The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-02
IA LAST PLEA l PORCH. SPARKS His Lawyer Secures | Habeas Corpus Writ. GRANTED BY NEW JUDGE Condemned Negro Comes to
 Montgomery Friday. His Lawyer Raises the Point That
 Hs Was Denied the Right
 to Have Negroes on
 Jury.

]
 The first judicial act of Judge Terry
 Richardson of the Fifteenth Judicial Clr-
 cult was the issuance of writ of ha- beas corpus for Charles H. Sparks. the
 Lee County negro murderer who is 10
 be hanged Saturday, the writ based on
 the decision of the Supreme Court of the
 United States m the case of Dan Rogers. In the application submitted to Judge Richardson yesterday by Sparks's attor-
 ney, he point is raised upon which tEe
 Rogers ease was decided, namely. that
 no negroes were on the grand jury which
 indicted Sparks or on the petit jury
 which tried and convicted him of tse
 murder of Jack Ingersoil, a negro, at
 Phenix City.
 Will Bring Sparks Here.
 The writ was issued last night by Judge
 Richardson. 1t is made returnabio Fri- day at noon in Montgomery. It is di-
 rected to Sherife Hodge of Lee County. | It orders Sheriff Hodge to produce in the | Circuit Court of Montgomery County the | body of Charles H. Sparks. with the rea- sons for his detention.
 Sheriff Waller will go to opelika this
 morning to serve the writ upon Sheriff | Hodge.
 Sparks was to have been hanged Sat urday at noon. Tho Supreme Court of I Alabama has affirmed the action of the lower court in intiicting the death sent ence on Sparks. The Governor has de- elined to intervene with the execution of 1 the sentence. The issuance of writ directing that Sparks be produced 4n court on a hearing as to why the writ
 should not be granted puts new aspect on the case and shrouds the outcome in 1 uncertainty.
 Sparks was tried and convicted in Lee County, which is in the Circuit of Judge A. A. Evans, who lives at Clayton. The application was made to Judge Richard son by Sparks's attorney on the grounds that Judge Evans could not be easily or
 quickly found. The application went to Judge Richardson early last night. It was handed him by Sparks's attorney, who returned on night train from Ops- lika.S
 The application sets forth that Sparks is illegally restrained, of his liberty and
 Is imprisoned in the county jail of Lee County. It declares that the trial and sentence of Sparks wes void, being in violation of the first article of the Four teenth Amendment to the Federal Con- stitution. The application declares that the Federal Constitution was violated in that Sparks Is "a person of dark com plexton and of African descent. common iy known as a negro" while the grand | jury which tried him was composed OK cIusively of white men
 It is. further declared that the trial was
 void, because of violation of the Four teenth amendment to the Federal con- stitution in that the special and regular yenire of jurors efawn for the term of
 court at which Sparks was triedg was
 composed exclusively of white men,T Because of this the application alleges.
 Sparks was denied the equal protection of the law accorded him by the FeHf-s teenth amendment.
 Based on Rogers Case. The application for Q writ of habeas corpus and it's issuance were based upon
 the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Dan Rogers. Rogers was a Montgomery county negro
 who was convicted of murder. His attor@ neys at the time of Rogers,s trial en- tered an objection to the indictment on the ground that there were no negroes on the grand jury which returned 1t.
 They moved to quash the indictment for this reason, but the motion was over ruled.
 On the proposition that the Grand Jury | which returned the indictment against Rogers was composed exclusively of white persons and because of which he was de- nied the equal protection of the law, the case was carried to the United States Su- preme Court In this court their eonten-
 tion was sustained in a decision by Jus tice Holmes ,the full text of which was published in yesterdays Advertiser. This decision is regarded as having
 far reaching effect In court practice in
 Alabama. Many attorneys hold that ne- | groes must be on the Grand Jury and the petit juries of the courts of the State. In Dallas county since the Rogers | decision the names of negroes have been regularly drawn for jury duty. l The Sparks and the Rogers cases differ
 in some particulars. In the Rogers case l the point of unequal protection of the | law was raised on a motion to quash the indictment. In the Sparks case the point
 was raised in an application for a writ
 of habeas corpus. In the Rogers case 1t was raised before the mist prius judge.
 In the Sparks case it was raised after | the Supreme Court of Alabama had pass | ed upon the case. l Sparks has been under the death sem tenee for over year. He was convicted l of the murder of Jack Ingersoll, a crime
 committed two years ago. Ingersoll was | a negro merchant of Phenix City, and l Sparks was negro school teacher of | the same town. Sparks was infatuated l with Lucy Ingersoif, the wife of Jack ln- 1 gersoll. Ingerson was assassinated while
 sitting at his table at supper. The wo- 1 man confessed that she was an accessory ] to the crime and that the fatal shot was | fired by Sparks She was sentenced to | life imprisonment.