 El Paso Herald
El Paso, Texas Saturday July 15, 1899 pg 3 Emma Spears, colored, 25 years old, was murdered at Sherman by having her throat cut from ear to ear. Her husband gave himself up. - Ex.  The Liberty Vindicator The Houston Daily Post Houston, Texas Friday, July 7, 1899 pg 9 NEGRO WOMAN KILLED Husband Surrendered for the Crime Sherman, Texas., July 6 - Early this morning Emma Spears, a negro domestic at the residence of Mr. George E. Coe, died from wounds inflicted with a razor. The instrument entered the neck just below the ear and was drawn several inches under the throat. She ran from the room, where she was preparing to cook breakfast, into the yard and there died almost instantly. Sidney Spears, a negro barber and husband to deceased, went to the jail and surrendered to Sheriff Shrewsbury, and when asked if he killed his wife, answered: "It was my intention." Justice Baker, after hearing the evidence, . . a verdict that Emma Spears, deceased, came to her death from wounds inflicted by a razor in the hands of her husband, Sidney Spears. Feelings ran high among the negroes of the city and had the prisoner fallen into their hands before he secured the protection of the officers, no doubt he would have met with harsh treatment. Liberty, Texas Friday, July 28, 1899 pg 1 Sherman, Texas, July 21 - The jury in the case of the state vs. Sidney Spears, charged with the murder of his wife, yesterday returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree and assessed his punishment at death. After having an interview with his attorneys he concluded to allow the case to go through the usual court routine, and they will at once file a motion for a new trial, and if that is denied will appeal it to the higher courts. Sidney Spears is a negro barber, and the crime for which he is convicted was the murder of his wife, a domestic at the residence of Mr. George E. Cook just two weeks ago. He went to the Cook residence about 6 o'clock in the morning and found his wife preparing to cook breakfast. A fuss ensued and in the scuffle that followed he cut her throat with a razor. He claims the killing was accidental, that he only drew the razor "for a bluff." Mexia Evening Ledger Mexia, Texas Tuesday, August 8, 1899 pg 1 New Trial Refused Sherman, Tex., Aug 8 - Last night in the criminal district court Judge Bliss overruled a motion for a new trial in the case of the state of Texas vs. Sidney Spears, colored. Spears was charged with the murder of his wife, Emma Spears, in this city on July 6 and given the death penalty by a jury. Notice of appeal was given in open court. The defendant took the decision pretty meekly and had no comments to make. El Paso Herald El Paso, Texas Wednesday, June 6, 1900 pg 7 Murderer Respited. Sid Spears who killed his wife and was tried, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged June 4, has been granted a fortnight's respite by Governor Sayers because of a strong petition filed with him to change the sentence from one of death to one of life imprisonment. The governor will give the petition and its reasons consideration. The Eagle Bryan, Texas Sunday, June 17, 1900 pg 2 No Mercy For Spears Austin, June 16 - The governor refused to grant the application for commutation of the sentence (death penalty) of Sid Spears, w ho was convicted at the April term, 1899, of the district court of Grayson, for the murder of his wife. Wise County Messenger Decatur, Texas Friday, June 22, 1900 pg 4 SIDNEY SPEARS SWINGS From A Sherman Scaffold for the Killing of His Wife. Sherman, Tex., June 19. - At 12:04 p.m. Monday Sheriff A. D. Shrewsbury sprung the trap under Sid Spears, colored wife-murderer, in the corridor of the county jail. At 12:12 the stephophone in the hands of County Physician T. S. Freeman indicated that the faintest evidence of life had departed, and the man was officially declared dead. The hanging was witnessed by a number in keeping with the limit fixed by law for private executions. The body was lowered into the neat, plain coffin, and after the hundreds who thronged the corridors after permission was given to the public to enter the prison had viewed the body, it was taken to the home of his mother, Susan Waggoner, 1019 North Montgomery street. No man ever approached the gallows with more nerve, and his composure remained with him to the very last. He was awakened by Death Watch Adams about 6 a.m. He got up and bathed his face and chatted quietly with Mr. Adams about it being his last day. At 9 a.m. Frank Bell, an old associate in the barber business, went to the cell and shaved him. About 10 o'clock Officer Deputy Arthur Taylor went into the condemned man's cell, read the death warrant, with subsequent orders of respite, and the final telegram from the governor refusing to further interfere with the law taking its course. His spiritual adviser, Rev. C. H. Hopkins of the A. M. E. church, spent quite a while with him. Spears gave him every assurance that he was prepared for death. Just at 12 p.m. the condemned man, without a tremor, walked out of the cell, and while a string band of colored musicians, at his request, played "Home, Sweet Home," he stepped upon the trap. He spoke but once, saying: "May God save my enemies." The black cap was adjusted, after a white silk handkerchief had been bound over his eyes as requested. It required but a short while to adjust the straps and spring the trap. The Sunday Gazetteer Denison, Texas Sunday, June 24, 1900 pg 2 At Sherman, Sid Spears, the colored barber, who cut his wife's throat with a razor, was hanged in the Grayson county jail at noon. The prisoner showed wonderful nerve to the very last. Everything passed off smoothly and the execution was one of the most successful in the history of the county. Spears, like the majority of red-handed murderers, expected to take a straight shoot to heaven. He declared that his sins had been washed away in the blood of the lamb. The murder that he committed was brutal and unprovoked. Sherman Daily Democrat Friday April 16, 1915 pg 4 Other Hangings in County Sidney Spears Sidney Spears, a well known negro barber of Sherman, was the next to be hanged. He killed his wife early on the morning of July 6, 1899, at the home of Geo. E. Cook on South Travis street, cutting her throat with a razor. He was hanged Monday, June 18, 1899. 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