The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-24
B|G LYNCHING OF
 NEGROES FEARED Thirteen Suspects Are Held on
 Charge of Murder APPEAL TO THE GOVERN OR Governor Noel Has Received Petition for Pardon of Bank President Who Was Sentenced to Five
 Year Term.
APPEAL TO THE GOVERNOR

Jackson, Miss, June 23.-(Special 1.-The
 sheriff of Clay county has been in com
 munication with Governor Noel today about a number of negro suspects, IS in all, he has in jail at West Point and there is a possibility that more troops will have to be ordered out, though that
 will not be done unless the sheriff reports 1t necessary.
 These 13 negroes have been arrested on
 suspec1on of having had something to do
 with a cold -blooded murder that was com
 mitted in Clay county recently. A white
 man named Bridges was murdered and
 his body thrown into the Tombigbee river
 Affidavits were made against the ne- groes before a certain country justice of
 the peace. and that officer insists that the prisoners shall be tried in his court. It Is feared that in the event the trial is had before this justice of the peace there will be wholesale lynching in order that the real murderer may not escape The neighbors are convinced they have the right negroes in the bunch of 18 and it l Is sugg ested that all of them may be lynched.
 The sheriff of the county is of the opin-
 
 | negroes are taken to the country justice | to be tried, but is firmly convinced there will be no serious trouble If the prisoners | can be tried in West Point. The sheriff appealed to the governor to | know what to do, and has been advised I that affidavits might be made before an | other justice of the peace, one living in | the city of West Point, and the trial had | there. In the event this Is done 1t Is not 1 believed there will be any trouble, though | feeling is running very high over the das- l tardly murder of the white man. In less than A hours after the supreme | court had announced a reversal of the case of the state vs. J. W. Stewart, the | Moss Point bank cashier, who was con- vioted in the Jackson county court on | the charge of receiving deposits after he knew the bank insolvent, Governor Noel ! was being flooded with petitions for the pardon of H. S. Rourke, president of the same bank, and who was sentenced to | the penitentiary for a five-year term on d similar charge.
 Governor Noel does not intimate what l he will do, but In view of the fact that | the judge and the district attorney who | officiated at the trial of Rourke, and many prominent citizens had joined in the | demand for a pardon, the chances are | very favorable. MT. Rourke who Is l quite an old man, Is now on the Rankin | farm, seven miles east of the city, be- l ing employed at light work
 l State Superintendent of Education Pow l CTS is delighted at the reports of at l tendance on the several state normals, l and Is confident that at least 2O00 teach | CTS will be enrolled before the end of the | week. According to his reports today I there are 391 teachers at Brookhaven Nor | nal, 300 at Hattiesburg. 350 at the uni | yersity, PIT at the Agricultural and Me | chanical college. No reports have been I received from Columbus or Sherman but 1 1t is believed the number of teachers at | those places will equal those at other
 places. and that they are now close to the | 300 mark.
 l Superintendent Powers will address the l Brookhaven Normal tomorrow and Co., 1 lumbus the next day. He then returns to | Jackson for two days, and goes next to l the Agricultural and Mechanical college l for couple of days. From there he goes l across to the State university for a day l or two, and after these visits will be- l gin to fill some of his numerous engage ! ments to address county Farmers union | meetings.