The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-28

 ble to bring a prisoner to jail but ad- mitted he gave no mittimus nor did he take down any of the evidence. It is my opinion that 1t will take a detective to get up a sufficient amount of evidence to convict. as those people are keeping very mum on the subject
 Obedientiy yours,
 J. M. Armstrong,
 Sheriff. From Autauga county where Gaines Hall was lynched the following reply was received:
 Prattville, Ala, Aug. 24, 1904. Hon. R. M. Cunningham,
 Lieut.. and Acting Governor,
 Montgomery, Ala.
 My dear Sir:-In accordance with your letter of Aug. 23. 1904, hereby make answer to the questions con- tained therein:
 l. No one has made affidavits charg- ing any persons as participating in the lynching of Gaines Hall, on April 30, 1904, and no warrants have been placed in my hands for execution therefor, ?. have endeavored to ascertain the names of the participants In such lynchings by inquiries of such per sons presumed to have been in the neighborhood of such lynching. nota- bly,. S. H. Gibbons, the Justice of the Peace, who held an inquest over the body of said Gaines Hall. on the Mon day following the alleged lynching, but l have been unable to ascertain the names of any of the participants in such lynching. and therefore have made no arrest of such persons.
 8. No deputy of mine was in charge of the said Gaines Hall at the time of said lynching or at any other time that am aware of.
 Yours very truly,
 G. A. McWilliams.
 Sheriff Autauga County. Sworn to and subscribed before me. this "A of Aug, 1904, G. S. Livingston, Judge of Probate"
 The reply of Sheriff Moore in full is as follows:
 Jasper. Ala. Aug. 26. 1904. To His Excellency. R. M. Cunningham. Governor,
 Montgomery. Ala.
 Dear Sir--In answer to the ques- tions in your letter of Aug. g. in ref erence to the lynchIng of Ed Avery, at Cordova. Ala. on Aug. 20, 1904. beg to submit the following report:
 From the very best information that I can get from the best citizens of Cordova. that from the time the negro Avery shot Marshal Nelson until the negro was killed. 1t could not possibly have covered a longer period of time than ten or twelve minutes make this statement in order that you might know that there was no plans laid by the people of Cordova to violate the law, but came up very quickly and was all over before the people had time to think.
 There have been no warrants sworn out and placed in my hands charging anybody with lynching Ed Avery at Cordova. Ala, on Aug. 20. 1904. If the warrants had been placed in my hands they would have been executed at once.
 In answer to question No. 2, I beg 70 say that l have endeavored 10 as- certain the names of the parties con- nected with the lynching. but as yet I have been unable to find evidence sufficient against any one to justify an arrest. Myself and chief deputy and others spent Sunday in Cordova, im- mediately after the lYnching and were present at the coroner's inquest and we all did our best to locate the guilty parties, but failed to get any informa- ton as to who were concerned in the lynchinR. We examined twelve or flf- teen of the best people of Cordova who it seems to me. were in position to have known as much about the lynch Ing as anybody and you will see from their evidence before the Coronor's jury that they saw the mixup at or near the city jail but could not or