The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-27
CORONER UNEARTHS UGLY MURDER CASE Negro Shot and Clothing Set
 on Fire WIFE ANB SON ARE HELD Old, Rusty Revolver, With Chambers Full, Was Found Lying By Body.
 Affair at East Thomas
 Yesterday Morning.
WIFE ANB SON ARE HELD

murdered by being shot and that an effort was made after the killing to burn the body or to disfigure the features in order to make Identification impossible so that the murderer might escape is Coroner B. l.. Brasher's opinion relative to the case concerning which he went to East Thomas yesterday morning to hold preliminary Investigation. The case bears several very repulsive features and the bunglesome attempt to veil the mur- der so as to make the negro's death appear to be a suicide would indicate that Johnson came to his death at the hands of another negro.
 It seems that yesterday morning about daybreak Johnson and his wife and son became engaged in a free-for-all fight, the young negro and his mother attack Ing Johnson. It is stated that Johnson got hold of his gun and fired upon the boy narrowly missing him, and his face and clothes bear powder marks, which tend to bear out this part of the ne- gro's statement.
 However 1t is stated that the combat came to close when Johnson left the house and started off down the road. In the meantime 1t seems that someone had notified the authorities of the fight which was going on and when officers reached the scene Johnson was gone. The wife of the negro told the officers that her husband had gone off down the road and IA ufo orta aA rfP It
 A short distance down the road the officers thought they saw some one sitting against tree and upon advancing found that 1t was Johnson. He was dead. The body was in an erect sitting position.
 Upon making an investigation 1t was found that the negro had been terribly wounded in his left side and that his clothes had been set fire. Only a small portion of the garments were left hang ing on the corpse. An old, rusty revolver was found lying close to the negro's body.
 The officers went back and questioned the wife of the dead negro and she told them that her husband left the house after the fight and that she supposed he had committed suicide. Yesterday morn- ing the coroner went to the scene and he Is of the opinion that the negro wom- an and her son know more of Johnsons s death than they have told. He stated last night that it was apparently case of l murder.
 The coroner states that there is a | hole in the negro's side as big as a mans fist which could not have been inflicted with a revolver. He also states that the revolver which was found by the negro's side was rusty, that the cham bers of the gun were all full and that the weapon, judging from the condition of the barrel had not been fired in fully two months. The fact that the negros clothes were so badly burned also adds suspicion to the case, according to the coroner's views.
 Coroner Brasher states that there is little doubt that the negro was mur- dered and that the suspicion rests upon the deceased negro's wife and son. It
 is believed that Johnson was shot and almost instantly killed, judging from the nature of the wounds, and that he was carried down the road and placed in a sitting position against the tree, the body being set up, evidently, so as not to attract so much attention as would be the case if it was lying on the ground. It is thought that the murderer hoped to ward off suspicion by placing the old revolver at the side of the body but neglected to fire the gun or to take out part of the load, inasmuch as all cham bers of the gun were full. Fire was then evidently set to the clothing about the corpse, either to leave the impression that it had caught from Johnson's firing upon himself at the very close range, or else to burn the features in order to hinder an identification of the body.
 The coroner will hold an official in- vestigation of the case in his office at the courthouse this afternoon at ? o'clock. Quite a number of witnesses. virtually all of them negroes, have been summoned to testify in the case.