The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-06
GallOWS Will Claim Har- veySmith'S SAccOmplice.
THE TRIALS AT DECATUR
Jury Considering Case of
 Steele'S Murderer.
Twelve Men Deiiberating ns to What Shall be Done With the Negro Who Slew Policeman While
 Under Arrest.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

BY WILL IT. SHEEHAN.
 Decatur, May 5.-(Special Corre- spondence) e)-John Collier must suffer Harvey Smith. his accomplice in the savage butchery of Miss Belle Blood worth.
 The jury which tried him this morn- ing declared in it's verdict that he was equally as guilty as his associate, Har- vey Smith, in the inhuman crime that was wrought in a New Decatur alley on the Fist of January.
 The jury needed only twenty-three minutes to make up it's verdict. The reading of the verdict which declared for his death made no impression upon the stoica1 and brutish negro. He heard 1t without, sign or tremor. He raised to his full height of six feet and shuf- fled out of the courtroom behind the sheriff.
 Will Jackson was immediately ar raigned before the bar of Morgan County, charged with the sudden and causeless murder of Policeman Steele on Friday. April 28. There were but few witnesses against Jackson and none for him. These witnesses gave damaging evidence against the vicious ex-convict who shot Policeman Steele to death with the latter's own pistol Before the day was done the evidence was in, the arguments were made and the jury was deliberating on whether 1t shall be life or death for Jackson.
 At 10 o'clock the jury had gone to bed and 1t was announced at the court house that in all probability no verdict would be rendered until morning.
 The verdict will inhict one of two penalties upon Jackson-imprisonm for life, or death upon the scaffold. No thought of an acquittal or of a shorter term of Imprisonment is entertained.
 Remarkable Week.
 With the return of the verdict in the Jackson case and the formal sentence ing of the convicted prisoners by Judge Speake. the most remarkable criminal week in the history of Morgan County will have ended. For murder, and for an even more revolting crime, Harvey Smith and John Collier have been le- gally, carefully and fairy tried, con- Victed and sentenced to death: Will Jackson, a vagrant and an ex-convict, has been tried for the impetuous and barbarous murder of policeman in the Sg those criminals has been in a court house that almost throws its shadow upon the very spots In which the dark deeds were done and in which human life was taken. Sorely tried as Deca- tur was for these two sudden and sav- age murders the men who are charged with their commission have been fair ly and honestly tried and with the aid of the State of Alabama, they have been given every right. every assurance, that the law vouchsafes to the prisoner in the hands of the law before the court.
 Harrassed and stung by the memory of that awful night of January 21st when Miss Belle Bloodworth, the gentle and refined young woman of New De- catur, was beaten to death in the weird shadows of a fearsome alley John Col Her, with the echo of the verdict that condemned him to death ringing in his death. sent for the brother of his victim, Fred Bloodworth, to come to the jail to see him. It was believed that the negro wanted to confess the crime that circumstantial evidence had so surely fastened upon him. Mir. Bloodworth went to the jail and talked to Collier perhaps half an hour. The negro was eager to talk of circum- stances of the crime-circumstances that connected Harvey Smith with it. but Mir. Bloodworth said he made no
 
 confession.
 Hardly less interest Is felt here in the trial of Will Jackson for the mur- der of Policeman Steele than was felt in the trial of Smith and Collier. A great crowd filled the court room wiry, undersized negro with the bulg- ing forehead and repulslve face of moral degenerate.
 JacI1sOn's Crime.
 A week ago today Jackson who had just finished serving a term in the mines near Birmingham for burglary was in Decatur. While he was wait ing at the drawbridge over the Ten nessee River to steal a ride on freight train he was arrested by Policeman Steele for burglary. On the way to the city jail Jackson suddenly grap- pied with the officer and in the struggle snatched the officers pistol from his pocket. He leveled the pistol at the officer and sent a bullet through his brain.
 With the smoking pistol in his hand he attempted to escape, but his way was blocked by Rev A. A. Hutto, pastor of the Baptist Church. Dsregarding the smoking pistol that Jackson waiv- ed at him. Mir. Hutto grappled with the negro and held him until he was hand cuffed and turned over to the officers.
 
 diers commanded by Captain Gregory have become light and free from ap- prehension of trouble. The situation has crystalized for peace and good order. The few noisy youths who were at first inclined to annoy the soldiers have subsided. The soldiers, with the same care and the same eau tion as at first, threw out their lines and guard the court house and the three miserable prisoners, but no effort is made to break the lines or aggra- vate the sentinels. And on the other hand the blue clad volunteers do their rounds of duty with more of the ease that comes from familiarity and pre- serve the restraint and the fine de- portment that has won for them the praise of Dectaur's citizens.
 The military expects to leave for home tomorrow at 1 p. m. Smith. Col Her and Jackson will in all probability be sent with them to Birmingham.
 For the morning session of the Cir cult Court today there remained only the closing scenes of the trial of John Collier. The evidence was all in and