The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1909-01-29
SUPREME COURT
DECISIONS
Dee House Case Affirmed, Which
Carried with II a Life
Sentence

Sentence
On Monday the Supreme
Court handed down several opin.
ions in cases appealed from this
county. The most important of
these was the case Of Dee House
in which the defendant had re-
ceived at the hands of the jury,
a life sentence for the murder
of Jim Putt. The case has been
pending since the February term
1907, when the trial was held.
1t will be remembered that Dee
House shot and killed Jim Putt
in a little cotton house near
Blair in October, 1906. The
shooting occurred between three
and four o'clock in the morning,
after an all night game of craps
in which Dee and Porter Honse,
Jim Putt and a number of other
young men of the neighborhood
engaged.
At the preliminary hearing,
Dee and Porter House were sent
to Jail to await the action of the
grand jury. A writ of habeas
corpus was sued out, but upon
hearing of the case, the court
decided that the evidence was
sufficient to hold them.
At the February term follow
ing, an indictment for murder
Of Jim Putt, a severance was
asked and Dee House was placed
on trial. A verdict of guilty
was brought in and a life SEN
tence imposed by the jury.
A motion for a new trial was
made and over ruled by the
court. An appeal was then TAX
en- to the Supreme Court.
In May following, pending the
appeal, Dee House escaped from
Jail and after several months To-
Gated at Paris, Texas, where he
was employed on a hay and
grain farm. His whereabouts
were finanly made known to
Sheriff, Trapp, who went for
him and returned him to the Jail
here. At the fall term of the
Supreme Court, Messrs. Ander-
son & Long and Guy w. Mitch
ell, Attorneys for House, filed
a motion to have the case taken
from the flies and placed on dock
CT ecr hearing.
The case Was argued before
the court while Judge Calhoun
was on the Bench, but his death
came before an opinion was rem
dered. Upon the appointment
of Mr.. Fletcher, he was disquali-
fled in the case as he had ap-
peared for the state while he
was Attorney General This
necessitated the appointment OF
a special judge and Governor
Noel named Judge Robert Powell
to sit in the case. He prepared
the opinion of the court, affirm
ing the verdict and sentence of
the lower conrt. The attorneys
for the defendant will file an as
signment of errors in the case.
In the case of the town of We
roma in which Jim Sample and
Robert Scales, negroes, was
tried and convicted for illegal,
voting, the case was remanded
and the defendants discharged.
The defendants were represen-
ted by Anderson & Long.
On the CIVIL Docket, the jndg-
ment obtained in this court for
$45OO. 90 by Mrs. N. E. Swindle
ct al versus the Frisco, R. r. Co
was affirmed. This was case
in which a Mr.. Swindle en- route
from Texas to Carbon Hill, Ala,
his home, fell from the fast mid
night train while in motion at
PlantersvilIe and was killed. The
exact manner of his death could
never be fully established, but
the jury held to the opinion that
the deceased fell through a trap
door left open in the vestibule.
The plaintiffs were represented
by Messrs Mitchell & Clayton
and Mr.. Sheperd of Carbon Hill,
The case Of Jim Ruff, versus
the Frisco who was struck by a
fast train at Plantersville and
severely injured, was reversed
and remanded. The plaintiff
was represented by J. M. Thom-
as and Anderson & Long.
In the case of E. G.. Smith vs.
the Frisco, the judgment obtain
ed hear for 81, 600. 90 was permit
ted to stand and the case was af-
firmed. Smith was an extra
brakesman on the Frisco and
sustained injuries being thrown
1A