Richmond planet., 1903-03-14
William Rice
a Most Respectable
ColOred Man,
AND PORTER FOR THE
SOUTHERN HOTEL,
FOUND DEAD.
Subsequent Developments Point Con-
clusively to the Fact of Foul Play.

subsequent Developments Point Con-
clusively to the Fact of Foul Play.
tLawrenceville, Va, Brunswick. Ga
zette.
On the morning of February Goth the
body of William Rice, highly respect-
ed colored man, who was employed as
porter for the Southern Hotel, was
found dead under the trestle work of
the high railroad bridge that spans Rose
creek, just east of and within the cor
porate limits of this town.
At the point where the body of the
dead Isss.;i Ew5-sas fcucd : crcss tie -r.s
missing, having perhaps been taken out
for the purpose of repairing the bridge
and was not at once replaced. This cir
cumstance at first led to the belief tn,
Rice, in attempting to cross the bridge
the night before without knowledge of
the fact that one of the cross ties was
missing, fell through to the ground be-
low, distance of some forty or fifty
feet, and was killed by the fall. Sub
sequent developments. however, speedi-
ly changed this belief into the conyic
tion tht his death was not the result of
the accident, but of foul play.
On the night before the colored peo-
pie of the town and vicinity, who are
members of charatible society known
as "True Reformers," held their repu-
lar monthly meeting in a hall ON the
street leading from Main to where the
county road crosses Rose creek. This
m ug was largely attended and adj
Set,veer' - ven clock.
~cal OF the returning to
heir homes i1ioI TO pass up Main street.
when on that street they saw at a point
for from fha
the court house square several white
men engaged in an alteration of some
kind with the man Rice. An examina
tion OF the ground in the vicinity of
that point disclosed large pool of
blood, and a lock of human hair that
had been torn from the head. At an
other point near by the impression of a
mans form was found in the mud. No
other traces of evidences were found
until the steps were reached that lead
from the street to the railroad track be-
low at the bridge near the residence of
Col n. l.. Claiborne, where drops of
blood were found. Further on down
the railroad track in the direction of
where the dead body was found, Rice's
shirt collar was discovered besmeared
with blood. Further on revealed a spot
near the old Morrison burying ground
where Rlce's shirt was taken from his
back, and also the remnants of several
sticks called switches, cut from the near
by shrubbery that from all appearances
had been used without mercy on his
bare back. Still further examination
seemed to reveal another spot on the
line Of the railroad and not far from the
bridge at which the body was found.
where every indication points TO the
fact that the Negro was again inhuman
ly beaten.
The Ooroners jury at first blushed and
without knowledge of these develop
ments, were inclined to the belief that
death had resulted from falling through
the trestle work of the bridge, and so
expressed themselves, but thew have
returned no verdict, and still have the
matter under consideration. We sun
pose when it is returned it will be found
to conform to the irresistible logic of
these after discovered and greWsome
facts. Whether Rice died from the
5eatlng he received at the hands of his
assailants and was thrown through the
trestle to divert suspicion and create the
belief that his death was the result of
the accident or whether after having
been thus inhumanly beated he was
made to walk the trestle and to his
death Is question about which
1t is not our province to at
tempt to solve, but an examination of
the dead body made patent certain facts
that cannot fail to have material bear
ing in leading to its solution. Rice's
body bore the marks of inhuman pun-
1shment, on each side of his head were
ugly and dangerous wounds apparent
Iy inflicted by a bludgeon or some other
heavy and dull instrument. In addi-
ton to others, his under jaw-bone was
shattered and driven into the upper
one. The last injury was evidently re-
celved in the fall through the bridge bv
striking his chin against the cross sun-
ports or braces to the trestle, but eyi-
IDENTIFY not so with the wounds on each !
side OF his head. Were these sufficient j
to have caused immediate death or nm /
consciousness upon this hinges the ones
ton? While from legal standpoint
the solution of this question is a matter /
OF grave importance as a moral one. il !
amounts to very little. There is no diff |
ference, when morally considered. i'm |
the degree of guilt in killing a man and
throwing his body through a trestle and
in compelling him on a dark night /,
when beaten perhaps to almost uncon- (
sciousness TO walk a trestle forty or fif- 4,
ty feet high with a vacant space there
in with the knowledge that through
this vacant space he will by all human
fall and that the fall will
almost surely result in his death AS a ,
moral question the difference is only F;
that between tweedledum and tweedle-
dee. No case that has ever occurred in
this place has aroused deeper or more :
nod ind -.