The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-21
OXFORD IS SCENE OF HORRIBLE CRIME J. D. McCiurkin Is FOuIIy Mur- dered Near Annisten INTENSE FEELING PREVAILS Irwin Pope, Negro, Held on Charge In Jail, Which Is Surrounded By
 Large Force of
 Deputies.
INTENSE FEELING PREVAILS

Anniston, April 2O-(Special IA murder more diabolcal than any yet to darken the history of Calhoun county, perhaps. was deliberately planned and carried into execution early this morning on one of the streets of lesser importance in the quiet and orderly little city of Oxford, in the killing of J. D. McClurkin. Brutal in the extreme, 1t was evidently done to cover up another crime attempted earlier in the night-the crime of burglary and theft-and Irwin Pope, a negro, whose home Is in Oxford, charged with the crime. is already behind the bars of the Calhoun county jail, being arrested about s:9O o'clock this morning at his home by Sheriff LeGrand, Deputy seab Eason and Pat Zaner.
 The full details of this crime. perhaps, will never be known, unless the fiend oom- hitting 1t shall confess. The victim was beaten to death with a heavy club and a stone weighing probably 10 pounds, his body dragged distance of A yards into the plowed ground of a cotton field and the head buried under the dirt as If there lurked a fear in the mind of the mur- derer that after his victims head had been beaten up into jelly with the club and stone there might still finger some spark of life in him and he might sur vive to tell the tale of the brutal as- sault.
 The particulars as gathered from the surrounding circumstances and the few known facts furnish this theory of the crime:
 J. D. McClurkin, a bachelor. some 50 years old, who, with a maiden sister, ' D,a ~I
 Lee mills, one and 8 half miles south east of Oxford, was operating the mills and farm adjacent. Monday afternoon MT. McClurkin received a shipment of 14OO bushels of corn for the purpose of con verting the same into meal for the mar ket. which he had hauled to the mill and 1 stored away.
 Attempt to Rob Mill. About a. m. today Miss MoClurlsin heard some one making an effort to
 break Into the mill and woke up MT Mo Clurldn. who hastily dressed himself and went out to see what the trouble was. He never returned, but his dead body was found after daylight this morning a mile and half from his home, and the mule he had ridden away from his home was browsing about block away from the scene of the tragedy.
 The murder occurred near the home of John Body, negro, who with his family furnish the facts that fastened suspicion on Irwin Pope. Body says he heard a wagon and saw some one turn into the alley from Fifth street and ahght and fasten the mule to tree. This party took off his shoes and walked back into Fifth street Soon thereafter John Body says he heard voice which he recognized as that
 of MT. McClurldn cry out, Don't do that Irwin, I'm not going to do anything to wa rot you now" and the blows of the mur-
 derer and the groans of his victim fol- lowed.
 John Body says he knew something wrong was transpfring, 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 bill, and, being discovered and
 followed up by MT. McClurkin, the negro,
 believed to be Irwin Pope. had planned
 the murder in order to escape punish ment for his attempted burglary of the mill. Finding MT. McCiurkin was pur- suing him for the purpose of having him arrested when hel reached Oxford he re-
 solved to make away with him before
 that was accomplished and went at the
 job first with heavy maple club, se-
 cured from the woodpfle of John Body,
 with which he first felled McC1urkin to
 the ground from his mule. One of Mo-
 Clurkin's shoes had been pulled off mid
 way the distance he was dragged and his
 coat turned back over his head.
 The murder and the brutal manner of
 Murder Causes Much Feeling. it's execution produced intense excitement in Oxford and the surrounding communi- ] ty. and there has been talk of violence. 1 It is probable, however, that there will ! be an orderly Investigation of the affair,
 both by the coroner and the other courts. ! The sheriff was promptly on the ground
 this morning with his deputies and ar
 rested not only Irwin Pope, but two other
 negroes, who are believed to know some-
 thing about the killing. One negro was
 in the employ of MT. McClurkiu. He
 says he was sleeping in the mill at the i time of the murder.
 Sheriff LeGrand returned from Oxford
 tonight with John Body, in front of
 whose house McCfurlxin was killed. It
 is believed that Body is a party to the
 crime and that his knowledge of the de-
 tails of the murder is too accurate for
 him to be a disinterested party. The ! sheriff thinks he helped to remove the | dead mans body.
 Special Deputies Guard Jail. l Besides making arrangements for call | ing out the militia, the sheriff has ap- | pointed 50 deputies and strengthened the | guard at the jail. Judge Coleman of the ! city court stated tonight that he would
 probably cali special session of the city l court at once and investigate this mur- l der, there also being several other cases ! pending.
 i The coroner will hold his inquest to- \ morrow. The sheriff says that when the | Pope negro was arrested he remarked,
 What have you got mo for, Mir Mo- | Clurkin, mean Eason," showing that
 the negro's mind was on the murder.
 VARDAMAN WILL
 ODE AZ TN GET MIA