The Washington herald., 1919-02-04
MANIAC DENIES
TRIPLE ATTACK
James Henry Jackson Re-
pudiates Confession; Jury
Verdict Against Him.

James Henry jackson, coiored, the
"madman of the Northwest who
confessed Saturday morning that he
had murdered Miss Lillian Hood,
government war worker. and at
tackled two other women while they
were asleep in their beds, yester-
day reLudiated his statements and
claimed that he had been forced to
make them while under the infiu-
ence OF bootleg" whisky which was
furnished to him by the police.
jackson said the members of the
detective department TO whom he
made his confession pointed their
fingers at HIM while he was talk
ing and used other third degree
methods. The reputation of the
confession was made after Jackson
had retained an attorney.
The Accused Man.
The accused man was arrested
early Saturday morning and later at
police headquarters admitted that
he was the person sought by the
police for the triple assaults OF
January "a. His story was believed
by the police, despite the fact that
Miss Lillian Hood the young
Tennessean, who six days after the
crime was committed died at the
Emergency Hospital OF her wounds,
had in her dying statement de-
cIared that her assailant was white.
Jackson is a very light-skinned
negro.
statement by jackson.
In the District Court yesterday
morning Jackson entered plea of
not guilty and his lawyer, William
l. Jones, also colOred, gave out the
following statement by the accused
man:
The police arrested me. Then they
gave me a quart of whisky ] drank
almost all of it. talked while
drank it. They poked their fingers at
me and asked me lot of questions.
Il answered them, but 1 don't re-
member what ] told them ! don't
remember making any confession.
The police have put up a job on me.
They tricked me into saying l hurt
those women. I never saw one OF
them in my life.
IF 1 said l killed Miss Hood and
assaulted the other two women when
was drunk with the whisky. then
may have admitted I committed all
these other murders too, for all
know
! 'It looks as though I am the goat
Just because I have a bad record
they are trying to say I did some
thing that ] didn't. ] am not crazy.
II made a confession. then was
forced to and didn't know what I was
doing. am innocent OF the charge
4 fNf I
cent of the charge of assaulting the
other two women"
Verdict Holds Jackson.
| At the coroneTs inquest ycsterda y
afternoon the jury found that Lillian
Hood came TO her death from a gun
shot wound in her abdomen, and per-
| itonitis caused by said wound. the
shot being inflicted by one John Henry
Jackson. We hold the said Jamc :
/ Henry Jackson for action of the
grand jury"
/ At the inquest, Detective Patrick
O'Brien testified concerning Jackson's
arrest on information given the pO-
lice by an unnamed person. and the
subsequent confession at police head
quarters.
He stated that tn" man had stolen
some jeweIry. gloves. coat and sew
eral neckties at the first house, 1912
Connecticut avenue, and that the
stolen goods had been found in his
possession. The detective stated that
the prisoner had declared that he
never touched the girl in the second
house, 151l L street. and that in the
last house he had only fired when Miss
Hood had been dragged INTO the yard
and refused TO let him go.
Attorney Jones asked the detective
IL jackson had been sober at the
time of the confession, and the head
quarters man replied that he had.
He also stated that instruments for
the use of done" had been found
in Jackson's room. O'Brian stated
that the confession had been made
in the presence OF five detectives,
shortly after JaCkson's arrest.