Dallas Morning News
July 7, 1888

SHERMAN SIFTINGS

Trial of the Rapist Woods
SHERMAN, Tex., July 6.
 RAPIST ON TRIAL

The case of the state vs. Will Woods, colored, charged with rape, was called before Justice Hinkle this morning.  The witnesses were placed under rule.  Miss Miles was the first witness placed on the stand.  

She said: "My name is Maggie Miles, I live at J. R. Cole's on South Travis.  I knew the defendant. (Pointed him out) 
I have spoken to him on several occasions.  He has been over to Mr. Cole's and has asked me to read cook receipts for him.  He came once at night and I told him to come the next day.  I slept in a house away from the main residence.  I was assaulted in my room on the night of Wednesday, June 6.  I was asleep and was awakened by seeing a figure standing near the bed.  I started to speak and some one said 'hush.'  I asked him who it was and he said: 

"I AM HAM."

He told me what he was there for and threatened to cut my throat if I said anything or raised a racket.  He had an open razor in his hand.  I tried to give an alarm and woke up my little boy, who was with me, but I could not scream, as he had his hand over my mouth.  I recognized the person who was in my room.  I knew his voice as soon as he came in. 
I could tell who it was when he went out of the door.  He must have had a key.  The person in my room was the defendant, Will Woods.  He came in the window but he said he came in the door.  The window faces on an alley between the Lazarus and Cole residences.  It is very near the fence and a person could get in easily.  There was a dog chained in the yard.  I heard the chain rattle, but did not hear him bark.  The dog knew the defendant well.  He will usually bark at strangers.  The defendant accomplished his purpose, and did it through threats of violence and demonstrations of an intention to carry them out, although I tried to prevent him.  I was sick and confined to my bed after the deed was accomplished.

Cross-examination - It must have been between 12 and 1 o'clock when it happened. It was not a very dark night.  The window had been propped up when I retired at night.

Redirect - There was blood on the pillow where my hands had bled, having been cut by the razor during the scuffle.  I waited until next morning to tell Mr. Cole.  I was afraid to go up stairs where the family slept.   I was
afraid to leave the house.

At this point the state announced that they were ready to rest and the defense announced that their witnesses were not present, but were expected from Dallas on the noon train, and asked a  postponement until 1:30 p.m. 
This was granted and the defendant remanded to jail.

In the afternoon several witnesses were examined and the defendant being unable to procure all his witnesses to-day the case went over and his bond was fixed at $1000.



The Austin Weekly Statesman
Austin, Texas
June 14 1888
pg 8

A DEMON
A Horrible Outrage at Sherman
The Dastardly Crime of William Woods

The East Texas Negro Rape Fiend Caught and Strung Up to a Tree

Special Telegram to the Statesman
Sherman, June 8. - City Marshal Blaine, of this city, and Deputy Sheriff Whitesides, arrived in the city this afternoon at 6:30 o'clock, from Dallas, with a negro by the name of William Woods, charged with an outrage and assault on Mrs. Maggie Miles, a white servant who works for the family of J. R. Cole, in this city. The following facts in the
case have been fully developed to-day: Mrs. Miles occupies a servant's room in the rear of the residence. The room stands inside of and within two feet of the fence on an alley, with a window on the side next to the alley.
The sash in the window was up, and yesterday morning about 3 o'clock Mrs. Miles awoke and found herself firmly clinched in the grasp of a negro man. He told her that his name was Sam, and that if she made any resistance or screamed he would kill her She made one effort to disengage herself from him, striking her hand against a sharp knife or razor which he held, and suddenly remembering the fate of Miss Genie Watkins, who was murdered by a demon in the same manner at Gainesville last year, ceased to make any resistance and after performing his brutal deed the black demon quickly made his escape by leaping out of the window. Mrs. Miles positively affirms that the negro William Woods is the one who committed the deed, though he left here for Dallas on Tuesday, and the negroes at the boarding house where he stopped state that he lodged there the night that the dead was committed.   Great excitement prevailed when he was brought to the city this evening, and strong fears of lynching were entertained, though the sheriff carried his prisoner by a circuitous route to the jail under a strong guard, and but few new that he had arrived until he was locked up, and the strong probability of a proof of alibi caused the enraged populace to desist until further investigation. There is a strange circumstance connected with this affair. Mrs. Miles was in the employ of Mrs. Watkins at Dallas when her daughter, Miss Genie Watkins, was assaulted and murdered by an unknown party while asleep, in her house at night, during last year, at the residence of the Bostick family, in Gainesville. There are various on conjectures regarding the whole affair, which may yet result in wonderful developments. Mrs. Miles will visit the prisoner to-morrow, for the purpose of identifying the negro and should he prove guilty, lynching will be inevitable.



Dallas Morning News
May 1, 1889
Page 4

AN INTERESTING CASE
A Negro Charged with Assault Seeks to Prove an Alibi

Sherman, Tex., April 30, - The case of the state of Texas vs. Will Woods, charged with criminally assaulting Mrs. Maggie Miles, has attracted considerable attention, and the courtroom has been crowded all day.
The prosecuting witness, Mrs. Miles, testifies positively to having been subjected to the most brutal assault and that she was intimidated by the use of a razor in the hands of her assailant.  She states further that she recognized the man as Will Woods from his voice and general appearance.  She states that there was a strong smell of liquor
in the breath of her assailant.  She gives as a reason for not making a complaint at once a threat that if she made any noise she would be killed.
Dr. J.H. Glasscock, the attending physician, testified that he found evidence of very rough treatment a day or two after when called to the bedside of Mrs. Miles.
The burden of the testimony in behalf of the defense is the proving of an alibi based upon the testimony of Nat Gunter, who testifies positively that the defendant was in Dallas on the night the assault is said to have been committed and that he, the witness, saw and talked with him.
This statement is borne out by the testimony of the colored boarding-house keeper with whom he stopped in Dallas and also by his roommate.  Witnesses were also placed on the stand to show that the defendant was not a drinking character and that it is not likely from this that he was the man whose breath Mrs. Miles smelled.
In rebuttal the state introduced witnesses to show that the defendant was seen at the south-bound train the morning
of the assault and that he seemed to be very excited and anxious to get out of the town.  Other parties testify to
his having been in the city on the day of the assault. The case is a very interesting one indeed.  It is still being argued.



Dallas Morning News
May 2, 1889
Page 6

Sherman, Tex., May 1 - The case of the state of Texas vs. Will Woods, charged with a criminal assault on Mrs. Maggie Miles on the night of June 6, 1888, was given to the jury this afternoon and after remaining out for about three hours they returned the following verdict: "We, the jury, found the defendant guilty of ____, as charged in
the indictment, and assess his punishment at confinement in the state penitentiary for life."  At the request of the attorney for the defense the jury was polled and each one announced the verdict as his.
It is understood that a motion for a new trial will be filed at once.  Mr. J. R. Cole, at whose house Mrs. Miles was living in the capacity of a domestic at the time of the assault is alleged to have been committed upon her, this afternoon stated to a News reporter that Lucy Skinner, colored, had come to him with the information, after the verdict had been rendered, and had complained that parties had come to her house and made dire threats on account of her being been a witness against Woods.  She was referred to the police.