The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-25
AWFUL CRIME
 IS DISCOVERED Four Negroes Murder Little Child. ScALPED ALIVE AND cHoKED Body Then Tied to Pole in Muddy
 Greek. 4t.. The Mother of the chiId and Three Other Nesroe. Who Assisted
 Her are Now in
 Jail.


 Linden. May 24.-(SpeciaL)--A hor- rible and revolting crime has just been discovered near the Tombigbee River, about ten miles from this place.
 Four negroes have been arrested In connection with the case and are now in the Marengo County Jail here charg- ed with murder. Their names are Lucy Williams, Bill Pritchett. Buster Brown and Lucian Sanders. Lucy VII Hams Is the mother of the murdered child and she has confessed to Sheriff the three men in jail With her killed her .2-year-old girl last Sunday and hid the body in the creek.
 On Tuesday while riding along the creek bank hunting a suitable place to cross the stream. D. c. Compton, Jr., discovered the feet and lower limbs of the child sticking up out of the water and he pulled up the corpse only to find that 1t had been securely tied head downwards to a pole and the pole driven down into the muddy waters of the creek. This had been done Sunday while the creek Was con- siderably swollen, but after the creek went down to its normal condition the lower limbs of the child were left sticking up so that they could be easily seen by a passer by. ~,9
 The woman says that her motive for the horrible deed was to get rid of the child so that she could run away with Bill Pritchett. She says that he and the other negroes in jail with her helped her in the horrible. deed and that after scaiping the child so as to make Identification of the body more difficult in case that 1t should be dis covered, they choked it to, death and then tied the body on the pole, carried it about two and a half miles to the creek and put 1t down under. the wa ter. She says that it was still moving little after its scalp was taken o0 and that they proceeded to ohoke@it so as to make sure that 1t, was dead.
 The child had been burned about the body sometime ago and when found, Il was easily identified. Lucy Williams says that because 1t was afflicted from the burns. she did not wish to carry il win her when she went off with Bill Pritchett. and that together they planned to get rid of 1t. The. woman is only about IS years old and talks freely about the death of the child The negro men are between 20 and 2t
 In the capture of Bul Pritchett. sher- if Grant made lucky catch The ne gro was blowing In a held near the public road and was apparently look ! ing for the sheriff. as he had left the | field and stayed away quite a while | once or twice during the morning. but each time had returned to work, all the time keeping a weather eye on thu public road. The sheriff' teamed of tht wherea bouts of the big negro and went through the woods to the back of thu field and when the negro saw him ht was in too close proximity to the on. COTS revolver to make good his escape so he was brought to Linden and lodG' ed in jail with the others.
 The negroes will have a preliminary hearing before County Judge A L. Has ty Monday. It is expected that thu trial will bring many people from tho locality of the murder to Linden al there Is much indignation felt over thu revolting murder of the innocent little child.
 The negro woman, Lucy Williams talks as freely and as unconcernet about the killing as if 1t had been ( chicken or a puppy that had .heen dis patched. The men do not have much tC say about the crime. It Is understood that they will make fight for theil lives. They have employed counsel though it is not known yet what plea will be entered in their case.