The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-16
.LONN|E WEBB FREED .OF MURDER CHARGE
 AT HIS SECOND TRIAL
Verdict Comes Exactly Year After BrOOkins Was Killed. Jury Declines to Accept
 Alleged Confession

Lonnie Webb, negro, charged with the
 murder of Joseph W. Brookins. was ac- quilted by a jury in the first division of
 the criminal court yesterday after trial
 lasting over four days. The case went to the jury at o'clock yesterday even ing and a few minutes before 1t an
 nounced ready and returned verdict of
 not guilty to Judge w E. Fort, who pre-
 sided over the case. An unusual coinci- dence in the case Is the fact that the defendant was acquitted on the same day and month that the assassination of Mir
 Broolxins occurred namely June l5, 1915. On the night of the above date the de- ceased was called from his home at East Birmingham by a person presumably a I negro. and few minutes later was found shot to death in a field near the inter- section of Fifty-frst street and Fourteenth avenue There was no clew to the killing
 and for time 1t remained a mystery.
 Gadsden by members of the Birmingham police force on a charge of being impli- cated in the killing, He was brought to Birmingham and 1t was alleged made n l confession to Detective Harry Goldstein, | in which he implicated Tom Webb, white,
 and Tuck Cain. colored. The nature of
 the alleged confession was that the three
 men entered into a conspiracy to assas- | sinate Brooxins. All three were arrested | and later indicted by the grand jury for
 the murder Tom Webb was recently
 admitted to bond on habeas corpus pro-
 ceedings
 l I ranfa I of January, this year. and mistrial re- 1 suited The trial that ended yesterday was one of the hardest fought cases in | the criminal court for some time Circuit
 Solicitor Joseph R. Tate and Assistant I Solicitor Walter & Brewer represented
 the state and John Mcqueen and Hugh l Ellis the defendant. The alleged confess
 sion and certain admissions said to have l been made by the defendant were the principal grounds on which the state ba sed it's case There was other testi-
 mony of a corroborative nature.
 The defense made a general denial of
 the states testimony and denied all knowledge of the crime. It was alleged | that third degree methods had been used | on the defendant by the officers to whom 1 the confession is said to have been made. l Another phase of the defense was an alibi l sought to be esta ablished by white Wit
 nesses. Quite a number of witnesses | rom tradSuen were III dAltHudiltt oi 1iV ! trial including the mayor, the chief of
 police, the probate judge and other prom inent citizens of that city, who testified 1 to the generally good character and repu- 1 tation of the defendant.
 l The testimony in the case was con l cluded Monday night and nearly all Of l yesterday was taken up by the argu- l ments of counsel, during which consid-
 erable personal feeling was injected. Judge l Fort gave a lengthy charge to the jurors, l going over the various phases of the case, and instructing them on the law. His l charge was said to have been able and | impartial
 | Webb has been in jail for over Il l months, and was visibly affected by the | verdict of the jurors, and as they tied l out of the court tried to thank them It
 was stated last night that there would be
 little chance to convict the other two de-
 fendants, as practically the only evidence | against them is based on the confession | said to have been made by Webb.