The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-10
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCES.
Case Whero Tho Strongest Was Terribly at
Fault.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat. |

ever drawn around persons charged
with murder came under my obser-
vation recently at Normand, Oklaho-
ma. 1t almost resulted in the lrnch-
ing of the convicted men, and hos
thoroughly demonstrated to mo that
little reliance to be placed on that
sort of evidence, especially in cases
Of murder"
The speaker was Il prominent law
yer of Oklahoma, and his audience
was a group of lawyers gathered in
the reading room of the Grand
Avenue MOTEL in Oklahoma City,
Willing away the hours with stories
of personal experience in court and
on the circuit. The group gathered
around tho speaker closely, for they
knew something worth listening to
was coming.
cit was the case Of the Territory
OF Oklahoma vs.. j. w. Jackson and
II. G. Ward, charged with the muir
dor of one Happy Jack Wilson, and
the evidence disclosed thrilling
story, which pointed Enthusiastically to
tho guilt Of the accused. 1t seemed
that about New Years Day Jackson
and Wilson had had quarrel in
saloon in Norman, in which Wilson
was badly beaten over the head with
chair welded by Jackson, and left
for dead. Indeed, it was a grave
question for quite time whether or
not his skull wa& not fractured, and
he fingered for weeks between life
and doath. jackson was arrested
for assault with intent to kill, and
after giving bail hired Green, a far
NOR, living few miles from the
town, to care for the man, paying all
the expenses Of medical care and
nursing. Finally Wilson recovered,
was seen around town several times
and suddenly disappeared just be-
fore the grand jury met which was
to lnvestigate the charge of assault
to kill against Jackson 1t was open
ly charged that jackson and Ward
had spirited him out of the country
to keep him from testifying against
the former. The case went over
that term of court, with instructions
from the judge to thoroughly ,inves-
tlgate, discover Wilson if possible,
and find out by what means and why
he had been spirited away, if such
WIS the case.
"Just about that timo the town
was thrown into tremor of excite
ment by the report that the body of
man had been found on the edge
of the South Canadian river, not far
from tho firm OF Ward. 1t was
partly covered with brush and partly
with sand, but q hunting party of
boys found it and notified the
authorities. The body WAS brought
to tho town, and there identified by
dozen reputable men and women,
one of whom was his sister, and all
we'll acquainted with him, as the
body of Happy Jack Wilson. They
based their Identification on dozen
different points-the sister, espec-
tally, being certain because her bro
thor had gold tooth exactly similar
to one found in tho mouth of the
corpse. On the top Of tho head Of
Of tho corpse were half-hoalcd scars
similar to those made by jackson on
the head of Happy jack the bro
gans worn by Jack were the same
make as those on tho body; a mole
on the back Of tho Leck was similar
to ono known to be on Wilson, and
one leg was shorter than tho other
1t looked as if thore could not be
even a shadow of doubt, and tho ex-
citement ran high. jackson and
Ward were, of course, Immediately
arrested and rushed to the Jail, which
was guarded by large force of
officers to prevent lynching, for it
was regarded as cold -blooded muir
der, without one redoeming feature.
Notwithstanding this prccarious
situation the prisoners wore cool and
collected, but their very defence had
a tendency to draw tho coils tighter
around them. They acknowledged
that they had spirited Wilson away
to prevent him testifying against