New Britain herald., 1914-07-15
HEARS DEATH VERDICT
 FOR EIGHTH TIME
Alabama hegIo's Case Without
 Parallel in American Courts.

Anniston, Ala, July 15.-Probably without parallel in the annals of American courts is the remarkable case of Erwin Pope, the Alabama negro who has just appeared in court and for the eighth time listened to the reading of the death warrant and heard the date set for his execution. For five years the negro has been in jail under conviction for the murder of J. B. McClurkin, a white man liv- ing near the town of Oxford. He has been convicted and sentenced to hang five times; the case has been before the supreme court and reversed four times, and eight different days have been set for the execution Through it all the negro's nerve has never been shaken. From the day of his arrest he has maintained his inno- cence of the crime charged against him and has expressed confidence in his ultimate acQuittal.
 Murdered in 1909.
 The murder of McClurkin occurred on the night of April 19, 1909. About midnight the victim was awakened by the noise of someone robbing his cotton gin. He got up, saddled his mule and followed the robbers wagon toward Oxford. The next morning his body was found hor- ribly mutilated in a cotton patch on the edge of the town. In an alley in negro settlement he had evident ly been hit in the head with heavy club and his skull beaten in with a large stone.
 Erwin Pope lived in the town of Oxford about a mile from where the body was found. He owned little farm in the country and also ran a little restaurant in town. It was proved that on the afternoon preced- ing the murder Pope was at the mill owned and operated by McClurkin and had exchanged corn for meal. The principal witness for the state was negro, John Body, in front of whose door the murder was commit ted. Body testified that on the night of the murder he was awakened by the sound of screams and blows in the alley. He claimed to have gone to the door, opened it and looked out, and swore he saw two men strug- gling, and heard voice say Erwin, Erwin" A. blacksmith testified that he discovered the track of a. wagon leading from the scene of the murder
 
 shoes said to show traces of blood were found in an out-house in Pope's yard. On this evidence, all of it cir cumstantial, the negro was tried and convicted.
 Body Makes Escape.
 John Body, the negro in front of whose house the murder was com- mitted, was arrested and held on suspicion. After Pope's conviction. Body was released. He immediately abandoned his crop and family and ran off, and all trace of him has been lost. The state and the defense have both made efforts to find him, but they have failed.
 The lawyers for Pope have con- tended from the start that Body was the guilty man. Their theory is based on the seeming improbability of Body's story and on the fact that the murder was in front of Body's door; that the club with which McC1urkin was killed came from a wood pile in Body's yard; that the murderer had taken pains to drag the body away from Body's door; that Pope had no one-horse wagon, while Body had wagon which exactly corresponded to the tracks found at the scene of the crime; that barefoot tracks were found at the scene of the murder, as if Body had gotten out of bed and committed the murder; and that the cotton seed which was stolen from McC1urkin's gin on the night of the killing was found in an out-house just back of Body's house.
 Must Pay Penalty.
 At the first trial the court per mitted a negro witness to describe his own conduct and actions as proof that Pope was guilty. The supreme court held that this was an unfair and inn pr oper way to proceed against the ac-