The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-16
W. (. SANFORD
 IS ON TRIAL Slayer of J. A. AchorS
 in Court. JURY NOT COMPLETE Talesmen Prejudiced by Re-
 latives of Dead Man. Testimony In Sensational Shooting in Vesuvius Last May Will Begin ts in City Court this Morning.

| | Achors by w. c. Sanford. which oc- cured May 2I last in the saloon and grocery store of the latter in Vesu- vius will be rehearsed today by wit | nesses to the tragedy who nave been sumonei to testify in the Criminal Di- | vision of the City Court of Montgomery which is presided over by Judge VII | liam H. Thomas.
 1 The selection of a jury to hear the evidence in the case was in progress when the court adjourned yesterday l evening. The trouble between Sanford and Achors was said to have been due to a woman, Maggie Hickman, who lived with Achors in a room adjacent to the store of Sanford. At the time of the trag- edy it was said that Achors struck the woman and that Sanford interfered to protect her, whereupon a fight ensued. Sanford was severely beaten and while on the floor pulled pistol and shot Achors. mortally wounding him. A few days later he died at Montgomery hospital.
 Achors was a popular locomotive en- gineer in the employ of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company. His run was between Montgomery and Birmingham His home was in the lat ter city where he had a wife and chill dren. Sanford is about fifty-five years old. He has lived in Montgomery off and on number of years. He has no relatives here but his wife resides in Battle Creek. Mich.. where 1t is said he owns some property. Soon after the shooting of Achors. and while San- ford was in the county jail. Mrs. Sam ford came to Montgomery and visited him in prison. She returned to Mich lgan and has not been nere since. ! As Sanford has been in business in | Vesuvius several years and has repu- i tation for honest business dealing, he i is popular with certain class of peo- 1 pie and much interest has been mani- i tested in his trouble.
 Sanford Out on Bond.
 For some time after the shooting ! preliminary hearing before Justice R. 1 H. Jones his bona was fixed at s750 which he made readily. On July 16 Sanford was indicted by the county grand jury of which Col. A. M. Gar | land was foreman, for murder in the | first degree. He was not re-arrested 1 for the crime as Judge Thomas held that the bond was sufficient to hold him.
 The case against Sanford was set for trial in the Criminal Division of the City Court yesterday and the announce ment attracted large number Of spec tators to the court room. In the crowd were many railroad men, friends of ] Achors and a large sprinkling of friends of the Vesuvius merchant.
 Maggie Hickman, the woman who was the indirect cause of Achors' | death, was aCcOmpdHIeu tO court Uy her mother and brother who came from | Birmingham. She Is d strikingly hand | some woman and was dressed quietly but stylishly. Her features were con cealed behind white net veil which was deftly arranged over a large pie. ture hat.
 The court did not reach the Sanford | case until well into the afternoon and all of the time until long after night fall was consumed in selecting a jury. 1 ha pdjOIrned o'clock | until 30 o'clock this morning the special venire of 100 talesmen had been | exhausted and only nine jurors sat in the box. They were as follows in the tie. cashier at the freight depot of the Atlantic Coast Line W. w. Graves, clerk for H. C. Davidson; P. J. Lough- ran, plumber; w. C. Redmond, fore man at a hardwood lumber plant: A. L. Barnett. farmer; George D. Jones, sawyer at a blaming mill in the coun- try; w. J. Barkely, farmer; J. D. Mad dox, farmer and C. T. Ledbetter, farmer.
 When the special venire had been ex- hausted Judge Thomas in open court drew the names Of twenty additional talesmen who will be sumoned to ap. pear in court this morning. From this list the three additional jurors will be selected. The twenty citizens whose names were drawn for this purpose are as follows: c. F. Jenkins, c. William son, B. M. O'Connell, John Sheen, J. L.. Harris, Cleveland Baber. D. w. McIver, Jr, Porter Mckay, Joseph w. Powell, Charles P. Gunter, Henry M, Franks, w. D. Bellingrath, Albert J. Sweatt, A. w. Brooks and w. w. Pace.
 TaIesmen Were Approached.
 The selection of jury from the spe- cial venire proceeded slowly and some- thing of a sensation was developed when w. $. Thompson. being examined touching his qualifications as juror. 1 asked to be excused on the ground that he had, been approached by John Cox. a brotAer-in-law of the man who was killed by Sanford. MT. Cox, 1t devel oped. was a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Louisville and Nashville | Railroad. MT Thompson explained l that MT. Cox was his personal friend. and did not know when he approached him and discussed the case that he, Mr. possible juror in the case. He said, | however, that under the circumstances he preferred not to serve on the jury.
 So many of the talesmen had pleaded l fixed opinions" that several of then, were recalled and were closely q<Ies- veloped that the friends of the dead engineer had freely expressed them selves as to the guilt of Sanford, but with no criminal intent to influence the | taleSmen.
 At this time four jurors had been all ready accepted and they. too, were closely questioned by Judge Thomas P. J. Loughran said that on Wednesday night he had met J. D. Stripling, a 1 whiskey drummer. who remarked to him that "old man Sanford ought to be turned loose" Again he said that yesterday morning a bartender in Gard