The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-12

| congressman oscar W. DnuerWood Wouiu
 be rendered a banquet on November 23.
 a short time before MT. Underwood re-
 turns to Washington to attend Congress. 1 It is intended to make the banquet the
 most decided tribute to any man ever held
 in the state The affair will be very elab-
 crate and will be in the nature of send
 off to MT. Underwood.
 The banquet will have no political sig
 nifcence, but will merely be a magnifi-
 cent tribute to Mir. Underwood as dis
 
 barrels were loaded with No. shot 1 Scroggins left in company with the ped dler going in the direction of Watts
 mines.
 l "On the same day, or perhaps the next
 day, the dead body of the old peddler
 was found in secluded spot in a cump
 of pine bushes, near the road on the
 way to Watts mines. His packs had been rifled and some of their contents
 taken away. The peddler had been shot | in the head. A number of shot were ex- tracted from it and were found to be | No. shot. The load of shot went through the hat of the deceased, and also
 through piece of newspaper that had evidently been folded up and placed un- der the sweat band of the hat to maKe | 1t fit better
 "Scroggns returned to the house. and | returned the gun to it's owner. After the dead body of the peddler had been found, suspicion being somewhat aroused toward | Will Scroggins it was observed that there
 was new and fresh cap on one of the | tubes of the gun, whereas when he went | off with the gun it had been noticed by a | witness witnesses that the caps on | both tubes had become mildewed or oxi- | dized. An investigation followed and 1t was further discovered that one of the l barrels had been freshly discharged, and | upon withdrawing what seemed to be the | load from the barrel in which was the new cap, 1t was found that it was a sham or | fake load, and just piece of newspaper There was nothing in or on the paper to | indicate what newspaper it was except | that 1t was a part of the advertising sec 1 tion, with real estate and other local ad vertisements on it.
 The paper that had been found at the | scene of the murder, and which had evi- dently been under the sweatband of the hat of the peddler, was a copy of the Bir- | mingham Evening News of some date in | December, 1891. It became then impor- | tant though not necessary, for there was already sufficient evidence to convict, to show, if it could be done. that this sham l or fake load or piece of newspaper found | in the gun was a part of the Evening | News found near the murdered man. | MT Lopez, then foreman at the News office, and foreman also in December | 1891, was put on the stand by the state,
 and gave it his opinion, from the size of the type, the general style. and the | advertisements with the printers dates of their beginning and ending. that it was If of bn a1p to ba | body of the deceased.
 "Scroggings was convicted and his sen | tence affirmed by the supreme court Just before his execution he confessed his guilt
 Case of Eugene Byars | "The third case was that of Eugene Byars. who was hanged for the killing of
 his cousin, Eugene Walker, on substan- | italy the following state of facts and cir cumstances:
 "The evidence of the state tended to show that Eugene Walker. the deceased, was killed by being shot with pistol in
 Birmingham on Saturday night, January
 G. 1894 Walker had been soldier in the United States army for about five years
 and had been stationed in Nebraska. His father lived in Walker county, Alabama. He arrived in Birmingham during the
 afternoon of Friday, January 5, and was
 stopping at the Metropolitan hotel. About 12 o'clock that night some friend saw Byars in a restaurant and told him that his cousin was in town and wished to see him. Soon after that Byars went to the hotel and had Walker awakened and they left the hotel together. During the rest of the night they were together in restaurant, and in a house of i'll re- pute with other persons. Walker exhibit ed roll of money in greenbacks. Byars | had deck of cards and proposed to gam
 ble with Walker, and some playing was done.
 "The evidence showed that during the rext day Walker had package of new, crisp bills, folded in a peculiar manner, in small squares. one on top of another. Walker and Byars continued together all of that day. frequentng saloons and
 houses of i'll fame. Many times during
 the day Byars told different people that Walker had money, and that if they would go into game of cards and help him work a trick, they would win his money.
 "The two were together all of the day until shortly before o'clock Saturday | afternoon. About D. m. Byars tried | to borrow a pistol from three different l people, but failed. Between and 6:3O he | went into a pawnshop and bought Colt
 Al calibre pistol and loaded it there. He
  made the purchase.
 1 "Byars and Walker were seen together | by many witnesses on the Behren's Park | car They were shown to have gone to l the end of the line, got off there and walked off from the car line in the di- | rection of the place where the body of | Walker was afterward found. This was the last seen of the deceased alive | by any of the witnesses. l "Shortly before s o'clock the defendant | was seen in Birmingham at Twentieth street and Avenue B. going toward First avenue. It had been raining, and was | probably raining then. and Byars stopped at Gaines shoe store and bought pair
 of new shoes. leaving his old ones there | to be repaired, they being wet and muddy
 He turned away from the man who sold him the shoes and took out some bills, which were seen by person on the other side of the house. He paid for the shoes with a $1O bill. folded the same as a bill which was given by Walker to an- i other witness. Byars admitted on the stand that the bill had been gotten from his cousin, but said that 1t had been paid to cancel debt.
 Ut was further shown that Byars re- turned the pistol to the pawnshop where he got 1t and claimed that it was out of oI der He exchanged it for another, but went away leaving both at the shop. Dur | ing the night he visited various bar rooms, drinking heavily and exhibiting much money in gold and bills He in ouired for his cousin, Eugene Walker. | saying that he feared something had | happened to him. hf t | "'rhe body of Walker was found near 1 Behrens' park on Sunday morning, lying l on his back. with one hand in his pocket,