The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-13
HIS NECK is SAFE
Jury SAVED JAMES STEWART
FROM DEATH ON THE GALLOws.
RECOMMENDED TO MERCY
MURDERER of DOVER FOUNTAIN
WILL GO UP FOR LIFE.

ttOn One of Identity-This Was
by the Evidence for the state.
Solicitor General So Confident of
Result He Did Not Argue the Case.
stewart Promptly Sentenced-Mrs.
Fountains Recital of the Crime
From the witness stand.
James Stewart was tried in the Su-
perior Court yesterday for the murder
of Dover Fountain and was found
guilty, but was given a recommended
tion by the jury that sent him to the
penitentiary for life, instead of the
gallows.
Confessedly, and so denominated in
the argument of the prisoners counsel,
the homicide was as cruel, causeless
and brutal a murder as has been COM
mitted in this county in many years.
The only question for the determine
ton of the jury was one of identity
and that would seem to have been set
tied beyond question.
The homicide was of recent occur
renee. March p, at 2 o'clock in the
morning, Mrs. Lila Fountain. living
with her son. Dover Fountain, on the
Ogeechee road. two miles from the
city, were awakened by the noise of a
struggle in the front part of her
house. The cries of her son, To-
year-old boy, were mingled with the
noise of the blows and the mother
rushed hastily out upon the porch
There she saw Dover Fountain strug
Cling with two negro men, pitting his
boyish strength against theirs, grow
blows that, with clubs or ax-helves,
they rained upon him.
Recognized by the Victim.
ITS Jim Stewart and Richard
Young" said the boy, and the mother,
anxious to save him at any cost, ran
out and caught hold of Stewart. With
an oath the brute flung her from him,
at the same time striking her over the
head with his club.
Get me my gun, mamma" the lad
cried out, and Mrs. Fountain ran back
into the house after the gun. AS she
did so the two negroes released their
hold of her son and ran off into the
darkness. The boy, with his last re-
naming strength, levelled the
gun his mother brought and
fired at the negroes retreating forms.
He missed them.
Mrs. Fountain told this story on the
stand, with all the force and pathos
lent it by years and her recent griefs.
She said she had known Stewart for
eighteen years. and had positively
identified both him and Young. Her
son had identified Stewart also, not
only at the time of the assault, but
two hours later in the morning, after
the negro was arrested and brought in
to his presence.
The city and county detectives were
notified after the commission of the
crime and were told the names of the
TWO men who were guilty. Stewart
had been found in his house and ar
rested, carried back to the scene of the
crime and there confronted with Dow
er Fountain.
THAT is the man." said the boy.
THAT is the man." said Mrs. Foun-
tain on that occasion.
THAT is the man. she said on the
witness stand.
Mrs. Fountains story was corroborat-
ed by that of County Detective D. J.
Charlton. Mr.. Charlton was present
at the time of the identification of
Stewart by young Fountain and swore
that this had been positive, uncondi-
tional and complete.
Two days after he received his
wounds the boy died.
An AIibi for the Defense.
For the defense an alibi was sought
to be proved. The mother of Stewart
swore he had come into the house in
which they lived at 9 o'clock on the
night the crime was committed and
had not left it until he was arrested
and carried away by the officers. Inter-
rogated by the solicitor general as to
her ability to speak with so much
certainty, the old negress explained
that on this particular night she was
troubled with a toothache and had not
been able 10 sleep. All night long she
had paced the floor, so she said, smok
ing and trying to still or forget the
pain in her tooth.
Willis Stewart, a 12-year-old brother
of the defendant, bore cheerful witness
to the same alleged state of facts 1t
did not appear that he also had had a
tcothache, but he was just as certain
as his mother that his brother had not
left the house.
The statement of the defendant HIM
self was to the same general effect.
Rambling and disconnected, delivered
in an insolent and surly fashion, it ex-
planned his presence at home on the
night of the crime just as it had been
explained by his mother. Stewart said
he had got tired and gone to bed and
cid not move before his arrest.
Detective Charlton had testified thai
when the party of officers went to
Stewards house to arrest him. Stewart
himself had called out from the inside
that Jim Stewart was not there" The
door was forced and the arrest was
made.
Stewart explained this lie by saving
he had had some trouble with his Wife
and thought when the officers came
that she had worn out a warrant for
his arrest.
A Question of Identity.
This was the evidence. Mr.. John
E. Myrick, representing the defendant
argued the question of identity solely
He did not question or seek to uues-
ton that the man who killed Dover
Fountain was guilty of murder most
foul. Generally his argument was that
1t was night when Mrs. Fountain saw
the two men beat her son to death
and that in the excitement of the mo-
ment she might have been mistaken
The solicitor general did not argue
the case at all. He said it was sinnlv
a question of identity, the issue was
plainly drawn and it was for the Jury
TO determine who had spoken the truth
Mrs. Fountain and her dead son, or
Stewart and his mother.
The verdict of guilty, with a recon-
mendation to mercy, was returned
CHI 1xy nff -