Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-07-19
GOD KNOWS I'M INNOCENT"
MRS. BULLARD DECLARES


POWDER SPRINGS. Ga, July II.
-eiterating the only statement she
as made to the press since her ar
est last week on charges Of con-
piracy to murder her husband, d.
}. Billiard, as he lay asleep in their
.l.sanahouse home at midnight OF
.Ionday. July 8, Mrs. Ruth Billiard
N Tuesday emphatically denied
lat she was in any way Implicated
the shooting.
God knows [ am innocent, she
said, her blue eyes moist with tears
and her voice trembling with nan
suppressed emotion. THAT is all l
can say now, l am innocent ana
want the world to know it. This
thing is killing me-"
This statement was given from the
front window of Mrs. Billiards. room
in the home of her mother and
father, Mr.. and Mrs. I. Burnett, in
Powder Springs.
As reporters and photographers
approached the house she was sitting
on the porch, but fled into the
house before they had a chance to
snap her picture. Her mother en-
phatically refused to allow her to be
photographed and it was while the
conversation was going on with Mrs.
Burnett that Mrs. Billiard appeared
at her window and made the above
statement. She said nothing further.
She is a frail, rather pretty WON
an, and appears to be little more
than a girl in years. When seen by
newspaper men she was dressed in a
light bingham house dress and her
light brown hair was coiled in a
knot above her head.
She seemed greatly disturbed by
the charges against her and the at
.titude taken by her husbands fam
i1yl, and her mother. Mrs. Burnett,
said the affair had seriously under
mined her health and that she has
been confined to her bed the greater
portion OF the time since the shoot
ing, under the care of q physician.
Rapidly convalescing at the home
of his father, w. d. Billiard, about
four miles from here, Mr.. Billiard
declared he was convinced his wife
and Sim Edwards, a neighbor, had
engineered conspiracy to end his
life and that he also was convinced
Edwards had fired the shot that
came so near accomplishing this
end.
Billiard, was sitting in a rocking
chair in the yard of his fathers
home talking with his family and
playing with his faithful little fox
terrier. Bobby, when newspapermen
approached. He seemed yerv cheer
fuI and well on the road to recovery
ana insisted that his dog be on his
lap while photographs were being
taken.
am Convinced my wife and Ed
wards Planned to get me out of the
way" he declared. 81 cannot tel
all now, but there are many things
that lead me to this belief. It is a
long story and would take a Ions
time to tell it but it convinces ms
that they We're responsible.
On the Monday morning before
!, the shooting, Edwards came by my
home. L was in the back ward fix
ing chicken coop and my wife was
on the porch. Edwards did not
speak to me but he talked for a Ions
time in undertones with my wife be-
fore he drove off towards Atlanta.
l am convinced that at that time
they plotted to end my life that
night"
Mr.. Billiard, Sr., shares his sons
belief that Mrs Billiard and Ed
wards plotted to end the Young
farmers life, and was most emphatic
in his statement to that effect.
Il am convinced they were re.
sponsible," he declared, "and when
the world hears all the details.
everybody will believe it. I certainly
intend to push the prosecution to the
limit.
This is the most terrible thing
that ever has occurred in Cobb
county. To think that a man can.
not sleep in safety in his own home
it is horrible. If this thing is al
lowed to go unpunshed l don't want
= to live in Cobb county any longer
and I expect to use every means
in my power TO see that it does not
go unpunshed'