The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1901-01-04
negro MURDERS White MIN.
Killed with . Bar OF Iron at Cocoa Mon.
day Afternoon.

late or the killing OF white
man at Cocoa. Sheriff Brown went to
Cocoa on the freight that night. Arriv-
ing there he found that @. Burke, quite a
white man, whose business
was that of mending umbrellas, had been
killed that afternoon, his body having
been found by colored man, an hour or
so after the killing, near the Cocoa Ice
Works.
There was no direct suspicion as to the
person, but two suppositions were adj
vanced by the citizens of that place, one
TO the effect that the crime was commit
ted by mulatto negro, the other that
the murderer was a rather short, stout
negro with regulation color. The latter
superstition ultimately proved correct.
The coroner's inquest was held Tues
day morning, when the following served
as jurors:
S. P Taylor, foreman; S. S. Jones, c.
Thigpen, G. w. Crabb, z. c. Johnson
and ]. A. Paine.
dead man showed that death was caused
instantaneously by blow from bar of
iron, which struck him on the side of
the head just at the rim Of his hat. The
victim fell forward upon his hands and
never moved or struggled.
While the inquest was being held, Joe
Henderson, now the prisoner, who has
confessed that he killed Burke with the
bar of iron, came into the room. He was
closely watched by several persons, but
did not exhibit any nervousness.
As the body was about TO be turned
over to VIM. Hindle, the undertaken, to
prepare for burial, Hindle asked Hender-
son to assist him with the burial prepara-
tions; to this Henderson demurred, and
shortly afterward he was placed under
arrest by Deputy Sheriff Steve Jones. At
this time there was no suspicion resting
upon anyone in town, and Sheriff Brown
was making every endeavor to locate the
guilty party outside of the place.
On being pretty closely questioned
Henderson soon acknowledged that he
committed the crime, and as further evil
dence against himself told where the bar
of iron would be found in the scrub, only
a little way from where the body was
found.
Before making his confession he was
asked if he had not changed his clothes,
and answering yes, it was found on fur
ther examination that there was human
blood on the clothes he had taken off.
His confession was given directly after
this discovery, and it was also found out
that he had his grip packed all ready to
leave on the next train.
Sheriff Brown experimenting that the
negro might be lynched if kept in Cocoa
until the next train, secured horse and
buggy and left Cocoa Tuesday afternoon,
here that night. The sheriff
states that his prisoner, who is only
about Is years old, slept most of the way
driving from Cocoa to this place.
The crime is supposed TO have been
for robbery. Henderson,
however, only secured about five or six
dollars in silver, which was probably in
Burke's rear pocket, as about two dollars
"CiC iouhN III VI bllC OtitCT
pockets of the dead man.
Henderson will no doubt secure
speedy trial, as the adjourned fall term of
circuit court is now in session here, and
Judge Jones decided Wednesday to sum-
mon as many of the grand jurors who
served last month as possible, and true
bill was rendered that afternoon charging
Henderson with murder in the first de-
gree.
MURDER IN COCOA.
From our Cocoa Correspondent.
One of the most audacious crimes ever
was perpetrated within the
limits of Cocoa on the last day
Of the old year.
An old man, c. Burke, by name, had
become a familiar object to the people of
this vicinity as he travelled from house to
house mending umbrellas. He was a
quiet old man, following a
legitimate business and earning his living
by honest toll.
On Monday afternoon, about 2:3O
o'clock, a teamster passing on the road
leading to the Nail property, west of
town, saw the old man lying by the road
side and spoke to him, but as he did not
answer thought him asleep and went to
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