The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-24
MONTGOMERY. ALABAMA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER

made. As for the unworthy sons of 1 the unfortunate woman, who were ca I rousing with negroes. while their l mother was being hunted and murder
 ed, they had one saving grace. They
 had the grace to efface themselves, to | obliterate themselves as far as Gads- den Is concerned. It Is said they are ] in the army in a Northern post. e The first witness of today and one or the most important in the trial of Will Johns ton, was Addie McLendon. a negro woman. She had been to the show on the night of the murdeE Oy. the railroad track near the Southe < depot she saw Jack Hunter and Johnston. with Mir. Tom Rivers. Rivers walked away towards tb Ill house. The witness. with Hunte. dnd Johnston, walked the same way. but at some distance In the rear. The witness stopped at her house in White Row and sent Johnston. with Hunter. for pint of whiskey from the still house..
 An hour later will Johnston knocked on her door, opened her door. He was with man she didn't know. Two hours later he came back and knocked again and she ordered i'm away. The next morning she saw him at her house as early as o'clock. He said he was worried and Tn trouble He told her he had been drunk and out all night.
 Then he said, One G. d. white woman Is dead and stretched in hell.' "Who killed herr" asked the witness. "It don't matter a d--n, who killed her." replied Johnston.
 John Mayo testified to giving Jack Hunter and Will Johnston one Of the two new towels he had bought in the afternoon. He Identified the two tow els as they were handed. him by the Solicitor. About 10 o'clock that night he saw Vance Garner and Bunk Rich. ardson on the road near the scene of the murder. A little later he passed Win Johnston and Jack Hunter on the railroad.
 Archie Snuff. the young white man. for the third time took the stand to tell of Mrs Smith passing in the dark as he and his companion, Ben Adams. were talking with Hunter and Car nef. He told what she said of her being out so late and of her looking for her children. She was followed by Hunter and Garner
 As the witness went home he saw VIII Johnston. going down a switch track.
 Arrest of win Johnston. Police Chief H. c. White of Gads-
 
 the morning after the murder. John ston was in a crowd of negroes very much excited and talking wildly He was first arrested by the chief for a witness as he appeared to know something of the crime. He made a voluntary statement to the chief say ing, T saw Mrs. Smith going up the path last night. She looked like she had been drinking because she stag gerod from side to side. Two men caught hold of her by each arm. They were Vance Garner and Jack Hunter and I'll swear to that"
 J. P. Hollis who lives near the scene of the crime recited the circumstances which led up to his being the first white man to see the body. He had gotten up little after day to feed his hogs when Mr. Parks came up and told him that a negro had told him a white woman's body was lying up the road in some bushes near the big rocks. Will Johnston was standing on the railroad track about fifty yards away, Mr. Parks pointed out John about the body. Johnston did not help them look for the body but stayed on the railroad track. Vance Garner came up while they were standing thirty-five feet away looking at the body. Somebody asked who it was and Garner said. Its Mrs Smith" The face of the body was turned away from the party and none of the white men could tell anything of its fea- lures.
 Charles Parks testified that he was walked about daylight by Will John ston, who told him that there was a dead white woman up the road. It was some time later before the wit ness got up and when he did he saw M V-L l. About fifty yards away was Vance Garner. The witness asked Johnston to go show him where the body was and he replied, Boss I wouldn't go there for $25."
 Looking For Her Children.
 D. W. Foy again recounted the cir cumstance of his seeing Mrs. Smith in the early part of the night of the murder followed by a little dog. And every time he met her she told him she was looking for her children. Early the next morning the witness saw Will Johnston and Vance Garner on the railroad track and they told him of the body in the ravine under the bushes. With Messrs. Parks and Hollis the witness found the body. The little white dog was lying on the ground near the body.
 J. F. Hit swore that on the night of the murder, about 12 o'clock, while he was returning from town he met two negroes, a short distance from where the body was found He spoke to them but they did not reply. The defendant was made to stand up, Was he one of the men?" asked the solicitor.
 ITO the best of my belief, he was" repIied the witness.
 The negro women who had spent he night on Crap Shooters Hill" were again called to the stand to tell the terrible story which Vance Garner had told them the morning after the mur- der. The testimony at this time of these women, Lucy Mayo and Hattie Antony. was wanted to show that Garner had said that Johnston was present at the time of the murder and was trying to shove towel down the throat of Mrs. Smith. The barbarous and revolting story of the crime as
 Vance Garner told it, according to Lucy Mayo, was repeated, and strong men shuddered at the recital.
 Lima and Lucy Berry.
 Lima Berry and Lucy Berry. a negro man and a negro woman, who lived in the same house with Will Johnston, swore he did not come home the night of the murder until about sun up He brought the first news of the murder and was so wrought up and excited that the man said to the woman, He's
 gone crazy" Although he was accus-
 tuned to do the cooking at the house. he begged Lucy Berry to do the cook ing, saying he was so worried he just could not cook. He left Immediately, going down the railroad and stopping q