The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-04
MAY BE BERRYS MURDERERS.
TWO NEGROES TO WHOM sUsPI-
CION POINTS STRONGLY.

No Direct Evidence Against Them In
the Murder Case, But an Amount
of Circumstantial Evidence Point
ing to Them as the Highway Rob-
bers Who Have Conducted Opera
lions on the Louisville and Au-
Eustn Roads for n Long Time.
County Detective Morgan arrested two
negroes yesterday and lodged them in the
barracks for safe keeping on suspicion
OF being connected with the murder Of
Capt. G. H. Berry of the Efngham Hus-
sars on the Augusta road week ago.
There is no evidence to connect the ne
groes with the murder, but there is strong
ground for believing that they have had
something to do with the numerous rob-
berries which have taken place on the
Augusta road during the last three or
four months.
The names of the prisoners are Kelly
Hudson and Patrick Simmons, and they
were arrested at Meinhard, on the Florida
Central and Peninsular railroad ten miles
from this city, All the reports from tire
persons who have been robbed on the
Louisville road are that they were robbed
by brown man, with a mustache, ac-
companied by short. black
man. The prisoners answer this
description. In addition, they have
been seen together frequently on the
Augusta road in the neighborhood of
Cherokee Hill, so frequently in fact, that
suspicion was excited against them and
people in the neighborhood avoided them.
The men Were employed in cutting cross
ties at Rincon, the station above Mein-
hard, but they are said to have cut very
Few ties and to have spent most time
loafing on the Augusta road several miles
away than in cutting cross ties.
The description of the two men, who
have been robbing people on the Louis
Vile road, Tailed so closely with that of
Hudson and Simmons, that Detective
Morgan decided to make the arrest The
circumstances of the arrest are sufficient
in themselves to arouse suspicion against
the men. Mr.. Morgan was accompanied
by Mr.. Adam Keller and by a Mr.. Hes
ter. When Messrs. Morgan and Keller
entered the house, which Hudson and
Simmons occupied with two women, they
found only one of the women there.
Mr. Hester called to them that when
they entered the house a negro had jump
ed the fence in the rear and dropped into
ditch. On going to the ditch i'm
prints were found where a man had
jumped in and a trail leading down the
ditch. They followed the trail along the
ditch for over 100 yards, to where it en-
tered a cross ditch, and after going along
this short piece they found Hudson ly-
ing on his face in the ditch He had
crawed the whole distance on his hands
and knees. He was hand-cuffed and
taken back to the house. Shortly after
ward Simmons walked up in company
with one of the women, knowing nothing
of his partners arrest. He was also ar
rested and hand-cuffed.
A box full of human bones was found
in the house, being the skull, thigh bones
and smaller bones of a woman The
bones were covered with dirt and grass
roots, having evidently never been clean
ed off since being taken from the ground
Hudson claimed that they were left with
him by another negro, who was under ar
rest in Savannah a short time ago and
who had never returned to claim
them. 1t was found, however, that Hud-
son had been doing something in the YOU
doc line. A sachel full of bottles filled
with queer-looking preparations was
found. Hudson would not talk about his
voudoo business.
The various persons who have been
robbed on the Louisville road will be
called upon to view the two prisoners
for the purpose of Identifying them in
case they are the robbers. Mr.. r. j.
Wade, county road superintendent, may
morning before the murder of Capt Berry
he passed Cherokee Hill shortly after
daybreak Near the spot where Capt.
Berry was killed the next day two ne
groes rose out of the bushes and came
toward him. He prompHy lifted his pis-
toll from the bottom of his buggy. Seeing
the pistol, the two men stopped, and
one of them asked for a match. They
were given a match and turned off the
road. Mr. Wade kept his pistol in hand I'M
til they were out of sight. He states
that one of the men was a brown fellow
with a mustache and the other a short,
black man.
On the night of the storm a man named
Helmly was robbed on the canal bank
near the city. He reported the robbery to
the police and described the robbers as a
brown man and a black man. Detective
Morgan has half dozen cases of this
kind and besides has other witnesses to
prove that the men arrested were seen in
the neighborhood of Cherokee Hill on the
day before the murder. One of them
had a muzzle-loading shot gun. 1t was
with a muzzle-loader that Capt. Berry
was killed, as was ascertained by the wad-
ding which was found nearby.
A pistol was found on Simmons and he
is held on the charge Of carrying con-
cealed weapons. Hudson's voudoo bus
mess will furnish grounds for a charge
upon which to hold him if necessary.