The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-17
SHOT NEGRO TO AID FATHER Young Man Freed on
 Novel Plea. JONES IS NOT GUILTY Jury Returns Verdict at Luverne
 For Defendant. Crenshaw County Man Shot Jenis Florence To Death When He Was
 Attempting To Harm
 His Parent.

Luverne, March 16.-(Special Corre- spondence )-Claiming that he shot 70. save his fathers life, that in the eyes of the law 1t was as much self deIense to shoot to save his fathers lire as though he had shot to save his own, Tankersley Jones' a young white man who shot Jenks Florence, negro, was acquitted of the charge of murder in the Circuit court of Crenshaw county. The young man who clalhied that ne shot to save his father was freed after forty minutes deliberation by the Jury. The plea of the young man involved a nice point of law, point which IS seldom called into service. The rule or law that 1t contains Is none the less recognized for that This rule is that the son has the right to kill II only by killing the life of father can De saved The law holds that son can stand in the place of father when an imminent danger threatens the Ia ther. The rule holds that the act of son who kills in defense o2 his father is as much self defense as though he had killed in defense of his own life. Details of Tragedy. Tankersley Jones, who last fall snot and killed Jenks Florence, invoked this unusual ruie of law when he was ar | raigned yesterday. on the charge or | murder. His defense was an admission l of the killing of the negro Florence, l but he defended that act, by claiming | hat he only shot to save the life or l his father. He established in court l that the negro was approaching ms | father, enraged and with pistol in i bis hand when some one called out 1 to Tankersley Jones: Run here quick. 1 This nigger is going to shoot your Ia | ther" With that, young Jones ran up with his own pistol in his hand and l shot the negro in the region or the l heart.
 There were some half dozen witness | es who saw the shooting on the streets | of Petrey, a prosperous little town north of Luverne. On the witness | stand in the Circuit Court or CrenshaW county they testified that the father | of Tankersley Jones was m imminent l danger for the negro was making for l him with a pistol in his hand. Ihey testified further that some 5oung man l called out to Jones some distance away l that the negro was about to shoot his | father and with that he rushed up and l fired the shot that stopped the rush or 1 the negro.
 1 The peace officers of Crenshaw Coun- ty, however, went into deep inves- l tigatfon of the killing. So closely was 1 this investigation made and so im- nortant was it deemed that young 1 Jones has been kept in jail since the shooting last fall. Sentiment at the time was rather against the young white man, because 1t was believed
 that he harbored enough malice against the negro to shoot him down But the
 conditions surrounding the killing l were not known then. It was simply known that the negro had gone to Lu-
 verne to testify against young Jones 1 in a case of minor importance before
 the Chancery Court of Crenshaw Coun- ty.
 If was known that young Jones was | greatly enraged at the negro for his | activity in the case. It was said that
 he had made threats against the ne-
 gro and that he left Duverne soon after
 the negro. But the testimony of eye
 witnesses eliminated the theory that
 Jones had coolly followed the negro
 and shot him down when they got to
 the town of Petrey.
 Eye Witnesses Testify. 1 The witnesses who testihed In court | showed that Jones had not looked the
 negro up, but that the elder Jones had | entered into a quarrel with the negro
 for the latters activity in the court
 proceedings. The witnesses gave the
 impression that while the shooting
 originally grew out of this court af-
 fair, Jones did not cooily hunt the ne-
 gro down and kill him.
 The citizens of Petrey who saw the
 
 street testified to the quarrel between
 the father and the negro and of the movement towards the old man of the
 negro enraged and with his pistol in
 his hand They testified further of the
 cry that went up from the crowd for
 young Jones to hurry to the help of his father and of his quick response to that call.
 The witnesses described young Jones
 running up with a 3S-caliber pistol in
 his hand and his quick shot at the en-
 ragged negro. The negro fell to the trigger had been pulled he breathed
 his last.
 So with this state of facts, with the eye witnesses corroborating his ac-
 count of the difficulty. Tankersley
 Jones, when he was arraigned before
 Judge Richardson, admitted the shoot
 ing, but based his defense on that rule of law that the son has the inherent right to defend the life of his father
 at all costs. This defense was made for him by his attorneys, Frank Brick
 en, G. O. Dickey and Sam Reid and emphasized in their addresses to the : jury The prosecution of the young
 man was conducted by Solicitor c. R.
 Bricken, who held that the killing had
 been premedtated and that young
 Jones left Luverne with the intention
 of shooting the negro.
 The case went to the jury a few Il night it had returned with a verdict
 was given his freedom,