The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-01-07
A MYTH
w. T, Jones Was Not at the Hearing
of His Case Before the Supreme
Court.

Court.
On the sixth page Of this issue of
The Herald and News there appears
an article entitled "Jones Before
Court which is copied from and
credited to the Columbia State. The
form in which that article appears
went to press before The Herald and
News discovered that W. T. Jones
personally was not before the SUI
preme court, nor was his son, as is
, stated in that article.
The. article in question is in ref
erence to the argument in the su-
preme court Of the case Of the State
VS.. ". T. Jones, charged with wife
murder, in Union county. Jones
was convicted of: murder, with rec
ommendation to mercy, and was sen
fenced to life Imprisonment In the
:Siase penitentiary. He appealed,
and his appeal was heard in the su-
tpreme court on Tuesday.
i. The article copied from the Co.
lumbia State says:
"With his little boy at his side w.
T. JONES' the Union county farmer
who was convicted Of killing his
| wife, listened to arguments in his
own behalf in the supreme court yes
terday. While his attorneys were
making earnest pleas for. new trial
Jones sat with lowered eyes and
now and then his face betrayed some
Of the emotion that must have been
lurking in his heart. The detailed
story of the crime with which he is
charged seemed to move him most
and it could be plainly seen that the
memory of that fatal night when his
young wife went to her death bore
deeply. upon. him.
That is all very pretty, but the
slip in the cog is that Jones was not
In the supreme court room, and not
in Columbia, at all. The Herald and
News was in communication with
Sheriff J. G. Long, Of Union county,
yesterday afternoon, and Sheriff
Long stated that Mr.. Jones had been
out of the Union jail only twice
since his imprisonment-onee on mo-
tion for bail and the othet time dur
ing his trial In Union. Nor, said
Sheriff Long, was Mr.. Jones' son in
Columbia. ". ..:=..
The article in the Columbia State
goes on to say: Exercising the
right given under the laws the. de-
fendant appeared at the supreme
court. He wore a light gray suit,
was carefully groomed and alto
gether gave the appearance Of being
prosperous man. ~. r.
Sheriff Long, in his long distance
telephone conversation with The
Herald and Ne Tvs yesterday after
noon, said that MI. Jones did not
even have light suit Of clothes. d..
Sheriff Long said he had no idea
how the story originated. -.
The fact remains that the case
was argued in the supreme court on
Tuesday morning. It is equally clear
that neither Mr.. Jones nor his son
was present, Mr.. Jones being In the
Union Jail lat the time.
Following the publication Of the
story that Mr.: Jones and his son
were present at the hearing in the
supreme court, and the pathetic
story in regard thereto, the rumor
became current that Mr.. Jones all
the time was in the Union jail. In.
order to set the matter straight The
Herald and News got in, communi-
caion with Sheriff J. G.. Long, Of
Union county, yesterday afternoon,
and with the result stated above.
Col. George Johnstone made the
leading argument for the defence on
the hearing before the supreme court:
NEWBERRY UNION STATION.