The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-13
-GAZINE


Several months ago man did rebel at
being robbed and complained about it to his
captain. Hodges and Pew, however, were
successful in convincing this captain that
the man was lying and for punishment he
was sent to the guardhouse. That same
night Hodges shot this squealer. When the
investigation came up Hodges swore that
the man attacked him with knife and he
had to shoot in elf-defense. Pew corrobo-
rated Hodges, and the verdict was
KILLED by Sergeant Hodges in self
defense"
ever since that all Hodges has to do is
to recall the fate of the squealer to the
mind of any gambler, and fear does the
rest. And then the stevedores are firmly
convinced that both Hodges and Pew prac-
tce the Voodoo rites and hold the power of
life or death over them. It's fear of the
Veodoo that makes the stevedores most
mortally afraid of these two crooks. 1t is
only by the liberal use of the money you
gave me that have not been turned in as
a deserter. But l have bought Hodges
friendship all right
Surely here plenty of food for
thought. Hodges and Pew running the
camp ana cOllecllHS lfiDule from ali SlueS
If they were capable of such graft, were
they not capable also of killing Hand?
Naturally the idea that the murder was a
part of this carnival of crime took it's place
in our minds, but that alone did not get US
any further.
"But all things come to him who waits
The next day after we had received Will
sons report French peasant digging in
his vineyard uncovered a revolver. Luck
lily for us, this Frenchman realized what his
find meant, and carefully wrapping the re-
volver in a newspaper, he brought it to US.
1t was of French make and was Of the same
caliber as the one used in the murder of
Hand. There were two empty shells in the
cylinder and it was covered with what
looked like rust. The trigger guard was all
bent out of shape; and on it and on the butt
we found several hairs. An analysis by the
medical department told US that, without
doubt, what we had thought was rust was
blood, and that the hair came from colored
man. At last we had a real clue.
We carefully cleaned the revolver and
were finally able to decipher the number
and make. Fortunately for us there is
law in France which requires that record
be kept of the sale Of all firearms. A book
is supplied for the purpose; and in it the
merchant enters the name and number of
the gun and the purchaser signs the book.
With the make and number of the revolver
that killed Hand in our possession, we
canvassed all the firearms stores. By the
process of elimination we finally located
the store that had sold the gun.
"Yes, the proprietor remembered the
sale. at seemed strange to me that an
American soldier, especially a colored SER
geant would need to purchase revolver"
Scrawled across the book we found w.
S. Grant, the name given by the purchaser.
When asked if he thought he could identify
the soldier, the proprietor replied:
II am sure that can, for l remember
him quite distinctly
The proprietor was willing to assist Us
and he was taken to Bassens. There, Sc
creted in a cafe which was frequented by
the stevedores, the proprietor picked out
Hodges. When asked his reasons for pick
ing out Hodges, he stated
1.-The soldier who purchased the revolver
had a scar across his chin"
So had Hodges.
Moreover, Hodges was such a distin-
guished looking soldier that one naturally
would remember him. He was over six feet
TALL straight as an arrow, real bronze
giant His color was light, and he could
have passed as an Indian. For years he
had been soldier in one of the colored reg
iments of our regular army and as result