The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1904-08-19
CATO IS GUILTY OF
The HODGES MURDER
Paul Reid, Another Negro, Also
Implicated
LATE TRAGEDY AT sTATEssoRo.
Trial of Those Suspected Of the Muir.
der CT the Hodges Family Draws a
Large Crowd-Few Jurors DisquaIi.
fied-SensationaI Affair.

fied-SensationaI Affair.
StatesbOro, Ga, August 17-Will
Cato, the negro Jointly indicted with
Paul Reid for the murder of the Hold.
ges family, was found guilty last night
The jury was out just eight minutes,
! returning the verdict at 7:1S o'clock
Judge DAILY adjourned court until to-
Gay without passing sentence on the
prisoner.
Paul Reid was placed on trial when
court convened this morning.
Court opened yesterday afternoon
with the railing around the bar GOV.
cred with soldiers from Savannah. The
crowd was so dense that for con.
! siderable time business was complete.
! ly suspended. One indictment was re.
turned again Reid and Cato for the
murder Of Henry R. Hodges alone i'm.
mediately after the court opened The
negroes are both mulattOes, or have
at least considerable white blood in
their veins Cato appeared to be the
most intelligent He was the first
aPraigned.
1t was a matter of surprise to those
| not familiar with the courts to see how
few jurors were disqualified, but for
strikes of the defense the jury could
have been selected from the first Is,
names called. The number was east.
ly obtained from the panel Of 4S.
Woodcock, the first witness, saw the
fire which destroyed the Hodges home
about 10 o'clock. He rang the bell to
alarm the neighbOrs. The house was
burned down when he arrived. He
saw two Of the burned bodies.
J. c. Deal was the next witness. He
said bedding appeared to have been
placed on the body of Mr.. Hodges. The
witness explained a diagram Of the
premises. He saw the track of Mrs
Hodges. She came from her house
and where she ran to the house she
wasfollowed by one track pursuing
her. He saw a pool of blood and
marks on the ground Of a struggle.
From there to the house there were
only two tracks as if carrying a bur
den. Drops Of blood reached to the
house. He found a pair of old mis-.
matched shoes about $50 yards from
the house. There was blood on the
shoes. On one was the hair of
white woman stuck to it by turpentine
gum.
81 had seen Paul Reid with shoes
like the ones found" declared the
witness. The shoes were tied up with
a calico string that was found similar
to the strip in the house of Paul Reid
heard Paul Reid admit that they were
his shoes. A coat and shoe were
found in Catos house. This shoe was ,,
similar TO the one that made one OF
the tracks. There was blood Oh the
shoe and blood on the coat.
The witness said he also found unden |
wear which Cato admitted belonged I'd |
him, with blood stains on it. The |
underwear was in the wash tub.
He said Reid and Cato lived about |
mile and half from the Hodges |
home. Neither Of them went to the |
burned house until carried there. All |
the other neighbors came.
Sam Smith found the shoes. The |
first shoe found had blood on It. The |
other had hair of a womans head |
stuck to it by gum turpentine. Remei |
Deal found knife near the log where /
Paul Reid's shoes were found Isaac |
Atkins, H. H. Moore and Pleasant Bran, |
men identified the shoes as Paul Reds !
Harriet Reid. who made the con.
fession soon after the murder that her
husband, Paul Reid. and VIII Cato |
committed the crime. was placed or
the stand. She said in part:
Cato lived about a half mile from
our house. He came to see US often.
On the night of the murder he came
to the house about 8 o'clock. He
went out with my husband in the dt
rection of the Hodges home. Soon
afterward he returned with my hus
band.
cato did not come into the house
Ny husband said they only wanted
some matches and were going out
again.
The two men returned again be.
tween l and 2 o'clock in the morn.
ing. Cato told me they had killed
the Hodges family and burned up the
house. Cato said Reid killed Mr.
Hodges. but he himself slew Mrs.
Hodges and the children. except one
little girl. whom they missed
Realizing that there was little
girl left to tell the tale, the two men
decided to go back and Kill her.
The little girl was found hidden
behind a trunk. They then killed
her with lamp.
my husband and Cato had Manned
to kill the family the Saturday night
previous, but became frightened At
that time they went to look for the
pot of gold which they believed Mr..
Hodges had buried in his yard. Ny
husband told me Mr. Hodges heard |