The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-08
Jury Is Out Only a Few Hours and Gives Verdict Ending Most Noted Trial In
 Asy lGSSGC gs PRECAUTION IS TAKEN ID PREVENT AN
 OUTBREA OF PEOPLE
One of the Jurors Is Very III at the Close of the Trial-Defensc Will Move for New Trial, Which
 May Be Overruled By
 the Court.

Union City, Tenn, January 7.-With a verdict of guilty in varying degree, the jury in the night rider trials reported at s;45 o'clock tonight
 The 12 men found Garrett Johnson, rid Burton, Boy Ransom, Fred Pinion, Arthur Cloar and Sam Applewhite guilty of mur- der in the first degree with mitigating cir cumstances; and Bud Morris and Bob Huffman, the other defendants, guilty of murder In the second degree and fixed their punishment at 20 years in the peni- tentiary. The punishment of the six first named defendants was left to the courtt and may be death or life imprisonmenE The defense filed a motion for new trial, which was set for hearing Saturday. and which will be overruled, as indicated by the court, when sentence will be pro- nounced.
 The court will sentence the six first named defendants to death.
 The jury had been out since ? D. rn. but because of the illness of Juror Ros- son had not been able to consult until 6 D. m. There was a difference of opinion among the jurors as to the degree of guilt of the defendants, but an agreement was reached quickly.
 Verdict Is Reached. Court was convened at D. m. and the jury sent word that it would be able to report shortly. The room was crowded, as 1t was during the argument. The minutes passed and at S:15 D. m. the baiiff called fo, t,n x@txr ~f.,f1 T,,r, was in a state of collapse and needed at tention. It was half an hour before Ros- son was revived. The jury then filed in and six deputies were summoned to carry in the bed upon which the sick juror re- clined The foreman announced the yer dict the defense called for a poll, which was made, and the judge dismissed the jurors. Rosson's condition is such that it was deemed inadvsable to move him to- night.
 The defense demanded until Monday to move for new trial, but the state op- posed it, and the court fixed Saturday as the day, intimating that the motion was 8 mere form anyway, which would be over ruled. @
 The defendants took the verdict with calmness as they had been expecting it since the closing of the arguments. At torney Pierce turr ed to them when it was announced and said, We will tear this case to pieces in the supreme court"
 State Disappointed.
 The state expected verdict of first de- gree murder in all eight cases, and was visibly disappointed. Bob Huffman. one of the men to escape with 20 years, is the man who, according to the confession of Frank Fehringer, fired the shot which killed Captain Rankin, as he was being drawn up by the rope.
 When the tury's readiness to report was announced, the military quietly surround ed the courthouse and a detail of soldiers with revolver holsters open was deployed around the walls of the courtroom, but aside from whispered buzz of conversa- ton, there was no demonstration. Tie prisoners were quickly handcuffed and under military escort taken to prison. The verdict is considered a compromise one, and no trouble is feared by the authorl- ties.
 Thus is ended in the lower court, one Of the most vigorously contested and notable criminal trials ever heard in this state, the outcome of a reign of lawlessness, the eliminating act of which being that of which men were found guilty, calling forth the mastering of the militia of the state under the personal direction of Gov. M. R. Patterson. to the aid of the civil authorities in the ferreting out and the taking into custody of those who were charged with the commission of the crime, the so-called might rider clan" of Reel foot lake.
 Beginning of outrages.
 The operations of the night rider band began with the burning of fish docks, extending to the inflcting of corporal pun ishment on those whom the leaders in their councils deemed guilty of actions in opposition to the wishes of the clan, finding a climax in the lynching of Cap tain Rankin.
 Captain Rankin and an associate stock holder of the West Tennessee Land com pany, Col. R. z. Taylor, an aged man, and one of the most prominent men of the northwestern section Of Tennessee, had come to the lake region to conclude U deal as to the sale of some timber lands the property of the company.
 Hanging of Rankin.
 The night riders, composed largely of the fisher folk of Reelfoot lake which Is owned by the land company, were espe- cially aggrieved against the land company because of the refusal to allow the fish ermen to ply their vocation at will in the waters of the lake. This they charged largely to Captain Rankin and Colonel Taylor. According to the evidence dur ing the trial when 1t was learned that the two were to spend the night in the lake region the band was told to meet at designated point, and toward mid night they donned their fantastic garbs of long cloaks and masks and marched to the Walnut Log hotel, where Captain Rankin and Colonel Taylor had quarters Forcing them to hastily don their clothes, it is related that they marched them to a secluded spot among the wooded re- cesses of the lake. Here a short parley ensued, and not reaching a satisfactory termination to the riders the rope by which Rankin was led from the hotel was thrown over a forked limb of tree rd fha man Ara Wr infn fha air vol.