The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-10-01
Second Trial
For Gosnell
Man Who Killed Sheriff Rec
tor of Greenville Before
Pickens Jury

Pickens, Sept. 26. - Charged
with the murder of former Sher-
iff Hendrix Rector of Greenville
county, Jake Gosnell, federal pro-
hibition enforcement officer, went
on trial for the second time here
today. Gosnell was arraigned at
noon and when court was suspend
ed shortly before o'clock this af-
ternoon three state witnesses had
testified. They were DR.. w. c..
Black, who performed two autop-
sizes on the dead body of the former
sheriff; W. B. Keller, an eyewit-
ness of the shooting, and Thomas
T. McAfee, an undertaken Of this
city.
Through the expert testimony OF
DR.. w. C. Black the state attempt
ed to establish today that Sheriff
Rector had his back partially or
wholly turned to Gosnell, when the
latter shot him. Using the person
Of Sheriff Carlos Rector of Green
vile county. brother Of the deceas-
ed sheriff, who was stripped to the
waist before the jury and the court
room, DR.. Black pointed out the To-
cations on the body where the
three bullets that hit Hendrix Rec
tor and explained their range.
DR.. Black was Of the opinion that
one of these bullets. that which
struck the former sheriff in the
right side, between the sixth and
seventh ribs, and two and one
inches posterior to the auxiliary
line, was the bullet which struck
Rector first. On cross examina-
ton, however, he admitted that
this was an opinion only and that
no man could tell which bullet was
the first fred.
w. B. Keller, who was with Cos
nell on the day of the shooting, and
who witnessed the tragedy in Bris-
GOES garage at Greenville, told his.
version of the affair in a straight
forward manner. He said that Jake
Gosnell, Gosnell's wife and himself
had driven into the garage to Sc
cure grease for the car and that
Gosnell was squatting down behind
the automobile when Sheriff Rec
tor entered the front door. Rector,
he testified, said Hello, Jake" or
good morning, jake" and Gosneli
did not return the greeting. Rec
tor then told Gosnell, the witness
testified, that he did not care
whether Gosnell spoke to him or
not. The witness said that Gosnell
then told Rector that he did not
care to speak to him and wanted
nothing to do with him.
Rector, he said, replied by ours
ing Gosnell violently and turned to
walk off and as he was in the aCs
of turning around Gosnell arose
from the squatting position he had
assumed beside his automobile and
fired four times. Rector fell for
ward and sunk to the floor on his
left side, he testified.
A number of other witnesses are
to be placed on the stand by the
state and it will probably be We'd
nesday morning before the de-
fense's witnesses begin their testi-
mony.
Gosnell killed Rector July 4,
1919. The case went from the ses-
sions to the United States court, but
was later remanded to the sessions
court by Federal Judge H. H. Wat
kins. Gosnell was trie din May Of
last year, bat a mistrial was the
result A change Of venue was re-
quested by the defense on the
ground that the brother of the
former sheriff had been elected
sheriff Of the county and the case
was ordered tried in Pickens coun-