The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-12
DALLAS DEPUTIES
 ARE SENT TO JAIL Are Held Responsible for
 Lynching of Negro ROPE HAD DISAPPEARED Sensation Caused By Discovery That Important Piece of Evidence Was
 eone-Trial Attracts
 Much Interest.
ROPE HAD DISAPPEARED

| the three special deputies who are held responsible for the lynching of the negro | Edmund Bell last Saturday were com- mitted to jail without bail today as re- suit of the preliminary hearing before Judge Mabry.
 The mysterious disappearance of piece of rope which was to have been used as evidence in the preliminary trial was the | sensational feature of the trial today. | At noon the case was entered into. | plea of not guilty being entered by the | three defendants. J. J. Townsend was | the principal witness of the state and was | the first witness examined During his testimony he exhibited a piece of grass rope which yesterday he cut from around the neck of the negro that was hanged, the body having been exhumed for the purpose.
 The odor that clung to the piece of rope was such that 1t had to be placed at some distance from the attorneys desks. The deputy had found at the foot of the tree on Monday when he visited the scene of the hanging after the body had been cut down and buried by one of the constables, two pieces of rope about a foot and a half in length. This rope was cotton. The deputy stated he had the rope in his buggy down stairs and was excused from the stand long enough to go and get it.
 He returned evidently greatly excited l and astonished and reported that the two | pieces of rope which he had left in the buggy were gone The report caused nothing less than a sensation and while they may have been lost out of the buggy | there Is room for suspicion that they were purposely taken.
 Townsend's Testimony.
 MT Townsend's testimony was as fol- | lows:
 T saw Edmund bell on last Friday in | jail. He was alive and we'll I next saw him Saturday night hanging from black gum tree, the rope tied eight or ten feet from the ground. He was tied with grass rope half inch in diameter, about eight or ten feet long, the knot being a hangman's knot, knot somewhat un- usual. He was about seventy-five or one hundred yards from the railroad track, and about two or three hundred yards from the dirt road in a woodland, the ground of which is unlevel. Coming to Selma the road is perfectly straight and 1t would not be a direct way to turn off at the road to the northeast.
 'I saw MT. Ransom and MT. Stanhl on Saturday in the collectors office in the court house. There was something said about the negro being lynched They said the negroes took the negro and car ried him in the woods and that they heard l the shot and supposed he was done for. I di d not see MT. Cherry that day. stan fl and Ransom went with the sheriff, myself and others out to the place. They went to within about a width of court room from where the negro was found and struck a match They then held the match up and pointed to the negro. They had told me in the court house that they did not follow the negroes and did not know where they had taken Bell. asked MT. Ransom about the rope. He said he thought Mir. Cherry had it. MT. Cherry did not say anything to me about 1t but did to MT. Blackwell. Objection to what was said to MT. Blackwell was sustained) found two pieces of rope near the tree. They are in my buggy now"
 Rope Had Disappeared. The witness was permitted to go and get the ropes and returned visbly excited, saying that the ropes were not in his buggy now. That he put them in the buggy this morning at the jail. "It is not In there now. l don't know what has be- come Of it..
 Witness exhibited part of rope cut yes- terday afternoon from around the neck of the negro by him and swore that the rope found at foot of tree was not the same as on the negros neck. Witness said Ransom and Stanfil had said that negroes took prisoners away from them and were masked with calico of all colors | T did not see any masks or calico around the place. The defendants told him that they did not recognize any of the negroes.
 Cross-Examined.
 Negro was found about a mile and half on the public road from N. S. Stan 1 fls store. In the conversation in the col | lector's office MT. Ransom did most of the talking. MT. Stanfl did some, but I can't say which said which. MT. Ransom offered be a paper which I refused to take. did not ask them If the negro was | tied, and they didn't say. l don't know whether or not they were tied, nor If tied what sort of rope was used. A hang mans knot was used to hang him with It is an unusual knot and not many peo- pie know how to tie one. l know noth- l ing of another negro being hung at this same place. The defendants answered all questions promptly and cheerfully."
 Redirect Examination.
 Ransom and stanhl volunteered to go with the sheriq and myself. My recolec- | tion is that not more than one or two matches were struck before the body was pointed to. and one or the other said, | "Yonder he hangs" l looked and saw something but I couldn't say whether 1t was human body or not. It looked like stump
 The Afternoon Session. | When court reconvened this afternoon | Deputy Sheriff Townsend was placed back on the stand and testified that the | rope which was missing had been found at the jail. a negro having taken it out of the buggy.
 | Other witnesses were examined, includ- | ing a number of character witnesses, all | of whom testified as to the good charac- ter of the three men, the solicitor asking each character witness whether or not he had not heard of any unlawful acts which had been charged to B. F. Cherry.