Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-02
BROTHER STARTS
FIGHT To SAVE
MRS. KING
Prayers of Preacher Soften
Heart of SimmonS-JoneS
County Women Offer Aid.

MACON. Ga. Jan. "A Jones
county jury is going to be asked to
acquit Mrs Katherine King of the
charge Of plotting the murder OF her
husband and i'm the fight to save her
life. which her relatives have decided
to make, important assistance win be
rendered by ladies Of G.ays, Round Oak
and Macon.
Yielding to the pleading and prayers
Of Rev. J. p. Lee. a Baptist minister at
Grays, w s. Simmons. of Macon,
brother of the woman, has employed an
attorney Senator elect W. D. Mcneil,
Of Macon-and is going to make des-
perate effort to secure his sisters free
dom
Lawyer For WIburn.
At the same time, the relatives of
Jesse Nick Wilburn. who actually slew
James King, the Jones county planter
are determined that he shall not bear
the brunt of the case, and have en-
gagged John r. Cooper. of Macon. to
conduct legal fight for him.
Mrs. Kings brother today made the
following statement:
After my sister confessed that She
plotted Jim Kings death l was so hor-
ritied that l swore I would not assist
her, and would never seek to see her
again, but since then 7 have been put
in possession of facts which together
with the preachers prayers. have
changed me. Through Rev. Mr. Lee
my sister has sent me word. and she
declared the same thing to the attor
ney, that she was Coerced by Nick Will
burn into everything that she did in
regard to taking Kings life. She saws
that Wilburn repeatedly threatened
her life. and his own, and told her he
would kill her unless she aided him in
numbering her husband.
Now 5Iames Wiburn.
My sister doesn't offer any excuse
for her affection for Wiburn. other
than attributing it to a weakness. but
now that her hysteria has subsidized ana
she is able to talk coherently, she as
serts most positively that it was Nick
Wilburn who planned. as well as exc
cuted, the plot on Jim Kings life, and
that she was inundated to such an
extent and possibly Influenced bv her
association with Wilburn, as to consent
to the murder Under this state of
facts, | am going to fight to save my
sister, not only from the gallows. but
from the penitentiary. If need be. my
home and business vii. be sacrificed to
raise funds for her defense"
Women Offer Aid.
In Jones county there is a rovcrsion
of feeling toward Mrs. King, and it has
developed to such an extent that the
women Of the county are organizing to
help her. Already according to the
statement today Of Sheriff Charles
Roberts, practically all Of the women
of Grays have called upon Mrs. King in
her gloomy cell and offered her en-
enlargement.
a unique feature OF this display of
sentiment for Mrs. King is that Mrs.
Hunter Johnson, Of Grays. Wife of the
attorney who has been employed to
assist the state In the prosecution. is
one of the women most active in Mrs.
Kings behalf EX-Sheriff Robert Eth
ridge, now the county treasurer, is an
other who has enlisted his services in
Mrs. Kings cause. CoincidentIy there
has been a withdrawal of the petitions
for a speedy trial which were in circu-
Arrangements have also been made
for all of Mrs. Kings children, except
the married daughter who still denies
any sympathy for her mother to visit
the lonely and distressed woman at the
jail at Grays