The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-29
FOUL PLAY CAUSED DEATH OF AYCOCK
 THINKS CORONER Boy Was Hit in Head With Rock and Then Pushed
 Into Pond
ELIMINATES ARE IN JAIL
 CHARGED WITH MURDER
Mystery Surrounds the Affair, But an AvondaIe Citizen Claims to Have
 Overheard Suspicious Con- versation at Cotton Mills.

An official investigation of the death of Amory Aycock, the 1O-year-old boy whose ter near the yards of the Krebs Lumber company, near IAe corner of Thirty sixth street and Third avenue, AvondaIe, several days ago, leads the coroner to believe that the little boy met death by foul means.
 post-mortem examination yesterday revealed the fact that the unfortunate boy had been struck heavy blow on the head, apparently with a round stone, and for reasons given suspicion rests on two of the deceased boys playmates. Consequently Coroner Paris issued war rants for their arrest and they were placed in the county jail yesterday aft ernoon Their names are Will McCarter, aged IS years, and Clifford Painter ,a boy about 2 years old.
 When the body of the drowned boy was found by his parents, it was first believed that he had been swimming in the pool and had become cramped and accidentally drowned after swimming out into the deep water The investigation held yesterday morning presents another phase however. The supposed crime is one of the most remarkable on record, all of the principals involved being chil- dren, except McCarter, who is said to be IS years old. He does not appear, however, to be any older than the other boys.
 If statements true suspicion was aroused by the alleged statements of a boy named Douglass, who Is said to have been the only witness to the difficulty, which Is supposed to have come up be- tween the Aycock boy and the other two. It is stated that d conversation between Douglass and one of the women in the mill village was overheard in which he told of the death of the boy.
 citizen of Avondale. who claims to be unconcerned except for the sake of running down the crime, reported the rumor to the coroner and an investiga- tion and the arrest of the two boys fol- lowed.
 The story which Douglass is supposed to have related to the woman to whom he was talking is to the effect that the three boys. Amory Aycock. Will McCar- ter and Clifford Painter. were near the swimming hole when the two younger boys had a boyish falling out. The Me Carter and Painter boys are said to be chums and it is stated that during the trouble between his pal and young Ay- cock McCarter threw a stone and hit Amory in the head.
 It is not believed that the wound on the boys head was of a nature serious enough to produce death; however, 1t is probable that the boy was knocked un- conscious. and after falling to the ground he Is supposed to have been pushed off into the water and drowned before any one came along.
 It is said that the clothes were placed along the side of the edge of the pool to lead the discoverers to believe that the boy had drowned while in swimming, which it did for while
 When Douglass was questioned yester- day morning he denied having any knowledge of the difficulty between the boys whatever.
 It will be recalled that on last Monday evening MT. and Mrs Joseph R. Ay- cock, the parents of the drowned boy, missed their son and when they searched for him, found his body after dragging the pool in which the boys are accus- toned to go in swimming. It was thought for a time that the boy had been drowned from being unable to help him self while cramped. The gossip among the people of the mill village. however, aroused suspicion, and the outcome of the trial of the two boys being held is uncertain. It is stated, however, that testimony has been gotten which will substantiate the theory of murder
 The question which arouses doubt is whether the two boys hit young Aycock with malicious intent or whether they just intended to give him a boyish trouncing.
 The arrest of the two boys held was effected yesterday morning The proper papers were placed in the hands of Depu- ty Sheriff Wilson by Coroner Paris. and he went to Avondale immediately to put the boys under arrest. They were locked up in the county Jail last night without bond.