The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-04
JENKINS HELD FOR MURDER.
CORONER's JURY SAYS HE'S RE-
sPONsIBLE FOa BIRDS DEATH.

Oncr-The Evidence, with the tx
ceptIon of an Alleged Confession,
Almost Purely Circumstantial, But
Yet Much Stronger Than Had Been
Expected-It Fixed the Commission
of the Crime on Jenkins with
Certainty lie VIII Find 1t Hard TO
Escape-He Is Known to Have Been
Left in the Room with Bird.
Coroner Goette and a jury Investigated
yesterday the cause and manner of the
death OF Joe Bird, VINO was found in his
room, near Lumber and Bay streets, on the
morning of Oct %, with his head split
open. The verdict of the jury was to the
effect that death had been caused by blows
from an ak. dealt by Robert Jenkins, and
fixed the grade Of the homicide at murder.
The prior history Of the case is suhl-
clently familiar. On the morning Of oct.
% the man was found In his bed, his
head split open in two places and in an
unconscious condition. He was removed
to the Georgia Inhrmary and subsequent
ly to the home of one of his relatives,
where he fingered until last Sunday ana
died
There was no one about the place who
had seen the fatal blows struck and the
evidence that connects Jenkins with the
homicide is almost purely circums tanual.
Nevertheless, as it was given TO the coro-
ner's jury last night, 1t is strong enough,
and serves to fix the crime upon jenkins
with a certainty whose force he win find
it difficult to escape
When Bird was found In his bed. num-
Der of the negroes who had been accustom-
ed to frequent the eating house which he
kept, said they had seen jenkins about the
place on the night preceding the homicide,
and that they had left him in the room
with Bird when they retired to their rooms
or their homes. 1t was thought from the
first that jenkins was the guilty man, and
all the efforts OF the police and detectives
have been bent upon his capture. Appar
entity he had vanished, and it was not pos
sible 10 discover him anywhere about the
city, in any of his accus tomed haunts.
The fact that he was a convicted burglar,
who had just completed a hVe-years' term
in the penitentary, added strength to the
opinions OF the police that he was guilty,
and they hunted him high and low.
1t was not until Thursday that he was
captured Then it was that sister of
Bird who had been most bitter In her de-
nunciatlons of his murderer and most ac-
tive and vigilant In her efforts 10 detect
him, observed the man, jenkins, sneaking
into n house on Henry street, near the
corner of West Broad, and revealed this
fact to Patroman Crosby. CROSBY made
the arrest and landed his man at the sta
tion house. The name OF the woman IN
whose house the arrest was made, is Lii
Ian Jenkins, though she is no relation of
the man arrested.
When he was taken to the station house
jenkins denied with great positiveness
that he had been anywhere near the house
OF Bird for a week preceding the COM
mission of the crime with which he was
charged or that he knew anything about
1t. He claimed that he was a resident of
White Bluff and that his occasional Wis
Its to the city were made for the purpose
of carrying one of his relatives, who was
a vendor of fish and oysters, to and fro.
He said that since the visit to the eating
/ house of jenkins, a week before the MUIR
derous assault, he had not been in the
city, and that therefore, he had never
| heard either of the assault or of its fatal
| consequence.
The witnesses who testified before the
coroner's jury were Tom Scott Son Thorn
as and Lillian jenkins. The two men had
been at Birds eating house on the night
! preceding the murder, had laughed and
talked with both Bird and Jenkins, and
| stated In the most positive terms that they
could not be mistaken in saying that Jen-
1 hAllS was NlGfG luGS 6diu lNdI 1olT0 ndu
/ been i'll, and hat he had gone to bed even
| before they had left. While they were
| there there had been a quarrel, and Bro
| had accused jenkins of theft. They left
| the men, long after midnight, still in the
room together and still snarling at each
| other.
The next they heard about the matter
/ was that Bird had been found in his bed.
with the two terrible wounds from the ak
/ in his head. They had hurried to the
/ house, and behind the bed they found the
hat which Jenkins had been wearing
when they had last seen him. There were
signs of a struggle that must have oc-
CURED before the assaiant had succeeded
in tying the hands and feet of his victim.
/ in which effort he must have been aided
! by the weakness consequent upon Birds
| Illness There were further indications
that Bird had been robbed.
This circums tantal evidence was cor
roborated by a statement made to the
coroner's jury by Lillian Jenkins the wo-
/ man in whose house the arrest of the al
/ legged murderer had been made She said
/ that when jenkins came to her house on
! Thursday morning he had appeared
gloomy and respondent, and 1t was evil
dent from his bearing that there was n
| burden on his mind of which he desired
| to free il. After some inquiries from her
as 10 his trouble he told her the whole
story of the attack upon Bird. He said
that he ard Bird had had a quarrel earlier
in the morning or late on the preceding
night, and that Bird had accused him of
being a thief. He had been left, in Bird $
! room, and after while his intended vic
tim had fallen asleep.
This was his desired opportunity. While
Bird was slumberng he tied his hands,
and after he was awake his feet There
had been a. struggle and an attempt from
the bound man to cry out. He had STA d
these with the ak that he found in the
room, and catching up what money he
could find, had hurIiediy left the place
The woman said that jenkins had made
this confession TO her on the very morn
ing that he was paced under arrest
With such evidence before it. 1t neeied
but little time for the jury 10 make up its
verdict. 1t fixed the crime upon jenkins
and gave 1t as the opinion of the jury that
IL was a deliberate and malicious muir
der. jenkins has not been advised yet OF
the finding at the inquest, nor wiz he be
| until this morning, when he will BE- re-