East Mississippi times. (Starkville, Miss.) 19??-1926, 1911-07-28
]. J. HENRY
MAKES STATEMENT
SAYS HE HAL NO INTENTION OF
KILLING BILB0 ANE MADE
HIM A PRESENT OF HIS
WORTHLESS LIFE.
Regrets that He CaLuct Get Trial So
that the True Facts Could be
Established.

| ~ lit uDllt. nt SttOIN cOnIlnll-
ance of the case against me, growing out
of the difficulty with Senator Bilbo.
forces me to issue this response to the
false and malicious statements from Bill
bo and Ross Collins. Both times, Ihave
announced ''ready for trial'' and both
times. the state has asked for the con-
| tinuanCe.
regret to take this course. had
! hoped that there would tee IL full. fair,
anG open trial, in which the testimony
! If sworn witnesses would disclose the
true facts to the public.
! Bilbo has declined to prosecute the
case: and il seems that there Is TO he no
! trial. Why? Because Bilbo knows that
the tru,h will come and that the truth
will damn him forever. The case having
been twice continued. | will lave no op-
portunity to ventiIate the whole affair.
for the present at least, Is Bilbo, Collins
q Co.. are trying to make political cap
ital out OF the matter and have no inten-
ti0n Whatever of taking it to the courts
where if rightfulIy belongs.
Therewas no attempted "aSsaSsina-
ton" | had no intention whatever of
killing Bilbo. If had had any such
purpose, there was nothing to have pre-
vented my shooting him on sight or at
any time during our little interview. as
he was too badly scared to offer any re-
Sistancc more serious than little
scratching and kicking, although the
evidence will show that he was armed
and ready. | intended to give him
good. sound whipping, and did that.
BY his vicious and cowardly attack upon
me with it, invasion Of the silent city of
the dead where my sainted mother
sleeps. with its descration of her sacred
tomb. he had forfeited his right To live.
but | did not want to kill him. Solely
because ] did not care to shed his blood.
| made him a" present of his worthless
life.
His statement about being beaten into
inSensibility and umconSciousneSS is utter
ly untrue. He was never unconscious.
stood up in the car, striGhtened out his
clothing. engaged in ordinary converSa-
ton with two or three gentlemen when
| was through with him, and made ar
rangcmenta for medical attention as
soon as the train could reach Sturpis,
1t was not uucQnSCiouSneSs, merely cow
ardice, when he whincd and hlcatrd and
apnlowiGed. he first made Il partial re-
traction and apolOgf, which did not
accept, and he then made full and
complete apnlogy and ret"Aation. He
wa not an UAcon$riCus man. only an
arrlnt coward. and would not even take
his whipping like Il man. was ret be-
hind iim, Ild not strike him from be-
hind. and ,HCkc to him before hitting
him, first demanding IN apology md re-
traction OF hi, language. The onIy time
that /, tiIitied hin! FROM hehi ri wa,
when ~, a;; Iim few tines Were Il
would d. n" most good.
As for the statements about RO,s Col
iin% briI2 covered with +" Ii tol an hrI,
in corner OF the car, this /, absurd
the TRUTH l. that ut the ir,C lat ~. tiOu
of trOuhlc. Collins ran, and ran in n hur-
ry He left the smoking compartment
ran i~tO tic Negro oar, and hid ia the
negro water closet where hc ,tayed
hidden until the t ain pulle out of
Starhvilc. This fact will be verified hy
the cgidcurp of at least four di-intercSt-
ed white witnesses who We're riding on
the train. He was probably wise iu do
ing SO, as lie Is the man who had taught
Bilbo bliG u1SpelMDie infamous Ian
g,lage cmbiOycd abOHt Glc There was
no '.crowd' or gang with me when
| whipped Bilbo. and TIE only man
there was my kinSmaN, j. ID. Nichols.
Ny StariTilG friends knew nothing of
the difficulty until after it was over. and
did rot even know ! was in town. Ross
ollins may have been present in spirit,
bat In his lodiiY person. he was playing
"hi4G and seek" in t'AE negro water
J closet
/ Mr., Mich, Is has heen ~ hard working
Ifann2p many years I'd Is Il W erga :ed
! in the mercantile business at this place.
No man In the ,Nmdulity stands higher
rs an II + ght, ay-ail linz c t'Z n | had
no connection whatever either with the
publication or distribution of any circu-
lars about.Bilbo. The II tc had been
flooded with various political circulars.
| did happen at one time to have prob
ably two COZ les of the RiiOo circular
Which had been accidentally handed to
me, and / gave one of them to man by
Che name Of Cole, who was asking me
questions about him that | could not
answer, | Imerely happened TO have it
in my pocket and gave it to him at his
request,
| Bilbo in his speech at Blue Mountain
made an attack upon me that demanded
resentmenti without it, would have
been unworthy of the respect or coua~
lence of my family or frien s.
He denounced me as, ''a cross between
h hyena and a mongrel, begotten in Il
.4niggef graveyard ut midnight, sucked
n by SOW, and educated by fool"
He does not deny but admits tha! he
used Hie language. II My undertakes
in his statemept 70 algu That it was
s.insultng".; 1T might not have be
insulting to him, but it was insulting
nes u would not have used such la =