The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-23
RIVER DID NOT HIDE CRIME
BODY OF MURDERED GIRL SUNK
WITH HEAVY WEIGHTS.


Family and Church Deacon,
Begged to Go to Jail Before Fam
lily Was Notified.
Griffin, Ca, April 22.--The body of a
young girl not out of her teens swollen
and distorted almost beyond recognition,
a large bullet hole just over her right eye
and centrally through her head, Weighted
down with almost 100 pounds of
cd plows and axes,all begrimed with mud
and dirt, the tender flesh bruised and
blackened and eaten away in places by the
scavengers of the river, was the gruesome
find of j. r. Rivers and X NJ. Moore,
while dragging in ten feet of water for a
fish basket in Flint river fifteen miles
from this place, yesterday afternoon.
The crime is one of the m1st horrible,
most dastardly in the criminal history of
the state. Even the Crawford case, with
all its horror, surpassed ID but slightly.
Perhaps the worst feature of the whole
| business is that two lives were taken and
one of them was that of an innocent un-
born babe. This latter fact was suspected
and was thought to be the motive for the
| crime. But IL became an assured fact this
morning when the coroner ordered an au-
| topsy and indisputable evidence of 1t was
| found.
Baptist Deacon in Jail.
| A prominent and prosperous farmer,
with children grown and married, dea-
con in the Baptist Church at this place,
man who has always stood as high in the
confidence and respect of his fellow men
as any man in the county, is behind the
bars of the county jail charged by the
coroner's jury with the commission of this
| crime.
That Keriin is glad 10 be in jail is at
| tested by the fact of his having begged
to be put there before the young woman's
family was notified Of the finding of her
| mutilated body
On the night Of April 13 Pearl Knott, the
| 1S-year-old daughter of William Knott,
| disappeared. Yesterday, while Rivers and
Moore were out fishing with a long pole
with a drag attached, and were feeling
along the bottom of the river, they struck
something and heard the click Of metal
against metal. They drew it up with con-
siderable effort, and were Mortified and
stunned when a shoe and then bare hu-
man leg came up before them. Dropping
the pole they ran two miles to Woolsley
to report the nasty find.
Their Horrible Find.
A number of citizens proceeded to the
spot and, after about two hours hard
| 1oI IN bri,, ~,
the land. The iron weights and bullet hole
told the tale of murder most foul. The
murderer had chosen a spot to hide his
victim that only the hand of providence
could have been expected to reveal.
A large pine tree with spreading
branches had been uprooted by the wind
and had fallen over a deep place in the
river Between the upturned roots and
the bank from whence they were torn is
a deep space about four feet wide, and the
murderer or murderers-for many think it
would have been impossible for one to
have accomplished 1t, must have had a
difficult task in getting the body weighted
down, as IL was over this space and along
the tree for at least thirty feet where they
dropped it down among the branches.
Left Home with Ker1in.
Coroner Davenport impanelled jury
this morning, and among the Witnesses
was Mrs. Ollie Wilson. who testified as
follows:
II recognize the body as that of my SIS
ter, Pearl Knott. The last time 1 saw her
was at I or 8 O'Clock on the 18th of this
month. She was at my house and left
with George Kerlin. have not seen her
from the time she left till this
morning. | asked him where he was taxi
ing Pearl. and he said he was going with
her for his son Lewis to marry her.
INV sister told me before leaving thai
George Kerlin told her not to tell her
dearest sister where they were going. She
told me that she was in a delicate condi-
zion by George Kerlin at that time. They
left my house in top buggy, with a box
or trunk behind"
one witness /swore that Kerlin Offered
him $25 to swear that he saw him on the
night Of the 18th about one mile from Ker-
Inns home with q sick mule This wit
ness, w. j. Stubbs, asked Kerlin if the
woman would ever be produced, and Ker.
lin said: II don't think she WILL
stubbs tsld Kerlin that he could not
swear that way.
Almost Conclusive.
The evidence against Kerlin was al
most conclusive, as much so as clrcum.
stantial evidence can be. He was seen
near the spot where the corpse was found
| nv.
again about the same time on Friday fol-
lowing the' young woman's disappearance
He was not seen from the time he tool,
the young woman into the buggy with
him, at O'Clock Thursday night. until
about day Friday morning, when he reach.
ga home. When his wife got after him
about being out all night. he tod her
he had a sick mule. and he got so wor.
ried over doctorlng him that he laid dowr
ana went 10 sleep, and had Just walked up