New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-07
Negroes Bound
w it'll Chains
And Drowned

negro for whose death Williams is on
trial at this particular time.
Dead" answered the negro.
The eleven names were called and
two Of them were repeated, making
total of thirteen, to all Of which the
negro gave the same answer.
"Do you know when Lindsey Peter
son died 2" asked the former Congress-
man
"on Saturday night. the last of
February or the first Of March"
"And Willie Preston and Harry
Price? 2"
"rhe same night"
"Do you know when some United
States agents came to tie Williams
place"
Manning said that he did, and iden-
tilted Special Agents Brown and Weis-
mer of the Department of Justice, and
said: "Preston, Price and Peterson
all died after they came to Mr.. John
les (Wiliams) farm and talked to US.
think 1T was the next week on Satur-
day night after they came to the
| farm"
When asked to tell the circumstances
Manning continued:
"We tied chains and weights around
their necks and wire on their hands
and threw them over tho bridge
Peterson and Willie Preston were tied
together and we thrcw them into the
| Yellow River"
He said that he meant "me and
Mr.. Johnnie,' when he referred to
I'VE"
"That Saturday evening Mr.. Johnnie
came to me and told me to come on
with him that night" said Manning
THE river is pretty wide, but it would
drown man"
He said that trace chain was tied
around the necks of Peterson and
| Preston
eve tied both hano. of one man to
both hands Of the other man, and both
| feet of each man the same way" said
the witness. Then we put the trace
chain around their necks and put a
weight, bag with rocks in it, to the
chain about middle way. We did that
down by the crossroads and the store
while the boys were in the car, and
Mr.. Johnnie he drove on to the river,
and when we got to the river he said,
You all get out
"Me and Charlie Chisholm got out
and he told me and Charlie to throw
them in. | lifted the sack Of weight
and helped it up on the banister of
the bridge. | guess it weighed most
hundred pounds. The two boys be-
gan to beg not TO kill them, but Mr.
Johnnie told US to 60 ahead and put
them over and we showed them off. Me
and Charlie showed them off Mr..
Johnnie was standing right there and
! the car was in the middle of the
bridge"
In the car from the Williams place
to the bridge were Peterson, Preston,
Harry Price, Charlie Chisholm, John
S. Williams and Manning, according to
the witness
First Thought it Joke
He said the doomed negroes thought
it was some kind of prank and didn't
realize what was going to happen until
they reached Yellow River.
The witness declared Price was taken
on and dropped in the South River.
The defense objected to reference to
other cases, bit Judge Hutchinson over
ruled the objection.
Harry Price, known as "Foots," cried
Don't throw me in that place." the
witness said. "Ill jump in"
Manning said Price climbed up the
bannister and | put up the sack and
then Mr.. Johnnie said Go on and put
him in Foots said, Lord have mercy.
and then jumped, and that was all.
His hands were tied together with wire
too. The chain around his neck had a
ring in one end and the other end was
run through that and fastened with q
horseshoe"
Manning said that "Footsv sat on
the bannister little while before he
said Lord hays mercy"
The witness testified that Williams
got the negroes into the car on a pre-
tense that he was going to take them
to train. He had told them he was
gong to let them go home, said Man
ming. He said that the negroes put to
death were living on the farm of
iuland Williams, son of John S.
Williams.
Asked as to the nrst information he
had of tho "wholesale slaughter"
Manning said that just after the Fed
10 him and said he would have to do
away with the negroes. Williams said
1t was my neck OF theirs" said the
witness.
Manning then told how other negroes
had been killed and how he had killed
them with an axe in many instances.
Two of these men had dug their own
grave, he said.
"Mr. Johnnie told Charlie. Chisholm
he was going to let him co. said the
witness. I'VE took him IN the car, tied
him and pitched him into the river"
The witnesses told of the killings,
one by one, until finally, he said,
Fletcher Smith was shot
II don't want to hear any more about
this" Manning says Williams told him.
"Fhere's nobody left now but you and
me- and if hear any moro or it gets