The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-07
Killer of Sisters Betray-
er Gets Pardon
KINkAiD is SET FREE
Shot Man Who Falsely Promised Mar
riape 10 Wayward Sister in Pres
ence Of His Bride. Brown
Had Gained Confidence
for an Evil End

for an Evil End.
In assigning his reasons yesterday
for granting a pardon to Jonn T.
Kincaid, a young mar Of Castor coun-
~ who had been serving a sentence
of three years in the penete-tlafy
for manslaughter Governor Glenn de-
clared that he was not a believer IN
"brainstorms" or the "unWritten law,
but. stating the circumstance under
which the homicide was committed
ayerred tina he could but put himself
in kincaid'S place and that, dong SO,
he did not know how he or any oth-
er man would have acted under IKE
D~rOVOcatlOn. -
The facts out of which the case grew
are well remembered AMI had the
most and sensational setIns.
The deceased, Will BroWA, had just
been married and was killed IN the
presence of his bride by hlncald
When he came to be tried ne SUD
mitted to manslaughter and in mltl-
cation showed hat he had believed
tina the deceased was paying honor
able attentions to his young sister VINO
had been previously betrayed: thdl'
when Brown was first interested III
the girl he had told him her past
life and that the MAJ nevertheless
persisted that he wished TO marry her,
but. after again having caused the
downfall of the girl, married another
woman.
Under these circumstances, klncald
was suddenly informed OF brown
marriage and saw the Wedding party
He called Brown aside,
there was a brief quarrel and the
shooting followed.
In granting the pardon, Governor
Glenn outlines the peculiar clrcum-
stances of the tragedy WIN sraPhlc
detail:
Governors Reasons for Pardon
1.-The at September term,
1906, of CASTOR Superior court, OF
fered to submit to a verdict OF man
slaughter for the killing Of one, Wlll
Brown. Said plea was accepted oy sne
solicitor, and the presiding judge
sentenced prisoner to the State prison
for the term Of three years.
"These are the facts in the case:
..Kinsaid had a younger sister. Her
mother died when she was a child; al
forwards her father re-marrled. ana
She was left almost to take care OF
herself; when betWeen sixteen ana
seventeen years of age she was ruined
by a designing person. JnO. 7. III
said, the prisoner, then took MS SIS
ter, carried her to his home, PROVIDED
for her and cared for her; got her
into the Sunday-schOOl, and so shield
ed her as to once more get her back
into society and the respect of good
people. Later William Brown COM
menced paying attention to this young
girl and Jno. Y. Kincaid went to him
and told him his sisters past life, and
of his efforts to save her. Brown as
sured him that he was in love with
his sister and wanted to marry her.
and asked permission to pay her at
tention. This Kincaid consented to.
thinking Browns intentions were hon
orable. His letters n conduct led
all to believe that ne was deeply in
love with the girl. Afterwards Kim
caid learned that Brown had betrayed
his sister. He went to him and
Brown admitted that he was engaged
to the girl; that he loved her.; that
his intentions We're honorable and
that he would marry her. He then
went away to make preparations, rs
he said, for the wedding and con-
tinued to write back that it was his
intention to marry her. On the morn
ing of the unfortunate homicide. the
prisoner was approached by a friend
and asked if he had attended the we'd
ding that morning. He said, No,
and asked what wedding, and the re-
ply was, will Brown and the Wild
ow' and while they were talking he
said, M they come now and
prisoner saw the wedding party on
the wa- to the depot. He was sur
prised, as the facts. show, at this in
formation, as he thought Brown was
going to marry his sister He follow
ed Brown over to the store and they
got into some altercation,-hOt words
enSued, and there was some little evil
dence of some demonstration on the
part of the deceased, when prisoner
shot him once or twice, and killed
him. He came INTO court. He did
not plead insanity, or brain storm. or
self-defense. He rendered the plea Of
manslaughter, stating that carried
away by passion, upon impulse, he
slew the man who had ruined his Sis
ter,-after he had been told her his
tory, and given the utmost considera-
ton. The judge sentenced him to
three years, stating at the time that
if he behaved himself. he would rec
ommend a pardon. His conduct since
he has been in the State Prison has
been first class. Up to the line of this
unfortunate tragedy he had always
borne the reputation of being a young
man Of character and honor. The
trial in"~o, Solicitor, jury, the leading
citizens throughout the county, and
all county officers, not only recon-
mend, but urge and beg that pardon
be granted him.
Il am not a defender of the unwrit-
ten law. l think the plea of brain
storm and s6lf-defense has been car
ried too far, but when this man was
trying to pull his sister out of the gut
ter and placed confidence in Brown,
which confidence was BETRAYED by
running his sister-and when after his
going to him and giving him a chance
to right the wrong he had done.
Brown then without warming married
another woman and came right into
the presence Of the man he had
wronged, I cannot but put myself in
MS place. and God knows what, I'M
der the circumstances, I, or any other
ina would have done. and therefore
accepting the recommendation of the
judge, solicitor and jury, I grant a
pardon to this man on condition that
he remains Of good character. and
especially am | prompted to do this in
this case because subsequent deyel-
opments have shown hat the de-
ceased was a man of bad character,
having three living wives at the
time of his death, and having before
this acted in a similar manner in