The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-16
The News of Selma.
Advertiser Bureau,

The announcement by State Chemist B B. Ross that his analysis of the stomach of John Scully, who it is suspected wal fatally drugged in this city, showed thai there were quite appreciable quantities of morphine in the stomach. and the con- sequent arrest of Will s. Briggs, Floyd P. Woodward and Florence Leftwich on charges of murder revived today the sen sation connected with Scully's death and the arrest of Pearl Scott and Clay Hill- man, who were already in jail charged with the murder.
 Briggs, Woodward and Florence Left wich were remanded to jail today, and the preliminary hearing for all five de- fendants was set for January 21, before Justice of the Peace B. J. Gayle. Wood- ward. who is a mere boy, is said to have been known by many in Selma by the name of Woodruff.
 Following is a copy of the report sent by Dr. Ross to Hon. P. H. Pitts, Judge of the Probate Court of Dallas County:
 Auburn, Ala. Jan. 14. 1902. Hon. P. H. Pitts. Judge of Probate, Sei-
 ma, Ala:
 Dear Sir-I have made a careful exam ination of the stomach and contents of the stomach of one MT. Scully, deceased, of Dallas County. Ala, as per your orfi- cial order, and I find that quite appre- ciabIe quantities of morphine were pres ent in same.
 This poison was separated by several independent methods from different por- tions of the stomach and contents, and all of the principal chemical tests for morphine gave positive reactions as to the presence of this substance.
 As stated in my previous letter this work required very great care and eau tion in its performance, and as I con- firmed my first results by duplicate meth- ods have been unable to make more prompt report even though have worked a number of nights to expedite the an aIysis.
 I am still engaged upon the analysis of some of the other organs and expect to send you in supplementary report later. If possible, an approximate quan'
 titative estimation of the amount of nor
 phine in some of the material will be made.
 If can furnish further information or this subject I shall be glad to do so. Very respectfully. B. B. Ross. State Chemist. The report of the analysIs was trans
 mitted to Justice of the Peace I. David | Lloyd, who is acting coroner for the ill., vest,gation of the causes of Scully s death. Warrants against Briggs, Wood ward and Florence Leftwich were imme- | diately sworn out before Justice Gayle and the arrest of the persons followed. Pearl Scott and Clay Hillman were ar rested on charges of murder some time ago.
 Scully died under peculiar circum- stances. He is said to have drunk beer at Pearl Scott's house on Lawrence Street and to have soon afterwards fall en into a coma from which he was never aroused. It was suspected that the liquor | was drugged and the coroner's jury or l dered the arrest of Pearl Scott and Clay
 Hillman, who were said to have been with Scully when he drank the beer.
 The coroner's jury a few days after
 the death without rendering q verdict adjourned until an analysis could be madt of the dead mans stomach and there had been no developments in the case until the chemists report was received today. The coroners jury, which met in ad' journed session this morning made its final report this afternoon announcing that it found that MT. Scully's death was caused by morphine poison given him in g mug of beer given him in the house o
 Pearl Scott. The report was in part al 1 follows:
 We found that the deceased was nam l cd John Scully and that he came to hi' death in the city of Selma on the morn ing of December 2S 1908. We found tha MT. Scully's death was caused by nor phine poison given him in a mug of beel in the house of Pearl Scott, alias KlC
 Briggs. We further recommend from tho evidence brought out before us that Pear
 Scott, Clay Hillman, Will Briggs, Floyt Woodward, and Florence Leftwich be helt
 by the proper authorities until the mat ter can be thoroughly investigated. ''Jud BrisIin, Coroner; I. D. Lloyd, Act ing Coroner; J. W. Green. Foreman Adolph Schweizer. Theo Lockett, J. S GlImer, J. H. Nunnellee, w. H. Gee, M b."