The Tupelo journal., 1911-07-28
N WANTS TRIAL.
BiIbo's Assailant Makes State
ment. Chafes Under Delay.

chapter was added to the evere whip
ping given at Starkville recently to
Theo. G. Bilbo, candidate for lieuten-
ant-governor, by Hon. J.. ]. Henry,
when the latter issued a statement say
ing that he has twice appeared in
court for trial. and Bilbo declines to
prosecute the case.
MIR. Henry's statement goes fully
into the details of the affair, quoting
the language used by Bilbo which pro-
voked the assault. In part, he said:
ITO the Public:
"The second continuance Of the case
against me. growing out Of the diff
Guilty with Senator Bilbo. forces me to
issue this response to the false and
malicious statements from Bilbo and
Ross Collins. Both times / have an
nounced ready for trial." and both
times the state has asked for the con
tinuance.
II regret to take this course. had
hoped that there would be a full, fair
and open trial. IN which the testimony
of sworn witnesses would disclose the
true facts to the public.
''Bilbo has declined to prosecute the
case; and it seems that there is to be
no trial. Why? Because Bilbo knows
that the truth will come out and that
the truth will damn him forever. The
case having been thus twice continued,
| will have no opportunity to ventilate
the whole affair, for the present at
least, as Bilbo, Collins & Co, are try
ing to make political capital u of the
matter and have no intention whatever
of taking it to the courts, where it
rightfully belongs.
There Was no attempted 'assassina-
tion.' / had no intention whatever of
killing Bilbo. If | had had any such
purpose. there was nothing to have
prevented my shooting him on sight,
or at any time during our little inter-
view, as he was too badly scared to Of
fer any resistance more serious than a
little scratching and kicking, although
the evidence will show that he was
armed and ready. I intended to give
him a good, sound whipping; and l did
that. BY his vicious and cowardly at
tack upon me, with its invasion of the
silent city of the dead where my SAINT
ed mother sleeps. with its dissertation
of her sacred tomb. he had forfeited
his right to live; but / did not want to
kill him. Solely because l did not care
to shed his blood | made him a present
of his worthless life.
"His statements about being beaten
into insensibility and unconscious
ness are utterly untrue. He was never
unconscious. stood up in the car.
Strengthened out his clothing, engaged
in ordinary conversation with two or
three gentlemen, when l was through
with HIM, and made arrangements for
medical attention as 500 as the ira in
could reach Sturgis. It was not un-
consciousness. merely cowardice,e when
he whined and bleated and ~apologized.
He first made a partial ~retraction and
apology. which | did not accept; and
he then made a full and complete
apology and retraction. He was not an
Unconscious man. only an arrant cow
ard, and would not even take his
whipping like a man. | was not be-
hind him, did not strike HIM frcm be-
hind, ard suoke to him before hitting
him, first demanding an apology and
retraction OF his language. The only
time that l touched him from behind
was when | kicked him from behind
where it would do the most good.
"As for the statements about Ross
Collins being covered with a pistol and
held in a corner of a ear. this is absurd.
The truth is, that at the first intima-
ton of trouble Collins ran, and ran in a
hurry. He left the smoking compart-
ment, ran into the negro car INT hid
in the negro water closet, where he
stayed hidden until the train pulled out
of S~tarkville. This fact will be verified
by the evidence of at least four disin-
terested white witnesses, who were
riding upon the train. He was prob
ably wise in doing so, as he is the man
who had laugh t Biibo the u~nspeakably
infamous language employed about me.
There was 10 crowd or gang
with me when / whipped Bi!to; and
the only man there was my kinsman, J..
D. Nichols.
my Starkville friends knew moth
ing whatever Of the difficulty until af-
ter 1T was all over. ard did not even
know that ! was in town.
ROSS Collins may have been present
in spirit. but in his bodily person he
was playing hide and seek Mr.. Mich
OILS has been a Woodworking farmer for
many years and is now engaged1n the