Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-03-03
Reversed and Remanded
Second Time.
MURDER OF Q. s. MARSHALS.
Chief Ground Was Error Of Jury in
Returning Verdict,
DID NOT SPECIFY LENGTH OF TERM
Negro to be Hanged in Yallobusha
County for Murder.
Special to the Daily Progress.


jackson, March 3.-For the second
time the supreme court OF Mississippi
has reversed the celebrated Whit
Owens case, wherein the defendant is
charged with completely in the murder
Of John and Hugh Montgomery,
United States marshals, and it now
appears that It will be necessary for
the prosecution to drop the case
against the noted prisoner.
Owens was convicted in the circuit
court Of Marshall county, the case
having been taken there on . change
Of venue from Lafayette, and the prin-
cipal witness against him at this
trial was Will Mathis, his son-in-law,
who was hanged last September at
oxford. In prefacing the opinion OF
the conrt Chief Justice Whitfield
stated that no more reliance could be
placed in the testimony Of Mathis
than that Of his accomplice. Orlando
Lester, who 30 outrageously perjured
himself in the former trial; that the
evidence was replete with perjury OF
the most shameless, callous and impos-
sible sort.
The chief ground for reversal,
heweyer, was the error of the jury in
returning verdict of guilty and hx'
ing the punishment at term in the
penitentiary, without specifying the
length Of the term. After the verdict
was read Judge Lowery sentenced the
defendant to life, Notwithstanding the
fact that the jurors, when individ-
daily questioned, made various state
ments, saying they intended the pun
ishment to be from ten months up to
a life term. Chief Justice Whitfield
held that this was not legal verdict.
in fact, that it was no verdict at all,
and that when the jury returned fol
advice the trial Judge should have re-
ferred them to the instruction giver
concerning the point.
The court also upheld that it wal
error to question Will Mathis as t.
whether he had been promised com
mutation of sentence if he woult
testify against Whit Owens and !
wss also error for the district attorne'
10 take the stand and testify that b.
had held out so much promises t
Mathis.
The case against Whit Owens where
in he is charged with the murder OF
negro named Hamp Williams, an
was sentenced to death by the circul
court Of Lafayette county. is stiI
pending.
Ransom Griffith, negro who Wa
convicted in Yallobusha county
numbering q companion at festiva
will be hanged at Water Valley on II
2oth of April, the supreme court ha'
ing affirmed his case.
An important decision rendered !
the supreme court was in the case
DR.. Hayden VS.. state, from the circu
court Of Alcorn county. The appe
l0Ue WAS COnV1Ctcu VA PA0SsASAAo ~S
cine without license. He is an c
teopath, and the evidence showed tn
he had treated and cured two perso
of rheumatism, by a manipulation
the homes, muscles and ligamen
The prosecution claimed that the prs
tice Of osteopathy is in violation
chapter es of the laws of 1895 regul'
ing che practice Of medicine, but t
supreme court holds otherwise a
the osteopaths have gained q decie
victory, for they may continue
practice their profession in Mississil
without medical license. Associ
Justice Terrall read the opinion
the court. and predicted that at Sc
future time the legislature will
needed laws to regulate the prac'
Of osteopathy as medical practice
now regulated.