Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1906-04-05
Mississippi State News

viiiafny- This man bad charge of TIE
eouvlets On the day OF the killing rf
trosSetf. and Il was by his order that
the man was muri~rel He seems TO
your eummIttee to have hr~n utterly de-
void of every human sentiment All
Wholly Incompetent to al the po-itioa
he hslL The periods Of his drunkenness
AMI the extent thereof was onlv meas
ure't By has ability to -rt. ant his ca
psr1fy 10 hoid whisky. The killing ef
trasSrtt- whisa vas wholly uniussinable.
a eot4- heartie.s AMI ieHli.h aS-as-ina-
tian. done BY cervict unsier the ordrr
u a brute the revital of who-e cruelty
BY the Witness = sufficient 70 stir a
heart Of stone- After th> killing the
dead bsiy of the unfortunate man was
eft IN the rain where he fen from 8
O'Clock am To o'eboek pm. with not
even a convict hand allowed To decentIv
arrange his stiffruinx hrbS. wip~ the
death foam frum hi< .ssiea Iip- or eio-~
his staring eyes Il IL to b. hops.I that
thr last expiring crv Of the dou-uei rsis-
ereanf- Lord have mercy on nv soul
found an Affirmative answer IN that
court 20 whieh even a convict NAV ap-
pal without fear Of being followed by
IL M~hcAAT-- MufItftf-
No Record Of Investigation
-lf the board OF control made an in
vestigatiou OF this brutal murder. ~
recnrd thereof was placed on file or put
IN the records of it, proc-eiin-s We
-oaght some record thereof IN vain A.
=. May testified that he. Warden Henry
ami y. e. kineannou made an inve-ti-a-
thor. the result of which investigation
va. presented to your committee in the
form OF newspaper publication. which
- submitted with the evidence taken IN
this matter AMI will b. published as a
defense Of those whose duty IL was %
have protected the helpless prisoners un-
der their control. Ou this investigation
we make M Comment. Your committee
further fsds that when the eouvi-t
Crockett was killed. that II happened az
s o'clock am The evidence shows that
the warden Of the peniteutiary was i'm
mesliately notifie,i OF the hatchery. That
the said warden Wa in the city OF Jack
son Attending a fete OCCASION. ami
wholly and altogether neglected his dutv
m regard TO the said murder. section
3s2l Of the code of isse provides that
the warden shall hold an inquest in the
49, " ENNAN NANtfAa OF A EWuNtGf-
Said Warden Henry did not hold an in
quest. but did not even see to il that an
an inquest was held- He saws in hrs Owu
defense that when he was notified Of
the killing he vas here ut Jackson. nine
niles from the scene OF the a<sls-Ina-
tion. ami that he directed Dave PucSett
To hold an inquest AMI that be did not
knuw why 1t was not held. but that
Pnckstt told him that he fPucketti could
mt find a magistrate NJ sort 81 evi-
dence ws- submitted which even tended
tn show a magistrate was sought for.
The farm was in touch with Brandon bv
telephone
No Inquest Held.
The law of the State makes il the
duty Of the warden Tn hold an inquest
IN such eases. but IN this ease il was mot
done ami NJ legal or moral reason was
given way IL should not have been done.
be not only did not attend To this duty
himself a. the law requires him to do.
but from his own evidence made bur a
weak attempt To have 1t done. but even
II he had >'tersc,ied IN doing what h.
>att he trici to do, IL would not have
excu~si him, II. the law J. plain a. To
bis duty and he could neither delegate
that authority IN another, nor avoid il
IN the manner which a evidence shows
was done Your committee believes that
this murder was covered up BY those in
authority a. quick they could. adding
unsue haste to criminal negligence. The
action OF Warden Henry in the prem
Ises i unreasonable. uniustifiabIe and a
cruel maifeasanee in oftee. for which We
can md no conformation and whose action
wa either sanctioned BY the board OF
control or else ignored
In conclusion We must saw that the
tale OF Rankin county farm must Be
read before any one van appreciate the
e'iarity of this reports wherefore. we re-
quest that 10000 copies OF the testi-
mOny taken in this Investigation be
printed and distributed over the State of
Mississippi 50 that the people NAV learn
what has happened in the past % a. 10
be able to avOiS such misfortunes in the
future Respectfully submitted.
Il MILLER. Chairman