The north Mississippi herald. (Water Valley, Yalobusha Co., Miss.) 1888-1929, 1922-05-19

NAo4 &c VI having hlIlGQ HAS
mother, Mrs. Ada Drury Con-
verse, whose charred body was
found on a lonely road near
here last February pleaded
guilty and was sentenced to
life Imprisonment.
The plea of guilty was made
after an agreement was reach
ed between Drury's counsel
and the district attorney and
came just as the jury was COM
pleted. 1t fell like a thunder
bolt on the crowded court room
as Drury heretofore has de-
clared his innocence. Less
than a week ago he entered a
plea of not guilty when arraign-
ed.
His step-father, Thomas P. Con-
verse, husband of the slain woman
and half hundred witnesses from
Georgia, Converse's home, Texas, the
former home of Mrs. Converse,
and other points were here to testify.
The entire day was devoted to Sc
lection of the jury which task had
been completed when the unexpected
move on the part of the accused man
was made.
At $3.50 o'clock Judge ID. M. Miller
called the case to begin the taking
of testimony. E. G. Williams, coun-
sci for Drury, and Hugh Miller, dis
trict attorney, filed into the court
room with the accused man and
agreed to allow Drury to plead gull
ty and take life sentence in the
penitentiary.
Judge Miller then passed the plea
on to the jury and in ten minutes the
jury returned with verdict finding
Drury guilty as charged and placing
his punishment at life Imprisonment
at hard labor.
Judge Miller then passed sentence.
He first asked the defendant if he
had any statement to make to which
Drury calmly answered.:
81 have no statement to make
now."
Drury was arrested in Alabama
shortly after the discovery of the
crime and brought here and placed
in jail.
The body of Mrs Converse was
found in a ravine close to a road
been shot and her body saturated
with oil and partly burned and COW
cred up with brush. 1t was believed
by officers that she had been dead a
month when found.
Walter Drury, another son of the
slain woman, identified the body as
that of his mother.
An attempt was made by press
representatives to see Drury and Sc
cure a statement from him after the
sentence had been passed. He was
on the verge of making a confession
when his lawyer interposed an OBJ
lection and Drury refused to talk.
Throughout the reading of the
charge Drury maintained an iron
nerve. controlling himself from any
outward sign of nervousness, or in
dication that he was more than indi-
rectly concerned with what was TAX
ing place. When his sentence was
pronounced, he relaxed in his seat
and evidently was relieved.
The finding of the dead body of
a white woman, charred and mangled
in a ravine near Dentville in the
western part of this county on Feb
ruary IA was the outstanding sensa-
ton of the month throughout the
state. The subsequent pursuits of
various clues throughout half doz-
en- southern states and the final cap
ture of young Drury in Columbus
kept the police of many cities busy.
The events preceding the commits
sion of the crime had largely been
unraveled by Sheriff Ramsey, who
left no clues undeveloped. Taking
only fragments of the charred body
a shoe heel, a ring of keys, and a
name found on the trademark of an
overcoat, the sheriff established
positive identity of the woman be-
yond all doubt and built up a string
of evidence which it is believed
would have convicted her own son
of the horrible crime.
Ada Drury Converse is supposed
to have been returning from visiting
her mother in Alabama and was re-
turning home when she met up with
her son in Winona the early part of
February. 1t is claimed that Mil
ton persuaded his mother to return
to Texas, her home, with him in an
auto. They were traced to Jackson
and identified there by several citi-
zens. They were later traced to Ha-
zlehurst and afterwards were sup
posed to have been pulled out of a
mud hole by citizen os this coun-
ty. On the night when the murder is
supposed to have beeI committed, me-
groes living close by are claimed to
have heard several pistol shots in
the direction of the murder and
claim to have seen fire built on the
spet where the charred fragments