The leader., 1904-10-12
NEGRO Killed BY Dave Posey.

sf<As = et1sh~~ - $500 AhSsF
Ben Bayliss, colored, was shot
land killed early Friday night BY
Dave Posey on the latter's farm
/ two miles eastof Brookhaven.
According to the statement of
lS. II. eagle, superintendent Of the
lCounty farm, who says be was an
Ieye witness to the killing, the
facts and circumstances inme-
Stately connected with the trage-
Idy were as follows
Mr.. eagle bad gone over to Po-
| Isey s late Friday evening looking
for a yearling which belonged to
1.-THE county farm, and was Invited
to remain to supper. just before
supper was ready, Lawyer Burr,
q negro employee on the place,
came to the house and informed
Mr.. Posey that some one was
down at the lot in his barn. Mr..
Posey at once picked up a VIM
chester, which was convenient,
and asked Mr.. eagle to walk down
to the barn with him, which he
did, the negro informant follow
| ing them at a little distance.
Posey asked Burr if it was not
bis teamster Big Will," who an
swered that Big WHIP had not
get back with his wagon and team,
and Mr.. eagle says, as fol him
self, he never attached a great deal
Of Importance to the negro's re-
port, suppcsing that it was only
a COW or yearling be had mistak-
en- for somebody in the fast gath
ering evening shades.
Mr.. eagle says when they reach
ed the front Of the barn he step-
ped up into a buggy a few feet off
and sat down, while Posey went
to the barn door, which was un-
locked, and looked ID, or entered
a step or two, he can't say which.
The barn, he explained, is a good
sized one, and has a hallway or
passage way, into which a wagon
and team can be driven to unload
ccrn or hay, and which has a wide
door or gate at each end. The
corn crib is on one side of this
hallway and the Glib door opens
into the hallway.
When Posey got to the door Of
the wide passage way, or a step or
two inside, he heard him ask,
Who is that2n and the answer
came, Big Will. z Where is
your wagon and team?p was Po-
sey's next question, followed In
stantly by a rustling noise and the
fash and crack Of a gun. eagle
was very much startled and excit-
led, he says, but saw a man sink
down against the side OF the barn
without a word or groan, almost
at Posey's feet. AT the same time
he heard Posey calculate, You
can trun out over me, and y0G
won't steal any more Of my corn. =
On going nearer in the dark
ness the negro appeared to be per-
EfectIy dead, and BY his side lay a
piece of scantling 5 or 6 feet long
and a sack containing some corn.
He and Posey, he says, then re-
traced their steps to the house,
got supper, and then he assisted
Posey in getting a messenger off
to Sheriff Applewhite, telling him
what he had done and asking him
to come out and investigate the
matter.
When the sheriff arrived an
hour or so later and went with
Mr.. eagle and others to where the
shooting occurred, it was found
that the dead man was Ben Bay
liss, a negro cropper on Posey's
place, and not Big WHIP at all,
but he was very dead, with a bull
let hole in his breast. Subse-
quently during the night he was
turned over to other negroes on
the place and next day buried.
Posey had a preliminary hear
/ ing before Justice Hoffman Mon
day, and was discharged on the
showing made. Sheriff Apple
white testified that when he arriy I.
ed and went to examine the negro,
he found him lying against the
barn, as described by Mr.. eagle,
With a sack of corn by him and a
stout stick or piece Of scantIing
lin his hand and clutched under his
arm. The negro, Lawyer Burr
testified that he was at the lot
gate when the shooting occurred J,
and saw Bayliss advancing on
Posey with the stick raised, just
as the gun fired. Posey himself
testified that the negro was adj
vancing on him with the stick iii
q threatenin manner when he
shot him.