The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-07
MT. and Mrs. w. M. Hall De- tained by Police Pending
 Investigation
THEY CLAIM DEAD
 MAN SHOT HIMSELF
Officers Greatly Puzzled-Neighbors Claim There Was a Fight Before Shooting-Gruesome Scene When
 the Dead Man Is Discovered

George cowart. aged s2 years. barber, employed by the Woodward Barber shop, ana popular known Country" was shot and instantly killed yesterday aft ernoon about 3;30 o'clock in the front room of Mrs. N. M. Halls rooming house at 1921 Fifth avenue, north. Cow art was shot over the left eye and the bullet ranged downward Into the brain, causing instantaneous oeath
 About SEQ o'clock last night at the cor Ter of Fourth avenue and Twentieth street, north. W. M. Hall, a clarionet player, was arrested by Desk Sergeant James Doneson and brought to police headquarters for examination in connec- tion with the killing of Cowart A chalge of murder was placed against Hall after a brief examination.
 At the time Hall was arrested the en- tire police department was on his trail. He had been described as Il bald-headed man in his shirt sleeves and in an ire sl,ousible condition. About S:8o o'clock Sergeant Donelson arrested him at Fourth avenue and Twentieth street
 On His Way to Surrender
 Hall, in incoherent .ones, admitted his Identity. and stated that he was on his way to surrender when arrested The fact that he was so near police head quarters when arrested caused the police to believe that Hall was in reality on his way to surrender himself to justice.
 At police headquarters Hall, to the in- sistent questions of detectives stated tbat George Cowart. whom he knew as Country was sitting in a rocking chair and that he was seated in front of him. The conversation went frora one subject to another until it reached that of the present crime wave in Birmingham.
 According to Hall. he told Cowart that he had gun to protect himself from burglars and that he went in his wife's room and from between two mattresses secured a .SS-oalibre Smith & wesson pistol which he showed to Cowart. Hall stated that Cowart ask to look at the gun, and 1t was passed to him. In the examination of the gun Hall says that Cowart had the barrel pointing at him self in an upward direction. In some way, unexplained by Hall, the pistol was discharged and the bullet struck Cowart
 
 the shooting told by Hall, In a more or less incoherent speech when examined by the detectives.
 The detective department took no stock in the story of Hall. They point to the fact that if the killing had occurred as Hall stated the bullet would have ranged upwards in Cowarts head, while an examination of the dead man showed that the bullet had struck about an inch .xr~ i.ft T downwards. proving concluslvely that Cowart had been shot by person stand ing over him as he sat leaning in his rocking chair.
 GruesOme Scene at House
 The scene at the killing was a gruesome one when the police arrived about o'clock yesterday afternoon. As they en- tered the Hall residence, which was sur rounded by a gaping crowd, they saw rocking chair with a man seated and it apparently sleeping. The chair was side ways to the door of the front room which opened in the hallway at the entrance of the house. An examination of the man showed that he was dead--in fact his brains had run out and were strewn over his left arm. The pistol with which the man had been shot lay on the floor between his legs. There was no one in the house at the time
 In looking about the room the police fctnd everywhere signs of a brawl in which liquor had largely figured On the bed lay three quart bottles of whisky with unbroken seals. and on the floor was broken whisky glass Neighbors about the Hall residence stated that there had been a fight.
 Investigation by the police further dis closed that there had been three women in the house at the time of the shooting and also two railroad men, The women were quickly rounded up by Detective J. T. Moser, but the men had not been al rested at a late hour. According to the women they knew nothing of the shoot ing with the exception that they heard the shot and saw two men run out of the back door and then later saw Hall run ming without his coat out of the front door In the direction of the Terminal sta ton. Mrs. W. M Hall, the wife of Hall. was detained at police headquarters. Her statement of the affair follows:
 George Cowart, whom I knew as Country committed suicide in my opin- ion. as he was very Respondent. He was employed by the Woodward Barber shop and never came home in the daytime The fact that he came home this after- noon is significant.
 Woman Denies Being in House
 we were all in my front room when Country came in l asked him how he felt and he replied that he still had the blues. Country had been married and was separated from his wife and I knew that he was mixed up with some woman from Atlanta and this was cansing him a lot of worry. Country sat down ;n the rocking chair with his back to the door facing F. B. Allen and a fellow named ODell, two railroad men. who sat on
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