Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-10-01
Gordon Is Guilty,
So Jury Declares

So Jury Declares
HINESVILLE, Ga, Sept. 30.-Charles A.
Gordon, charged with the murder OF WI
liam n. Faulling, was found guilty 81
Jury this afternoon and sentenced to Ire
Imprisonment The jury's verdict carried
with 1t a recommendation for mercy on
account of extenuating evidence.
The verdict followed close after the Ora
matte and sensational confession OF Mrs.
Helen Faulling, widow of the dead man,
who was held as an accessory TO the
crime.
practically all of the evidence was end
ed early Thursday morning. and the OPP
posing counsel closed their arguments
shortly before noon
The jury was not long in reaching its
verdict.
with a lie on my lips, Is why am making
this confession" dramatically cried Mrs.
Helen FauIIing as she accused Charles A.
Gordon. of the murder of her husoano-
THE witness herself is held as an acces-
sorry to the killing.
trembling. and at times almost losing
control of her speech, the widow. OF the'
dead man told of her relations with Cor
don. of how her husband had been kill
ed. ana how Gordon had attempted TO
make her help bury the body.
STORY Oh WO11<A4N-
This was the story Mrs. Faulling told
the jury:
81 met Mr.. Gordon in Florida and have
known him three years. My husband and
I moved to several places in Florida ana
each time Mr.. Gordon moved also. We
first became intimate at LOTHIAN. Fla
Our meetings continued up TO the time
Of his arrest The night before the Of
ficers came for Mr.. Gordon he spent
with me.
MY husband left at shutdown and ct
supper time he had not returned and 80
several friends had supper with me ana
we didn't wait for him. Just before we
finished supper Mr.. Gordon came in, and
calling me aside, said 4 have done It;
have killed the
ST was very much frightened and near
" tainted but Mr.. Gordon caught me
and told me to be calm. as he was not
afraid. he then tried to get me to go
and help him bury the body, but I re-
fused, so he left the house and returned
In about an hour, telling me he had
buried the body.
HE said he had had a great deal Of
trouble taking the body to the place. ss it
was so stiff.
ct saw Mr. Gordon the next morning
and he told me where he had buried the
body and told me to keep a lookout and
to tell him if anybody was talking about
IL.
GORDON FEARED EXPOSE
1.-THE Saturday night week after the
killing I saw Mr.. Gordon again and he
said he thought they were on his track
and wanted to know IL had been to see
If the body was safe. told him had
not, and he said he would go and see for
himself. This was the night before the
body was discovered and Mr.. Gordon
spent the night at the house.
He said he would go early in the
morning and see for himself, but he
oversight and did not go, and the body
was found by the searchers.
Mr. Gordon told me that last night
that If I told he would kill me within the
next "a hours. That is the reason for my
silence. Since he has been in Jail he has
written me a letter trying to concoct a
scheme to prove an alibi for him"
WISHED HUSBAND DEAD.
A. 1. Henry, Jr., one Of the witnesses
for the state. testified that Gordon had
said that Mrs. Faulling had wished
thousand times that her husband was
dead and in hell" Another witness said
on the stand that Gordon had told him
that "Faulling had been sent where he
could give no further trouble"
]. T. Hope an Altamaha river fisher
man, swore that Gordon came TO his
camp several weeks before the killing
and told him that he had a woman who
asked him to Kill her husband. and get
him out of the way. He told Hope that
he had no idea of carrying out her
wishes.
c. NJ. Shepard. a turpentine op-
orator, testified that Gordon told him
Mrs. Gordon had become aware of his
relations with Mrs. Faulling and threat
ened to tell Faulling. He wanted a pis.
toll to protect himself II Faulling becams
ugly"
The physicians who disinterred the body
told of the wounds found in FaulIing'n
head, showing that he had been shot
twice, one shot being fired at very close
range.
Walter Faulling. the son Of the dead
man. testified that Gordon was very
good friend of Mrs. Faulling, who was
the stepmother Of the witness Gordon
had followed the Faulling family to Flor
ida. and had moved back to Georgia when
they returned
NO CHAIR AT TABLE
The next day Gordon moved away from
Walthourvflle. Walter swore that his ia
Their kept loaded shells in the house and
that he was killed with shot similar In
size to those in the shells. The state Is
trying to show that Faulling was killed
with shells belonging to himself. which