Richmond planet., 1906-08-11
WILLIS ELLIS GETS TEN YEARS
Verdict of Murder I'm Second De-
gree for killing Mr.. W. II.
ChildrcsS.

Buckingham Courthouse. Va. Au-
gust willis Ellis. colored. was
sentenced TO ten year by the Cir
cult Court here today for the mur
der OF Mr.. w II. Childress.
This case. according TO local law
yers, is one OF the most peculiar
in the history OF Virginia 40 par
ahel case can be found in any OF
the law books. which will tit this
case.
on May 26th. of this year. VIM.
II. Childress. an inoffensive. friend
/ ly old veteran, was snot down in
the middle of the road between here
and Dillwyn by Willis Ellis. Child
ress was riding 10 Dillwyn, In com
pany with p. A. GrigE. when sud
denly Ellis appeared 10 r curve of
( the road and without warning rails
ed a shotgun TO his shoulder and
fired. Mr.. Grigg at once wheeled
his horse and disappeared into the
woods, making for Dillwyn as fast
as possible.
h When Mr.. Grigg reached Dnlwyn
he already found Ellis there. hunt
ing for a doctor DR.. Mitchell was
round, and at once. with Mr.. Grigg
and Editor white, OF the Outlook
went 10 the scene of the murder
and found a crowd gathering around
and Childress lying in the road dead
Ellis gave himself up and was
brought here to Jail. At the time
feeling ran high here and summary
punishment was talked of strongly.
! but has finally quieted down
Ellis testified in his own behalf.
and claimed that he shot Childress,
thinking he was Reuben Jones. His
story is credited. people believing
generally that he is telling the
, truth.
Il seems that several years ago
Ellis's wife was beaten up badly by
, Jones, and that himself suffered in
a scrap between the two. 4 war.
, rant was issued for Jones. and after
trial he was fined However. the
two shook hands and made up. al
though there has been considerable
i'll feeling between the two since.
The day before the death of ChiIdress
Jones paid another visit to ElHs's
wife and whipped her badly. and
when Willis came home in the even
/ ing he was told of the occurrence.
! He took down a gun. went To Dill
, wyn, had a warrant issued for
Jones, bought some cartridges and
, started home again. when he met
I Childress riding a horse that looked
like JOnes's and Ellis raised his
gun and shot.
Ellis. as soon as he found out
what he had done, jumped on the
dead mans horse and rode to Dill
wyn, where he told his story Just
as he told il in court, and sent help
10 his victim, but too late. He ex-
pressed extreme sorrow for what he
has done. and there is considerable
/ sympathy expressed for him.
A number of good people of the
county testified TO the good charac-
ter of Ellis.
All day Wednesday was taken up
with witnesses, and most OF Thurs
day was used in an EFFORT to get in
, structions before the jury. Attor-
neys Flood, of AppOmattox: Strobe
OF Amherst, and Gayle, of Bucking-
ham, appeared for the defense.
while Commonwealth Attorney Hub
ard was assisted by Frank Moon. of
Scottsville. Mr.. Moon made the o.
pening address to the jury Thurs
day evening and was followed D,
Mr.. Strobe. Mr.. Gayle and Mr..
Flood closed for the defense this
morning. leaving Mr.. Hubbard to
close for the State.
The verdict was murder In the
second degree. with punishment as
above noted.