The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-17
Pardon Has Not Been Granted G 5. Johnston. SMITHS FRIENDS AT WORK Killing in Clarke County in
 lS79 Recalled. It is Charged That Johnston vkas Indicted and for 22 Years He
 was.a Fugitive from
 Justice


 Clarke County convict, be pardoned. Johnson, it will be remembered, killed J. Hunter Smith, highly esteemed young man. at Choctaw Bluff, Clarke County. on the night of January 26 1879, Twenty two years afterward he was convicted of the crime and Is now serving a two-year senterce at hard labor.
 Johnson was recommended to the ciem- ency of the Governor by a large number of citizens and officials of Clarke and Monroe Counties There was no protest against his pardon until it was published that the Board of ~Pardons had recom- mended him to cleme1cy. Relatives and friends of Mir. Smith. since the publica- ton of the recommendation, have filed with Governor Jeiks papers which throw decidedly more light on the crime of which Johnson is now paying the pen atty.
 They have shownsto the Governor that Johr son. after being indicted for the mur- der of J. Hunter Smith. in 1S79 escaped l and was fugitive from justice nearly twenty-two years. They have shown the | Governor that J. Hunter Smith was a young man, perhaps 2 years old. He was unmarried and was conducting large plantation. An eloping party com sisting of Mike Murphy ,and Miss Mel win and George s. Johnson stopped at the house of tenant on the plantation of MT. Smith to be married. MT. Smith was invited to be present at the wedding cere- mony which was performed by James s. | Deas, then justice of the peace. After the ceremony an altercation ensued. re- l sulting in the bridegroom, Mike Murphy, and MT. Smith being killed. James S. Deas, who performed the wed- ding ceremony, is now County Registrar of Clarke County, He. has furnished the following statement of the tragedy: s.
 "Neither Murphy nor Johnson were citi- gems of Clarke County. Their presence in Clarke on the night of the 29th of | January, 1879, was Gretna Green affair in which Johnson was assisting his friend, Mike Murphy, in consummating the mar riage of Murphy and Johnson's cousin. iThe marriage and killing took place at
 a tenants house on Hunter Smiths plan taticn. tem
 ..J. Hunter Smith lost his life by taking
 the part of a friend who At that time had
 crippled hand. and with whom John 1 son had started a row. Smith shot Mur-
 phy, believing him, to be the man who 2 had stabbed him, then walked out of the
 room, stopping in the hallway; after
 Murphy was carried across the hallway I in an adjoining room, Johnson rushed out, stuck his pistol In Smiths face and fired. He left instantly a-foot. leaving his horse and hat and was never in | Clarke County again until brought to jail twenty-two years afterward.
 Johnson went immediately to Florida and remained there several years to the best of my knowledge, until brought back by the brave and lamented James Foster, Sheriff of Monroe County, for some or fense committed in that county.
 "A sheriffs posse from Clarke County spent d week trying to arrest Johnson soon after the indictment was found. in 1879. and I know of my own knowledge that several warrants of arrest were sent from this (Clarke) County to Monroe for his arrest :. Johnson only pleaded guilty to man. slaughter after his three attorneys were thoroughly convinced that he would be | convicted of murder"
 John Hunter Smith, killed by Johnson, was a member of one of the most dis tinguished families in South Alabama, | and his relatives are bringing the true facts of the tragedy to the attention Of l Governor Jelks.
 John S. Pollard of Selma, nephew. Of
 MT. Smith, who was killed. has written | the following statement to The Adver- tiser:
 "In order to have corrected an erro-
 neous statement published in your Satur- day's edition headed Paid Penalty Tor Crime After 2 Years had Passed, please | allow me space in your columns to pre- sent few facts as related to me by par ties present at the time my uncle, John Hunter Smith, was killed by George Johnson.
 As stated in the article above men | tioned, Hunter Smith was gentlemen | in every sense of the word. He was courteous to high and low, to old and young and he was brave and loyal to I fVfA da Q | graduate of the Virginia Military lnsd- | tute at Lexington, Va, he mad returned to his Southern home and friends laden | with honors won in competition, ana | chosen the most eloquent of all orators in the graduating exercises.
 | He returned to be met by an assassin's | knife and when that had not sapped the l noble life of it's intended victim. the bull l let was. in thirty minutes from the stab- | ping, buried In his brain and at a range | of few feet.
 Il Some twenty odd years ago Hunter | Smith had retired to the quiet and peace which reigned at that period in the | neighborhood of Choctaw Bluff, in Clarke county, seeking quiet and rest. which Il was much needed to restore both mind and person. for his family had suffered much from the inroads of the war. and he was then trying to resuscitate a de- cayed Southern plantation from utter
 ruin. One evening he was sitting on his veranda when a visitor arrived. insisting
 upon his being present at the marriage
 of A neighbor one Mike Murphy. He de-
 murred at first but unfortunately allowed
 himself to be enthus d by the warmth of H his visitors eloquence and that same evening found him one of the wedding guests. At first all was serene and with toasts to the bride and groom, and to
 each and every one present. they made merry.
 With the instincts of a Southern gen. tleman. Hunter Smith had offered poor
 tired negro. the pet fiddler of the com munity A glass of whisky to cheer the old man up and to arouse in him desire to play better and sweeter music for the M dancers. There were some who were of-
 tended. and among them Murphy and
 Johnson. They had hot words and
 Johnson struck Allen in the face. Some
 one caught Allen but Johnson had been
 knocked down by blow from Hunter Smith he having seen Johnson take
 some unfair advantage of Allen
 Everything was arranged satisfactorily
 so all believed, and the merry-making was continued,
 After awhile every one returned to the interior to witness the dancing when
 the quarrel was 'enewed by Johnson