The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-22
CAPTURED AFTER FIVE YEARS.
ED. JENKINS ARRESTED FOR a
MURDER IN PON pom, s. C., IN 1892.

For Long Time the Detectives
Have Been on His TraclS--He De-
MES the killing and Lays II ON Els
RrOther-The story of the Tragedy
That the Brother shot the Victim
and Jenkins Split His Head Open
with an Az.
Ed Jenkins. colored. who Is wanted In
Pom Pom, S. c., near Charleston, for
murder, was arrested yesterday in Yam
acraw by Policeman Jernigan.
The prisoner and his brother, James Jen-
kins, killed another negro named Robert
Gator near Pom Pom m February, :s32.
Both left the neighborhood at once, and
neither has been back since. The Two
brothers came to Savannah after the kill
ing, but remained here only a short time,
going further south Jenkins returned
here in January and has been working
since at the factories west of he city. The
detectives and police learned that he was
wanted and have been looking for him for
several days.
Jenkins talks freely of the killing, but
claims that it was his brother who did
the shooting. and that it was done in self
defense. The killing occurred on a Sun
day. On the Saturday afternoon before,
jenkins says. he and his brother and two
other negroes were drinking in Reds
bar in Pom Pom, when Gator entered with
a Winchester rifle and fired one shot at
them. He was prevented from firing
again, but a free-for-all fight followed in
the barroom. in which the prisoner was
badly beaten and cut. He has a large
scar on his right shoulder and several
scars in his head. which he says were
inflicted by the barkeeper. Reid, with a
knife.
Why Reid should attack him he could
not explain. Sunday he and his brother
went on a drinking bout with several
other negroes They were returning home
together in the afternoon, he said when
they met Gator who cursed them out and
declared his intention of killing them.
Gator, he claims, started to draw a pis-
tol from his hip pocket The pistol caught
in the pocket and before Gator could get
it out, jenkins said, his brother fired one
shot, firing from his coat pocket and
Gator fell. They did not stop to see
whether Gator was mortally wounded or
not, he said, but Immediately ran off and
left the neighborhood that night Jenkins
claimed that he had never heard whether
or not Gator was dead.
Jenkins story does not tally with the
account of the murder which the detec-
tives have. The story told them is that
James Jenkins shot Gator in the back as
he was running away. and that Ed Jen-
kins then cut the dying
mans head open with an
ak, after which they rifled his pockets
of $50 in money and several articles. All
this Ed Jenkins denies and says that he
IS willing to return to Pom Pom. He claims
that he does not know where his brother
is. The last news he re-
ceived of him, he says, was
that he had sailed from Brunswick on
a lumber vessel bound for Philadelphia.
The prisoner has the appearance of being
a tough citizen.
reward was offered for the arrest of
the Jenkins brothers by the state shortly
after the murder, and another reward was
offered by a citizen of Pom Pom, in whose
employ Gator had been, showing the light
in which the killing was viewed in the To-
cality where it occurred 1t Is not known
whether these rewards still hold or not.
The South Carolina authorities have been
notified of Jenkins arrest.