The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-21
WHITE PRISONERS
 ESCAPE FROM JAIL
Two Men Get Away in Selma
 Friday Night
FACT HAS JUST LEAKED OUT
selmIans Are Pleased at Action of the Alabama Synod in Allowing Them to Transfer the the Subserip-
 tlons Recently Made.

Selma, November 20 = (speclal) = It leaked out from the sheriffs office today that on Friday night some time about midnight J. R. Burlington and W. H. Gibson. two white prisoners in the coun- ty jail, made their escape. Sheriff Black we'll Is out of the city and his subordi- hates kept the matter to themselves hop ing to gain information of the where abouts of the men before the public was apprised of the escape.
 Burlington and Gibson were in jail charged with an assault with intent to murder. They are the two white men, employees of the cotton factory here, that shot R. L. Oliver few Saturday nights ago. Mir. Oliver recovered from his wound and Tn the preliminary trial Mayor the sum of 5000. On a habeas corpus Judge Mabry reduced the bail to a50, but the men were not able to give this amount of bond and at the first oppor- tunity gave leg bail.
 They made their escape by the way of the sky light in the roof. They were al- lowed the privileges of the bull ring, as the space around the steel cells is known, and some workmen making repairs on the roof had left a step ladder convenient upon which they made their way to the roof. Once on the roof 1t was only a jump of about ten feet to the roof of the store room and about the same jump to the ground.
 Jailer Dibble heard the men as they jumped to the ground, but could not reach them in time to stop them. The chief of police in Montgomery was tele- phoned to look out for the men, and the first information of the escape came in the roundabout way from Montgom- cry.
 Killed at Negro Dance.
 There was deplorable killing last night near Harrels, about fourteen miles from Selma, in Dallas county, in which Fer dnano Lifesay, well-known young white man, was the victim. Two negroes were also shot, one in the abdomen, the injury from which may prove fatal, the other in the hand. The names of neither one of the negroes are known at this writing.
 Young Lifesey, according to reports re- ceived here, went to a negro's house, where a dance and pay party was being given, and had a dispute with one of the negroes He Is said to have pulled his pistol and fired, and that several negroes drew their guns and a pitched battle took place. According to the reports the body of young Lifesey was left lying on the floor of the house In which he was shot, and that the negroes adjourned to another place and continued the dance until nearly morning, when the affair broke up in free-for-all fight among the participants. The facts of the shooting were learned some time after midnight, and the body of the young man was car ried to the house of W. B. Moore and prepared for burial, his mother and sister, who live in Ersley, being notified The lat ter reached Selma this morning and went out to Harrels at noon.
 Whisky Thlevery Caught Up With.
 By an accident last night there was disclosed a conspiracy by which the wholesale robbery of the whisky house of H. Meyer & Co. had been successfully conducted for some time. MT. Hayes Walker, who has a room in the St. James hotel, over the whisky house, heard two negroes in the rear talking, one saying
 Robert, get out of there quick" He made an investigation and thought that a sitting on the track in the rear of the store was being robbed, and quickly communicated the fact to officers Smith and Moseley. The latter went to the scene and found the rear door of H. Meyer & Co.'S store open. The proprie- tors were sent for, and 1t was learned that they had negro porter working for them by the name of Robert White. Se- curing a hack, the officers and the two went to the house of Harrison Griffin, where White lived. As they went in the door Ben Nixon, well-known negro, was just coming out with a sack on his head, and in the sack was four quarts of whisky, which he claimed to just have have bought from Griffin and White.
 The house of Charles Davis, another porter, in the store, was then searched and here several bottles of whisky were found with H. Meyer &s Co.'S label there on. The officers secured from the two houses twenty-six quarts and two pints of whisky, besides a jug, and found as many more empty bottles. They arrested White, Griffin. Davis. Nixon and another negro named Sam Washington and all will have trial in the morning before Mayor Atkins.
 Semlans Are Pleased.
 The action Of the recent synod of Ala bama in granting the subscribers to the Alabama Synodical College for Men, the privilege of transferring their subscrip- tion to the Presbyterial High school, located by the presbytery of Tuscaloosa in Selma, has been most favorably re- celved by the Presbyterians of Selma It Is recognized as a magnanimous act on the part If the synod and also a very visa one.
 The high school is a part of the synod S educational system and will become a feeder to the college established in An- niston. fThe pastor of the First Pres byterian church made a report of the action of the synod to his congregation on Sunday morning and he was followed by Mir. c. w. Hooper. who was the rep resentative of the session.
 Their remarks were to the point. mak- ing It clear that there Is q desire on the part of the synod to do the right thing, which desire is more than met by the people of Selma. The action of the synod is most heartily approved by all. and Is the beginning of an era of good feeling. that will make all the institutions of the synod successful.
 Elks to Observe Memorial Day.
 At the meeting of Selma lodge of Elks. held Friday night, it was decided to ob-