The age-herald., 1900-04-26
4 FOUL MURDER
 AT PRATT CITY
Germain TrouIIiouS Met Death
 al an ASSaSSin's Hands.
FIVE NEGROES ARRESTED
Strong Circumstantial Evidence Against Them Brought to Light by Coro. ner Dallas-Robbery the Mo-
 tive of the Crime.

Germain Troulious, well-known and highly respected French resident of Pratt City, was foully murdered at an early hour yesterday morning, and Sam Randy,
 a negro employed at the Ensley furnaces,
 and five other negroes-Jack Bandy Gus
 Davis Arthur Randy and Dock Harmon,
 are in jail charged with the commission of the crime, the motive of which is sup posed to have been robbery.
 | Sam Randy, the supposed ring leader, and his brother Jack, and Gus Davis, who | were arrested as accessories, were brought | to Birmingham late yesterday afternoon and locked up in the county jail, to pre- | vent lynching, as the French colony of the little town is terribly wrought up over the crime, and it was feared an attempt | would be made to mete out swift vengance l to the accused. The other negroes were
 allowed to remain in the Pratt City pris- on, as the feeling against them was not | so strong.
 Where It Was Committed The murder was committed at the inter- section of the alley with Fourth street, near the colored Presbyterian church. James Meagher, Jr., and Robert Laird, who were driving across Pratt City to one of the mines discovered the body of poor Troullious. Coroner Dallas was notified and at once began an investigation, which developed the fact that MT Troullious was | killed by blow on the top of the head with some blunt instrument The right | parietal bone was fractured for four inches l from the edge of the forehead, the frac- l ture being triangular in shape and of such
 a nature as to cause instant death There | were also two flesh wounds on either side 1 of the back of his head evidently made with a different instrument from that l which rendered the victim lifeess. These wounds were located about the | juncture of the paretal and oecipital l bones but no fracture was sustained here I the blow on top having evidently caused instaneous death.
 There are several residences in the vicin- | ity of the murder, in fact, the body was l found not over ten or fifteen feet from l rooms which were occupied, but no out | cry of any kind was heard by the residents | during the night.
 The object of the murder was clearly rob | bery and the parties who committed the | crime were certainly aware of the amount | of money Mir Troulious had on his person. | something in the neighborhood of $2OO as | he had this amount with him when he left | home Tuesday morning. It was evident, | however, that the murderers were scared away by something before they completed l their work as $SO16 was found on the per- | son of the dead man, with his watch and
 papers. The two side pockets of his coat
 were found turned wrong side out, as well
 as his trousers side pockets.
 The pockets of his vest, the inside pock- l cts of his coat and the hip and watch | pockets of his trousers were not touched, l and each of these contained money or l various denominations, his pocketpook found in the interior of his vest containing | $50 in bills. It was plainly apparent that | the murderers were frightened away be- l fore their work was complete. A pair of | brass knucks were found in his right l hand, being his only weapon.
 l Mir. Troullious left his home Tuesday
 morning about o'clock saying he was going to Ensley. He was accustomed to l remain out late at night, and sometimes l all night in the pursuit of his business,
 that of buying script, hence no great un- easiness was felt over his absence there,
 or search for him would have been inst- l tuted earlier in the night.
 | Mr. Troullious left a wife and several
 children He had other relatives in the | place also. He was a quiet character, and
 was very generally liked.
 The coroner found strong circumstan- l cial evidence against Sam Randy and the 1 other negroes. He discovered blood
 stained ax in the possession of negro woman named Lena Harney, which she l claimed to have borrowed from Sam, who 1 lived in the second adjoining hose He 1 also found in Sams possession small
 cloth money sack, which was identified 1 by a dozen witnesses as having belonged l to the murdered man. The sack con- l tained $1, ,103, and Sam was dressed up as | if preparing to leave home. The arrests were made by oroner Dallas assisted by | Officers Hale and Weaver of the Pratt | City force, and as soon as it become known much excitement was created, and acting | on the advice of Mayor Hudnell, the pris- | oners were brought to Birmingham. The coroner will continue his inyestiga- | tion today at 2 o'clock, when he hopes to | unearth additional facts.