Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-09
BAND OF MURDERERS
PUT HILL TO DEATH?
SECOND AUTOPSY AT MACON
SHOWS ATTORNEY WAS BEAT
EN- WITH BLUNT INSTRUMENT
AFTER FIERCE SIGHT.

MACON, Ga, April ga post norton
examination of Pope S. Hill by Drs. M
A. Clark o. A. Weaver and G. II. Adams
performed here this morning, showed tnat
Pope Hills skull had also been fractured
at the base of the brain by some blunt IN
strument, which goes to show that there
was no suicide theory, as some people
In McRae maintained.
In the opinion OF the doctors two or
three people must have been mixed up In
the killing and IL Is evident that MT.
Hill put up a desperate fight for life.
The bullet was also located at the base
of the brain, ranging downward.
The doctors are of the opinion that II
Mr. Hill had shot himself the bullet
would have ranged upward.
Funeral services over the body of the
late Colonel Pope S. Hill, of Macon,
were conducted this afternoon from
his late residence at 50T Georgia ave-
nue.. The body reached Macon yes
terday afternoon and was met at the
depot by a committee from the Macon
Bar association, of which organization
he was a prominent member.
The murder of Mr.. Hill in McRae Sun
day night was about the fifth that has
occurred as a result of the litigation over
the Norman w. Dodge lands Other per-
sons have been threatened with death,
and Mr. Hill received black hand note
just a short time before his end. The note
said: Next time you break up our set
Element you will be broke" skull and
cross bones served as a signature.
That Mr.. Hill had a generalization that
something was to happen is to be believ-
ed through a statement he made to Col
onel Lige Graham, the solicitor at Nc
Rae He told Graham about receiving the
letter in question. Then on Sunday af-
ternoon he purchased a gun with which
to defend himself.
MURDER OR SUICIDE?
QUESTION AT M'RAE
MRAE, Ca, April 6-with the setting
of the sun the excitement which has
held the entire town enthralled over the
tragic death of Mr.. Pope Hill, has begun
to subside. From the hour of the find
ing of the body, until late this afternoon
groups of men could be seen along the
streets discussing in subdued tones the
tragedy. The finding of the coroner
Jury upsets the suicide theory, as for the
motive for murder there is a rumor that
it will be produced. 1t seems almost In
credible that a crime of this kind could
have been committed, in the very heart of
town, patrolled by policeman, with
full moon shining. And If some enemy
desired his death, how did he get the in"
formation that Mr.. Hill was in McRae?
or did someone follow him here from
some adjoining town or county?
The disordered furniture in the Office
indicates clearly that there was a strug
gle, and yet there was nothing further
than a rent in Mr.. Hills vest that would
lead one to believe that there had been
personal conflict. Then. too, there were
no bruises on the body, although the
heavy bar which was used to fasten the
back door, lay within a few inches of the
dead man. But over against the argument
of suicide is the fact that there was not
the slightest trace of powder marks and
1t would have been a physical impossi-
bility for him to have held the weapon
further than two feet from his face and
at this distance from a weapon, dis
charged upon the bare flesh, there would
have appeared a burn. Viewed from the
light of a suicide these facts confront
one:
He urged upon friend 20 go out and
get him a pistol; that even If it was
Sunday that he wanted one for his own
protection This friend insisted that he
owned both a pistol and a gun, and
that he was welcome to either or both.
but he declined the offer upon the grounds
that he needed one at home anyway. He
then told this friend of a certain letter
that he had received of a threatening ma
ture, and yet it would appear that had
he feared personal harm, he would at
least have sought the safety of the hotel
at which he was stopping.
Instead of that he was in the office at
o'clock presumably working, and that,
too, in a building that runs back to ar
alley, where someone could have easily
shot him through the window. The case is
now in the hands of United States officers
and developments are anxiously awaited.
They are following closely everything
that may throw light upon the matter,
and If a murder has been committed
neither time nor expense will be spared