him. Gibbon had a knife, the same
one with which he was killed, and then
threatened to kill her. She finally left and
went home with her father. She slept
with her mother that night, her father
coming to Savannah, leaving there at 2
| o'clock in the morning.
Early the next morning while she was in
bed her mother having arisen and gone
into tho kitchen. Gibbon came rushing in,
swearing and curSng and sezing her with
both arms, dragged her out of bed out
through the house, out the gate and onto
the road She screamed and resisted but
could not get away. He swore at her and
holding the open knife said he would cut
her then. She fought him and in the strug-
gle they fell down. The knife In some way
came into her hand, having been knocked
from his grasp as they fell, and she stab
bed him, he being on top of her then and
cursing loudly. He rolled off to one side
and she got up and fed home. On the ad-
vice of her mother she went TO see a col
ored preacher, and then came to town to
Got
to the solicitor generals office, where she
told the story, not knowing how badly her
husband was cut at the time. She was
placed under $1,000 bonds, but on the fol-
lowing Sunday night she was arrested by
the police, as they had learned of the
death of her husband. Her brother went
with the officer when he heard that she
was wanted and pointed out the house
where she was staying.
The statement was made clearly, as we'll
as an ignorant woman could make 1t, and
ii had its effect on the jury.
The woman's father made the same gem
eral statement as TO the beginning of the
row. He was called by the angry words
of Gibbon and found him beating his wife
and cursing his wife, swearing that he
would kill her or some other person at
once ana flOurished his knife. After a
long confab Gibbon quoted down, and her
father took Laura home. He left at ,
o'clock the next morning for Savannah
with Sam Monroe. They were attacked
by Gibbon and his gang" as they were
called, and brick bats We're thrown at
them. When chased they ran off An
other witness testified that she saw Gibbon
come along the road shortly after that
hour, tlourishing the knife and muttering
threats, going towards his wife's home
Lauras mother testified to seeing Glib
bon come in and drag her daughter out
by the shoulders cursing her all the while.
She was too much afraid to interfere
as she thought he might attack her. When
Laura came back she told her to go and
see the preacher and ask him what to do.
as she was too illustrated" as she said to
tell the girl what to DO.
Others testified as to the treatment Of
Gibbon to his wife and what her general
character was. This was all favorable to
the girl.
At 8 o'clock the case was closed. and
Mr.. Morrison outlined his contentious for
the state.
Mr.. Morgan followed with a plea for
his client claiming that the states testi-
mony was all circumstantiaI and that
had NOT the oir1 bprep1f told +b. s+.,,,- =,