The Pickens sentinel-journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1903-1906, 1903-05-14
HOYT HAYES WILL BIZ TRIED FoR
WEES MURDER.

Details Of the Terrible Affair Nexr JVals
halla Which Was at First Supposed
to be Suicide.
On the morn1ng Of April 26sh s,
Mrs. Lula Hayes, wife Of Hoyt
Hayes. of the Return section Of
Oconee county, was found dead In
yer bed, presumabl va suicide, for
a note, purporting to have been
pritten by her, was found il her
room, addressed to her sister, SAP
ing she could not bear the ordeal
of motherhood and that she took
her. own life. After her burial,
the matter was looked into more
closely, and the correspondent Of
The Columbia State at Walhalla,
now gives the following version Of
the affair to that paper. under date
of May 9Th, which we publish be-
low:
'slhe State has already told of
the arrest of Hoyt Hayes, charged
with the murder Of his young wife,
Further details are now obtalnable.
On Sunday morning, April Pc
about sun up, Hoyt Hayes went to
the home Of a neighber and told
him that his wife had killed her
self. The coroner was notified and
went to the scene, but did not ,em-
panel a Jury and Mrs. Hayes was
buried on Sunday afternoon. On
the following Friday Coroner Har-
bin reopened the Gaze, empaneled
a jury but did not. attach any
blame to anyzone-aa S. suE6ssS@ @
last Mr.. - - go -
s@nayes, sss warrant frem
Jno. E. Mason, magistrate for Cen
trs township, and on MONDAY, the
4th inst, Mr.. Hayes was brought
to jai': Deputy Sheriff Schroeder
carried Mr.. Hayes down to Oak
way for a preliminary hearing yes
terday. Col R. T Jaynes, of the
firm of Jaynes & shelor was pres.
ent representing the defendantand
Hon. Geo. e. Prince of Anderson,
was present as the States repre-
sentative. After swearing about a
half dozen witnesses the magistrate
sent the case up to court and the
defendant WAS brought back to
Jail.
When the neighbors Of ME-. and
Mrs. Hayes reached the nome Of
the terrible tragedy they found
Mrs, Hoyes in bed dead. She was
lying parallel on the bed with q
single-barrel breech-loading shot
gun lying parallel with her and
fir poker lying between her and
the gun. Almost the entire top
portion Of her head was blown off.
The shot penetrated her head from
t.mple to temple and large spots
of blood and brains were found on
the head board of the bed to the
right of where the body was lying.
Glen Ferguson, colored, one of
the witnesses sworn, said that ne
heard gun shot at or near Hayes
house on Saturday night, hetweea
10 and Il. O'Clock. None of-tse
evidence brought out at the pres
liminary was any more direct than
this, but the position in which the
body was found, the position Of the
gun, the fire poker and the range
of the shot are considered strong
evidence that there was foul play.
No evidence was produced to
show a motive for murder. A note
was found which read about as fola
lows: "Lula, Hoyt is good to me
but I prefer dying to enduring the
pain and anxiety Of maternity
Mrs. Hayes was in her 2lst year.
She was an earnest Christian work
er, always cheerful and by her
sunny disposition and social quail
tiles had many friends.
Her death has caused a great
deal of excitement in the commu-
nifty. All families 1--we near each
other and are prominent in social,
business and religions life of the
community. All kinds of rumors
are afoat and the July term of
court will witness q most exciting
case for murder. ~