The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-04-26

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| more County and he passed upon every
talesman VINO presented himself to
quality as a juror.
Members OF the Mccain family were
alert too. There must be close fam
| lily cohersion among these McCains.
The son, brother and father Is dead.
shot by an assassin. and the family Is
here 20 svenge his death by legal pro-
cess.
The father of the dead man, w. H.
Mccain OF Lowndesboro. his flowing
| white beard indicating his great age,
| sat with counsel tor the state. With
him were his sons r. e. Mccain of
lassee and M A. Mccain of Montgom-
cry, brothers OF the dead man. and e.
w. Mccain of Montgomery. son of the
| late deputy sheriff.
These McCain's know the citizens
of Gilmore County and they were
| watchful that no juror should be Sc
lected who might prejudice the State s
case.
Old man Allen Rigby was not brought
| into court today. His trial is set for
Friday While lawyers were battling
| to take away the lives of his young
sons the father was behind the bars
Of the wetumpka jail.
| Pathetic Female Figures.
The mother of the Rigby boys and
their sister MIS-. Short were the pa
| thetic female figures about the court
room today, the younger woman car
| ing for a pretty baby just able to walk.
| The women are waiting to do their
| part toward rescuing their loved ones
from the clutches of the law, to swear
| to the whereabouts OF their men folk
on that terrible night when w. L..
Mccain went into Tomkahatchee Creek
| swamp, never to see the sunlight of
| Heaven again.
| Equally heart reaching was the fig
| ure of Jack Short. the weak brother
| in-law of the Rigby boys who has
pleaded insanity. While in the Mont
| gomery County jail Short confessed
| that Bill Rigby shot and killed Mr..
Mccain. He made an affidavit that
Bill Rigby forced him to accompany
them on the night of the tragedy that
Bill Rigby fred the shot that killed
Mccain and then threatened TO kill him
| (Short), II he talked about IT, Ac-
| cording to Short, after Bill Rigby shot
/ Mr.. Mccain he knocked Short down
and took IS from his pockets and shot
at him twice, going away believing that
he had killed his brother-in-law.
| short weak Minded.
| Short is an illiterate and Is undoubt-
edly weak minded. There is a proba-
| bility that the case against him will
/ be dismissed.
| Me and the old man is just natur-
| ally ruint by them boys" he said to
| me today as he sat discoBsoiately in a
jury room, watching his baby playing
| about the floor. I'VE used to be good
/ farmers but we are all broke up now.
Them boys has been plumb sights.
i They drank whiskey and shot guns
| and gambled all OF the time. Now they
/ have done It,.
| When the court recessed after din
ner the jury for the trial of Bill Rigby
/ had been secured. The court recon-
| a Jury to hear the case of John Rigby
began. He IL Is years old and the
| youngest OF the RigNys accused OF
murder Iudgs Rfcna lfxon ruled thai
ii would expedite business to select
both juries and allow rejected tales
men to return to their homes
/ At the afternoon session the sombre
aspect OF the court room was bright
| ened by a bevy OF pretty Wetumpka
girls who occupied seats inside the bar
| and gratifed curiosity to be eniight-
| ened on legal techn. caIities.
| The tedious task OF wedding a jury
| for John Rigby from the venire OF
| seventy-five took up the greater part
| of the afternoon. When the venire
/ was eNuduBLeu Oulg tGh ihOh "OhO IA
| the box. The ten men in the jury box
| at this 1uncture were A. q. Dennis, j.
r. Mann, w. H. Holley. J. T. Nose
| ley, j. p. Edwards. c. A. Ward. r. C.
| Blake, A. M. Mason, J. J. Ganett and
J. B. Greer all middle aged farmers.
| Before the order was issued to sum-
| mon additional talesmen. counsel for
Rigby moved to quash the venire and
also to dismiss the jury selected to try
Bill Rigby on the ground of legal err
rors.
! Motion Was Sustained.
| The motion of counsel for the de-
| PENDANT to quash the venire was sus-
| tanned by Judge Richardson and the
court took a recess for supper. I'M
mediately upon reconvening at o'clock
| the trial of Bill Rigby began. The
defendant entered a formal plea of not
guikyr
/ About fifteen witnesses for the state
were examined. and when Solicitor As.
! kew rested his case at 1890 O'Clock,
Judge Richardson adjourned court I'M
| til 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. wit
nesses examined for the State were:
| DR.. j. A. Gulledge. j. e. Paulk. a
neighbor of the Rigby's; George Grif-
I'm, Estelle Hawkins, a negress; w. j.
| Patterson, farmer; Amanda Belser,
| Fuller Belser negroes; Whit Kenny a
| farmer; Walter Seago the man who
/ captured Bill Rigby. and w. II. Stan
field, a farmer.
| Mr.. Seago testified that on Novom-
Der s, few days before he captured
Bill Rigby near the line of Tallapoosa
| and Macon Counties. he met Rugby
| and talked with him about the capture
and trial of the other Rigby boys. who
| had been in Jail nearly three weeks
He swore that Bill Rigby told him that
| he looked for the judge to give Nell
Rigby life imprisonment. and John
| Rigby seventeen or twenty years, and
that he hoped the old man would be
| turned loose. He Quoted Bill Rigby
as saying They ought to break Shorts
| neck Darn the s. of a b. who goes
| on the witness stand and says he helped
kill a man. He ought to be dead E"
Did you all kill him." the witness
asked Bill Rigby. I'VE shot his damn
ed heart out" he swore Bill Rigby re-
piled. Mr.. Seago swore that when he
and j T. Baker came upon Bill Righy
several days later he fed from them
| and sho tat them several times. He
ran a short distance and then sur
| rendered.
Nearly every one Of the States wit
nesse sswore that after old man Rig
by. John and NeiH Rigby and lack
| Short were in jail. Bill Rigby went up
and down the country, telling the
| neighbors that the officers had arrest
| ed innocent men. and that when they
| got him, Bill Rigby. they would have
| the man who killed Bill Mccain. Sew
eral of, them detailed conversations
with Bill Rigby in which he boosted