Grayson County TXGenWeb

Denison's night of terror
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 24, 1913

On Friday, May 19, 1892, a mass meeting was held in Denison’s City Hall to make a plan of action to capture the murderer
or murderers who took the lives of four women here the previous Tuesday night.

Denison Mayor J. D. Yocum conducted the meeting and the Denison Sunday Gazetteer editor George B. Goodwin, who spoke for a committee formed because of the tragedies, offered a set of resolutions deploring the affair and pledging to use their untiring energies in finding and arresting the criminals. The group was offering a $1,000 reward for the capture and conviction of the perpetrators. This $1,000, along with another $1,000 offered by the governor, $1,000 by the city and $500 by Dr. W. F. Haynes brought the reward to $3,500.

Sheriff Lee McAfee, who wasn’t present at the meeting, later added $100 to the reward pot and T. C. Dillard of Denison, a brother-in-law of Dr. Haynes, also added $100.

As would be expected if so many murders were to take place in one night today, the town was up in arms. The Stanley rangers, Denison’s rifles, and many private citizens were on duty protecting the citizens.

Sheriff McAfee and his deputies had barely closed their eyes since Tuesday morning when information on all four murders became known. Anyone who looked the least bit suspicious was being watched closely, and talk on the streets was that information on some startling developments would be released within the next 24 hours although no arrests had been made the day the article was published in the Sherman newspaper.

People throughout Denison, and Sherman too, were talking about the happenings and about the story of a man named Myers being picked up at the union depot and later released on Wednesday afternoon.

Conductor Lasher of the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad said, “This fellow boarded my train at some point
below Ennis. I suspected that he was a crook of some kind, and, after a while, I sat down in the seat in front of him. I asked him what his business was. He replied that he used to run an engine on the Central. I asked his name and he gave the name of an old engineer who is now dead. I penned him down on that and he said he was the engineer’s son. I knew that was not true, for the engineer was a young man. The fellow got off at Denison, and on Wednesday afternoon got on a southbound with a grip on which was painted a name different from the one he had given me. On reaching Sherman I turned him over
to the officers.”

The suspect told the Sherman officers that his name was Myers. They searched him and became convinced that he was unaware of the murders. They let him go. He didn’t leave town and still was hanging around on Thursday.

A story published on May 22, 1892, in the Sunday Gazetteer stated that on Tuesday night the skies were cloudless and the streets were neither dusty nor muddy. The town seemed like a peaceful place that would be safe for all the citizens. The North Methodist congregation, with a large group in attendance, was participating in a literary competition under the
auspices of the Knights Templar. The Elks Lodge, 51 members strong, along with 20 visiting members, were at the Denison club rooms holding a reception for members and the organization of the order.

This picture of tranquility didn’t last long though. As the dark shadow of death struck the city sending a chilling blast of hell’s demons to the hearts of Denisonians, the night went down in history as one that had never been known before either here, or all over Texas, if not the entire United States.

During the quiet hours of the late evening and early morning, four women, two of whom were among the city’s most respectable people, were targets for the killer’s deadly weapon — the six shooter or a Winchester.

The first murder took place at the home of Dr. and Mrs. W. F. Haynes in south Denison, near the exposition grounds.

The second shooting took place at Madame Lester’s bagnio (brothel) on Chestnut Street, which was known as Skiddy Street at that time. As a man was thumping away on the piano, Madame Lester was coaxing customers to purchase a bottle of beer when one of her girls yelled, “I am shot.”

A short time later a girl in the Rivers bagnio, across the block, was dancing when she, too, was shot.

Early in the morning a man approached the bed of a sleeping young woman. She woke to see a man with a pistol in one
hand and a knife in the others. During the ensuing panic, the young woman was shot and died instantly.

While four women lost their lives that night, a brief notice in the Southern Afternoon Press on May 20, told of another woman being shot by what seemed to be the same person. She was also in a bagnio in Denison and was shot by a bullet fired through a window that passed through the fleshy part of her leg. The article said she was expected to live.

Each of the murders is a story within itself and three subsequent articles will detail the events of the unforgettable night in Denison.

1892 Denison murder believed to be robbery gone wrong
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 27, 2013

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.

Denison had its first taste of violence on a clear night in May 1892. While stories have been passed down through the years about how wild and woolly Denison was, nothing compared to the events of that night in 1892 when four women were killed in four separate murders.

The first victim was Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, the beautiful young wife of Dr. W. F. Haynes. In some reports the good doctor was named Henry F. Haynes, and in others J. H. Haynes. However, it is believed that the true name of one of Denison’s young practicing physician was W. F. Haynes, as he signed in a card of thanks in the Denison Gazetteer a few days after his wife was killed.

Hattie Haynes, the 28-year-old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Garner, had lived in Denison only a few months when she was murdered in her own home and dragged to the brush nearby and robbed.

Mrs. Haynes, her mother, who moved to Denison from Stringtown in Indian Territory and lived next door to her daughter
and son-in-law in South Denison near the exposition grounds, and a niece attended a temperance entertainment downtown.

The entertainment was in the form of a literary exercise at the North Methodist Church on the corner of Fannin Avenue
and Woodard Street, across the avenue from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The program was being presented with a social
to follow on the lawn. Dr. Haynes came with the ladies on the motor car on the dummy line and went to the organizing exercises of the Denison Elks at their club room in the State National Bank building.

