The age-herald., 1901-05-12
COLD IN THE EMBRACE OF DEATH
 LIES BODY OF UNKNOWN NEGRO
He Was Shot at Weems Friday Night by Two Boys Who Mstook Him for Jim Brown, the Negro Wanted in
 St. Clair County for FiendiSh Assault

Stretched on the cooling board in the morgue at the establishment of the War ner-Smiley Undertawdng Company is the body, cold and numb. of an unknown ne gro. Eight clear, sharp and distinct bull let holes show in portions of the dead form These holes were made by balls frora the revolvers of two young and un- known boys, whose identity Is hidden by heavy smoke of mystery.
 The negro was killed at little station the Southern Railway, about 6:30 o'clock Friday afternoon. and was done in plain view of Conductor Allen of freight train No. A, which at the time was going east. The shots were fired by two young men, one of whom looked as # he might be r years of age. and the other a boy of % years.
 The body was brought to Birmingham t1,is morning at 10 o'clock by the crew of train No. 2S7, an extra freight It was taken from the train at Woodlawn by q member of the Warner-Smiley Company, and brought into the city There is a close resemblance about the form to the description Of the negro assaulter, Jim Brown, and 1t is stated that the men who did the shooting did so under the appre- hension that 1t was the hunted man. A number of springvile citizens who have known Brown for some months have positively sworn that the body is not that of Jim Brown The coroner is now trying to discover whose body it Is. In the pock- cts of the dead man were found letter written from Florence, Ala, on April IS. and addressed to Paul Sharp. This let ter Is signed by Charley Winston.
 Story of the Shooting.
 The story of the shooting as told to Coroner Paris by Conductor Allen. and afterwards related to a reporter of the Age-Herald. is as follows:
 "The negro swung our train somewhere between Gate City and Irondale, and ns we pulled up nt Weems got off on the same side of the track that I did and as did one of my brakemen. He walked up the track close to the brakeman. Sud- denly two young boys jumped up on a coal car. yelling: Yes, you've have you Immediately they began firing from their pistols and the negro began running, | They emptied their revolv-rs at the run ming form as the man went under the train and ran about one hundred yards into the old field, where he reIl Lad
 q walked up to where he fell and the two fellows said to me: We've killed tn wrong man. Then they turned ant walked away That was the last saw oi | them. There were no other men in the neighborhood at that time, though during the day a large number of men were said | to have been about the place searching | for Jim Brown. We notified Coroner Paris
 
 another woman in the case to whom both the defendant and the deceased paid attentions It was hinted at in the evi- dence on the trial of the defendant that there was some jealousy between the de- fendant and the deceased on account Of this woman. Miss Emma Hunt. Tho feud grew until on the first day of No- vember 1894 Major Webb, while hauling corn from his field near his home, was waylaid and shot to death by gun loao- cd with buckshot- There was great CT fort made at the time to apprehend the criminal but there was no evidence sur | fciently strong to detain any one for triai before a jury, and so affairs went along until in the fall of 1899 when the grand | jury of the county found an indictment | against Peter James Tatum for the Kill | ing of Webb, which was made possioie' as thought now, by the enmity between | the defendant and Miss Emma Hunt The evidence in this case was purely circum- stantial; and the defendant made an er- fort to establish an alibi. but 1t was with. out avail with the jury. The defenoant will likely appeal his case to the supreme Court.