The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-19
orcIDED TO FACE THE LAW.
vAsHINGTONS SLAYER SUR
oH nHr,pERED TO THE OFFICERS.

va. located on vii ninston Island
md Induced by Negroes to Give
tf Vp-raISen to ThunderbOIt
later LodEet in JniI-The
I,nrderer believes He Acted in
self Defense.
4 ,Dsomas Brown, wig shot and killed
i''.,.cr Washington near Thunderbolt
CHi','e surrendercd to the officers yester-
5ar and is now in Jail. The coroner's
o9'' .h,ob investigated the killing. return
'u'' r.r1ce 10 III effect that Brown is
guilty Of murder
several parties we're close on the trail
r.,n.r who todS to the water and left
;.fritv of The killing in a row boat.
- the officers we're first notified it was
,ir,e after tie crime, and the negro
3oc,ded advantage in the race. AT
-. MARSHAL LeItz took up the chase,
80 +, was vert dark, he did not con-
80, If worth while TO continue alone, and
..r5oelv went 10 the Savannah Yacht
Co., boat house, where he telephoned to
Tho notice. and the message was from
,,ora given to Coroner Goette. The search
~os taken up the following day and
thororab securing Of the swamps was
made with the hope of over-taking the
..treos IT proved of no avail, however, as
.be distance the negro had gained in adj
vance Of the officers was sufficient to ena-
be him to make his escape.
Mr. Albert Goette, brother of the coro-
mar was among those searching for
proun and he finally succeeded in locating
him on Wilmington Island. Mr.. Goette
went TO a place on the island owned by
bis brother. There he remained during the
rigbt having previously laid a plan by
which Brown was to be induced to sur
rsnarr if found by negroes who were
searching. Other negroes who knew some
thing about the island were selected by
Mr. Cioefte to go to the place where Brown
was supposed to be in hiding and advise
him that the best thing for him to do was
N surrender Brown was located and
about day break showed up. at the house,
and calling for MIR. Goette, said. he would
surrender to the officers.
Arrangements were at once made to go
10 Thunderbolt with the prisoner. A num-
her of negroes rowed Mr.. Goette and
Brown over, shortly after which Marshal
IAntz arrived and took him in charge.
The negro seemed anxious all along to inn
press the officers that he was not captured,
but had surrendered. He was at once
brought to the city and lodged in Jail on
the C0roner's commitment.
It is believed Brown surrendered him
self thinking he would be INDICATED by a
trial BY what circumstances he claims
he did the shooting in self-defense is not
known since the facts thus far developed
Indicate that Washington was shot I'M
aWares, while on the inside of the house.
The evidence before the jury showed in
substance that Brown obtained a pistol
after the two had a quarrel at Thunder
bolt and going to the surprise party"
where Washington had previously gone,
lurked on the outside until an opportunity
was afforded to fire upon the negro unsus-
pectingiy. This, Brown did and after his
victim fell, added to the seriousness of his
crime by saying he had ''shot the rascal"
There are two other negroes under ar
rest John Mackay and Andrew Wright, as
accessories to the crime. The proof is
not very strong against them, however,
and on hearing they were wanted they
made no effort to escape. Besides Mackay
and Wright there were several other ne
groes on the outside with Brown at the
time he fired the fatal shot, and it would
doubtless be difficult to determine just
which of them melted the murder. There
will be no further proceedings in the case
until it is taken up by the grand jury.