CARLISLE-SHARMAN CASE

TECHNICAL DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN FELONIES AND MISDEMEANORS

The Court Holds That the Evidence Complained of Was Admissible and Amply Supports the Verdict
Court of Criminal Appeals

J.M. Hurt, presiding judge; W.L. Davidson and E.J. Simkins, judges; R.L. Henry, assistant attorney general: W.A. Hudson, clerk; Dallas Term.
John T. Carlisle vs. state; appeal from Grayson County.

In 1880 in Lee County, Texas, one Samuel Sparks was murdered in the town of Giddings at night.  J. M. Brown was sheriff
of said county.  In 1887 or 1888, Brown having moved to Fort Worth, indictments were presented against Ed Myers and J. T. Carlisle for the murder of Sparks.  At the time of the killing Ed Myers was deputy sheriff for Brown.  In the fall of 1888 Myers was tried, found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary.
On the trail of Myers, W. T. Sharman, the only eye witness to the killing, testified that he "was an eye witness to the homicide of Sparks; that he was standing in a few feet of Sparks when he was killed; that Carlisle and Sparks were walking arm in arm toward Sparks' horse, which was hitched nearby, and that Myers slipped up behind them and the night being dark, he stooped to get Spark's head above the horizon and fired a pistol directly at Sparks' head, the ball entering the base of the brain and ranging upward and forward; that Sparks fell dead, whereupon Carlisle and Myers ran away; that he recognized Carlisle by his voice."  There was deadly enmity existing between J. M. Brown and Sparks.
In the city of Denison, Grayson county, between the hours of 1 and 2 o'clock a.m., on the night of the 28th of April, 1892,
while lying in bed with his wife and infant child, W. T. Sharman was shot with a shotgun by some person standing upon a ladder placed against the house, shooting over the top of the window sash, which had been lowered about six inches.
Charles Luttrell was indicted as principal, tried and convicted of murder in the first degree with the death penalty, appealed to this court and the judgment was affirmed.
On May 25, 1892, John T. Carlisle was indicted, being charged as an accomplice, also for the murder of W. T. Sharman was
on the 29th of October, 1892, tried and convicted of murder in the first degree with the death penalty assessed against him also.  From this conviction and judgment he appeals.
The acts constituting appellant an accomplice, occurring in Collin County, counsel for appellant contends that Grayson County, the county of the homicide was without authority to try the case.  If an accomplice to a felony be guilty of a distinct offense from the felony committed by his principal the position of counsel is well taken.
We have no definition of definition of a crime named or called "accomplice," but we are informed by our code what acts and things will make a person doing them an accomplice to all felonies, to which there can be an accomplice.
We are aware that there are numerous opinions of learned courts strongly intimating that an accessory before the fact (our accomplice) is guilty of a distinct offense from that of his principal.  We desire to notice the reason or legal ratiocination of several of these opinions.
The following proposition is supported by a strong line of authorities: Accessory before the fact in one state to crime committed in another cannot be punished in the state where the substantive crime is committed.  The reasoning by which this proposition is sustained is, that as the acts constituting a person an accessory occurred in a state other than that in which the crime was committed by the principal.
Let us examine this subject in the light of the same authorities which support the above proposition a little further.  A lives
in Texas.  He procures B, who also lives in Texas, to go to Missouri and there commit an act which is a felony in Missouri. 
B is innocent of anything wrong in what he does.  These same authorities hold that Missouri would have authority to try and punish A.  Upon what ground?
Because A would be the principal.  Again, A employs B to go to Missouri and there commit a misdemeanor.   B, with full knowledge of the criminal intent of A, would be guilty as a principal, and as it was a misdemeanor all would be principals and Missouri would have authority to punish A, when in fact A had done no act whatever in Missouri, except through B.  Again,
A sends B to Missouri armed and equipped or the purpose of murdering C, being instigated thereto by A.  Missouri would
not have authority to try and punish A, because all of his acts were don in Texas and because he was accessory and not principal.  Now or the dilemma; Suppose Missouri should by statute make accessory before the fact principals, as several states have done, then she would have authority to try and punish A for the murder of C when A had done no act in Missouri personally, acting alone through his guilty agent B.
What is the result of such doctrine?  It is that the power or authority to punish acts committed beyond the border of the state which are crime within the state, depends upon technical distinctions between felonies and misdemeanors, accessories and principals or whether the agent was guilty or innocent, and not upon the fact that the criminal act was or was not committed in the state.
There is another line of authorities resting upon solid foundation.  The doctrine is this, that distinctions between accessories and principals rest solely in authority being without foundation either in actual reason or the ordinary doctrine of law. For the general rule of law is that what one does through another?s agency is to be regarded as done by himself.  In this there is no distinction between the punishment of an accomplice and a principal. Why?  Because the crime is the same.  In morals there are circumstances in which we attach more blame to the accomplice than to his principal.  As when a husband commands his wife or master his servant, to do, for his benefit, a criminal thing, which in his absence is done reluctantly through fear or affection overpowering a subject mind.  That the crime committed by the accomplice is the same committed by his principal is evident.  This proposition rests upon solid legal ground.  In 1 Broom's Legal Max., second edition, 643, we find this maxim: "The principal of common law qui facet per allium, facet per se, is of universal application, both in criminal and civil cases."  If appellant be guilty, of what offense is he guilty?  He is guilty of murder of the first degree?  Simply because he, with his malice aforethought expressed, through his agent and tool, Luttrell, killed W.T. Sharman.  He is guilty because Luttrell's act was his act, Luttrell being his agent.  Appellant is guilty of the murder of Sharman in Grayson county, though the acts constituting him an accomplice may have all occurred in Collin county.  Why?  Because when his agent Luttrell shot and killed Sharman in the city of Denison, Grayson County, it was appellant also who, through Luttrell, shot and killed him in Grayson County.
The correctness of this doctrine is clearly supported in the death of Uriah, which was caused by Davis.  The Lord, speaking through Nathan, said to David: "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight?  Thou hast killed Uriah, the Hittite, with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon."  Now David was not present when Uriah was killed.  David did not with his own hands slay Uriah, with
a sword, but when Joab placed Uriah in a position in which death was inevitable and thereby had him killed, under the command of David, David killed Uriah with a sword just as if he had slain him with his own hands.  We are of the opinion that the offense of the accomplice and his principal is the same, and if at all, his crime was murder of the first degree, committed in Grayson County, and hence the venus of the case was in Grayson county.
Some further observations on this subject.  We desire to call attention to the very wise remark of Judge Marcy in People vs. Mather, 4 Windle 228 and 229.  He says: "Writers on criminal law make some difference between the offense of principal and accessory but it is chiefly as to the order and mode of proceeding against them."
By statute of New York it is provided that all suits, informations and indictments for any crime of misdemeanor, murder excepted, should be brought within three years after the commission.  The word "murder" was held to include, as well accessories before the fact, as principals.
If an accomplice is guilty of a distinct felony from that of his principal, then a prosecution for being an accomplice to murder is barred by three years, for such an offense in not named in the statute regulating limitations.
The indictment is sufficient and not obnoxious to the objections made to it.  The evidence complained of under the circumstances of this case was admissible.  The evidence only supports the verdict.  The judgment is affirmed. 
J.M. Hurt, P.J.

