The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-02-27

| in front OF her fatllcr mouse To identify
| the assailant; the prisoners were sur
rounded by soldiers; she was so fright
ened at the sight Of the soldiers and the
crowd that she could hardly stand up
/ the mayor of the town Says he had to
support her so she could stand. At this
| thine and in condition she did say SHE
Thought Forepaugh looked like the man,
but SHE was not certain, and was scared
She was almost hyStcrical and carried
hock into the house. Mr.. Everett saw
her n minute or so afterwards and she
said she Thought Forcpaugh looked like
rho right man at the time but that she
was so frightened. she was afraid to
saw. and that she wanted to sec him
agnin, BUT Mt this time she told Mr.
Everett she Thought he was too bright
| this WAS latc in the afternoon; early IN
| fine evening Mr.. w. i. Long and / went
to Mr.. Coles and had Il talk with Miss
| Mattie. she told us that mt the time
she was looking at Forcpaugh, SHE
| Thought H. looked like the man, only he
| was too briSht and ought to have lit
tle dn1,stache, that she wanted to see him
again; she said she would know the man
lif she saw him when she wns not fright
| enetl The next morning at the request
of sdhc MAYOR. | met him mt Mr. Coles
residence: Forcrmugh and the Monroe
negro were just being taken from Mao
| ties presence when l arrived Mt MI
| Coles: the prisoners came ouJ OF the
room from where Miss Matte was just
as | walked in The room. Nc everett
4 fhe nnayor was left in the room with her
/ after the officers and prisoners retired,
he and | alone with her; Mr.. Everett
asked her what she Thought about them.
| she said it was another man, that the
! Monroe negro wasn't anything like him.
that Forepaugh was more like him than
| the Monroe man, hut he FOrepaugh,
| was too bright and ought to have ut
tie mnstac..c. that he was not the man,
/ The Monroe negro was released rs there
was not the slightest evidence against
| him. but the mayor and | thinking
| # nossiblA that Matte might not DE-
/ able TO identify, but not for an instant
| doubling that if she did it would be
truthful and correct. decided it best to
/ hold Forepaugh for a few days and IN
yestigate further; in the meantime ana
before Evanss arrest Forepaugh was
/ found by Enthusiastically evidence to have
| left the town about eleven o'clock the
night before the crime and to have been
in Hamlet the morning of the crime.
| Those of us who were making and
| directing arrests to be made, committed
| many errors, but we did the bqest we
| could. and we know much better how
and why they were made than Mr. Dock
/ cry who took not part in x!S' vbgkqJ
| cry who took no part so far as / am
/ informed in experimenting the criminal,
further than his law firm, Dockery and
| Dockery, as attorneys for the county,
| offered q reward of two hundred dollars
| for the arrest and conviction of the as
sailant; this reward has not been paid
yet and the indications are that litiga-
| ton will be required to collect it.
/ Must we doubt Matte Coles testimony
| because excited men made mistakes iii
shades of color and error in some ar
restsI
have tried to show you that Matte
Cole had light enough to have seen the
defendant by the mcontradicted testi-
mony in the case, that she never made
any statement in conflict with her testi-
mony but every statement made by her
| coroborates her Testimony that John
Evans is the man. l recall your at
/ tention to the testimony of T. G. Leak,
| Jr., and George Entwistle, young men
of unblemished character, who sw0re to
| having heard Mattie Cole say at about
noon the day of the crime, that a mulat-
| to- taken before her was too bright, and
pointing to a negro standing by, who
! was the same shade of color as that of
| Evans, and saying her sisters assadlant
/ was like that one in color, and conclude
/ my argument upon Mr.. Dockery's sec
| ond ground for believing John Evans
/ innocence.
Thirdly.-The unusually well estab-
/ liShed alibi, says Mr.. Dockery, / think
| it utterly failed. 1t rested upon the
most unreliable witnesses, the negro
boys with whom Evans spent the night.
they did not have any time piece and SO
contradicted themselves that it was
! laughabe, they cOntradicted each other
| in many particulars and were CONTRA
| dicted by Mr.. w. i. Ingram, a farmer
| who lives about fifteen miles from here,
/ and as | viewed his testimony by Mr..
| James Watkins, Mr.. Ingram swOre to
| his going in the little room where the
boys slept at about five thirty to order
| his horse and buggy; he wanted to find
| his harness and got Il lamp for this
| purpose and with the lamp lighted he
walked right through the room and did
not see any of the boys on the floor
asleep as they claimed to he, that if
there was any one asleep there except
the boy Amos whom he aroused he did
not see them; Mr.. Migrants character
was not and will not be attacked; this
| dispOses of the alibi so far as the colored
/ boys are concerned and cOntradicts John
| Evans who swore he was i'll this room
| when Mr.. Ingram went in. But Mr..
Dockery says: John Evans was seen
! by Mr.. JAS. NJ. Watkins, IL white man
of unimpeached character, at six o'clock,
| getting up and putting on his shoes in
this little room at Hinson's stable. Mr..
| Watkins did not say this on the witness
stand; he said he went to the livery
stable at just six o'clock by town time,
that he heard the clock strike as he was
near the stable. This was fifteen min
utes to six by the time used at the
mill, where the Cole girls worked, and
that the boys were up and had the
horses fed and that he saw some man
sitting on a box in the room where the
/ boys slept putting on his shoes; he did not
know him and asked Amos Powell who
lhe was, that Amos told him but he did
not remember who he said, that he did
/ not identify john Evans as the man