The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-17
HE DEFENDED HIS WIFE
Marshall Who Killed for His
 Home Also Pard0ned.
In Rural Community of Simple and Peaceful Folks One of States Darkest Tragedy Was
 Enacted.

Joe Jimersop of Barbour county and Fred Marshall of Monroe county. two white men who were in the penitentiary because they killed the men who invad- ed the sanctity of their homes, were par donsd yesterday by the Governor.
 The citizens of the communities fin which these men lived. who knew the principals in the two tragedies and who were familiar with the circumstances sur rounding them, prayed for the pardon of the prisoners.
 The story of the unfortunate Emerson centers around one of tho most sensa- tional tragedies that ever stirred South east Alabama. It was enacted in a ru- ral community of peaceful and simple folks, a God fearing neighborhood, a doz- en miles below Eufaula. It was a dark tragedy which has ended with a con- vict's pardon, with dark deeds at va riance with the character of the quiet little community whose social life cen- tered around the church.
 Jmereon was q small farmer, indus trious, of good character and respected by his neighbors. After nightfall one evening, a man wearing a false beard handed Mrs. Jimerson a note for her husband. The note was apparently from a brother of Jirnerson. living several miles away and 1t was to the effect that this brother was sick. Jimerson saddled his mule immediately and rode away. At his brothers home he found that no such note had been written.
 After Emerson had gone. the door of his home was broken open and a white man with blackened face and long whls- kers forced himself into the room where Mrs. Emerson was. She seized a shot gun and fired point blank at the hideous intruder. He fell to the floor with an awful wound in the face, one eye being shot away. He summoned his strength, however. and made his escape. leaving part of his disguise, but not before he had been recognized as Ed. Searcy, a neigf,bor of the Jimersons and g mar ried man.
 For weeks Searcy lay between life and death. but he finally recovered. He then openly made the most serious charges against the character of the woman who had shot him. Jimerson for awhile bore patiently the islanders upon his wife by Searcy.
 But Searcy put the charges in a war rant, naming. too, white farm hand of Jimerson's. Mrs. Jimerson was carried to Clayton under arrest and she was tried there publicly on the charges and triumphantly acquitted.
 Then Jimerson met his enemy in the road and shot him down.
 He was convicted of manslaughter and given an eight years sentence. of which he has served two years.
 Tn granting the pardon, the Governor reviewed the case as follows:
 ''The trouble which resulted in this mans committing a homicide grew out of the attentions of the deceased to the prisoners wife. The former at one time in the absence of the prisoner. forcibly entered the prisoners home in disguise and was shot by Jimerson's wife from which he recovered. Afterwards lime = son killed him because of boasts made by the deceased as to Mrs. Emerson 8 easy virtue. The Jury finally returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter On an agreement among themselves, which is set out in paper signed by eight of the jurors that each of the jurors would, immediately after the trial, unite in an application for pardon. the eight jurors only agreeing to a verdict of guilty with that understanding.
 "A petition bearing nearly 1000 names accompanied the iapers including every county official, but one.
 "Jimerson's character was exceptional and many good citizens testify to it.. This was his first trouble. I believe in view of the facts set forth and the rec ommendation of the Board of Pardons that he should be set at lDerty and his full civil rights restored to him."
 uc CetoC OI rICO nneti IS in some respects to this. Marshall was given a ten years sentence in Monroe county in 1900 for murder in the second degree. His case was reviewed as fol- lows by the Governor:
 '"rhis man killed his victim in a quarrel growing out of the latter's mo- torious illicit relations with the prison CTS wife. A petition embracing the names of many of the best people of Monroe county including nearly all the prominent people of citizens of the Beat, in which Marshall was born, and in which the crime was committed is among the papers. That the list embraces near ly all the prominent citizens of the Beat is testified to by a State official
 The judge who tried the case asked for pardon, stating that if guilty of any crime at all, Marshall has been suffi- ciently punished"
 Eexecutive clemency was also extended to Clay Watkins, a boy of Randolph county, who was serving a ten years sem tence for placing instructions on a rail- way track The Governors endorsement of the pardon was as follows:
 This boy was about 15 years old when he committed this offense He has served the State now nearly two years The trial judge and solicitor and the petit jury who tried him. and the Grand Jury to man unite in asking that clemency