The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-11-23
Texas Negro to Be Executed A.
ter Being Six Times Sen
fenced to Death
SHOWS DELAY OF JUSTICE
Illustration of How Technica alities
Are Used In Cases

| dallas, Tex, NOV. 2I-Attef haViHE
been tried for murder seven times,
sentenced To death six times and hav-
ing spent nearly eight years in prison
pending his trials, Burrell Oates, a
| negro, will be hanged next week at the
| Wanahachie prison 10 pay the penalty
for the murder of Sol Aronoff in Dal-
las on the night of November 80, 1904.
This viii bring To an end the most
| remarkable case in the criminal court
| history OF Texas and probably of the
whole United States AS an illustra-
, ton of the possibilities offered by the
criminal court practice in vogue In
this country, 10 delay the course of
| justice by recourse To legal quibbles
| over mere technicalties. the case has
| probably no equal in American court
| history.
| Sol Aronoff, the victim OF the crime,
and his wife kept a small grocery store
near the railroad tracks in this city.
| on the night of the murder, Burrel
| oates, Holly Van and Frank McCue.
the latter two white men, entered Aro-
! While they were robbing the man.
Mrs. Aronoff entered the store and
| fired at the men. The robbers fired
several shots and one of these killed
| Aronof, few days after the murder
| the three men were arrested and
| charged with the murder Of Aronoff.
Vann was convicted of murder and
1
states evidence and escaped punish
| ment. ....t ..-.,
Oates had no funds To- employ an at
! torney and when his trial came up In
| the Dallas court the Judge appointed
| A. s. Basket, a young lawyer, against
| the latter's protests, to defend the ne
gro. Ever since that time Basckett
has been in sole charge of the defense
| and the fight he made for his client
has attracted wide attention and will
go down in the history of criminal
| Jurisprudence as one of the most re-
| markable examples of forensic skill
| and perseverance.
The first trial of Oates resulted In
| his conviction a dnsentence To death.
An appeal was taken to the Court of
| Criminal Appeals and the case was
remanded for new trial on April IL,
| 1905, on account of an irregularity in
drawing the names of jurors.
At the second trial oates was again
convicted and sentenced to death.
Again an appeal was taken and on May
| .. 1906, the Criminal Court of Appeals
| granted new trial because the trial
| Judge had failed to instruct the jury
In his charge that IL the wife shot
her husband by mistake the prisoner
was not guilty of murder.
Oates was again tried and convict.
ed, but on May l5. 1907, the case was
reversed by the Court of Criminal APP
| peals on the ground that the trial
Judge aid not properly define murder
! In his charge TO the jury. After an
other trial the case again came before
the Court of Criminal Appeals on June
| 90, l909 ana a question as to the le-
gality Of the appointment of the trial
Judge was the ground for setting aside
the verdict and again remanding the
case for a new trial The fifth trial
Of the case resulted in no verdict as
to penalty, one juror standing out for
| life Imprisonment, while the others
demanded the death penalty
owing to the strong feeling against
oates in this county the authorities
considered IL advisable to remove him
to some place of safety. For time
he was kept In the Cleburne jail and
! then he was taken To the Ellis county
! iail In Waxahachie, where he Is now
ewaiting his execution.
When the oates case came up for
its sixth trial In this county. Judge
| Robert Il. Scay of the Criminal Dis
trict Court Of Dallas county. acting
upon his own motion. transferred the
| case to Ellis county The sixth trial
| again resulted i'm the conviction of the
| prisoner and q sentence of death.
once more an appeal was taken and
the Court of Appeals granted new
trial upon the ground that the verdict
Of the jury did not specify the degree
| of murder of which Oates had been
! found guilty.
| The seventh and last trial. which
took place i'm waxahachie. resulted.
on November 4. 1911, in "A verdict Of
guilty of murder I'm the first degree
and n sentence of death, A motion for
a rehearing was refused by the Court
of Criminal Appeals on October 16.
of the present year and the date of
the execution of the sentence was set
| for next week. In the lower courts,
four judges. i'm two different counties
have presided at the trials and three
different county attorneys with their
assistants have acted as prosecutors.
The prisoner himself became so tired
F, of the everlasting delays that during
= the past two years he repeatedly beg
sed to be executed.