The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-05
PARDON FANNIE BRYANT
SHE WAS CONVICTED AS DICK
 HAwES'S ACCoMPLICE.
Advisory Pardoning Board at the State Capitol Recommends Lib erty to the Woman Who is
 Serving a Life Sentence.

The Dick Hawes murder case celebrat- ed throughout the United States because of the attempted lynching in Birmingham of Hawes in 1888 and the repulse of the mob by the sheriff wherein a dozen cit izens were killed, was exhumed from the oblivion of thirteen years on yesterday when the Alabama Railroad Commission' acting as an Advisory Pardoning Board recommended that Fannie Bryant, Hawes's aocomplice be pardoned.
 The papers of recommendation were sent to Governor Jelks and he will prob ably take the case under consideration within a few days.
 Dick Hawes. a railroad engineer. it will be remembered. was arrested, charged children. Fannie Bryant, a negro woman. was arrested with him and charged with being an accomplice. Hawes was con- victed and hanged for the crime. The Bryant woman was sentenced to life inn prisonment and has been in the State penitentiary since that time.
 The Dick Hawes case was the cause celebre in the criminal annals of Ala bama. It was shown that in order to marry a younger woman than his wife Hawes killed Mrs. IIawes and her two children, and threw their bodies in lakes near Birmingham Then he went to Co., lumhus, Miss, married a young woman, wholly innocent of the crime, and. with this bride of day, returned to Btrming- ham, stepped off passenger train and was taken in hand by police authorities CHdTHtu WllH tIlS CIlluC bhONhCO the whole Southern country.
 When Hawes had been confined In a prison cell additional light was turned upon the heinous crime and the citizen ship of .ne State was stunned by its das- tardly details. It developed that Hayes had lived near Lakeview where the crime as committed. The body of Mrs. Haw"s and one of the children was found in the lake at Lakeview and the body of May Hawes was found in East Lake, several miles away.
 Thread by thread detectives worked on the case and as each horrible detail was published the community became more and more fren2Ied. In the meantime, Fannie Bryant a negress who had been employed as a cook in the Hawes fami- ly, was arrested charged with complicity
 Finally the crisis came when the Jef- ferson County jail in which Hawes and the Bryant woman were ccnhned, was stormed by a mob and Sherin Joe Smith appealed to the Governor to send soldiers to the scene. The jail was stormed a second time and the sherir with his dep uties trained his guns down dark alley that soon flowed with blood When the time of reckoning the dead came. several prominent citizens, among them Postmas- ter Throckmorton. one of the most prom inent young men in the Magic City, were in the number.
 Then followed days of intense anxiety. The life of the sheriff was threatened and men swore that they would hang Dick Hawes if they had to take the old rock jail of Jefferson County down piece
 Sheriff Smith called for more soldiers and within a day nearly every soldier Of the National Guard of Alabama was en- camped in the streets of the Magic Clty which had so recently run red with blood of slain citizens. Two weeks these citt- zen soldiers marched about the streets with Judge Thomas G. Jones. then Colo nei Jones, of the End Alabama Infantry in command
 The excitement subsided. men grew cooler and the soldiers were sent to their home stations. Later Dick Hawes was tried and legally hanged and tanhle Bry- ant went to the penitenthry.
 When Captain s. B. Trapp was Pres ident of the State ConEict Board 1t ia came under the eye of Mrs Trapp. who took an interest in her case. Mrs. TrapD was 50 much interested that she gathered information about her conviction. A law yer was secured and the case was pre- scnted to the Governor and bv him sent 10 the Advisory Pardoning Board It was not the first time Fannie Bryant had appealed to a Goyernor TOT ciemency. the sentence several years ago.
 At the earnest solicitation of Mrs. Tramp. the Board took up the case yes- terday and after discussing 1t at some ernor Jelks for a pardon for the woman. The recommendation to the Governor sets out that after full investigation into the case if was found that the evidence dis closed the fact that there were grave doubts of the guilt of the woman The Board shows further that the woman Is recommended to executive clemencY by Judge Samuel E. Greene. Judge of the Criminal Court of Jefferson County. who says that there were doubts as to the guilt of the woman Judge Greene pre- sided at the trial of the Bryant woman.
 The Board also recommended the par don of Jeff Rountree. a negro convict of Calhoun County. sentenced for assault and battery to two years. The endorse ment says that the evidence in the case was conflicting and that there is reason to believe that Rountree acted in self defense when the crime was committed.
 The papers in these cases will go to Governor Jelks today but 1t is douhtful if he will announce any action upon them within the week.
 'Hist." exclaimed the villain of the melo- drama 'Ci'Want You ain't been hissed vet"