The log cabin Democrat., 1915-03-13
LEE BLOUNT GIVEN IS
 YEARS FOR MURDER
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 asked if he had seen any officers ge off the dinkey, he told Blount that h. had, whereupon Blount asked him ii "they looked very raw"
 Mrs. R. A. Tippen said that Hones and two other officers came to hel house at about 1 :30 o'clock the morn ing of the tragedy, and that they drank from a sample bottle of whis key.
 H. L. Martin, formerly merchant of Mayflower, testified that Hones took drink of alcohol in his store the morning of the tragedy. Pete Berry also said he saw Honea take drink Of alcohol on two occa- sions the day of the killing. Blount then took the stand in his own behalf. He told of his escape from jail the day before the murder saying that he had nothing to do with picking the hole in the wall, but that another white man and a negro, who were confined in the jail with him, secured gas pipe and picked the hole, through which the trio made their escape. He also denied opening the cell door in which the two pris- oners were confined, stating that Sheriff J. s. Johnson left the door un locked at noon.
 As soon as he escaped, he went to- wards Mayflower, arriving there a short time before the dinkey arrived the next morning. While lying in the corner of field early on the morn- ing of the killing, Blount said an au- tomobile in which were Honea and two other officers stopped near him and he heard Honea say: eff Blount shows up it will be his last time, because I'm going to get him."
 Warned of the danger, went to the blacksmith shop of Frank Gibson and asked him for William Gibson's gun," said Blount, "but MT. Gibson wouldn't let me have it. I went to the Gibson home, where l got the gun and took to the woods. "I saw Jack Goss driving wagon load of seed cotton and asked him to let me ride. He said All right and I got in.
 "Soon he said he saw some officers. He warned me to get on the, side of the wagon as the woods are full of officers, and I did so. I looked over the top of the wagon and saw two men whom I thought to be Wash Cli- bourn and Honea Goss told me l had better run, and I took bee line across an old field and darted into a thicket, entering on the south side, hoping to escape from the officers, whom I thought would kill me if they got a chance. I saw Honea coming down a dim road presently, entering the thicket about 40 steps from where I stood. I cooked my gun and was ready to shoot if I found it necessary Honea had not see nme since l entered the thicket Walking along an old path in the thicket, Honea approached me.
 'lWhen about 20 steps of me, with his back turned toward me and with the right hammer of his gun cooked and his thumb on the left hammer, 1 hollered to him: MT. Honea, let's lay down our guns and I will surrender and go with you,' but instead of doing that he turned and said: I'll never do 'er, placed his gun in a shooting po- sition, and I cracked down on him. When he fell thought perhaps he was only fooling, so I walked up to where his body lay, grabbed his gun, and ran to the river bottoms"
 As he talked, Blount stood before the jury and re-enacted his part in the tragedy as he described it.
 While Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Clark propounded question after ques- tion, Blount never wavered from his story.
 When the prosecutor asked him why be had told so many conflicting stories about the killing, he replied that "it was his privilege"