The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-21
]. B. McCLURKIN IS MURDERED An Awful Crime Near
 Anniston. SEVERAL NEGROES ARRESTED Feeling Is High and violence is
 Rumored. MeCiuriin Was Knocked Down ana Bestsn Into I.se.ssility. aad Ills Head Buried In Pleushsa
 Ground.

7
 Anniston. April so--J. B. MccIurkin. a well known farmer and miller. was murdered near his home south of here today.
 He had gone out to his barn to frus- trate a robbery. when he was knocked down and then beat into insensibiiity, his assailants using pole and heavy stone His body was then dragged about forty yards and his head buried in the pioughed ground.
 Irvine Pope. negro. thought to be the principal in the crime. and several other negroes. have been arrested. Feeling Is high and violence is ra- mored.
 Pope was removed this afternoon to the county jail here from the prison at Oxford for safe keeping The sheriff has Arranged to have the local militia ordered out to protect the taii. Excitemt<t is at fever pitch but it is thought that no attempt st lynchs ing will be made tonight.
 Brutal in the extreme, the murder was evidently done to cover up an- other crime attempted earlier In the night--the crime of burglary and theft. Pope was arrested this morning at his home by Sheriff LeGrand. Deputy Seab and Pat Zaner.
 The details of this crime may never be known. unless the fend committing It confesses. The victim was beaten to death with a heavy club and a stone weighing probably ten pounds. his body dragged forty-four yards into the plowed ground of a cotton field and the head buried under the dirt as if there iurked fear in the mind of the murderer that after his victims head had been beaten with the club and stone there might still finger sr,,.s q. rtr af fffa tr hlra nd hA mi inhk survive to tell the tale of the brutal assault.
 Story of the Crime.
 The particulars as gathered from the surrounding circumstances and the few known facts furnish this theory of the crime,
 J, D. McClurkin. bachelor some fifty years old. who. with . maiden sister Mss Rachael Mcclurikln, lived nailes south east of Oxford. was operat+ Ing the nsfIis and farm adjacent. ceived d shipment 5f d.466 busiels of corn for the purpose of converting it into meal for the market, which he had hauled to the mill and stored away.
 About e. m.. Tuesday Miss Mo- Ciurkin heard some one making an effort to break into the mill. and woke up Mir. McClurkin, who hastily dressed and went to see what the trouble was. He never returned, but his body was found after daylight mile and a half from his home and the mule he had ridden away from his home browsing about q block away.
 The murdersoccurred near the home of John Body. negro. who. with his family furnish the facts that fastened | ana nrn TruftI AU says he heard wagon and saw some one turn into the alley from Fifth street and alight and fasten the mule to a tree. This party took off his shoes and walked back into Fifth street. Soon thereafter John Body says he heard a voice which he recognised as that of Mir. McCiurkin cry out, Don't do that. Irwin, I'm not going to do anything to you" The reply was, "Damn you, I've got you" and the blows and the groans followed.
 John Body says he knew something was wrong, but he was afraid and went back to bed without giving any alarm until daylight, when he went up town and reported that somebody had been killed near his house.
 These facts and conditions about the scene indicate that the murderer had attempted to steal a wagon load of corn from the mill and. being dIscov- cred and followed up by Mir. McClurlfin, the negro, believed to be Irwin Pope, had planned the murder in order to escape punishment for his attempted burglary of the mill.
 Finding Mir. McClurkin was pursu- ing him for the purpose of having him arrested when he reached Oxford. be resolved to make away with him Alfore that was accomplished. and went at the job first with a heavy maple club, secured from the wood pile of John Body. with which he first felled McClurkin to the ground from his mule. One of McCiurlxin's shoes had been pulled off midway the dis tance he was dragged and his coat turned back over his head.
 MoC1urkln q Good Citizen.
 MT. McClurlxin was good man, quiet and unobtruslve. He was never known to have trouble but was known as man of peace. Fearless as a lion, he had gone unarmed in pursuit of the party attempting to burglarize his place. with no other intent than to bring him to justice by lawful means.
 Sheriff LeGrand returned from Ox- ford tonight with John Body, In front of whose house McClurkin was killed. It is believed that Body Is a party to the crime and that his knowledge of the details of the murder is too accu- rate for him to be disinterested.
 The sheriff thinks he helped to re- move the dead mans body.
 Besides making arrangements for calling out the militia, the sheriff has appointed fifty deputies and strength ened the guard at the jail.
 Judge Coleman of the City Court stated tonight that he would probably call a special session of the City Court at once and investigate this murder, there also being several other cases pending. The coroner will hold his inquest tomorrow.
 The sherin says that when the Pope negro was arrested he remarked, What have you got me for, Mir. Me-