Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1904-11-06
GUILTY OF MURDER
IN FIRST DEGREE
McCue Will Probably Hang For
Wife's Death.
LARGE CROWD WAS PRESENT
While He Showed No Signs of Emo
tion at Verdict, Tears Streamed
Down His Cheeks-There was DEM
onstrated in Court Room.

onstrated in Court Room.
Charlottesville, Va, Nov. 5.-Dr. J.
Samuel McCue, for two terms mayor
of Charlottesville, and for many years
lawyer at the bar before which he
was tried today, was found guilty Of
murder in the first degree on the
charge of having killed his wife. This
carries the death penalty. The jury
brought in its verdict at 1884.
AS the jury filed in, I.ere was a
dead silence in the court room, and
when the defendant was asked to
stand up he rose calmly. When the
words determining his fate were ut
tered, he showed no signs of emotion,
but when his little daughter, Ruby,
with eyes Redeemed by crying, climbed
on his lap and his relatives who had
surrounded him throughout the trial
moved closer, tears streamed down
his cheeks and the anguish he felt was
depicted on his face.
The courts strict admonition that
there must be no demonstration was
adhered to.
Fully half the spectators remained
some time after the jury was dis
charged with thanks of the court.
Counsel for the defense moved that
the verdict bs set aside on the ground
that the jurors had read newspapers.
The court called the jurors to the wit
ness stand one by one and questioned
them under oath as to whether they
had read the newspapers. AS a whole,
they said they had not been influenced
b anything they had read. The mo-
tion will be argued later AS McCue
left the court house to go to jail, ac-
conpanied by four guards, large
crowd was standing ON the outside,
but there was no untoward act.
When court opened this morning,
Commonwealth Attorney Gilmer re.
sumed his closing address to the jury.
The exhibits, reminders of the TRACE
dy, were once more brought into court.
Mr.. Gilmer closed at 11:09 a. M,
when Judge Morris placed the case in
the hands of the jury. The verdict
was rendered at 11:34 a. M
The verdict came as a climax to
one of the most important trials that
has been tried in Virginia in recent
years. None has aroused deeper in
terest or been more closely followed
by the people. One particularly sad
feature of the trial was the fact that
McCue had for years been a lawyer
at the bar before which he was tried
and convicted, and had been on friend.
ly relations with most of those iden.
titled with he trial. The jury evinced
the greatest interest, even questioning
the witnesses. The judge shok hands
with the prisoner and the relatives
who surrounded him just before he
was taken to Jail.
The crime for which McCue was
tried and convicted was committed
ON the night of Sept. 4. Mr.. and Mrs.
McCue had gone to church, returning
home about 8 p. m. Shortly after.
ward Mrs. McCues body, clad in
night robe, was found in a bath tub
filed with water. Mr.. McCue told
those who came in that some one had
entered the house and that he had
been knocked senseless and his wife
proabbly killed.
An investigation led to the arrest on
the charge of murder of the man who,
only four days before, had retired from
the highest Office in the city.