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

or MS dialect is beyond me.
"The night that Hand was killed." said
he, II had beer in Bordeaux. l overstayed
my leave and was sneaking into the camp
over the ridge. While making my way along
the path, l heard someone coming, so
jumped over the hedge and hid. l saw
Hodges and Pew, with Hand between them,
come up the path and pass by the place
where l was hiding A few seconds later
l heard two shots. Then Hodges and Pew
came running back along the path. AS they
passed me Hodges said:
"'There, l have fixed that damned
squealer.'
81 was so scared that l remained hiding
for over an hour and then slowly made
my way into the camp. The other night /
got drunk and boosted that l knew all
about the shooting of Hand. Evidently
Hodges heard of it for l was soon arrested.
Hodges told me what to say, and said if
denied it when brought before you he
would put Voodoo spell on me and on all
my relations. He can do it, too, so | con-
fessed."
1t was evident that even while he told
this story Givens was as much afraid of
Hodges as he was of hanging. Poor Givens
believed that he was doomed man which
ever way he turned. That night, to allay
his fears, he was secretly transferred to the
prison at Tours.
Our net was slowly closing about Hodges
and Pew. Now we were able to place them
at the scene of the crime with the murdered
man. We also were able to show that
Hodges purchased the gun.
Still l was not satisfied and planned to
await further confederation before ordering
their arrest. Being convinced in my own
mind as to the guilt of any one and proving
i. before a court martial were two vastly
different things.
The next man Hodges brought in was
Williams. And again the farce was gone
over. Hodges accused Williams of the ac-
tual murder and Williams admitted it. When
asked how he could have been on the ridge
when he was supposed to have been in the
guardhouse he replied:
81 sneaked out and had been to the village
for drink. On my way back met Givens
and we both were slipping into camp the
back way. We met Hand. He said he was
going to tell on US so l shot him.
Once again the evil influence was at
work. We were living in the goth century,
but the fear of Voodoo was actually
strong enough to cause two innocent men
to swear away their own lves They, in
truth, were so thoroughly frightened that
they believed what they said If Hodges
said they killed Hand, why they did, and
that was all there was to it. The thing
was almost inconceivabe. But there it was
IL tho fare I knovU in INV
mind that both these boys had been lying;
still if they had persisted in their confess
sions we should have been forced to hang
them, which we were not eager to do.
Again it was necessary to resort to pecu-
liar methods in order to overcome that ter
rible menace! Williams was sent to the
guardhouse and the same sergeant who had
been so successful in breaking down Owens
was set to work on him. Finally successful,
the sergeant brought Williams to the office.
After giving him our solemn promise that
we would send him away where Hodges
could not find him, and giving him a charm
that we swore was sure protection against
any Voodoo spell we got the truth from
Williams:
81 was in the guardhouse the night Hand
was killed." said Williams. 81 remember it
we'll though, for l saw Pew come in and get
another uniform for Hodges; l saw Hodges
wash his hands and the water was all red
as if with blood. l reckon Hodges must
have seen me watching, for yesterday he
accused me of the crime and told me just
what to say"
Faithful to my promise l spirited Will