Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-03-11
JONES, The Wife MURDERER
Interesting ReVelW Of Supreme Court
Decision.
MEMMlNGER IS SUSTAINED IN TOTO.
Story of Brutal Crime, and How the
Supremacy Of the Law was Finally
Maintained In Spite of Strenuous
Efforts to Scotch the Wheels Of JUS


tice.
| Union Progress.
| Columbia, March 5.-The supreme
court throughout the opinion upnolds
Judge Memminger In every feature Of
| the charges. The court cites author
tiles to support the method of Judge
Memminger's charge, which, though
| strictly according to law, has caused
some comment as to its deviation from
the stereotyped form of charging juries
Juries Should Agree.
Touching the exception intimating
tnat Judge Memminger had urged too
strongly upon the jury the necessity
of reaching a verdict, the court quotes:
"A circuit judge is but discharging
| his duty to the public, and especially to
the litigants, when he urges the jury
to reach a verdict, provided nothing
like coercion takes place, I'VE cannot
hold that there was coercion on the
part Of the trial judge in an effort to
obtain an agreement on the part of the
jury, nor do we think that there was
an intimation on the part of the judge
that the jury should find against the
defendant"
Readers of this paper will recall that
at the time the case was argued before
the supreme court an attack was made
upon Judge Memminger's supplement
tary charge touching the case Of Hoyt
| m I'D
minger had said:
Il will. go over a case that happened
here in our own state, where a man
by the name Of Hoyt Hayes was ac-
cused of killing his wife up in Oconee
county 1t seems from the record of
the case which l have read that the
story which was told by this man was
that he was walked up in the night by
his wife,who was in delicate condition
and was about to be delivered of a
child, and VINO expressed great despair
and alarm about what might be the re-
suit of giving birth to the child, he
said that he was walked in the middle
Of the night by his wife who told him
there was noise going on out about
the cattle pen and that he mad better
investigate it, that he went out there
and while he was gone he heard the
explosion Of a gun and that when ne
came back into the house and looked
| into the room where his wife had been
| left ne saw her dead with her head
blown all to pieces from a double bar
relied shotgun which was lying at her
side, he Immediately went to get his
neighbors, he ran l considerable dis
tance of two or three miles and got
some one he knew to go with him, leav-
ing his wife there as he found her with
out making any further investigation
to find out whether she was dead or not,
| having seen his wife there on the bed
with the weapon at her hand and when
| he came back with his neighbor they
| went in there and found her dead with
the gun beside ner and the theory was
advanced that she had committed sui
| eide. AS soon as the neighbors came
| in before anything was disturbed, they
| found the gun lying by the side Of the
woman and an iron poker by the gun
and on top of the bed, by her hand;
the theory was that she had lain in bed
and put the gun alongside Of her head
with the barrel at her head and had
pulled the trigger with the piece of
iron and blown her head all 10 pieces
so that her brains were scattered all
over the bed around her; that the the
J Ory that was relied upon by the de-
fense to establish suicide and in addi-
tion to that was produced a note claim
ed to be in her handwriting in which
she stated that she intended to kill
| herself and that her husband had al
| ways been kind to her; those were
some of the circumstances Of the case"
Judge Memminger went on to explain
that the state had relied upon the evil
dence of the gun and the iron to prove
that it was inconsistent with the the
ory of suicide and absolutely impossi-
| BILE for the woman to have committed
suicide. Judge Memminger, after tell
| ing the jury that Hoyt Hayes had been
| convicted and the letter sent to hand
| writing experts in New York said.
The Governor Criticized.
Acting on the testimony Of these
experts, testimony to which l confess
don't attach much Importance, the
governor gave a respite 20 the man and
subsequently pardoned MIN, but it al
ways appeared to me that even If the
handwriting experts had been right,
suppose he had compelled her to write
that note and place il there where 1t
could be found, that would be con-
sistent theory, suppose he had taken
the gun and forced her tc do that out
there in the woods with no one around,
that could have been done. This is
| Just an instance that / cite you in
case of circumstantial evidence"
The court in it's opinion says:
Respecting this alleged error. his
| honor did not violate the provisions Of
section 26. article 5, of the constitution
as construed by the court in Norris VS..
Clinkscales 247, S. c., 523, as follows:
| we therefore, COllCluue anu lpIu Niat
it would be impossible to declare the
| law applicable To a case on trial with
out connecting the legal principles in
volved with some statement Of facts,
| actual or hypothetical. 1t was the in
| tention of the trainers Of the new con-
stitution in amending section 26, arti-
| Gle >. that the trial judge in charging
the law of the case should lay before
the jury that law as applicable to
| supposed state of facts: but that I'm so
doing he should carefully avoid repeat
ing the evidence on the facts at issue,
making no statement of the testimony
either i'm whole OF part. We are clearly
of the opinion that under section 26,
as it now reads, judge may. in de-
claring the law applicable to the case,
base that law upon hypothetical find
inSs of fact by the jury and instruct
the jury that If they believe so and so
| from evidence they have heard then
L 1Aar.