Evening star., 1935-05-14
TWO co ON TRIAL
IN WELL DEATHS
Virqinia Court Room Packed
as State Police Guard
Coleman Suspects.
BY . STAFF Correspondent of The Star.

Eva staff Correspondent of The Star.
SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE.
Nav 14-The trial of the two colored
laborers accused of the brutal murder
of Mr.. and Mrs. John Thomas Cole
man in their family homestead on
Hickory Point April 2 moved to a
swift conclusion today before Judge
Frederick w. Coleman in Circuit
Court
In the first hour the Commonwealth
offered evidence allegedly linking the
heavily guarded pair to the murder
and the robbing through an old-fash-
ioned watch. said to have been stolen
by the murderers 1t was testified
that the watch was found on John
Shell, 81, one of the defendants.
Shell and the other accused man,
Joe Jackson. 81, sat in a crowded
court room today guarded by ballitfs
and a dozen Virginia State troopers
armed with riot guns and tear gas.
It required no more than 10 minutes
to select the jury Five hundred spec
tators packed the court rooms and
1000 others we're on the lawn outside
peering through the windows.
Death Demanded.
In his opening statement to the
fury, Commemorative Attorney En-
NETT r. Garner, said:
I'VE will show Jackson worked at
Coleman's farm 10 days before the
murder. He and Shell plotted this
crime for days. After robbing this old
couple they dubbed them and threw
them into the well. They then shot
down the we'll at their victims and
dropped stones upon them, some
weighing more than 100 pounds"
Summarizing the arrest and later
confessions of the prisoners, Garner
demanded death and nothing but
death as the penalty
Defense Attorney Harry H. Sager of
Fredericksburg replied that these
prisoners are victims of double mis-
fortune-they are destitute men and
they are accused of a terrible crime.
Please remember that the Common
wealth of Virginia presumes every man
is innocent until he is proven guilty"
Coroner Testifies.
The first prosecution witness was
DR.. w A. Harris, county coroner who
described the gunshot and other
wounds which caused the deaths OF
the couple. DR.. Harris said the body
of Mrs. Coleman was only partly
clothed, while that of her husband
was fully dressed.
reiobhor uh
visited the murder scene, was inter-
rupted during his account of the
finding of the corpses in the well, while
Judge Coleman ordered the mother OF
a wailing baby to remove it from the
court room.
"ThlS is no place for children,
the judge declared.
Mason continued to identify three
jagged boulders which were luggec
before the jury by the bailiffs.
Two colored witnesses. James Hill
lard and Allen Montague, testified
they saw Jackson and Shell step off 3
bus from Fredericksburg in Mas
saponaX near the Coleman farm, on
the evening of the murder. Both men
said they knew Jackson and could
identify Shell in the court room as
the "light-skinned man" who accom-
panied him.
The movements of the accused pail
were traced further by the Common
wealth, through the testimony of FL
wood Haslop, employe of filling sta
ton at Thornsburg, 6 miles south OF
the murder farm on the road to Rich
mond. Haislop testified two colored
men drove up in the Coleman auto
mobile at 10 o'clock on the night OF
the murder
The filling station attendant said
q man he identified as Shell came in
and handed him a quarter for a
package of cigarettes AS the colored
man started in haste for the door
Haislop said he called: Come back
and get your change" He said the
pair drove off toward Richmond after
Shell grabbed up his 10 cents in
change.
Still tracing the alleged murderers
the prosecution offered testimony to
the effect that they arrived in a res
taurant of the colored district in
Richmond around midnight. William
Roy, colored, pointed out the accused
men as those who were in the reStau-
rant about ? am. on the morning after
the murder. Roy said he complied
with Jackson's request to go and buy
some beer William Red, colored, iden-
titled the men as having been in the
Richmond restaurant.
There were no colored persons
among the taliSmen, although two
colored men sat on the grand jury
when it indicted Jackson and Shell
April Is for the double murder.
About 10 days ago Judge Coleman
appointed Attorney Harry H. Sager of
Fredericksburg to defend the prisoners.
jackson surrendered to Fredericks-
burg police on April and made a
statement blaming Shell, who was ar
rested in New York week later with
the aid of Sheriff Blaydes of Spottsyl-
Vania County. Shell also is alleged to
have confessed, blaming Jackson for
the actual killing.