Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-13

He had recognized Randolph as the man
he saw that morning without difficulty
when he was in company with five or six
other negroes at the Rockville Jail several
days afterward.
Saw Randolph Near Buxton's.
Charles r. Mace, a farmer, living near
Mcntrose, below Rockville, swore that he
positively identified Randolph as the man
he had seen twice in Gaithersburg on the
Sunday evening before the murder. the
first time about o'clock, when he stopped
to water his horse in the creek at Long
town. and afterward at 9 o'clock near
Mrs. Rabbits stable in Gaithersburg in
the immediate vicinity of the Buxton
house. The man had climbed up the bank
on the side of the road.
'Was there any one with him on the
bank?" inquired the coroner.
Yes" responded the witness. He was
q man with mustache and whitish eyes,.
/ Failed to Identify Him MS Neale.
Witness thought he had previously seen
the man who vas with Randolph that
night several times around Gaithersburg.
Mr.. Mace then said he couldn't identify
him and didn't know VINO he was.
Witness had seen a man in the Rockville
Jail. called Neale, but he was not able to
say that Neale was the man with Ran
| dolph, but didn't think it was.
The next witness was Benjamin F. Hicks,
| a merchant of Gaithersburg, who was
| known to have measured the now famous
tracks found in the ploughed field and the
wheat field. When the consultation was
concluded Mr.. Hicks said he had visited
Buxton's and Neale's houses on the morn
/ ing of the assault. Then he went over the
tracks and measured them carefully.
RandoJph's Feet Made the Tracks.
He made three measurements of the bare
foot tracks, and few minutes before he
took the stand had compared the measure
ments with Randolpn's feet with a shoe
! makers rule at the Jail in Rockville. This
showed that Randolph's foot was an inch
shorter than the track in the ploughed
field. The witness continued to say he had
procured a box of soft earth or moist sand
| at the Jail and had taken an impression of
the prisoners foot in that
Randolph refused to put his foot in the
box at first saying he didn't have to do it,
but he was made to do it, said the wit
ress. He tried not to put his whole
| weight on it at first"
Witness then declared that the impress
sion made in the contents of the box meas
| ured exactly the same as those made in the
rloughel wheat field. He had measured
Neale's foot and found it exactly the same
was higher and the ball of his foot narrow
| er. Randolph had a fiat foot, and the
tracks in the ploughed ground were made
by a fiat-footed man. An impression of
at the Jail, but on the morning Of the muir
der Neale's foot had fitted exactly to the
track in the field. The latter tracks, said
| the witness, had been made by a man run
ming, as there was space of twenty-seven
and a half inches between the toe of the
| left foot and the heel of the right one. In
| ordinary walking this distance is usually
twelve and half or fifteen inches
Witness admitted he was after Ran
dolph's foot, and thus hadn't taken the i'm
preston Of Neale's. He believed and swore
that the track made in the field and that
| made In the sand at the Jail were formed
| by the same foot, and that was Randolph's s..
George English ON the Stand.
/. The next witness was George English, a
youth about seventeen years cid, who
lived next door tc the Buxton house. Early
| in the morning of the murder he heard a
| window raised in his house down stairs
and raised Up in bed and turned I'D the
lamp. He heard steps down below and
then saw a mans figure On the stairs
| through the stair rails Witress went
was there about twenty-five minutes when
his mother came in and told him the Bux-
| ton family had been murdered. Witness
described finding the front window of his
house open and held up by stick he had
Fever seen before,
After some unimportant testimony the
hall was cleared. and the crowd waited
| on the outside to learn the verdict In
| three-Quarters of an hour IT was returned
as already given.
There was considerable talk in Gathers
burg last night about the verdict, and
| some Of the more eager people were in
| favor of going to Rockville and taking
Randolph out. The preponderance of SEN
| tfment was against this course, however
and all suggestions of violence were met
| with strong arguments against it. The
best citizens are in favor OF letting the
| law take its course and it is highly proba-
| BILE their influence will prevail
Neale Released Today.
ROCKVILLE, Nd, June 13.-George
Neale. suspected of completely in the Bux-
ton murder at Gaithersburg. and a number
of other colored people held as witnesses
| were today released, no evidence having
| been adduced before the coroner's fury to
hold Neale as a participant in the crime
| Sidney Randolph alone is held for the
action of the grand jury at the November
term Of court. Before leaving the Jail
| Neale and the other prisoners were taken
| into Randolph's cell to bid him goodbye
| Randolph said to Neale and the others that
| he was glad they were to go If they were
| innocent Of the crime. He admitted after
| ward that things looked bad for himself
| but still persists that he had nothing to do
| with the crime. There is still some bad
| feeling exhibited among few persons at
| Gaithersburg and Hunting HILL but no
| lynching is anticipated at present. Citizens
who believe Randolph is. as he says, ,nno-