The Galveston Daily News
Galveston, Texas
Saturday, May 13, 1893
pg. 3

CARLISLE AND LUTTRELL
TOGETHER THEY WERE USHERED INTO ANOTHER WORLD

They Met Death Bravely But Quietly - Last Statements on the Scaffold - History of Their Crime

Sherman, Tex., May 12 - Charles Luttrell called for a lamp when the shadows of twilight made it impossible to longer read
last evening. John  Carlisle was sitting with his face bowed in his hands when the guard placed the lamp in his cell also. Luttrell smoothed out his pillow and arranged himself so he could get the full benefit of the light and began reading his Testament. The doomed man never changed position, but turned from one marked page to another. Charlisle read a little,
but went to sleep at an early hour. Luttrell read on till after 9, however, ever and once stopping just for a little while. His lips moved silently. The death watch could not catch his words. When he went to lay his Bible down, he kissed it softly and murmured out a half audible prayer that the morrow might bring no terrors with it. He then bade the watch good-night and was soon asleep, awakening but once when a guard came up from below and gave him some message. He went to sleep again, and it was 7 o'clock when the
DEATH WATCH WOKE HIM UP.
It was an ideal spring morning, the sunshine was pouring into the cell and a gentle breeze was passing through, the beautiful alms near the prison wall and into the cell. Birds were singing merrily. Carlisle had not slept so well during the night, but in the latter watch he rested very well. At midnight he was awake and talked at length to one of the guards, remarking in an abstract way, "I die tomorrow; I die tomorrow."
Both men had in the early part of the evening partaken heartily of a lunch brought them at the request of the sheriff.
This morning after they took their usual wash a breakfast prepared was taken to their respective cells by Sheriff Hughes in person. The breakfast consisted of four biscuits each, two slices of ham and three eggs each. Luttrell drank sweet milk and  Carlisle took tea. They ate with an evident relish.  They asked if the
MESSAGES THEY HAD DESIRED SENT
last night had been attended to, and both men seemed greatly relieved when informed that they had long since been forwarded. These messages were one from Carlisle to Sheriff Teagun of Brenham requesting him to see that his body is turned over to J. B. Samples, who is by the way the gentleman who married Carlisle's divorced wife, and whom Carlisle yesterday told a reporter he considered his dearest friend on earth and in whose care he was more than glad to leave his family. The message Luttrell sent was to his sister, Mrs. Jennie Movor, asking her not to neglect sending or coming for his body, which he desired interred in the cemetery in Woodville, I.T.
At 8 o'clock the men were left to themselves for a while. Carlisle sat in his cell with that far away look in his face which has been noticed for some time. Perhaps his mind was far away from Sherman to
THE GLOOM SHROUDED HOME CIRCLE
in Giddings. He talked much of his children lately. Luttrell read his Testament and prayed.
Then A. L. Evans came down to shave the prisoners, who sat unironed during it all. Carlisle had but little to say. Luttrell chatted away as pleasantly as if he were in a barber shop. Carlisle showed little a sign of nervousness, but Luttrell was composed. There was a total absence of cowardice or bravery in either. At 10 o'clock they dressed, Carlisle preferred a dark suit; he already had a white shirt and tie and new underclothing constituted his toilet. Like Carlisle, nice new underclothes had been furnished him.
At 11 a.m., the two men were taken into the walk around of the rotary and there met Revs Shelton of St. Paul's, Rev. John T. Wilson, Mrs. Wyte, the kind lady who had been a ministering agent to the prison for years, and a number of others.
THE PRISONERS WERE UNBUCKLED
The religious services opened with prayer and the prisoners joined in the singing which followed. Rev. Mr. Wilson read from Acts xii, 1-17, dwelling at length upon the answer to Peter's prayer to be delivered from prison. He held this up to the condemned men as an evidence that the name Lord was more than willing to deliver their souls from the prison of sin into everlasting peace. The prisoners tried to join in the next song, but their voices were quivering with emotion and their eyes filled with tears.
Then Rev. Mr. Sheldon read from Exodus, xii, 1-14, and said that as the slayers of the firstborn passed the lamb's blood on the doors and entered not to destroy, so would everlasting death pass by those washed in the blood of the Saviour.
Luttrell spoke at this juncture. He said: "I believe that before long I shall see with my own eyes the Son of God,  who shed his blood that I might be saved out of my sins."
SAT AND SILENTLY WEPT
as the sweet old hymn, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood," was started. There was not a dry eye in the room. While Carlisle was less demonstrative than Luttrell he expressed to his spiritual advisor,  Rev. Sheldon,  his abiding faith in Christ and the belief that he would be saved and when the visitors left it was with a promise to the condemned men that they
would return in the afternoon.
At noon neither Carlisle nor Luttrell desired any nourishment or stimulants of any kind. Luttrell asked Dr. Winn, the county physician, if an injection of morphine would ease the pain of death, to which the physician replied that there would be no pain. Luttrell, however, asked for it later on, and Carlisle concluded to take an injection of it also. To a friend who called during the noon hour Luttrell exacted a promise that he would see that his mother heard of his last wish, to be buried in Woodville, and said that he would rather none of his intimate friends would stay to see him hang.
It was a quarter past 1 when Rev. Mr. Sheldon and some ladies arrived at the prison, and were taken to the walkaround of
the upper rotary, where they met the prisoners and services were resumed, during which
CARLISLE WAS BAPTIZED
Luttrell kneeling as the solemn rite was celebrated. The prisoners were calm. Once when the noise of the hammering at the trap in the upper hall of the prison resolved their hearing the gave a slight start, but it soon passed away. Out in the hallway there was nothing to do but await the execution. The noosed ropes hitched over a convenient gas jet told too plainly what the assemblage awaited.
A BLACK ROBED FIGURE
with a little boy nestled in her arms sat near the trap. It was Mrs. Sharman and her little fatherless son. There were representatives of several papers at a desk especially provided for the purpose. The sheriffs present were: Stafford of  Camp, Chaney of Fannin, O'Neil of Hunt, Moulden of Collin, Marrs of Denton, Cahill of Dallas, Scarborough of Lee, Halles
of Tarrent, High of Morris and Blackburn of Van Zandt. There were a number of deputy sheriffs and county officers. The hanging was of particular interest to Sheriff High, as he is to spring the trap at Dangerfield for a negro murderer two weeks from to-day.
At 1:30 the crowd in front of the prison had reached several hundred.
Drs. Winn and Mathews of Sherman, Savage and Wilson of Denison, and Heard of Whitewright were present for the purpose of examining. Other physicians were present in the assemblage.
At 1:45 Rev.Sheldon and the visitors left the condemned men. It was nearly 2 p.m.when Sheriff Hughes began to read the death warrants to the condemned men. Both were smoking cigars and
WERE COOL AND COMPOSED
It was just 2:05 when the prisoners were brought into the hall, at the north end of which the trap was located. They were walking by the side of officers as erect and as firmly as they ever did. Luttrell wore a red rose and Carlisle a white one as boutonnieres, and each carried a bouquet of the same flowers in their hands. They stepped out squarely on the trap and
stood perfectly still.
Sheriff Hughes the informed the condemned men that they were privileged to make any statement they chose. Charles Luttrell, in a clear voice, turning and facing the crowd, said: "I don't know that I have much I care to say but I do desire now
to state that there has been no ill treatment on the part of Sheriff Hughes and his guards, who have treated us kindly. They have been humane in every particular. I feel that some of the evidence against me has been manufactured but I have
NO MALICE IN MY HEART
I forgive every one as I feel I have myself been forgiven."
Turning to Carlisle and grasping his hand he said: "John, shall we meet in heaven?" to which Carlisle replied: "I feel that we shall." Then Luttrell turned again to the assemblage and said: "I feel that my lose on earth will be my gain in heaven. Sheriff, let me thank and ask you not to forget the little request i have made."
Carlisle spoke briefly: "I haven't much I care to say except to thank the sheriff and the officers for their many kindnesses.
We have been treated nicely. I have nothing more to say."
They handed their bouquets to an officer, with the request that they be placed in their coffins when they were dead. They moved firmly and steadily to the place indicated by the sheriff and stood perfectly erect as their ankles were pinioned, shaking hands with all the spectators whom they recognized. Then their arms were pinioned, and as the black caps were being placed over their faces Carlisle spoke to Chief of Police Melton. Both turned to the crowd and said," Goodby." The caps were adjusted and promptly at 2:18 Sheriff Hughes
PULLED THE TRIGGER
and the bodies shot down, receiving a fall of nearly seven feet. Twice the swing of the ropes jostled them together. Carlisle's feet moved convulsively just once. Luttrell never quivered. It was a complete and successful execution, and when the bodies were cut down at 2:30 life had been extinct several minutes. Their necks were broken. Carlisle's neck  was out and Luttrell's discolored, but the prison physician had told them their deaths were painless. When the bodies were cut down they were placed on stretchers near the north end of the lower hall and the rear and front doors opened and the populace allowed to pass by and view the
STILL AND SILENT FORMS
which lay with the black caps still on their faces. Several hundred people thus caught a glimpse of the men whose crimes and sensational trial and prison life had set the whole country talking. After the crowd had dispensed the bodies were placed in neat caskets and taken to the undertaker's to await the arrival of relatives or friends. On their breasts were the flowers they had brought to the scaffold.
John T.  Carlisle's parents came to this state from Virginia when he was an infant. They located in south Texas, and his mother died when he was but 4 years of age, and his father died eight years ago. When a youth he served as an apprentice to a blacksmith. He married in the latter part of the 60s and in 1880, when Sam Sparks was killed was at work in a blacksmith  shop at Giddings. It is an erroneous idea that he ran away from Giddings on account of the Sparks killing. He left on account of domestic trouble. He left in 1881, on March 3. He went at once to Weatherford, where he met Billie Sharman, whom by the way, he had taught a trade, and they went in together. After awhile he went to Paris, Tex., and worked there quite a little while for W. S. Graves. This was in 1881. At Weatherford and Paris he was known as Carlisle. From Paris he went to Lebanon, Tex.,  where he went by the name of Thomas. From there he went to Kansas City, where he worked for awhile. There, too,
he gave the name of Thomas. From Kansas City he went to Walla Walla, Wash. Early in the spring he went to Kansas City, from whence he came to Texas and opened a shop at Sulphur Bluff, near Sulphur Springs, in Hopkins county. At Sulphur Bluff he will be remembered as Jackson, the blacksmith. He became frightened that his whereabouts were known and he went to Kansas City, thence to Olden, Mo., and near West Plains, Mo, he opened a shop under the name of J. B. Smith. In April 1890, he went to Kansas City again and from thence to Naposta, Col., where he worked on some irrigation ditches. There and at Pueblo, he was known by the name of Thomas. From Pueblo he came back to Kansas City. In June, 1890, he
ran a shop at Moundville, Mo. near Kansas City, under the name of J. B. Smith. In January, 1891, he went to Hot Springs, Ark., where he met Jim Brown and came to Brenham, Tex., to arrange bond in the sum of $5000, but then went back to Hot Springs to wait until more could be heard from the case,  he in the meantime having been indicted in Lee county in 1887 for the murder of Sam Sparks, seven years before. He went back to Hot Springs and a little while afterward, while he was awaiting the arrival of Sheriff Teague of Washington county to whom he (Carlisle) had let his abiding place be known, the officers of Hot Springs arrested him and he was taken back to Giddings where he succeeded in making bond all right and returned to Lebanon where afterward he was known as Carlisle and Thomas. It was from Lebanon the he shipped the gun and other incidents mentioned in the history of the crime occurred.
Charles Luttrell was born in East Tennessee and came to Texas when quite young. He has lived in north Texas and the Indian territory since then. Early in life his associations were of a corrupting nature and the evil influences did not fail to
have their effect. It was not long until the mention of Charles Luttrell's name was sufficient to call up and cause comment on escapades, if not criminal, still very unsavory. It grew on from bad to worse, and finally Luttrell was sent to state prison from Hunt county for murder, but was subsequently pardoned. He was still a young man, being only 31 now, but he did not profit by the warning given him, and to-day he paid the greatest penalty for the darkest crime (assassination) known to law. The history of his acts since the commission of the crime are briefly set forth in the history of the crime which appears below.
Mrs. Jonnie Mayer had telegraphed Sheriff Hughes to have the body of Chas. Luttrell buried in Sherman and if this order is not counteredminded he will be taken to the alms house burial ground in the morning and buried. Up to this time no word
has been received relative to the disposition of John Carlisle's body.

THEIR CRIME
The theory of the state in the Luttrell and Carlisle cases being that the murder of Sharman was done to prevent his appearance as a witness in the case of the state of Texas vs. John  Carlisle, charged with the murder of Sam Sparks near or in the edge of the town of Giddings in 1880, and which cause is still pending in the criminal district court of Lee county, making the facts surrounding the killing of Sparks unusually interesting.  Some time before the killing  of Sparks, Jim Brown, who was killed last December on the ___ truck at Chicago while resisting arrest, after having killed one policeman and wounded another, had been elected sheriff of Lee county, and one day he had been assaulted from ambush and nearly killed, it was supposed by men to whose misdeeds he had been a serious stumbling block. One of the deputies under Jim Brown was Ed Myers. Among Jim Brown's strongest political supporters and personal friends was John Carlisle, a blacksmith, and in the shop with him there was employed a young man by the name of Billie (W. T.) Sharman.
One morning Sam Sparks upon whom Brown and his friends had in a measure sought to throw suspicion of complicity in the attempted assassination of Sheriff Brown, was found dead. It was the mystery of the section. Men had their suspicion but didn't have to nerve to carry them out. James Brown continued as sheriff of the county until 1884 and he was succeeded by his deputy, Bill Brown, but still there were no developments in the mystery surrounding the death of poor Sam Sparks. In 1887 the grand jury  of Lee county returned a true bill charging John Carlisle and Ed Myers with the murder of Sparks. Myers was arrested and placed in jail and in a little less than a year tried and convicted upon the evidence of the young blacksmith, Billie Sharman, and given twenty years in the state prison.
John Carlisle had moved out of Lee county in 1886 and was not arrested until February 1891, in Hot Springs Arkansas. He was brought back to Texas by Sheriff Scarborough and remained the Gidding jail for a few months, when he was released on bond. He failed to appear for trial and was rearrested in Collin county and taken to Oklahoma again, but succeeded  in giving bond in a few days. He returned to Labanon, Collin county, and his trial was set for May 2, 1892. He appeared for trial and was locked up and has since been in custody. His trial never came off in  Giddings, because on April 25 W. T.Sharman the main state's witness was fatally and cruelly assassinated in Denison.
About the time of the arrest and conviction of Myers, Sharman became angry and left. He lived for quite a while and married in Parker county, Texas, not far from the town of Weatherford. Subsequently he came to  Denison and engaged in the blacksmithing business, and at the time of his assassination was associated with a Mr. Taylor of Denison in that kind of work. Time and again he had received threatening notes, warning him that if he attempted to testify against Carlisle his days would be numbered. He was rendered nervous and suspicious. His windows were securely fastened down and shades over them all the time at night. When taken to Giddings as a witness he expressed a fear of assassination to the officers. There was at the time of his murder an attachment from the district court in Giddings in the hands of Sheriff McAfee in this county.
Sharman's home was a modest little cottage facing west on Austin avenue, near the intersection of Heron street, Denison.
At 2 o'clock in the morning while asleep with his wife and infant, a charge of buckshot was fired through a window opened from the top into the body of the unsuspecting victim who expired ejaculating one word, "Mamma!"
Shortly after the shot was fired a heavy drenching rain set in, and the arrival of Sheriff McAfee from Sherman found all the tracks of the assassin or assassins obliterated, but the ladder upon which the assassin stood where he fired the shot still rested against the house with its ends muffled with pieces of cloth so it would make no noise in being shifted about to the  most advantageous position. The window was down probably six inches from the top.
The officers knew of the threats against Sharman's life and knew why threats were being made but the question came up, who was it committed the murder? Next morning after hours of hard and diligent labor, suspicion rested upon John Poe, who, it is alleged, had been seen prowling about the Sharman  residence the day before the killing and who had sought out  Sharman's shop among the many in town to have made a pair of clamps frequently used by stockmen. He was arrested and incarcerated in Sherman, but strenuously denied any connection with the crime. He has not yet been tried, but still maintains the same denial.
Later on the same day a gun stock was found in one place and the barrels in another. In the barrels, there was one loaded and one empty shell. The shot in the loaded shell corresponded exactly with the charge of shot which killed Sharman. All
the time the theory was that it was for Carlisle's sake that Sharman had been assassinated, and the officers took the gun to Lebanon, Collin county, where Carlisle had lived, and it was there identified as one which Carlisle had used there and had loaned to several parties. It was also learned there that there had been expressed from McKinney, the most convenient express office to Lebanon, a long box very similar if not exactly like the box in which Carlisle had received the gun some months since. The box had gone to Denison to "C. Luttrell" and that after it had been sent to Denison Carlisle was not seen with his gun in Lebanon any more. At Denison it was found where "C. Luttrell" had signed for the gun and took it out.
About this time an anonymous letter from Fort Worth summoned the officers to Leo's restaurant in that city, where it was learned that Frank Fogg of that city, Charles Luttrell and John Carlisle had been seen together in close conversation when Carlisle was on his way to Giddings to stand trial, and that threats had been made there against Sharman, it was also learned that Fogg and Luttrell had been seen in Fort Worth the day after the killing. It then developed that Fogg and Luttrell been seen to leave Denison together on the  morning of the killing, and that they went south on a Fort Worth train.
Bills of indictment were immediately returned against Frank Fogg, John Carlisle, Charles Luttrell and John Poe for principals and accomplices to the murder of W. T. Sharman. Fogg was arrested and brought to Sherman. John Poe was already in jail and John Carlisle was in custody in the Lee county jail. He was subsequently brought to Sherman, but it was quite a while and much time and money was expended before the arrest of Charles Luttrell was effected near Gonzalos. He had been in the employ of Jim Brown, the ex-sheriff of Lee county, who was the intimate friend of John Carlisle and Frank Fogg and the man who believed that Sam Sparks, the man who was killed in Giddings in 1880, was the man who assisted in the ambush which he, Brown, nearly lost his life. The cases against Frank Fogg and John Poe went over and the Luttrell case came on
for trial.
The fact that he took Carlisle's gun from the express office and that it was the gun which undoubtedly did the fatal work, coupled with his early departure the next morning in a mud bespattered and bedraggled condition proved conclusively to the minds of the jury that the meeting at Leo's restaurant in Fort Worth was for the purpose of forming a conspiracy to take the life of Sharman and that Luttrell's presence in Denison on the night of the murder was in accordance with a prearranged programme. There were many other connecting events and testimony of witnesses from Lake Charles, Louisiana, who stated that Luttrell had confessed the whole crime to them while he was in Lake Charles and prior to his departure to New Orleans from whence he went to Gonzalos, where he was arrested. In fact the able and retiring efforts of the state's attorney, Cecil Smith, followed, and laid bare too plain to admit of the unreasonable doubt, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty and assessed the punishment of death.
The case of John Carlisle came on for trail next after every effort had failed on the part of his attorney to put it off. The testimony hearing on the murder of Sam Sparks in the town of Giddings was more full and complete in this case and his chances for benefiting by the removal of W.T. Sharman very forcibly brought out by the state, as were his visits to the shop of  Sharman in Denison some time prior to the murder and his endeavors there to induce Sharman to talk differently to what he had testified at the trial in  Giddings. In this case more pains were taken to bring out certain threats and expressions used while he was in Lebanon, where he first went to reside as John Thomas. In his case the expressing of the gun from McKinney to Denison played the most important part in the prosecution. The jury in this case brought in a verdict of guilty and assessed the punishment of death.
Both prisoners made motions for new trials, but were refused. Luttrell's case was affirmed, as was Carlisle's, but the latter got the matter taken up again but it was ultimately affirmed. Luttrell at the end testifying in his own behalf and he knew nothing of the murder when he left Denison the morning it occurred. He did not deny taking the gun out of the express office but said it was at the request of Frank Fogg, who wished him to take it out and sell or pawn it. That he had pawned it, but took it out and gave it to Fogg before the killing, and that the first intimation he had of what had been done with the gun was when Fogg told him on the train he had played h--l with "that gun."
Later on when brought into open court to receive sentence, he stated that he and others met by agreement at Denison, not, as he understood it when he entered into the agreement to do Sharman any harm, but to induce him to leave the country. Failing on this, he admits  he then entered into an agreement to kidnap Sharman into the Indian territory and scare him into leaving. He claims that he twice saved Sharman's wife and child from being murdered. Once when a member of the party had a gun drawn and was about to fire out of the dark on the defenseless man, who had his child in his arms returning from
a neighbor's house; another instance he claims was when he refused to allow some dynamites bombs placed under the house where Sharman and his innocent family were asleep. He claimed in his last statement that he was not present when the last shot which killed Sharman was fired, but was waiting in the alley for others of the party to decoy. Sharman out on
the pretext they were police with some sort of ___ for him. He claimed he was prepared for a case of kidnapping and not murder.

The Austin Weekly Statesman
Austin, Texas
Thursday, May 18, 1893
pg. 2

CARLISLE AND LUTTRELL HANGED IN SHERMAN JAIL YESTERDAY AFTERNOON

With Their Death the Murderous Jim Brown Gang of Assassins Loses
Its Prestige and Those Who Remain Are Skulking in Terror

Special to the Statesman
Sherman, May 12 - At 1:32 o'clock the death warrants were read to Carlisle and Luttrell. While the warrants were being read, both men were smoking. At 2:08 the men were brought to the scaffold. Both of them had a bunch of flowers in their hands. Carlisle had a white rose pinned to his coat. Luttrell wore a red rose and had a cigarette in his mouth. When asked if he had anything to say Luttrell said: I have been well treated by the officers and have  no ill feeling toward any one. I have received forgiveness for my sins, and hope to meet you all in heaven. Carlisle said: "I have only to say that I have been well treated."
At 2:10 the doomed men's hands and feet were bound. Both were cool and collected and shook hands with the officers. While being bound the two men talked to each other in a low tone. At 2:15 the black caps were put on. At 2:16 the nooses were placed on their necks and one minute later the trap was sprung. Their necks were broken. The bodies swayed for a
few moments and became still. There was no convulsion or muscular movements of the  limbs. At 2:24 o'clock life was pronounced extinct in both men. In a few minutes after they were cut down and turned over to an undertaker. If nothing is heard from relatives of the dead men the bodies will be buried at the county farm. A reporter saw the bodies in their coffins this evening at 5 o'clock. The faces of both men were composed and not distorted. Luttrell had a dark blue ring round his neck, showing marks of the rope. Carlisle's neck was terrible to look at. The rope had cut deep into the flesh, the cut extending from under one ear to the other. Both men met death with a smile on their faces and were cool and calm to the last.
The crime for which John T. Carlyle and Charles Luttrell were executed today was as foul as any recorded in history.
It was the murder of W. T. Sharman in  Denison, Tex., on the night of April 28, 1892. Sharman was lying asleep in his bed and beside him lay his wife and only child. The murderers placed a ladder against the house, climbed to the top of the window, pushed the barrels of a shotgun over the top of the sash and fired, filling  Sharman's breast with buckshot, and killing him instantly.
Luttrell's part in the crime was played for money, and Carlisle's to prevent an honest man from testifying against him for a old murder case. The story of the conspiracy which closed today with the death of the two men, reads like a romance and dates its beginning many years ago.
In the early part of the 70s, the population of Giddings, a small town in Lee county, Texas, was increasing by the advent of
a sport and race horse man named Jim Brown, the same man grown wealthier and more influential, who was shot and killed by a Chicago policeman while resisting arrest, at Garfield park a few months ago.
When Brown came to Giddings he brought two race horses; he at once began to work up races over Lee and adjoining counties and was always successful; his enemies said that if he could not win one way he would another. At a race near Giddings in 1876, dated the trouble which brought Carlisle and Luttrell to the scaffold, Jim Brown to his death in Chicago, which sent the soul of Tom Sharman into eternity and took the lives of many others. Brown, as usual, had a horse entered
in the race; Sam Sparks, a jovial farmer, also had a horse entered. Before the race Brown and Sparks quarreled over a trivial matter; Brown jumped for a shotgun lying near. Sparks grabbed the gun at the same time and took it away from  Brown and would have shot him had not friends interfered. Brown then wanted to make up the quarrel, but Sparks refused, in the following words:
"I know your game, Jim Brown. You make up your quarrels, disarm suspicion and your victim is soon made way by some
of your desperate gang. I've got you for an enemy and I want the people to know it." From that time forward  Sparks always went armed. Brown was elected sheriff of Lee county about this time, which fact did not lessen Spark's fears. It is said that Ed Myers, a desperate man, and who was under obligations to Brown, was chosen to put Sparks out of the way. An opportunity did not come for two years, but it came at last. Sparks had an intimate friend in Giddings, a blacksmith by trade, and whose name John T. Carlisle. Sparks visited his shop frequently. One day he took work to the shop and came for it about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The work was ready and when Sparks was about to start home  Carlisle said to him: "Sam, you and I haven't had any fun for a long time; suppose we go to town and have some fun." Sparks demurred, but finally consented. They went to a saloon and played pool and drank, and soon night came on. Sparks realized that he had been trapped and said to  Carlisle: "John, you have done me wrong; I ought to have gone home. Brown's men have been waiting for a chance to kill me and now they have it. I am afraid to go to my horse, for they are sure to kill me." Carlisle told him he was talking nonsense and offered to see him safely to his horse. Ed. Myers same out of the saloon about this time, and Carlisle said Myers would go with him.
This much the attaches of the saloon testified to. In the rear of the saloon stood a small cottage occupied by William T. Sharman who had lived with Carlisle for many years, and who at the times was working in Carlisle's shop.
On this particular night Sharman was sick and had gone out on the porch about 9 o'clock to get some fresh air, sitting on the porch he hears voices in the rear of the saloon and saw three men walking away; he recognized them as John  Carlisle, Sam Sparks and Ed Myers, the men were on their way with Sparks to his horse. Sharman heard Myers say: "Well, boys, I'll go back." Myers then started back, but Carlisle went on with Sparks to his horse. Sharman saw Myers shoot Sparks with a pistol. Carlisle and Myers ran away together.
Sharman on his way to work next morning met Carlisle and told him he  knew who did the killing. Carlisle was dumb with astonishment and said to Sharman: "I'll tell Jim Brown of this." Ike Sparks, a brother of the murdered man, began to hunt for the murderers. He followed Myers and caught him, when Myers told him Sharman knew all about the killing. This was the first intimation the officers had of  Sharman's knowledge of the  killing. Before Myers' trial Brown and his gang threatened Sharman's life and told him to leave the country, but two good citizens and brothers named Scarborough guarded Sharman and protected him. Sharman on the day of trial gave in his evidence and Myers was sentenced 1 to 20 years in prison. Carlisle then disappeared. Jim Scarborough, one of the men who guarded Sharman, was elected Sheriff and began the  search for Carlisle. He located and arrested his man in Fort Worth. Carlisle gave bond, Brown and his friends coming to his assistance.
Carlisle was living in Collin county. He went to see Brown, a plot was laid, and Luttrell was selected to kill Sharman. Luttrell had been working for Brown. Carlisle went to Denison where Sharman in the meantime had moved, and tried to persuade Sharman to  leave the country. Sharman refused and thus his death warrant was signed. Shortly before Carlisle shipped a shotgun to Denison. Luttrell received and signed for it. A few nights after this Sharman was murdered in his bed. His wife and child were  beside him, but neither were  hurt. A ladder standing against the house told the story. The next day the gun was found near the house. Sheriff McAfee of Grayson county and Scarborough began their search; a hint took them to Fort Worth. The conspirators had met there and had been overheard. Luttrell, Carlisle and two others were spotted and the chase began. Luttrell had been hired to do the work and an attempt was made on his life, but he escaped to fall into the hands of Lee county officers.
Carlisle showed up for trial at Giddings for the murder of Sparks, and the case was dismissed. Sheriff Scarborough immediately rearrested Carlisle for the Sharman murder. The trial came on in the fall of last year, and it was proved that the gun shipped to Denison was Luttrell's gun and was shipped by Carlisle. It was proven that Carlisle while drunk had laid bare the whole scheme. Luttrell, with two other men, was in Denison at the time of the murder, and the evidence showed that Luttrell fired the shot.
Brown had been killed before the trial came on. Carlisle and Luttrell were without  money or friends and they were both sentenced to death; all efforts for a new trial or a reversal failed. When brought out to be sentenced Luttrell made a long talk that was sensational in the extreme. He said in substance that "Frank Fogg of Fort Worth fired the shot that  killed Sharman; he said that many men, prominent in business, social and political circles, were implicated in the affair, but that he would never give them away, and that these men lived in Fort Worth and Dallas." He cursed ex-Sheriff McAfee and ex-County Attorney Cecil Smith, and said he hoped their families would die in disgrace. In conclusion he said Jim Brown and a prominent attorney at Giddings killed Sparks.
Carlisle in his talk said he was "innocent, and did not know what the gun was was to be used for when he shipped it." Before they were sentenced Carlisle aided ten prisoners to escape from the jail. Carlisle's great size prevented him from escaping. Since their sentence they have given the officers in the jail much trouble.
A few days ago they attempted to commit suicide with knives made from cup handles. But the attempt was unsuccessful.
A few days before his execution, Luttrell professed to know something about the triple murder that was committed in Denison some time ago, but  no one placed any credence in his story. A day or two since both men began to read the Bible, and have ministers to visit them. For the past three weeks rumors have been thick that the men who brought the assassins to the gallows would be murdered, but nothing of the kind has materialized. The threats, if they were made, apply to ex-sheriff McAfee and Hon. Cecil Smith, who were the means of bringing the two murderers to justice.

Ft. Worth Gazette
September 30, 1893

MURDER CASES Sherman, Tex., Sept. 29 (Special) - There are twelve murder cases on the docket of the district court of this county for the present terms.  In the murder cases of Frank Fogg and John Poe, special venues of 150 men have been ordered.

The Fort Worth Daily Gazette
Fort Worth, Texas
Saturday, October 7, 1893
pg. 1

FRANK FOGG'S CASE
Sherman, Tex., Oct. 6 - (Special) - Some interesting developments in the Frank Fogg murder case have come to light here
in the past few days. Fogg is under indictment for complicity in the murder of Sharman at Denison. Carlisle and Luttrell were executed for the crime. Fogg was instrumental in receiving their conviction and it was believed that he had been promised immunity from punishment. Today an attorney connected with the Carlisle and Luttrell cases said to a Gazette reporter: "There was no evidence against Frank Fogg except the statement of Luttrell and Carlisle, made after they had been convicted. Fogg agreed to assist the state and the state agreed not to prosecute him. Two of the parties to the crime were convicted, whereas all would have gone scat free without Fogg's assistance. Now there is a disposition on the part of some of the officers to go back on the agreement and push the case against Fogg, but it will amount to nothing, for they cannot convict him."
Frank Fogg was there a day or two since to look after the matter. He is under bond to appear here for trial some time this month.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, November 19, 1893

The case against Poe, charged with complicity in the murder of Sharman in this city, was called in the district court last Thursday, and continued until the next term, owing to the absence of state witnesses. Judge Bliss notified the attorneys
that the case would probably be forced to trial next term. This is the second time the state has had a continuance.

The Austin Weekly Statesman
Austin, Texas
November 23, 1893 Thursday
pg 6

FELONY
Susan Hawkins
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