The age-herald., 1900-09-22
PLAIN TALES
 FROM THE HILLS MoonShiners on Trial for Mur-
 dering Thompson. NOTES AND HIS NElGHB0RS Being Tried in the United States Court -Thompson's Widow Tells of P the Murder in All Its
 Gruesome Details
NOTES AND HIS NElGHBORS

| The unWr1tten law ol those mOuftdiheerS, | whose chief occupation is the illicit manu- | facture of whisky is death to the informer, | This shown in the Marion Bearden 1 case, and in the cases begun yesterday by 1 Walter Notes, Jasper Robinson, John Lit l tlejohn and Mark Blankenship, who are | jointly on trial in the United States Court | for conspiracy to intimidate a government
 witness, resulting in the death of w. A. 1 Thompson This is famous case, the de- l fendants having been convicted once, and given a new trial by the United States Su- | preme Court. The selection of jury in
 this case consumed the entire morning, a | venire of seventy-two being almost ex- l hausted. The government had five chal- l lenges and the defendant twenty. The jury l is as follows: John B. Meyers, l.. R. Ken
 drck, James Shores, George H. Miller, Jr., l Houston Durrett, Jr., A. D. Heath (col-
 ored), Wesley Robinson, Samuel c. Patter-
 son, Andrew Kemp, James Copeland, 1 Claude Revels, J. D. Striphng. | The former trial of this case consumed | thirteen days. There are over eighty wit | nesses to be examined, and only two were | examined yesterday. The government Is | represented by Assistant District Attorney l e. w. 6dhidSOh V" oldltfiiSf, anu l the defendants by Attorneys Lee Cowart and Sam Weaver.
 l When court convened yesterday afternoon l the governments witnesses were first sworn. They stood in line behind the bar, l extending the entire width of the court | room. The defendants witnesses were | then sworn. In battle array they also | reached across the court room. Both | armies then by command of Judge Swayne | filed out of the court room, as the attor- | neys desired them sequestered- Judge | Swayne explained to the witnesses that | they must be careful not to tell one an- | other what they had sworn to on the stand so they could all tell the same story. | The judge gave them a little plain talk about lying.
 Assistant District Attorney Davidson
 then read the indictment to the jury It is lengthy containing seven counts. This Is done to catch the defendant Ter gwine or CT comin." The jury kept their eyes on
 the district attorney and the defendants kept their eyes the jury. The defendants then entered a plea of
 not guilty through Attorney Lee Cowart. Widows Wrongs
 AhIS. HOlHpSOl, HllS LII lue
 man. was the first witness. She told with evident candor the story of the killing of
 her husband on March II, 1898. He had left home Q little after "sun up" on Monday
 morning to go to Syllacauga. He did not return home and she never again saw him alive.
 On Wednesday she sent her 15-year-old son Lee to hunt for him. He found him dead near the road, shot in three places. The son came home and told his mother,
 and she went to the spot where her hus- band was lying. Several friends went with her. The trees and bushes showed signs of trampling and there were many tracks in the road. The body had been robbed and placed at the side of the road He had left home with ten $2 bills and about 75 cents in change. When found there was
 only cents in his pocketbook, which was in his pocket and stained with blood. Ar rewards she got back $14 of the money in the United States Court-the judge ordered it paid to her.
 Her Poor Burden She took the body home that afternoon, after the inquest, and it was buried the following day. On the next day, Friday, she went and examined the surrounding
 
 from where the body was, tracks of ami mals where they had been hitched. One was horse and one a mule The latter had a reel foot, which made a peculiar track. She saw the same track in the road between John Littlejohns and the place where the body was found. The witness identified all four of the de- fendants, who were neighbors of hers: also a gun which had belonged to Chess Notes None of the defendants were present at the inquest came to the funeral except Lttlejohn.
 She told of having gone with her hus- band to Birmingham to testify before the grand jury. She said her husband had re- ported the defendants for illicit distilling because they kept on accusing him of stealing whisky. She had overheard Mark Blankipship say her husband had report ed the last one he ever would report" Said she had seen Jasper Robinson and Walter Notes at still but not the other two defendants. Had never heard any of the defendants threaten to kill an inform CT. My husband reported them men in
 1SsS"
 Not a Shirt Waist Man The next witness was Jesse J. Phillips. He testified that he was city marshal at Syllacauga in March, 1S9S and that he went with some deputy marshals and destroyed still at BlanRinships house, and arrest ed Blankinship ten miles from home the same day.
 ''We brought him to Birmingham and he asked me who reported him. I refused to tell, but he said he suspected Doc (W Al
 Thompson, and If it was he would kill him If he swung for It. A week or two after that Thompson was killed. I did not tell this to the commissioner, but told Captain Bell about it before any reward was of fered for the arrest of Thompson's assail- ants. This was in July. I went to work to try and arrest them before hearing of the reward"
 "But when you learned of it, asked Mir. Cowart, "you pulled off your coat and
 went to work?"
 "No, sir"
 "Not hot enough in July to take 1t off, suppose" commented MT. Cowart
 At the conclusion of MT. Phillips testi-
 mony court adjourned until 10 o'clock this
 morning.
 Bankruptcy sourt Petitions in bankruptcy were filed yes-
 terday by Tom Edwards and Daniel Bur-
 son, both of Birmingham.