The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-01
SIMMONS To HANG
JURY FOUND HIM GUILTY OF MUIR
DER OF GEORGE HARRIS.
WITH UNMovED CoMPoSURE.
SIMMONS HEARD THE DREAD SEN
TENCE OF THE LAW PRONOUNCED.

Nothing to Say why Death sem
tencc should Not BE Pronounced
Against Him-His Crime Commit
ted Only a Week AgO-MOtiOn for
New Trial VIII BE Made.
Robert Simmons, stand up. The
fury that tried you on the bill of in
dictment returned against you has
found you guilty of murder. Have
you anything to say why sentence of
death should not be pronounced
against your"
mo, sir, 1 haven't anything to say"
This was the question asked by
Judge Barrow and the answer return
ed by the murderer of George Harris
in the Superior Court yesterday after
noon. The negro stood. calmly and
simply respectful, in the presence OF
his Judge and of the offended majesty
of the law that was to aVenge his
crime. He was not nervous or excited,
boastful or defiant.
Then his doom was pronounced
Judge Barrow's sentence directed that
he be conveyed to the common Jail of
Chatham county and there safely con-
fined until Friday. Sept. 5, when upon
a gallows erected within the Jail en-
closure and between the hours of 10
O'Clock in the morning and o'clock in
the afternoon, he be hanged by his
neck until he is dead
"And may God in his infinite good
ness" concluded Judge Barrow, have
mercy upon your soul"
Broke Down and Wept.
No evidence of emotion of any kind
had up to this time disturbed the stoi-
cal composure and even indifference of
the doomed man. He walked out of
the court room, in charge of bailiffs,
with the same simple and unpreten-
tious air he had worn throughout the
trial, but there, surrounded by female
relatives and friends who sought to in
duce him to repent of his evil deed and
make his peace with God, he broke
down and mingled his tears with
theirs.
Il am not guilty" he cried out, be-
tween his sobs.
1t has been but a week ago since
Simmons shot Harris to death-a week
time he has been captured in another
state while endeavoring to make good
his escape, brought back to Savannah,
indicted by the grand inquest, tried,
convicted and sentenced to death for
his crime. 1t is a remarkable and
somewhat unusual exhibition of the
celebrity with which the law can move.
The trial itself was relatively just as
brief. 1t began when court convened
VOC nd hW 1 ~ nj
the verdict of the jury had been re-
turned. 1t was not, however, until
later in the afternoon that the SEN
tence of the law was pronounced.
Two witnesses for the state.
There were but two witnesses for the
state, Annie Garvin, woman who was
in the house on the Louisville road in
which Harris was shot at the time of
the commission of the crime, and Chief
Deputy Sheriff Thomas j. Sweeny, by
whom the arrest of the fleeing muir
derer was effected.
The woman testified that on Thurs
day night a week ago, Simmons had
come to the house in which she was
living and where Harris was at the
time From the outside of the house,
after he had raped on the door he
told her he had come for a pair of
shoes he had left there, and she gave
him admittance.
Harris was standing inside the room
when Simmonse entered and according
to the womans story no words passed
between the two men. Without other
reason or provocation than that fur
nished by his own jealous rage, Sim
mons advanced upon his victim, firing
as he came. Three shots were fired
then and Harris was staggering about
the room in his death agony. The wo-
man ran into the inner apartment of
the little cottage and Simmons out
through the door. From the outside,
through the open window, he fired
again at Harris.
Afraid OF His own Life.
II was scared for my own life" said
the woman, and 1 left George lying
on the floor. 1 thought Simmons
would kill me-"
She said that after Simmons disap-
peared she ran to the house of a neigh
Dor and there sought refuge. He came
TO the house in which she was con
cealed, but the people there denied
she was within and Simmons left.
She stuck to this story, despite the
rigid cross-examination to which she
was subjected by counsel for the de-
PENDANT.
The only other witness for the state
WAS OcpulN sweeney, whose evidence
related solely to the capture of Sim
mons. This had been effected near
Vaudeville, S. c.. towards which
point the man was making his way
through the woods.
The defendant told very different
story of the incidents which had ac-
companied the shooting-one that If
accepted by the jury would have freed
him from blame and justified the kill
ing.
simmons story of Shooting.
Simmons said he had been living
with the woman for the past nine
months. and had supported her dur
ing that time in the house in which
The shooting was done. few days
before the fatal evening he had gone
to work on a neighboring plantation
and had come back for his shoes
when l. knocked on the door, An
ME asked me, who's there: and / said
It's ne. l want to get my shoes. >
She oSened the door and George Har-
ris was standing behind it. He said,
Come on in; nobody's going to hurt
you and l went in.
"As l got inside Harris jumped for
me and caught me. l got up under
him and threw him away and he came
at me again. I threw him away again
and this time he went for an AK that
was in the corner. He came at me
with the ak, but l caught his arm and
he couldn't use it. Then l ran into
the inside room, trying to get out. but
/ couldn't. and came back again.
when / came back in the room
MI ba 20