Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1910-06-10
GIVEN LIFE TERMS
Governor Mann's Review Of the Cases of
johnson, Pines and Dorsey.

ed this Friday, morning.
The negroes will spend the remainder
Of their lives in the penitentiary.
In committing the sentence OF the
trio. all Of whom were implicated III
the murder OF the Chicago artist by
Henry Smith, who died in the cleo
trio chair last Friday for his partlci-
patton in the crime, Governor Mann
issued a statement covering two pages
of tvpewriting in which he reviewed
the testimony of Smith, a confessed
perjurer, and said he had received a
petition from 291 persons and several
Jurors asking that the negroes be not
electrocuted because of the doubt OF
their guilt.
The governors statement follows;
"Tbe cases of Johnson, Pines and
Dorsey. three negroes convicted OF the
killing of Walter F, Schultz in Alex
andria. on the sixth of March, 1909,
and who are now in the penitentlary
awaiting the execution of the sentence
against them, are exciting the greatest
interest i'm Alexandria as is evidenced
by petitions signed by two hundred
and ninety-one persons asking lot
communication of the sentence OF Cal
vim Johnson, petitions signed by two
hundred and fifty-four persons asking
for Communication Of the sentence OF
Dorsey. Pines and Johnson, which IN
cIudes a petition signed by thirteen
LAWYERS of Alexandria, Alexandra
county and Fairfax, which Is here
inserted: The undersigned members
of the bar of the Sixteenth judiciary
circuit respectfully petition for the
communication of the death sentences
of the three negroes, Johnson, Pines
and Dorsey. convicted of the murder
of w f. Schultz chiefly upon the
testimony of the negro convict, Henry
Smith, who has since their trials de-
clared that all of the testimony gwen
against the other men was perjury. IL
is the unanimous belief of this com
munity. as far as we know 1t, that
Smith has proven himself to be UNI
worthy of credit. We think 1t would
be dangerous to take the lives OF
three other men upon his evidence;
and petitions signed by six hundred
and fifteen persons asking for the par
don of Dorsey, Pines and johnson.
Three of the jurors trying johnson ask
for communication of his sentenc e, and
one of them asks for his pardon in the
following letter:
Besides Johnson, Dorsey and Pines,
Henry Smith was charged with the
murder of Schultz, and three days after
his arrest, which occurred on the
twelfth of March, he confessed his
crime and implicated. Johnson, Dorsey
and Pines, who, he said, compelled hun
to 90 with them and assist in carrying
Schultz to the place where he is SAID to
have been murdered Smith was proved
to have been twice sent to the penlten-
tiary, but having served his time was
competent witness, and also entirely
upon his evidence Dorsey, johnson
and Pines were convicted. After their
the case against Smith was
continued from time to time, and Gov
ernor Swanson granted reprleves to the
men until the case against
Smith should be tried Smith when
tried was convicted, and made a
motion for new trial, but pending
the action of the court, as am inform
ed. he dismissed his motion, asked 10 be
sentenced and sent to Richmond, and
declared that his testimony against Dor
sew. Johnson and Pines was false and
that they were innocent of the crime;
that he had never seen Schultz to know
him and was himself innocent of the
crime. After the withdrawal of Smiths
motion for a new trial the Judge OF the
court sentenced him and in doing 50 de-
clared that he was perjurer as well as
a murderer. | quote his language:
The crime itself was revolving and hor-
rible in its details, but to this you have
added perjury, and from your recent
statement have shown that you carry
within you a heart as hard and as sinful
and as black as the crime itself which
YOU have committed, for which | am
about to sentence you. After the con-
viction of Dorsey, Johnson, and Pines,
and before the second statement OF
Smith generating them, Johnson by
his counsel had the evidence certified
and applied to the supreme court ofap-
peals for a writ of error and supersedeas,
which was refused
Various afhdavits have been filed
from witnesses not examined at the
trial; applications for clemency have
been made, and | have gone over the
cases with the greatest care, first, Tor
the purpose of ascertaining if the evil
dence relied on to corroborate the evil
dence first given by Smith under any
circumstances would Justify jury in
finding the prisoners guilty in the face
of Smiths denial Of that testimony
made since the verdicts in the three
cases now being considered were render
ed. And in going over the evidence l
find tn greatest doubt as to the time
and place of the murder Schnlz
weighed between 100 and $50 pounds,
and the undertaken said that there was
no blood in his veins when he took
charge of the body, his jugular vein
having been twice cut by the murderer;
hat he must have lost gallon and a half
of blood, and yet the evidence shows
that there was very little blood where
the body was found and hardly any
upon his clothes. This is attempted
to be accounted for by the statement OF
Smith that they wrapped cloth around
him and used cotton batting; but this
does not satisfy. And then there was
snow on the ground, which did not fall
after 7 O'Clock on Saturday night, the
9th instant, and that this snow had not