Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1903-10-20
MURDERER OF BUXTON coLoREpe
WOMAN LODGED IN JAIL
AT ALBA.
WAS TAKEN AT HOOKING
He Claims That He Was Not Trying to
Escape From Officers of Justice But
7 Was Forced to Flee From Buxton
Mob to Escape Lynchins.

i
Abba, Oct. 17.-(speciaD Joseph
II. Smith, the colored man from Hook
ing, who shot and killed Mrs. Ida Ken
ledy at her home in Buxton early yes
aerday morning. was captured about 6
o'clock last evening at Hooking byl
Charles Allen, who, with Constable ].
B. Williams and James Hurt Of Hook
ing, brought Smith to Abba last night
sand delivered him to Sheriff John Do
.Aer and he is now incarcerated in the
bounty jail here.
Asked for Protection.
Smith, when interviewed here this
morning by a Courier representative
said that he was bound for Abba to
give himself up to the sheriff imme-
diately after the shooting yesterday,
but was forced to stay away because
s,he crowd of pursuing colored peo-
ple from Buxton, all of them armed,
drew so close that he was afraid to
bhow himself.
Town Was Aroused.
Nearly, every man living in Buxton
was enraged by the murder of Mrs.
Kennedy and work at the mines was
almost at standstill during the en-
the teeth. secured the country in
search of Smith. Many threats of
lyncalng We're made and had the MUIR
derer been captured in the morning
there is little doubt that he would
have been summarily executed.
A Brutal Murder.
Oskaloosa, Oct. les peciaD-The
little mining camp of Buxton which
has been the scene of many a tragedy
during the few years of its existence
was Mortified this morning by the
knowledge of murder which for cold
blooded brutality surpasses any of the
crimes ever before committed, even
at Buxton. Many miner dropped his
dinner bucket this morning and with
out waiting to change his pit clothes
for others more comfortable started
out in search of James Smith, a negro
who, at $50, went to the home of
Mrs. Mary Cannaday and without warm
ing, shot the woman dead. Had not
the very boldness of the crime dunn
founded the population of the little
mining camp for time it is probable
OF lynchings for the year, but Smith
after killing the woman, lied toward
Abba and before a party large enough
to capture him could be organized he
had gained good start toward AL
bia.
Story of the Crime.
The story of the murder tends to
the conviction that Smith was either
crazy or intoxicated when he commit
ted it, as it seems almost beyond be-
lief that anyone in his right mind
could bring himself to commit such a
foul crime. Smith. who has been liv
ing with his wife and children al
Hooking for some months. working in
the mines arrived at Buxton last
night and went to the home of a col
ored man named Mcmillan to spend
~the night. He arose this morning
and came down stairs from the sleep
ing rooms to the dining room about
o'clock while the McMillans We're al
breakfast Without saying word
he passed through the kitchen, anc
out at the rear door. The McMillans
thinking he would return in few
minutes for breakfast, waited fol
some minutes but thought nothing o.
his non-appearance.
e-;r.c l. Fermentation.
AS il following a plan which he
had already studied out to his salts
faction, Smith meanwhile went to thu
home of Mrs. Cannaday where the WON
an was preparing breakfast for he
husband Sam aCnnaday, employed a
night in mine No. IL. The husband
had not returned home at, that hou
though he was expected soon. Smitl
must have known these facts. for h
went straight from the Mcmillan
Nome to that of the Cannadays, wher
he knocked upon the front door. Mrs
Cannaday opening the door to answe
the summons, received a bullet from
the revolver which Smith had up t
that time carried concealed in pocR
et A second bullet was fired i'm
mediately and both found Iodgment il
the body of the unfortunate woman
who fell dead across her own thresf
old.
Threatened More Murders.
Smith, turning from the body of tn
woman, already growing cold in death
walked leisurely away from the hous
and went to the Baptist church, a shor
distance away. where he sat down o.
the platform for a few minutes. Som
women neighbors of the Cannadays,w
had heard the shots. ran to the house
Where they were Mortified by the sigh
of the woman's dead body. They ha'
tened down the street IN search of
doctor, but when they came to tn
Baptist church they were stopped b
Smith, who demanded to know wher
they were going. When they reptile
that they were on their way, for a dot
tor, Smith said, according to thei
statements:
"You had better go back home rigf
now or you will need a doctor for you
selves"
Thus repulsed the women ran bac
to the Cannaday house. Had they bee
successful in their quest for docto
IT.
SMOKE
lmT n III snsN6s~ ~