The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-23
POISON LIQUOR
 KILLS CITIZEN, SAYS
County Deputies Arrest White Man and Negro, Who Are Being Held in Connection With
 Death


 died at his home at 2:15 o'clock l Friday afternoon from the effects of drinking liquor, after being brought home from the Hillman hotel in taxicab, according to the | inquest verdict Friday of Coroner J. D. Russum.
 D. Jones, a friend of McEntire, in whose room McEntire was attend ed Dr. L. c. Wood, house physician for the Hillman hotel, left the hotel shortly after McEntire was sent home by his brother, Steve McEn- tire. Jones and McEntire had an engagement for the day, according to Mrs. McEntire. They worked to- gether at Ensley in the steel mills. Two Under Arrest When the coroner was called by Dr. E. T. Glass, who attended Me- Entire at his home. Deputy Sheriff Woody Sandefur assisted the coroner ; in his investigation of the case. ac- companying the coroner to the hotel where events there were looked into. Tony Temasino, 614 Ash avenue, Pratt City, and Earl Pittman, negro, 1925 Nineteenth street, Ensley, were arrested Friday night at Pittman's home by Deputy Sheriffs W. X. Disheroon and J. V. Walker and placed in the county jail pending the coroner's postmortem examination and inquest Saturday morning. They were also charged with violation Of the prohibition law. Deputy Walker l alleged that the negro sold him quart of corn whisky from five-gai- ] lon can.
 ] The deputies were taken to Pitt | mans place by Jones and Steve aIc- Entire. The two men. officers said. were positively identified by Jones a. having sold him the liquor of which l McEntire partoCk about 9 o'clock Fri 1 day morning.
 According to James F. Battle. clerk at the Hillman hotel. a man signed his name on the hotel register as "J D. Jones, city" about 10 o'clock Friday morning, paying in advance. as he had no baggage. Bat tie said the first he knew of McEn- tire being in the room was when call came for a doctor. Dr. l.. c. Wood. house physician, was sum moned.
  'I was called about 1O.I5 o'clock and stayed with the man until II o'clock" Dr. Wood told an Age Herald reporter Friday night. He was out of danger when l left him and assuredly must have taken an- other drink afterward. smelled whisky in the room. It smelled like sour sorghum. While I was in the room, the mans friend, whom he ad- dressed as Dewitt took a drink of whisky from a bottle on the writing table.
 'In my opinion. he first became l i'll from drinking this liquor on an ], empty stomach"
 1 Clarence Duncan, negro bellboy at the hotel, told the reporter that he found McEntire and Jones together in the wash room of the hotel. After 1 Jones registered. McEntire, appar- ently intoxicated at the time, was taken to the room by Jones, accord 1 ing to Duncan. Duncan said he saw 1 a bottle with some whisky in it in Jones room. No. S11.
 l Duncan claimed to have reported conditions to George R. Benton, man. ager of the hotel. because McEntire was drinking and Jones had his money. The boy said he did this for fear he would be accused of taking the money. This story was substan- tiated by Mir. Benton, who said Jones had about s30 belonging to McEntire, which he returned later.
 1 Hotel Managers Story
 Mir. Benton told The Age-Herald over the telephone Friday night at 1880 o'clock that he had come into contact with the affair when he 1 heard disturbance on the third 1 floor about 2 o'clock Friday after noon.
 | Investigating, I saw Jones and | Steve McEntire. brother of Irving. trying to take the man down in the 1 passenger elevator" MT. Benton said. | T told them that they could use the ] freight elevator with an alley en- l trance. They adopted the suggestion | and took the man away in taxicab. l My understanding is that they both worked at the Ensley steel mills.
 ''phe next I heard of the case was 1 at o'clock, when Coroner Russum l and Deputy Sheriff Sandefur came 1 down and asked questions about the ] case. The best information I have 1 about the source of the liquor was that it came from a negro on Eigh-
 teenth street. I am sure that it did ! not come from the hotel, or through
 any of the hotel employees" :, In a signed statement made at the 1 request of The Age-Herald twenty minutes later. MT. Benton eliminated l any reference to liquor. l The text of this statement follows: ''J. D. Jones, registering from city at 10:15 a. m.. immediately ! upon reaching his room telephoned : the office physician. Dr. L. c. Wood ] answered the call at 1920 and at ! tended sick man in the room as- 1 signed to Jones until about II I o'clock. Upon my investigat ton of 1 sickness I learned that Mir. Me- l Entire had been brought to the hotel l by MT. Jones and McEntire was taken
 from the hotel in a taxi about D. | m., he walking to the taxi accom- panied by Jones and two other men, one of whom I understand was Mr. 1 McEntire's brother"
 Mir. Benton made this statement l after partially preparing another 1 which he failed to give out. 1 He said he made no report to city I officers.
 1 MeEntire Leaves Baby l McEntire has been married two | years and Is the father of an eleven
 (Continued sn Page Tws)