The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-26
MAY LEAD TO THE GALLONS.
WILLIAM ELMORE CONGRESSES TO A
COLD FLOODED MURDER.

AgO-Said He Did 1t over n Game
of Skin.
William Elmore. who is wanted at Cal
houn Falls, S. c., for the murder or
James Coleman last August, is behind the
bars at the police station, and has made
a written confession of the murder. Both
of these facts are due to some fine work
by Chief McDemott and the detectives.
Elmore's confession may mean his death
warrant. He was under suspicion, but
there was no positive evidence that he
was the murderer.
Last Monday Chief McDermott received
letter from the sheriff at Calhoun Fails,
in which the latter stated that a cold
blooded murder had been committed there
several weeks ago. The murderer was not
known, but William Elnore had left the
town shortly after under circumstances
which aroused suspicion against him. A
letter had been received there from u
party in Savannah, signing himself Abe
Jenkins: The sheriff believed Jenkins to
be Gilmore. and stated that he was living
in a house on "Guinette" street
The governor had offered reward of
500 for the arrest of the murderer, he said.
The detectives located the house on Gwin-
nett street, and in order not to arouse sus-
picion directory agent was sent there
to ascertain the names of the people in the
house. The names of the residents were
secured, but there was no Abe Jenkins
among them, and it was evident that he
did not live there. This left a cold trail
for the detectives to follow.
Chief McDermOtt concluded that as Abe
Jenkins, alias Elmore, was In Savannah
1t might be possible to reach him with
letter. A nice letter signed Mary Will
iams," was written him. in which the
writer stated that she had gotten into
trouble at Calhoun Falls and was anxious
to meet Abe, who was an old acquaintance.
The letter stated that the writer was
afraid to sign her real name, but would
reveal herself when she met him. The
letter was addressed to Abe jenkins at
the house on Gwinnett street. When it
was delivered, Tom Lockhart, one of the
negroes living in the house, said that Abe
did not live there, but that he would take
the letter and deliver it to him.
This was reported to Chief McDermott,
and he decided on a bold move. Accom-,
panied by the detectives, he surrounded
the house yesterday afternoon. Detec-
tive Kiley was then sent to the house to
inquire for Abe Jenkins. He was told
| announced that he was from the post
| office. A letter. he said, had been de-
| livered there addressed to Abe jenkins.
| There was a check for 500 in the letter,
he said, and it had been found that 1t
| had been delivered to the wrong man,
there being another Abe Jenkins in town.
| 1t was necessary, he said, that this let
| ter should be found and returned to the
| postoffice Tom Lockhart stated that he
| had received the letter, and had delivered
| it to Jenkins. He offered to carry the
inspector to Jenkins, which offer was
| at once accepted
Lockhart carried Detective Kiley to a
house in Gordon street lane, the other
| detectives following at a discreet dis
| lance. They found jenkins, or Elmore,
| there. He became suspicious and denied
| all knowledge of the letter. Kiley told
| him that he would have to take him to
| the BOSS" anyhow, and the negro agreed
| to go.
Kiley did not scare his man by put
| ting him under arrest, but allowed him
to walk along by his side. Gilmore was
| evidently cudgeling his brain about the
| letter. He finally gave it up, and, ac-
| knowledging that he had received such a
| letter, offered to go back and get it. They
| were then near the gate of the police
| barracks on Habersham street, and XII
! ley said they might as well go in and
| see the boss about it, anyway. Gilmore
| was safely landed in the station without
| even suspecting that he was under ar
| rest.
The man had been landed, but the point
| was to find out if he were really the muir
| derer. The authorities at Calhoun Falls
| did not seem to be certain of this. Chief
| McDermott undertook this work. The
| chief posed as an officer from Calhoun
| Falls and again introduced Mary Will
| liams" on the scene. The chief has
| frank and open manner in dealing with a
| prisoner that usually wins the latter s
| confidence at once. He surprised Gilmore
by calling him by his real name and soon
| persuaded him that he knew him well and
was well acquainted with all the facts of
| the murder in Calhoun Falls The chief
impressed upon Elmore that he did not
want him, but was looking for Mary
/ Williams who had stolen $500 at Calhoun
| Falls, he said, and come to Savannah to
| join Gilmore, so the chief claimed The
| fact that Mary Williams knew Gilmore as
Abe jenkins and had written him a
| letter under that name was dwelt upoa
! as evidence of collision between the two.
| In his anxiety to clear himself of any
| connection with Mary Williams, he told
| so much about himself that 1t was easy
| to wind out of him the story of the muir
| der. At the chiefs suggestion he made
| a voluntary confession of the murder
which was taken down in writing ana
| signed by Gilmore. The statement is the
| strongest evidence that a man ever gave
| against himself, and with the evidence
already in possession of the authorities
at Calhoun Falls may send Elmore to the
| gailows. THE statement reads as follows:
Savannah, Ga, Oct. %, 1851, William
Gilmore, do hereby make the following
| statement of my own free WILL without
any promise or reward. To the best of
my knowledge and belief, the last Satur-
day in August l had been playing skin
with Jim Coleman down in Calhoun's pas
| ture. We had some words about the
game Coleman attempted to draw pis-
tol, and l shot him. After shooting him
| / got scared. / got a line off a COW that
was tied in the field. 1 then tied the body
| UP with the line and put two rocks on
him and threw the body into the Rocky
river on Tuesday evening / heard oli
man Lewis Johnston had found the body.
stayed there until Saturday night and
left and walked within three stations Of
! Augusta. l then took the train for Au-
gusta. arrived there Sunday evening and
left there Monday for Savannah. and have
been IN Savannah until my arrest to-day.
This murder occurred in Calhoun Falls,
| s. G.. William Gilmore -