The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-09-27
EENNEDY HELD WITHOUT BAIL.
CHILDERS, HUSBAND OF VIC
TIM, is ARRESTED.
FEELING is RUNNING VERY HIGH

Preliminary Investigation Into the
Poisoning of Smithville Woman
Tends to Implicate Both the Hus-
band and Young Friend. The
Latest Developments in the Sensa-
tional Case.
The committal trial of Robert G..
Kennedy, charged with the poisoning
of Mrs. NJ. S. Childers of SmithvilIe,
on August 18th, was ended Tuesday
afternoon and resulted in the young
man being bound over without bail
for the action of the higher court.
The decision of Judge Long, be-
fore whom the trial was held, was
scarcely five hours old before Maud
s. Childers, husband OF the deceased
woman, was placed under arrest to
answer also to the charge of murder
ing her. The warrant was sworn out
by the father of young Kennedy.
It has been said that Kennedy had
done the deed in fit of jealousy
because the woman that he loved
was married to another man, but he
made a statement on the stand Tues
day as the last feature of the com
initial trial in which he declared his
love purely platonic and expressed
the opinion that the real murderer
was the husband.
Kennedy's Statement.
Kennedys statement on the stand,
i, in, III
emotion, was as follows:
There has been some talk of my
loving Mrs. ChiIders. I had a right
to love her. was raised rigth with
her for seven years. When l was
sick my mother would call her in to
help take care of me, and she would
come and stay there working with
my mother until l was we'll l new
er spoke a word of love to her in
my life. If | had been inclined to
love | would have loved her younger
sister. l was too young to care for
her in that way. AS for the pois-
Oning of medicine and all that |
didn't do it, but l have an idea who
did. To the best of my belief the
man who did put the poison in her
u.
Another feature of the trial which
brought all eyes to bear on Childers
was the statement from the physi-
clan who was with Mrs. Childers at
her last moments to the effect that
the analytical certificate showing
that she had died from strychnine
poisoning was stolen some time be-
fore Tuesdays session from safe
in which only Childers had known
the paper to be stored
Didn't Want to Go Fast.
During the trial it was shown by
the state that at the time his wife
was taken sick from the doctored
medicine Childers himself was in a
town some thirteen miles distant,
and while he Immediately secured
an automobile to take him back to
his home he gave specific directions
to the driver not to proceed "too
fast"
When asked as to his object in
wishing to go slowly at MONDAY
when his wife was at home in a
dying condition Childers said that he
did not want to run off the road.
This fact and that of the loss of
the important piece of documentary
evidence, coupled with Childers
nervousness and lack of memory
when placed on the stand Monday
will, it is feared, go hard with him.
1t was the attempt of the state
to prove that Kennedy had run off
at o'clock in the morning about
ten days after the death of Mrs.
Chtlders and had attempted to lose
himself in the mazes of a dense tur-
pentne forest, where he was later
taken by the sheriff and brought
pack to Leesburg. But the proof of
THIS was hardly established, the man
ager of the tur1entine farm main
tanning that the young man was
there to work for him and not for
the sake of concealment.
The trial up to it's close was in
teresting by reason of not only the
dramatic features that were brought
out in the evidence, but also because
OF the fact that every strong bit of