Evening journal., 1902-04-28
NEGRO NOW SAYS HE
WAS FORCED TO CONFESS
TO COLLINS MURDER
Continued From First Page.

the confession. Search was made for |
the place where the money and the
bloody shirt were alleged to be buried, |
but no trace OF them could be found, |
and the negro did not point out the
places where they had been buried. He
even asserted that he had
never been upon the place before and
that he knew nothing OF It,
AT times the negro would say yes or
no to certain questions which were
asked concerning the murder, but his
answers were unsatisfactory, and gave
the impression that he did not know
what he was talking about
The two boys. Robert arittingham
and George Phippin, who had pre-
yiously made the somewhat unaccept-
ed statement that they had seen man
fleeing across the Collins fields and
lost sight of him in the Branch, were
sought out They positively identified
the man, claiming they could not be
mistaken.
These boys have previously stated
that it was about o'clock in the af-
ternoon Of the Collins murder when
they saw a man going into the Branch.
The woman was murdered between Z
and 8 o'clock in the morning.
It is not believed that the murderer
would remain in the vicinity so long
IL his motive was robbery. When the
boys were examined by State Detec-
tive Francis the day after the murder
they said they could not tell whether
.-e man they saw was white or black.
i a contradictory feature of the con-
fession was the statement of Waites as
to where he crossed the Branch Ac-
lcording to the story of the man in the
confession. he crossed at this point on
a bicycle When the Branch was ex-
amined at that point it was ascertain
ed that he could not have crossed It
without swimming. Even swimming
would have been hard.
After going about the place in q vain
search for several hours and attracting
considerable attention from the Gu
rious crowds which followed, Sheriff
Hart and the prisoner started back to
! Laurel.
Magistrate Hearn gave Waite a
hasty hearing and the officials pro
ceeded to hustle their prisoner back
J but by the time the party had reached
Dostics Hotel. where they stopped for
supper before starting on the return
trip, there was a menaeing sea of hu.
manity before the hotel door.
! Il is admitted that the confession
agreed with the story told by Collins
! as to the conversation with his wife
in reference to going to the field with
= the seeds. 1t also tailed with the
story about footprints found near the
d Branch. The State detectives. how.
5 ever. think that Waite will be able tC
show he was in Princess Anne, Nd. al
the time the murder was committed.
Excitement Is Great
e The excitement has not been s.,
r great here since the murder Instea,
q of going TO church. people gathered
around the hotels and the Jail and dis
+ cussed the crime and every develop.
ment Some believed the negros con-
lession and went about saying: Il told
YOU So while others insisted that he
was demented, and pointed out weak
places in the confession. Detectives
Francis and Ratledge were not here
and their probable future action was
discussed.
1t was about 10 o'clock last night
when the prisoner was brought back
TO the Jail here At least 500 persons
were congregated around the prison.
! They struggled to get a look at the
prisoner No threats Of violence were
made