The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-10-14
REFUSED TO HAVE PART IN IT.
Ransbottom Who Had Been Charged
With Attempted Murder Pleaded to
Lighter Charge and rs Fined $500
and the Costs Of the Action.


the county jail which included an as
sault ON A. l.. Fries the undersheriff,
was thwarted by the fact that two
white prisoners refused to aid a negro
in the plan was revealed In the munich
pal court this morning in the trial of
James Ransbottom Of RidgWay, Ill. who
pleaded guilty to charges of assault
with intent to do great bodily harm.
Ransbottom admitted that he had been
urged to enter into the plan which had
been worked out by Clarence Mitchell
a negro prisoner recently taken back
to Joliet as a parole violator. He de-
clared that Mitchell had worked out
the plan that the undersheriff was to
have been assaulted when the prisoners
were locked in their cells for the night.
Both Ransbottom and the other man
who was not named in the court pro-
cedure refused to go into the scheme.
At the time there were but three
prisoners in the county jail. 1t was
also admitted that Sheriff Stahl had an
inkling of what had been going on i'll
the cell room and that he had been en-
tirely prepared to meet anything of the
kind and had instructed his aids to
shoot and to shoot to kill if any effort
was made to bring about a delivery of
the prisoners.
Today was lucky day for Jimmy
Ransbottom. lie is admittedly the
"black Sheep of an old Southern Illi-
nois family of wealth and social stand
ing UP to this morning he had been
in tho jail waiting trial on charges Of
attempting to murder Louis J. lack at
the Garfield house on the night of Sep
TENDER 18th last. He hcd just one
card in his deck and that was his
mother, Mrs. Mary Ransbottom,
motherly looking woman of more than
fifty came to see him several days ago.
She was the one person who believed
that there was something good in
Jimmy" and ever since she came to
the city she has been holding confer
ences with Judge Randall and District
Attorney Drury and Judge Taylor seek
ing some way to keep her son out of
prison. She declared to Judge Ran
dali that she knew the blood that was
in Jimmy and that while he might be
a. black sheep she knew that there was
a lot of good in him and so much of it
that he ought not to be sent to prison.
She told the court that her husband
had left her with seven children when
he died some years ago and as we'll
with a farm of four hundred acres.
She asserted that Jimmy was the only
one of the children who had gone
wrong and that She had managed to
keep the farm together and needed
Jimmy to help her farm it. The mother
suggested that she would pay any fine
that the court might impose and take
the amount of the fine out of the in
heritance which would be coming to
the son.
This morning the officials agreed to
change the charge against Ransbottom
from attempted murder to assault with
intent to do great bodily harm.
The son showed his appreciation of
the change by promptly pleading guilty
and Judge Randall imposed sentence
of 5000 and the costs of the action.
When he was asked if he had anything
to say, Jimmy was entirely penitent
and he begged for chance. "Booze
and me have had a fallin OUT he
said with dialect that never could
have been cultivated anywhere save in
EGYPT" aud I want to say right now
Judge, that if you viii let me have this
chance l will not touch q drop of liquor
in two years and will never own a
gun again as long as live. / am will
ing to take an oath and believe me L
will keep the OATH"
There was no weeping on the part Of
Mrs. Ransbottom. She looked on jim
my as q business proposition and she
told the judge that she felt certain
that if the boy was turned over to her
she would see that his nose was kept
to the grindstone so that he would
have no chance to go wrong.
= WeN'tO w ~ breSN w luG IdIIu With
mother" was the parting shot of the
boy.
In sentencing him Judge Randall let
Ransbottom understand that he was
about the nckiest man who had been
in court in years. He recalled the fact
that when Ransbottom snapped the
Trigger Of his revolver five times at
Zack all five of the cartridges had miss
ca ire.
Ransbottom will remain in jail for
several days While his mother goes back
10 the old home in Ridgeway and raises
The money to pay the fine and costs.
Tie declares that he would be tickeled
0 death to DO this and that he would
leave fol- the farm in Egypt just the
minute he was discharged by the
court.