The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-26
UNCLE TOLD
 BOY OF CRIME Damaging Evidence Against Clements. MURDER OF EDMONDSONS Child Swears Defendant Confessed
 to Him. Pathe tie scenes in the Court Room at Decatur, Where Woodland Mills
 Tragedy is Inves-
 tfgated.

cle Bob Clements told me that he had put them in the house and would set nre 10 the house that night and burn them up and he gave me 2O cents not to tell.
 This was the uncontradicted evil dence of Gilbert Luker, l3 year-old son of Rufus Luker. and the son Of Bob Clements's sister.
 The defendants attorneys placed the boy under a hot fire of questions of cross-eXamination, but they failed to snake his evidence in the least. Uncle Bob told me the whole Ed nondson family got after him and he had To Kill them or they would have him Killed and then his children would starve to death." said the boy. He said Edmondson had a knife and the rest Of the family had sticks and har- row teeth after him. 1 asked Uncle Bob where Kettle was and he said sbe was then lying in the field dead. Re said sine was high-strung and that she liked to have gotten away from him, on the night of the fire," said the boy. T told mama. father and sister what Uncle Bob had told me-"
 Rufus Luker. father of Gilbert Luker, testified practically to the same facts | as did his son. He had been accused of going to claim the reward offered for the murderer of the Edmondson family. but on the witness stand this afternoon he denied telling any one he would claim the reward and said he would not claim 1t.
 The defendant made strong at- tempt to break down the witness. but made an utter failure and thus far the evidence of these two witnesses is be- fore the jury unimpeached pr. T. J. Russell testified to exam- ming the bodies found and to seeing blood near the grave yard: he identi- fled a knife as that of Tom Edmond sons which was found at the place of the crime.
 J. l.. Guier testified he got to the fire early and Bob Clements was there when he arrived.
 The defense announced their theory was that Tom Edmondson committed the crime himself and fled and was still at large.
 The court room was packed today at the. trial-4 clemen,s' wife. seven Ehil- dren and his aged father, sat around him in the court room. In the wife's arms a babe of few weeks of age was held. while 8 two-year-old child slept most of the time on the grand fathers lap.
 Ed Edmondson. brother of Tom Ed mondson. head of the murdered family. and John F. Helms. testified to the finding of a portion of the body of Nettie Edmondson and William Ed mondson These witnesses reached the Edmondson home the morning fol- lowing the fire. Both testified to the conditions they found. They told or blood being found around Bob Clem- ents' home.
 The State introduced in evidence a number of small human bones found at the Edmondson barn.
 Edmondson's Brother Testihes.
 The first witness today was Edward I Edmondson, a brother of Tom Ed mondson. the head of the murdered Ed mondson family. He teStihed that Net tie Edmondson, daughter of Tom Ed mondson, was about F years Of age and that she came to her death on the night of November 25. He saw her dead body on the morning of Novem- her PC. the day after the killing, and the fire. The body was lying on q chicken house, where someone had placed it.
 Before this he had not seen her for a few days, when she was alive. There was a knife wound in the right side Of the body and a knife cut on the lower part of the neck. One leg and all of the right arm and portion of the left arm was missing. A portion Of the head and the right side of the face was gone.
 T could recognize her by her face, teeth and chin," he said. She had two broad upper teeth and they sat twisting" said the witness Her clothing was all gone when l saw her"
 On cross examination he testified that he lived about a mile from his brother Toms house. that he was at home the night of the fire and saw the fire from his house. but could not tell whether 1t was his brother Toms house or house that belonged to the wit ness that was on fire He did not go to the fire that night, but went there the next morning and reached there about o'clock. He did not know the Edmondsons had been killed until the day after the fire.
 Dr. Russell probed into the wound in the chHd's side and the probe reach ed the heart. showing that the wound extended that far.
 Tom Edmondson, according to the witness was about 3S years of age Tom Edmondsons wife, Lyle Allie Ed mondson, was 31 or 32 years of age. Kettle Edmondson, Tom Edmondson's s daughter, was about l2 years old. and the boy, William Robert, was about ? years of age. Tom Edmondsons moth CT was 72 years of age and quite feeble. She had been sick for about ten days but was able to walk around some at the time of the tragedy.
 T was at Tom Edmondson's house the Sunday before the fire and mother was sick then, but able to sit up," ne said This was the last time the wit ness ever saw his mother and brother or any of his brothers family alive
 The witness testified that foot and a shoe, identified as that of William Edmondson. the 2-year-old boy, was found In the barn. A portion of an other body was found In the barn and while this could not be identified it was thought to be either the body of Tom Edmondsons wife or that of his mother. according to the witness.
 These bodies were found In a cotton seed pen in the barn where there was the cotton seed from five bales of cot ton. The witness swore that this cot ton seed 400 bushels of corn, a quan- tlty Of hay and fodder and three mules were burned in the barn. Part of the cotton seed and a part of the corn burned belonged to Bob Clements. the defendant. knife was found near the barn said to have belonged to Tom Edm ondson.
 Immense crowds for miles around visited the scene of the tragedy for three OF four days after-the fire and