The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-01-20
TREASURER coPEs' MURDERER
y, say. II, Is anxious to rclr All II.
lNNuWS-


II, ~. H. Is Anxious to Sell All H'
A.wss stated in last weeks Times
ard D.mocrat. DAn c. Marphy, con-
vieted Of the murd=c OF the la!e Coun.
ty Te3surer Copes was brought from
the Peuiten.i&ry las. week and re SER
fenced TO be hung OF March 5 When
Murphy appeared in Court he was
clean and neat in appearance, ard
looked as if he was being well taken
care of in the Penitentiary. Ia his
demeanor be was sulien and defiant,
and had not changed much in that re.
spect since his trial, After being
placed in the dock" and asked the
usual question: What had he to say
why sentence of death should not be
passed upon him; he replied that he
did have something to say, which was
that he was not guilty, and he seemed
inclined to speak further, bat his at
torney stopped him, ard advised him
not to speak. Then Judge Wither
spoon read to him the sentence OF the
Court, which was that he should be
hanged By the neck until dead" on
Friday, March 5, next, between the
hours OF II and 2 O'Clock.
Murphy was taken back to Colum.
bia on Tuesday evening and will be
kept C onfned in the penitentiary. The
Columbia Register sayson the way up
his case was discussed by the passen-
gers On the train, and much sym pa
thy was shown for him. In fact tie
passengers made up purse for him
and be probably received $50 Pas,
sengers gave him half dollars ard dol
lars with great liberality, and Marphy
probably has more money today than
he has ever had before" TEe Regis
ter is mistaken in this. Murphy got
some thirty odd dollars from Mr..
Copes when he murdered him. On
The same train that took Murphy TO
Columbia, Capt. Jas. H. flaming, Of
this city, also went to Columbia. Muir
phy earnestly requested Capt. Fan
ming TO come to the Penitentiary at y
o'clock Wednesday to see rim. He
said he would make statement at
that hour which would give q very
different complexion to his case, and
he urged Capt flaming not 10 fail
him.
In accordance with MS promise
Capt. Tanning, accompanied by re-
porter of the Columbia Register, drove
up to the penitentiary gate little at.
ter 12 o'clock, and Capt. West6eld led
the way to Murphy's cell. II wss a
raw, cold day outside, but small
wood stove made the prisoners narro "
quarters comfortable, and q yellow
cat placidly dczing in the only chair
the cell afforded Impaired home
like air to the barren brick and mortar
room that, under the circumstances,
was almost startling. Throughout
the interview that followed the cat
never stirred. Il was evidently at
peace with itself and all the world
in strange contrast to the worn, nag
gard man in whose chair it slept.
Murphy was lying down when his Wis
itors appeared at his grated door. He
at once began to cough when he caught
sight OF Captain Westfeld, and i'm
piored that official 20 let him have a
little whiskey and quinine for his
cold. Capt. Westield promised that
this request should be granted, and
after that Murphy coughed but twice
in the hour and a half during which
ne fenced off ell attempts to draw a
statement from him.
When the prisoner came to the
grating, Captain flaming reminded
him of his promise Of the day before.
He told Murphy that he had come
solely to help him, if possible; IN 9th
er words, that if he had anything to
say that would vindicate his innocence,
or palliate his guilt, it should be Civ
en- to the public. Murphy remained
silent for some moments after this.
He looked at Captain flaming and at
the reporter with a curious expression
in his eyes-half inquiry, half suspi-
cious. Then he began to talk at ran
dom, skirting all around the promised
statement, but never directly approach
ing it. He intimated that before say
ing anything definite he would like to
have Capt. Weslfeld write to Sheriff
Hsgins and Mr.. G.. W. NJ. Williams,
of Palatka, Florida, for certain ''state.
ments" that they could make which,
he claimed, would materially help
out his own revelations
Murphy appeared, indeed, to forget,
or to be oblivious, to the fact that his
case had passed forever out of the ja-
risdiction of the courts, and that mis-
only chance of life lay with the Gov
ernor of the State. He talked as if a
new trial were possibility, if not a
probability, and seemed to be fearful
that he might IN some way so commit
himself that it would BE- used as evil
dence against him. He said that F.
W. Wagner & Co, of Charleston,
and John Morgan. of Aiken, could al
so furnish facts that would establish
his innocence, and requested that they
be written to forthwith. He rambled
Oh in this prposeless manner for so
long that Capt. Fannlng al las! trled
to give Murphy's thoughts another
turn, hoping that il this way he
might be led around to the subj &c! up
perMost.
IN answer to questions, Murphy
said he didn't know just exactly how
old he was, but thought he was be-
tween 90 and 80. He said the first
Governor he could remember was
Wade Hampton, and that seemed to
be his only landmark to count from
He said he was born near Edisto and
married Miss Bars, of Barnwell Coun
ty, about six years ago. He had
had three children, two of whom were
dead. Captain Tanning then asked
Murphy if it was not about time TO
make mis- promised statement-if he
had one to make. Murphy declared
he was anxious to make one, and then
went upon another track He turned
to Captain WestdeId, aud said: