Typed and spelled as written: Kay Cunningham

The Marlin Democrat
Marlin, Texas, Thursday, February 11, 1904

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Perkins Got Half A Century
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Jury Gave Negro That Sentence For
Assault
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     The jury in the case of Henry Perkins, a negro charged with attempted criminal assault, returned a verdict of guilty and assessed the punishment at fifty years in the penitentiary.
     Perkins is the negro section hand charged with assaulting Mrs. Ellison near her east of Marlin early on the morning of Sep. 9. last.  The negro was arrested soon after the crime was committed and spirited to the Waco jail to avoid the vengeance of a body of indignant citizens who it was feared might conclude to take the law in their own hands.
     The negro remained in jail some time.  Though he denied guilt, he was positively identified by Mrs. Ellison who pointed him out from among a number of other prisoners brought before her at the time.  There was other evidence supporting the theory of the state, sufficient, if amy more were needed, to establish his guilt in the minds of the jury.
     The motion to quash the indictment on the grounds that the negro race was discriminated against in the selection of the grand jury by whom the defendant was tried was overruled by the court and the case tried on its merits.  The defendant relied largely on an alibi but this was not established to the satisfaction of the jury.

Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas.