The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-10-01

The coroneris jury convened yester-
day afternoon at $3.50 O'Clock at the
city hall by the coroner, DR.. {. y.
Bell, to inquire into the killing oil
Banks Rothwell, which occurred at
his home on the Owen Martindale
plantation three miles below the city
on the Federal Point road, at an early
hour Thursday morning, after hear
ing the evidence Of several witnesses,
including the testimony of the wife
of the murdered man, returned the
following verdict.
t"That the deceased Banks ROthwell
came to his death by gun shot wounds
inflicted at the hands of E. T. Cook,
Jesse higgins and L. M. Bryant"
Cook and higgins nave already been
arrested and lodged in Jail, their in
,~carceration having occurred on Fri
day afternoon and they will be held
without bail to await trial at the next
term of superior court which meets in
January. The third defendant, L.. NJ.
Bryant, has so far eluded arrest, III
though the authorities have made a
diligent search for him. Several ru-
mors as to his whereabouts have
been traced down, but in every case
without success. However the officers
are still hunting for the man and the
chances are that he will be captured
within the next day Or two somewhere
in this vicinity. He will also be
lodged in Jail. without bond, to await
trial in January.
The ~cOrOner's jury sworn in by DR..
Bell, was composed of the following
members: Messrs. w. B. Savage, E.
ID. Sloan, Owen Martindale, J. r. Har-
dee, w. H. Biddle and A. J. Thomp-
son. MI. Savage was made chairman,
and Mr.. Sloan secretary. All the evil
dence was taken down in shorthand
by Mr.. Meares Harriss.
The inquest was attended by quite
d large gathering, negroes from the
section where the deceased lived, be-
ing in the majority.
, The first witness was Anna Roth
we'll, wife of the murdered man. She
a clear statement of her knoWI-
edge OF the killing. this agreeing in
every particular with the statements
she made Immediately after the muir
der. The woman said that about i
o'clock on Thursday morning the baby
became i'll and both Banks and her
self got up to attend to the child;
just after this they lay down again
and in 10 or Is minutes they heard
a voice on the outside calling Banks"
Banks asked again: who is your"
reply came: 1--WE want to see you"
Banks asked again: who is you,'
The reply anne: 60. Martindale,"
and then Cook" Banks opened up:
the window and went out. Then a
few words passed and he wheeled from
the crowd and started toward the
house. The men grabbed him and as
he broke away they shot him. They
were white men. The moon was shin
ing and l could see. Only two shots
were fired. Banks ran toward the
house, reached up to a rack and got
his gun, set it in the corner, walked
Off to the foot of the bed and fell over
dead in about five minutes. After the
shooting, as soon as possible, the
woman went over to Mr.. Martindale's
place and told him of the killing.
Magistrate Joel Ray of Delgado.
who Issued the warrant which Cook
says he was trying to serve when the
SHOOTING .N0Nl1C,nI woo flo ro~+ rj+
ness on the stand. He said he issued
the original warrant on September
24th or the arrest of Banks ROthwelf
and one other mar and he exhibited
1t to the jury. No returns were made
on warrant and he didn't know wheth-
er il was served or not. Warrant was
sworn out by Bryant and given to
Cook, specially deputized by Ray to
serve the paper. Gave warrant to
Cook the 25th, about 2 o'clock, The
latter returned the warrant on Thurs
day, 26th in the morning, between
z and s o'clock and said he had served
it. Said he didn't get prisoners; that
they raj away from him. He turned
the warrant over to the magistrate
Cook said he used means to hold the
prisoner; said Rothwell resisted ar
rest and threw pistol in his face and
turned away from him. Cook drew a
gun on Rothwell and as he turned
Cook fred at him and he broke and
run. Cook also ran. He was going to
the woods when Cook saw him. Cook
said he ran because another man
~squatted in the yard with a double
barrelled gun pointed at him, and