Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-05
Charged With Poisoning Of His
Wife, w. T. Jones is Ar
raigned in Criminal Court in
Union, S. c.
DOCTOR SAID DEATH
WAS DUE TO POISON;
BRUISES FOUND ON BODY
Physician Declares Woman Died in
Commissions, Brokenly Mummur-
ing Lords Prayer and Saying,
'sHave Mercy"
Especial Dispatch to The JournsL)


T. Jones, a prominent and wealthy plan
ter of this county, charged with poison
ing his wife last July, began in earnest
Wednesday afternoon.
Attorney George Johnston, Of the de-
PENDANTS counsel. moved to quash the in
dictment because 1t was indefinite as to
the kind of poison alleged to have been
used and because the character Of the
bruises on Mrs. Jones' dead body were not
described. The motion was overruled by
Judge Memmenger.
DR.. Jeter, the Jones family physI-
clan, was the first witness. He told how
he had been hurriedly summoned by Jones
and found Mrs. Jones in commissions,
brokenly repeating the Lords prayer, and
asking for forgiveness for her sins. She
died in Is minutes. His opinion was that
death was caused by strychnine poison
ing. He said he saw a bottle in the room
containing strychnine.
Unaffected by Wife's Death
Jones seemed unaffected. he said. when
told that his wife was dead.
Other witnesses told of seeing bruises
on the body when preparing it for burial.
The court ruled that testimony shall
be allowed as far back as practicable 10
show the relationship existing between
Jones and his wife prior to death.
Jones is Physical Giant
Jones is a man about AZ years old; a
physical giant in statue, being apparently
over six feet tall, and built in proper
ton. He has a massive head, and in the
operating of his large agricultural inter
ests has shown very great ability, branch
ing out along new lines, working out new
- 10 "a.
ing such new crops as tobacco agriculture
and other things; in all making an unu7
suaI degree of success.
Beside his property and farm planta-
tons, comprising about 5000 acres, Mr..
Jones about four years ago erected one
of the handsomest residences to be found
In upper South Carolina, being ideally
placed and architeceurally pleasing to the
eye. The house is equipped with electric
lights, generated by a private dynamo,
and supplied with water from his own
waterworks system.
Married Life Unhappy?
1t was when she was only Is years old
that w. T. Jones began paying devoted
attention to Marion Porter, beau
tiful young girl, who lived in the COM
munity where he lived. Shortly after this
they were married. From this union a
son was born, Harry Jones, an onIv
child who is twelve years old. That this
union was far from being a happy one
during the past few years is what the
neighbors and friends Of the family AND
residents of that community said in sworn
affidavits.
1t was shortly before twelve o'clock
Sunday night of July 5th that w. T.
Jones hastiiy summoned DR.. J. T. Jster
MS FAMILY physician, who resided not a
great distance away, to come Quickly
that his wife was i'll. DR.. eJter obeyed the
summons as quickly as he could after
dressing. On reaching Jones' residence
he found Mrs. Jones in commissions. He
tried to relieve her, but in a few mo-
ments she died bro1enly murmurinS the
Lords prayer and saying, have mercy"
From his observations and from what
Mr.. Jones himself said, DR.. letters opin-
ion as stated at the inquest was that
the deceased came to her death as re-
suit of strychnine poisoning.
One of the main points in the evidence,
as brought out in the various hearings
for bail will be at the trial that Mrs.
Jones, in mood Of dependency as re-
suit of having been particularly unwell
for several weeks, took poison herself,
thus causing her own death; while the
prosecution will endeavor to show that
Jones himself forced her to take It and
thus ended her life, backing up this with
a large array of witnesses, who will testi-
~ to his very harsh treatment of her
for long period.
Able Counsel Employed
The day after Mrs. Jones' death, the
inquest was begun, and so many were the
witnesses examined that It was not con-
cluded until the following afternoon. AS
result Of the evidence thus brought out,
Jones was arrested charged with the
murder on July 9Th and made an inmate
of the county jail here, where he has
been eve rsince, except on three OCCASIONS;
one when he went for a few moments to
the courthouse when he was arraigncd
at Septmber term of court; again when
in November he was taken in custody of
the sheriff to Columbia to appear before
the supreme court in an application for
bail, and later again in December when
the hearing for bail which had been aban-
doned was again resumed.
Within a few weeks after Jones had
been committed to Jail, his counsel, con-
sisting of James Munro, former Judge
D. A. Townsend and Senator B. F. Town
send, of the local bar, and Col. George
johnson, of Newberry, some Of the ablest
criminal lawyers In the state, applied
to Circuit Judge d. z. Hydrick at Spar
tanburg, for Jones release nbond, stat
ing that bond in any sum could be fur
nished. This motion for bail was refused
by Judge Hydrick after hearing, not only
the defense side, but also that of the
prosecution, which is represented by Cir
cult Solicitor T. S. Sease, of Spartanburg,
Hon. ]. Ashby Sawyer and Mr.. F. d.
Barron, of this city.
Bail Was Refused
This refusal of bail from Judge Hy-
drick came rather as surprise to the
general public, but soon a notice of an
appeal to the supreme court was given
by the defense counsel. When the Sep
TENDER term of court convened, they en-
deavored in different ways to have the
case continued, but the different motions
were overruled and Jones was arraigned.
Then the defense sprung "a surprise by