When the church social ended, the ladies returned home on the motor car, a steam train that operated in Denison down Woodard Street, across the old wooden viaduct through the Cotton Mill district and on to the Exposition Building in their neighborhood. Their homes were located where Woodlawn Avenue and Bullock Street now intersect. When they neared their homes, Mrs. Haynes told to her mother: “You need not go in with me, I see the doctor is already here, as a light is burning. We put them all out when we left.” At that, they said goodnight. That was the last that Mrs. Haynes saw or heard from her daughter until her dead body was found southeast of there.

Mrs. Garner had barely entered her house when she heard her daughter scream. She ran outside with her husband right behind with his gun. Two lamps were burning, one up and the other downstairs, and every room in the house was in shambles. Two or three minutes later three pistol shots were fired. Dr. Garner ran out, but couldn’t tell from which direction the sound came.

Houston Bostwick rode the same motor car with the ladies headed home. In a few minutes he ran up to the Elks’ Hall and
told his father and Dr. Haynes what had happened. The lodge shut down and all the members volunteered their service.
The Central Railway offered them the use of the yard engine and a wild ride to and from Sherman followed, to dispatch Sheriff McAfee and his bloodhounds as quickly as possible. Soon the motor train was speeding back to the Exposition Hall with members of the Elks’ Lodge. In the meantime the search for Mrs. Haynes continued.

The night was dark and the woods dense, but dozens of lamps and lanterns glittered in every direction. An attempt was made to hold back the search until Sheriff McAfee and the dogs arrived, but it was impossible to restrain friends and the search continued.

Two hours after the shooting, W. W. Bostwick, with lantern in hand, came upon the body of Hattie Haynes about 100 yards from her house, with one bullet in her head and another in her breast. She was shot at her house, dragged to the brush and another bullet was fired into her brain, killing her instantly. Her finger rings and earrings were gone. In removing the rings from her fingers, the killer was in such a hurry that her fingers were badly broken and disfigured. It was a horrible sight — Mrs. Haynes lying on her back near a dry branch with a ball from a 44-caliber revolver bullet having passed through her
brain, burying itself in the ground.

News of the terrible death intensified the excitement. Searching parties were all called in and nothing more happened until the sheriff, his deputies and trained dogs arrived.

It was surmised that the perpetrator was caught in the act of robbery, and, fearing she would be able to identify him, he killed Mrs. Haynes when she ran toward the Garner’s house by cutting across the field. The murder occurred about 10:30 p.m.

A funeral for Mrs. Haynes took place at the Presbyterian Church where her husband had been an elder and superintendent
of the Sunday school. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people.

A card of thanks was placed in the Gazetteer reading:

“We, the husband and parents, for ourselves and other relatives of Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, murdered by burglars on Tuesday night last, desire to make grateful acknowledgment to the generous people of Denison for their numberless manifestations of sympathy in our awful bereavement.

“It would be invidious to mention names where the proffers of sympathy and assistance have been so universal. As the years pass by, the memory of so much considerate kindness will abide as a balm to assuage the bitterness of our grief.

“The gentlemen connected with the management of the motor line and the MK&T railway have made special and extraordinary efforts to aid the officers in the investigation of the crime, as well as to bring to our doors relatives and friends from a distance, and will please accept our heartfelt thanks.

“Our thanks are otherwise due to the press of the city for its considerate and sympathetic treatment of an occurrence so distressing.” It was signed W. F. Haynes and Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Garner.

The second and third shooting will be discussed in following articles of the series.

Denison's night of terror, third in series
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 29, 2013

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.

In the second article in this series we related how Hattie Haynes, wife of a Denison physician, was the first to lose her life in the hands of a murderer. Hattie was shot to death at her home in south Denison and her diamonds were brutally ripped from her ears and her fingers.

In August 1942 Grayson County Sheriff Lee McAfee related that at a restaurant on Austin Avenue that belonged to a man identified only as “Tom” was where business contracts could be made for house burglaries, horse and cattle thefts and
even an assassination if such a contract was to be made.

Sheriff McAfee thought that Mrs. Haynes’ killer told Tom about the bungled robbery, which upset him so much that he took his gun and went to Madam Lester’s saloon and brothel in the 100 block on Skiddy Street (now Chestnut) looking for Mrs. Haynes’ half-brother, George Garner, whom he thought had double crossed him. The half-brother was a son of Mrs. Haynes’ father, Dr. J. D. Garner and his first wife. George frequently was at Madam Lester’s place, a bagnio, a disreputable house also called a brothel just one block from Main Street. The “house” was a 50-foot frame building in front with a two-story brick building like a hotel in the rear where Madam Lester quartered her “girls.”

The sheriff believed that the killer walked into Madam Lester’s shortly before midnight, where the scene was quite festive with a man plunking away on the piano and the madame was coaxing a frequenter to purchase a drink. Girls and men were lounging about the room in a rather promiscuous manner enjoying the evening, according to an article in the Sunday Gazetteer on May 22, 1892. Maude Kramer was seated in a wicker chair near the front center of the third room and to her
rear were George Garner and Alice Adams. