The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-22
A MOOSE FOR
 JACK HUNTER Gadsden Jury Out Only
 30 Minutes. VANCE GARNER ON TRIAL Damning Evidence Given
 Against Defendant.
VANCE GARNER ON TRIAL
Today His Case VIII Re Finished, And win Johnston win Re Arr raigned on Trial For
 His Life.
ny will T. sheehan.

Gadsden, Nov. 21.-(Staff Corre- spondence) )--Jack Hunter must die upon the gallows. It took an Etowah county jury only thirty minutes to de- eide that he was guilty Of partieipa- ton in the terrible murder of Mrs. Sar- ah J. Smith on the night of July 16, and even as the jury was deliberating that thirty minutes Vance Garner, as- sociate of Jack Hunter ana co-defen- dant with him in this awful charge, was being tried for the same crime
 The jury had hardly retired before Garner was summoned before the bar and the work of drawing a new jury for his case was under way.
 When the hour of six this evening had finished the two days during which the murderers and assailants of Mrs. Smith were being tried. one of the murderers in those two days had been tried and three-fourths of the evidence against the second had been submitted. By noon tomorrow Vance Garner will know his fate as Jack Hunter knew his today and then Will Johnson will be put on trial.
 The yellow negro, Hunter, today heard the jury pronounce the sentence of death upon him with absolute in- difference. He heard the verdict of death and blinked his eyes slowly. but his big cruel mouth never changed a line. He slowly rolled a cigarette and regardless of the presence of the judge upon the bench he stuck it in his mouth. He then threw his cap care- lessly on his head and stuck out his wrist for the sheriff's handcuffs. and that ominous scar on his neck so sig nificant of the hangsman moose show cd plainly as he left the court room.
 strong web of Evidence.
 As the day wore on a strong web of evidence was being weaved about Vance Garner. such a web. that will beyond a doubt drag him to the gall lows.
 Like Hunter, Garner is a young me- gro boy. Unlike Hunter. he is black and his pendant lips are heavy and thick. He wore a pair of overalls dirty and worn and the life and death pro- ceedings appeared to bore him.
 The two white men who were stand ing on the track talking to Hunter and Garner and who were erroneously published as negroes. Ben Adams and Archie Snuff. again told of Mrs. Smiths appearance and her walk towards her home followed by the two skulking figures. To the imagination of the jury was left the stealthy way in which they dogged and hunted the wo- man down, how they came upon their prey on the little mountain path and dragged her through the bushes by her long hair. As fearful and as awful as was the deed no one that was eye witness to 1t has the temerity to tell it.
 stayed at Scene of Crime.
 Damming evidence against Vance Garner was given today by Annie Me- Coy, a young negro woman. It showed the overwhelming load of guilt that was in the negro's heart. Through the long hours of the night that followed the crime he could not leave the place. The terrible thing, the memory of it, lashed him to the place in bonds that he could not break. He skulked and hid, but always near the little ravine where the maimed and violated body told it's mutely eloquent story of the savagery and fiendishness of those who had done the deed.
 Skulking there at o'clock Sunday morning he was seen by Annie Me- Coy as she went to her home after spending a night in carOusing on HILL" He called her to him and told her that Mrs. Smith had been killed and her body was over in the woods. He told her that he was at the still house when he heard her scream. and when he got there Jack Hunter and Will Johnson were strug- gllng with her, one holding her feet and one holding her hands. Bunck Richardson was trying to shove towel down her throat
 Told of Terrible Deeds.
 He said he tried to pull her away but they cursed him and made him move away He told her terrible things which she told the court and which will hasten him on his way to the Rallows He even showed her the place where the body was lying and the way she had been dragged down through the bushes. She told him to go and tell the white people of 1t and when he said he would not do it, and when she told him she was going to do it he threatened to beat the life out of her
 which came in this way second handed to inc court was a terrible one as the women repeated it.
 The first witness of the morning was ~ D Clarke, who testified to the ind ing of the towel by the body Of Mrs. smith. He had stamped the towel found by the body and identified 1t when it was shown him. Testimony as to tne history of the towel after 1t came into inc hands of the officers of the law was given by Police Officer James O'Ban- non. The second towel on the table was the one the officer took from the young negro Mayo.
 Testimony of Mccoy.
 | p. Mccoy, warden of the jail of 1efferson County, swore that directly after Vance Garner was brought to I2trmingham and before Hunter was ar rested Garner told the witness he want ad to be brought face to face with Jack Hunter when he was arrested. Hunter, when he was arrested, was carried to Carner's cell where the two negroes disnuted who did the crime.
 Hunter said he was at the still house ,,,hen he heard a woman screaming. He ran m the track and found Will John son Vance Garner and Bunk Richard son holding Mrs Smith, while one of them was trying to shove towel in her nouth Hunter said Mrs Smith saw him come up and said, Please make them stop, they are killing me-"
 Hunter said he tried to get them to ston. that the white folks were going to break their necks. Vance Garner told him to go on off. that he knew t,js business better than anybody else
 Mir Mccoy was also present when Hunter made his second voluntary statement. saying that he and Vance iarner were the only guilty parties. that Bunk Richardson and Will John- 1.. ,lid not know anything abont if