The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-22
FANNIE BRYANK
 IS,PARDONED Grave Doubt of Her Guilt
 the Plea. SERVING LIFE SENTENCE Last Act in the FamcS Dick Hawes Cas}
 --sS s.. She Was oharg,sS hth complioity in the MwsS of Mrs Hawes' for Which She Was Con-
 victed-Released Today.
SERVING LIFE SENTENCE

After serving twelve years of life sentence in the penitentiary, Fannie Bryant. a negro woman convicted in the Criminal Court of Jefferson County | December F, 1sS9 for the murder of Mrs. Emma Hawes, wife of Dick Hawes, who | was hanged for the same crime, was | yesterday granted an unconditional par don by Governor Jelks and will today leave, the State prison at Speiglors, | where she has for several years worked in the seamstress department.
 It is said that the woman will be em- ployed as a domestic by Mrs. s. B, | Trapp wife of the former President of the State Convict Board. through whose efforts she was pardoned. The pardon of the Bryant woman re- calls one of the greatest tragedies in the | history of Alabama.
 | In December, 1888. the body of May
 Hawes, eldest daughter of Dick Hawes. | railroad engineer, was found in East
 Lake, an artificial lake near Birming-. ham. An investigation was started, and
 it was learned that Mrs. Hawes mother
 of May. and Trenc the youngest daughter | of Mir. and Mrs. Hawes, were missing. | A search was instituted, and, after | several days, their bodies were found in Lake View, an artificial lake near the home of Hawes. -4
 The whole State was thrilled wh;n l Dick Hawes, well known engineer on the Georgia Pacific Railroad was arrest- l ed charged with having murdered nis I -n.8N lf rested as he stepped from a passenger train. He was accompanied by young | woman whom subsequent developments showed he had just married in Colun- | bus Miss.
 Detectives were put to work on the case I and Fannie Bryant. negro woman, who had lived near the 'HaweS familyfsat Lake View, was arrested charged with | having aided Hawes In the murder of his 1 family.
 While Hawes was inCarcerated in the
 Jefferson County jail the old rock build l ing was stormed by mob and under
 the direction of Joseph Smith, sheriff of
 the county, the deputy sheriffs fired into the crowd. killing twelve. persons, among them Postmaster Throckmorton, one CT l the best known young men in ,Birmins-
 ham. Subsequently, Hawes was tried, | convicted and sentenced to be hanged. | He was executed in Birmingham pro-
 testing his innocence with his last | breath.
 On December F. 1889. Fannie Bryant was convicted of murder in the first de- 1 gree by a jury in the Criminal Court or l Jefferson County. She was sentenced l to life imprisonment and was sent to
 Speigners where she has been steadily | employed as seamstress. Her record | as a convict has been good
 For some time after the conviction and
 sentence of the woman efforts were made by her friends and relatives to
 secure her release. The case was ap- | pealed to the Supreme Court, but the | Judgment of the lower court was affirmed. | During the administration of her hus- l band as President of the Convict Depart ment. the attention of Mrs s. B. Trapp l of Montgomery was attracted to the l Bryant woman, and Mrs. Trapp interest | ed herself in securing her release from the penitentiary. She took up the mat ter with Judge Samuel E. Greene, pre- | siding judge of the Jefferson County
 Criminal Court, who tried the Bryant wo-
 man. With statement from Judge 1 Greene that he doubted the guilt of Fam | nie Bryant, Mrs. Trapp took the case to Governor Jelks several months ago. The l Governor referred the petition to the Ad- visory Pardoning Board, which recom- l mended the woman as subject for ex- 1 ecutive cIemency. Then Governor Jelks
 advised Mrs. Trapp that the proper news
 paper notice must be given. She gave 1 thirty days notice, and at the expiration | of that time Governor Jelks referred the
 petition to the PardOning Board. created by the new Constitution.
 | The new board recommended the par don at its meeting yesterday morning l and before leaving the city yesterday af- | ternoon the Governor affixed his sigma l ture to the papers which give Fanme
 Bryant her liberty.
 Judge Greene in recommending the wo- 1 man for executive clemency, furnished | the Governor with transcript of the | testimony in the case, and said that he
 unhesitatingly declared that there was grave doubt of her guilt. He also gave the Governor review of the incidents leading up to the crime and commented upon the character of some of the wit l nesses.
 "Fannie Bryant was convicted for the
 murder of Mrs Emma Hawes, the wife of | Dick Hawes," writes Judge Greenei whose dead body was found weighted l down with iron in Lakeview, near Bir- 1 mingham. Dick Hawes. the husband of
 the woman. had already been convicted of the murder of May Hawes. his daugh- ter. child of or years of age, whose dead body was found in East Lake. about six miles from Birmingham. Both Fan nie Bryant and Dick Hawes were con | victed of murder in the first degree. The | punishment of the former was fixed by the jury at Imprisonment in the pent+' | tentiary for life and the punishment of
 the latter was fixed at death.
 Fannie Bryant lived near Hawes's
 house and the testimony showed that she
 had occasionally worked for the Hawes family. The Hawes family was composed
 of the following: Dick Hawes Mrs. Elm
 ma Hawes. his wife. and their three chil-
 dren, May, Irene and Willie. As stated above, the body of May (she was the old
 est of the three children was touhd III
 East Lake. Evidence at the coroner ln-
 quest pointed to Dick Hawes as the gull
 ty agent and a warrant was sworn out
 for his arrest. He was arrested on d
 train in Birmingham. having Just ,e'ui n1
 cd from Columbus, Miss where ne i'Au