The Pensacola journal., 1917-07-09

proved this, and by T. J. Martin, now
Of Alabama, formerly of Holt, proved
that Bob leaped from the train, APP
parently in an attempt to avoid rec
Ognition. Just before il pulled into
Crestview. and was lest in the darA-
ness. Will had repeatedly declared
that very day that Bob was in Texas,
even denying him when a mutual
/ friend pointed him out at the water
cooler in the day coach.
. Bob Arrested.
Bob when arrested several weeks
| later under an assumed name at Tai
! lassee. Ala, TO which place he ac-
/ knowledged going because he knew
/ the detective was on his trail. de-
MED that he had been in Florida to
/ Rufus Cannon, marshal of Tallassee,
Ala, to which place he acknowi-
edged going because he knew the de-
/ tective was on his trail, denied that
/ he had been in Florida 10 Rufus
| Cannon, marshal of Tallassee, Sheriff |
! Sutton and others; but he now ad- |
mitted that he had indeed come to .
| Crestview the night IN question. He /
has not admitted that he sent the |
! Cradle Bartlett telegram.
His defense is that he caught the |
train at Crestview returning to Pen |
sacola, and produced A. J. Melvin, a |
farmer who lives near Holt, who |
swore that he saw the accused in a |!
chair car on the train bound for Pen |
sacOla that night. ard talked to him |
at the station Melvin saws the chair |
car was at the end of the train, |
but that it was halted alongside the
so foot platform, along which he was
I,n n
him.
Alibi Witness Arrested
Melvin was arrested Saturday
night charged with perjury.
Bob shortly after he was arrested.
according to Marshal Cannon, asid
q wonder if they have caught the
woman"
"The Woman"
On this same Thursday Sophronia
Holmes identified viii and Bob
b Blackwell as two of the three men
whom she had seen walking past her
house early on the morning of March
e 21, the day of the murder, ten miles
, from Crestview and going in the di~
. rection of the Davis house. Mrs. At
we'll had just testified that Will had
secured lunch from her the night be-
= fore. and gone out. whittier bound.
| she declares she did not know.-he
> did not return until cock crow Thurs
p day morning, the morning after the
. murder.
Sophronia's Testimony.
% An observant girl. SophrOnia
1 Holmes declares that the three men
? were dressed in black pants and
? white shirts; no coats; Will had on a
white felt or cloth. not straw, hat;
she saw no guns. Sophronia's house
= is on an old abandoned road, and she
e noticed the footprints,-the impress
' sions were clear cut and distinct in
n the moist sand. One of the tracks
3 had a very distinctive characteristic
e The next morning she noted the same
!, tracks, returning this time-and the
e same regularity. She swears it was
= Will Blackwell who left these traces
o he was the man who was the clos
: est to her when the trio passed her
e house the previous day. At the
IL Davis house, the same footprints
IS among them the distinctly marked
g one-were found; they were traced
le for miles by Henry Hawkins, Deputy
le Sheriff Smith, and Geo. Wright to
s. within a couple of miles of Crestview
5; and bound that way.
Id The popularity of the footprint
n consisted in a convex surface left by
so a depression in certain makes of rub
is Der heels.
~ What Happened to the Shoes?
Id Various witnesses testified that
Will had never been seen to wea,
such shoe, but Mrs. Atwell de-
d; clares that he came in without shoes
te the morning after the murder.
8 Harrison Davis and his sister Me
W, linda Littlefeld told of the two men
Sc apparently negroes at about o'clocR
IN on the night of the murder, asked
'lr for water and food at the Davis
home; how after they had gone, h'
ne and his sister, mistaking the
m, ''weather light" for a forest fire. lef
n to warn the rangers: how when they
/ had gone 200 wards, they hearC
ia three pistol shots. and of the shot
L. gun fired as warning by the sentine
n at the gate. who was in s'Ich a
us hurry that he didn't elevate the pieC
ed but sent nine buckshot into the from
ng door: of the discovery of their mur
lg, dered parents and of their summon
Ell ing help.
nd Identified Will.
Ite "In height. build, and alp declared
- Harrison. the prisoners compare Eek
actlv" with the men who wero at tn
Davis house; they talked in a kim
of a whine, their voices sounded Xix
neither negro nor white" he added
nj The leader wore a coat-he is tn
man he declared that resembled vii
~ Blackwell so strikingly-eXcept tina
the face was black,
"a Will Blackwell. had according t
the testimony of several witnesses il
discussing the various Jobs that wer
to be pulled off, stated that by black
ing their faces with burnt cork. the
could disguise themselves. Mrs. At
veil declares Will was so disguised
too that she helped wash the black OF
IA f,rn. n,,H tl,c ,nr.ns ac,1 hnc NJ,