The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-05
BOY MUST
 SERVE TERM Willis Henderson Found
 Guilty. GOES TO EAST LAKE SCHOOL Fourteen -Year-0ld Child Has Human
 Victim. Seemed Rejoiced Over Easy Sentence Given Him By The Houston County Jury-Interested
 In Youngster.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

hI WILL l.
 Dothan. May 4--(Special Correspond ence. )--Willis Henderson. the young boy who fired the shot that killed Lon- nie Yelverton must spend a year in prison
 Such was the verdict of the jury in his case rendered this afternoon at 1 o'clock, but Judge Pearce. acting with. in the discretion given him under the statute of the recent Legislature. sem fenced him to the year Imprisonment in the Alabama Boys Industrial School at East Lake.
 The jury In the boys case was three hours in making up its verdict. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 1t filed In the court room and the clerk read the yer dict: "manslaughter-a years impris- onment." The boyish prisoner grinned with pleasure. He smiled like the school boy who had been promised a whiping and has been let off with an hours detention after s,hool. The yer dict was satisfactory. both to him and his attorneys
 In the afternoon, Judge Pearce sem tenced him for the year to the Indus trial School at East Lake. This sem tence was naturally deemed best, be-
  able and a year spent among hardened criminals would undoubtedly make of him a confirmed criminal. Neither the unfortunate prisoner, his father, nor his mother can write. All swore to that on the witness stand. They are poor people of the piney woods. who have had no advantages. Ben Hender- son, the father, 40 years of age, swore that he could neither read nor write and Mo1lie Henderson, the mother, few years younger, swore that she. too, was illiterate, and that the boy oil trial was unable to read or write.
 Goes to Reformatory.
 Under the act regulating youthful criminals, Judge Pearce had the right to say whether the sentence of the l4- year-oId boy should pc spent in the penitentiary or in the industrial school at East Lake. He decided that the H. literate boys possibilities as good citizen would be ruined If he should spend a year among hardened crinin- als Exercising that discretion which the law gave him, he sentenced the boy to serve the twelve months at East Lake. where it was hoped he would be learned the rudiments of some useful and profitable trade
 Though the boy was guilty of man. slaughter, though he held gun and pulled the trigger that took the life or q ease unravelled in the Circuit Court of Houston County felt that this pale and yellow boy of the pine woods was in a great degree the victim of cir cumstances. In the first place, his few wears had been spent on a remote farm fin the pine country near the Flor ida line. He not only had never at- tended any school, but he never went to Sunday School, and it is said that he never went inside of church. The crime for which he stood trial and for which he was sentenced to years imprisonment was committed during family row In which his mother and his father were desperately engaged. Walter Yelverton, young man of the same neighborhood, had fought the en- tire family. If the theory of the State was correct and 1t was well estab- lished in court, the father of the boy handed the loaded gun to his young son and told him to shoot the enemy of the family. The boy without hes itation lifted the gun and coolly pulled the trigger. There was evidence. too that he exclaimed exultantly as he took out the single shell and blew the smoke out of the gun. T got one. and if I had had another shell l would have gotten two.'
 Slayer at Thirteen.
 But when he pulled the trigger that took the life of q man, Willis Tender son was only 13 years of age The tragedy took place early in November, while the Henderson family was har- vesting their cane and potato crop. In February, which was between the time the killing was done and the time the boy was put on trial for his life, Will lis Henderson reached his fourteenth birthday.
 Now, under the Alabama law. a per son who is under fourteen years of age tt- iVt1a n a to be incapable of crime. The State must show that although the accused is of tender years he Is yet capable of committing a crime The attorneys for the boy were not slow to take advant- age of this law. It was emphasized in the evidence that the pallid boy in the prisoners chair was only IS years of age when he took the gun in his hand and shot down Walter Yelverton. In their argument before the jury they dwelt extensively upon the feature of the law. and. without doubt. made an impression on the Houston County farmers who made up the jury.
 But they were not satisfied with this When the judge came to charge the jury, they submitted a written charge which dwelt upon the Alabama statute. in reference to accused criminals under 14 years of age. The judge read the written charge AS it was submitted to
 
 law he gave it to the jury.
 Jury Deeply Impressed.
 This and the favorable impression made upon the jury by the pale yellow faced young fellow with the curly hair. undoubtedly made a deep impression upon the members of the jury. The boy himself was his best defense. There was not man on the jury who did not recognize in him bright "tallow- faced" country boy with possibilities for good. Perhaps, there was not man on the jury who did not think that of all members of the family who took q place on the witness stand, the boy was the brightest and best.
 Since he has been in jail and since he has 'fattened up" on the three meals a day. as the county officials say, the boy is far from bad-looking, notwith- standing his pale-yellowish complex ion. His white hair curls naturally above his broad forehead, and his eyes are bright and searching Like every