The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-21
Court Room Cleared by
 the Judge.
ETOWAH'SH0RRIBLECR CRIME
Witnesses Tell of Fearful
 Deeds of July l6.
At the Conclusion of the Case of Hunter, VIII Johnston and Vance Garner Will be
 Arraigned.
By win T. sheehan. {

By Will T. Shcehan.
 Gadsden, Nov. 20.-(Staff Correspon- dence )-Jack Hunter, young yellow negro, sat in the court room of Etowah County empty. but for the judge, law yers and jury and heard witnesses tell of his damning connection with the savage. inhuman crime on the noun tain side last July. when Mrs. Sarah J. Smith was fendishly murdered and worse than murder was done on that awful night, for which Jack Hunter with others Is answering to the law.
 The murdered and violated body of Mrs Smith, who was well known in and around Gadsden. was found Saturday night, July 18th. Mrs. Smith, while vel alive. had been dragged down the mountain side almost within the city limits of Gadsden. by strong and muscular hands wrapped in her long hair. She was a heavy woman weigh ing perhaps 225 pounds and her neck was broken by the terrible way m which she had been dragseo tnfuusn t,sn bushes and over ravines. Nor was tnere any doubt as other horrors which ac- conpanied the crime.
 Three negroes were indicted Tor the terrible thing. Jack Hunter. Will John ston and Vance Garner.
 Mob Demands Prisoners.
 The Sunday night following the crime on the mountain was one of the most terrifying that the city of Gadsden has ever experienced. The news went abroad that the men who had done the Aastardly deed were under arrest Tn the county jail. A crowd of 800 men gathered, the jail was under menace lynching was probable: Ihe saVassls of the crime was sufficient to arouse and stir the indignation of any com munity.
 Rut aroused as were the people, Gads- den was not to experience the addi- tionaI terror of a mob hanging three negroes on the streets of the town. Jufire !. n. Disaue Congressman J. L.. Hurnett and Solicitor wooden J. Mar fin hacked, by other loverssof law and orIar. addressed the crowd and be- sought them to let the law take it's course The crowd was moved by the eiouuent words of the speakers. and. lacking leader, 1t dissolved without accomplishment of its purpose.
 Tn the meanwhile Governor Jelks had been informed of the excitement and the Gadsden military had been ordered out The next morning the prisoners were carried to Birmingham and there they remained until the sum- mons to come to Gadsden under guard and be tried for their lives.
 Trial of Hunter On. -- The trial of the first of the defen- Sants began this morning before Judge I. H. Disque in the court room. from which all spectators had been cleared. This was done under the provisions or = the States present law for the trial of criminal assault cases. In such cases if the victim of the assault or her relatives request it, the court room Is cleared of all except the lawyers and those directly having part In the trial of the case.
 The relatives of Mrs. Smith had made such a request and so today the trial of Hunter went on in a court room in which there were not twenty-five per sons including the twelve jury men who are trying the case.
 It was a quiet solemn scene this trial for life and death on the midst of little knot of men sitting we'll within the railing, more solemn perhaps than If the room had been filled with in- terested spectators. Dark came on and in the dim light of the court room the few men who were trying to get and weigh the evidence as to the guilt of Jack Hunter felt at It's fullest the awe and responsibility of deciding life or death for a human being; and in the 'midest of them sat this young negro.
 Scar Of OminOus Significance. About his neck there was scar o1 ominous significance. It marked the track of razor drawn across ms throat during fight he had with negro woman. But there were those who saw in this forbidding scar the oninous sign of the hangman's moose
 The defendants were unable to em- nIoy counsel and to give them all their rights under the law. Judge Disque ap- nointed Samuel Henderson of the Gads- sen bar to defend them as they were brought to trial
 lack Hunter was first to be arraign. ed and a plea of not guilty was mace for him. As soon as Hunters case IS completed the other defendants Will DC placed on trial.
 The fury selected for the trial of Hunter is as follows: W. D. McDon" Ald. S. F. Jackson, T. c. Galiaway. J. P. Ford, E. T. Waters, Richard Alford' l. M Meeks, J. T. Armstrong, Will liam Simmons and Joe Carnes. Before them appeared Solicitor Woodson J. Martin and read the indictment, charg- Ing Hunter, Johnson and Garner with the butchery on the mountain side.
 The trial began by the appearance Of '. H. Hammond on the witness stand who, living in the neighborhood and being fatliliar with the scene of the crime, drew with piece of chalk map of the surroundings, which map remained on the oil cloth floor throughout the day and which will remain there until the completion of the trlaI
 Map of Scene of Crime.
 The map shows three parallel lines, One represents a b. idle path running along the mountain side; another. airt road, and the third the track of A railroad switch going to Hammonds mines.
 Mrs. Smith was walking along the bridle path when the fiends who were guilty of the terrible crime, seized her and dragged her down the mountain side over the road to a little ravinc near the railroad track, there she was found with her neck broken, the long hair dishevelled and extended far be- Yond the head as if the purderous hands which had been entwined in the hair had only a few moments before released their hold. The body was upon its back with the knees drawn ap. Close by was. towel shawl and some hatrpins. In the road across which the body had been dragged