Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1916-02-16
S:EsHU;ba ds And ". oV At 81
Three Died Under SuspC'Ou CIeumsla0
Ges and 8 Skipped with O'heI Women

F. Long, brings to lighe ne Of ths
most startling tale ever unfoldoc
in a Csrollua curt. Mrs. Mo
Mahau was under Indictment fol
murder in the 6:st degree Hell
husband was found dead in ed at
his he me. and her version If Liz
death is that che had arisen early
to prepare breakfast. leaving her
husband in bed. While in the
kitchen she heard a pistol shot,
and upon returning to the bed
room found McMahan dead W th
bullet through b 9 heart
In & wing h-r evidence, the liz
tie woman, pronounced brunette,
calm, self poss ssed, smiling and
serene, gav5 a detailed history ot
her matrimonial experienc> g with
the SIX men she had married in
the brief period slice her slxteenth
birthday She is new "a
She was first married Thomas
Ntadows, lii Graham county, at
the age If 16 The wedding oc-
ou'fed Gu April 4 Two morthE
aud eight days after that Thomas
died W tn bullet 10 his side.
The comely young widow was COZ
roboIrated III her testimony that
III mas committed self urder,
" her two little sisters, who told
shat the man shtt himself while
i'll their presence The magis
trate squitted her of charge Of
murder.
Two years later in Tennessee
Sc was married to William Met.
calf, with whom she lived for
ahcut five CT six years, when he
ran away With. another woman.
Without bothering about a d.
vo rec. A little less than q year
later she married William Greg
ory, also in Tennessee. Sh rtly
thereafter he obtained position
at Proctor IL this State, and one
day when he was journeying
across the mountains to his home
he Wss taken suddenly Ill when
abou mile away and died efore
aid could reach him. Less than
six weeks the widow mourned for
the departed for within thav tim.
David Shields had won her heart
and hand. He was rather al old
man and it was a month or 90 be
fore he left for California witht ut
she formality of sayi g goodbye
The deserted wife was CO koled ty
y
a younger man, again without tht
divorce, this time to Lu her
Shialds her troth being pledged.
In the course of few m nth q.
however, the domestic harmony
was shattered, a lady fir, m Little
Rock, Ara persuad.ng the hus.
band away
Then came the sixth husband,
Dave McMahap. The couple had
been llv ng as man and wlle for
nearly two years aud were getting
along fins at the big plant of the
Champion Lumber Compaly at
5uuhulss uutil one August morn.
ing last year the man was found
dead l.. bed, a bullet hole through
his heart
| Th case against the woman Wa.
entirely clrcumstantial S h
essifiod that he had gotten up anc
made fire III the early morning
aud then came back to bed, sht
getting up then to prepare b eak
fast A few minutes later tht
pistol shot rang ut, while she wa
iu the kitchen, acc riding to he
testimony, ard b. was discovered
dead. There were several psopl
IN the house at the M, but Ii,
eye witnesses. From the woun,
aud the position the pistol va
found the Safe argued that b
could u os have KILLED himself, an,
that lis wife was bound TO be tn
guilty party. She plead limo
oence, aud the jury could no
agree.
LII she osse just decided the iur,
elaborated f or SO h purs, hu
could come to /, o agreem-n fou
of the jlrars holding nut fer &C
quitta.. VII IL thr Case WAS de-
inlteiy give! up by the jury, t.
save the ordsai of anothsr tria
aud upon advice of counsel tn
woman plead guilty of manslaugh
ter and was sentenced