The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-11
SAVED YOUNG'S NECK
VERDICT OF JURY GAVE FOUNTAIN
MURDERER A LIFE SENTENCE.
EC0MMENDED TO MERCY.
LIKE STEWART HE ESCAPED
DEATH ON THE GALLONS.

In Little More Than Three Hours the
Trial Was COncIuded-MOther of
the Murdered Roy the Principal
Witness for the State-She Re
counted on the Stnnd the Incl
dents of the FatefuI Night-YOung
and stewart Recognized by Her
Beyond All ouestion-YOunG Claim
ed He Had Left savannah Long
BefOre-.Tury WAS Out Less Than
Fifteen Minutes.
Like his companion in guilt, Richard
Young has been saved from death on
the gallows and is condemned to i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary for life.
Thus have Young and James Stewart,
by whom Dover Fountain was beat
en- to death. escaped the full penalty
for their brutal crime.
The trial of Young took place in the
Superior Court yesterday and in its
entirety consumed little more than
three hours. In that short time the
jury had been selected, the evidence
given from the stand, the arguments
of counsel and the charge of the court
delivered the jury's deliberations con-
Guided and its verdict rendered and
the sentence to hard labor in the pen
itentiary for life imposed.
There were no new or startling in
cidents developed at the trial of Young
ard in all its main features the evil
dence followed that which had been
given at the trial of his accomplish
Stewart. As at that trial the principal
witness for the state was Mrs Foun-
tain, the mother of the boy Stewart
and Young had killed.
Mrs. FOuntain's Testimony.
Mrs. Fountain recounted with simple
but dramatic intensity the incidents of
that dreadful night, March q, when
her boy had met his death. She said
she had been aroused from sleep by
the noise of the struggle and had rush
ed out of her room to see Dover strug-
Cling in the grasp of two nogres.
1T is Jim Stewart and Richard
Young" he had called out to her and
as she came nearer and by the bright
light of the moon recognized the mems
faces she had repeated his words. AS
she did SO Richard Young struck her
in the head with an ak. The scarcely
healed wound that had been thus in
f1icted, Mrs. Fountain showed to the
jury,
Dover called to her to go and get
his gun and she FASTENED back into the
room to find 1t; when she returned the
negroes had released her son and were
scurrying away from the house Dover
took the weapon from her and fired
both barrels at the fleeing murderers,
but the uncertain light of the moon
and the blows, from the effects Of
which he was suffering and that ulti-
mately resulted in his death, combined
TO distort his aim.
Identified Both Negroes.
on being cross-exsnffhed Mrs. Foun-
tain did not vary her testimony in any
respect. In the most positive terms she
reiterated her Identification of Stewart
and Young. The moon made it as
bright as day, she said and she had
known both the men for eighteen
years; there was no possibility of her
having made any mistake.
Mrs. Fountain described the wounds
on the head and body of her son. which
she said Young and Stewart had in
fiicted and which had been the cause
of his death. In addition to the ex-
ternal wounds he had received internal
injuries He died the day following the
commission of the brutal and deadly
assault.
Against the positive statement of the
mother of his victim, Young interposed
his own. He protested his innocence
stoutly and slOmenly. declaring that
he left Savannah on the Monday be-
fore Easter and was miles away from
the city when the homicide was COM
mitted.
YOuns's Statement.
This was the gist of all that Young
had to say and he reiterated 1t over and
over again He claimed that he had
gone from Savannah to Florida, NOV
ing gradually down the east coast to
Miami. where he was arrested. He
knew nothing of the crime and claimed
he had no idea of the cause of hsS ar
rest until after it had been effected.
Three negroes. all of whom have
known Young for years. We're placed on
the stand to rebut his statement These
witnesses, Isaac burden, Robert McIn-
tosh and Abram Staley, told of seeing
him during the week preceding the
nisht of the homicide on various oc-
casions. With Stewart and several
other negroes he was around the Foun-
tain store on the afternoon of March
r. On that night the fatal assault was
committed. Mrs. Fountain was re-
called to add her testimony on this
point and she too stated that Young.
Stewart and others had been at her
store the afternoon in question She
had recognized him then as she had
she did while he faced her in the court
room.
II Am Innocent"
A supplementary statement of Young
was devoted to a denial of these
charges. 4 am innocent. gentlemen"
he kept repeating, before God, 1 am
innocent of this crime"
The arguments were not long. Solicit
tor General Osborne contented him
self with a brief recapitulation of
the evidence It was a question
OF identity, he contended, pure and
simple. If Young was the man who
had taken part in the assault, it was
case of murder, brutal, causeless, in
excusable by every rule of justice and
right. The solicitor general contended
that the Identification had been ample
and conclusive and that he should ex-
pect a verdict of guilty.
For the prisoner MIR. James F. Ev-
ans also devoted himself to the ques-
ton of identity He said the circum-
stances that surrounded Mrs Foun-
tain on that occasion-the hour of the
night. the terror and grief from which
she must have suffered, the blows she
had herself received, were sufficient
TO disturb her judgment and cast doubt
upon her Identification of the defend
ant as one of the guilty men. Mr..
Evans argued that a doubt on this
point must remain in the minds of the
Jurbmen. and he exhorted them to
follow the admontion OF the law and
resolve this doubt in Youngs favor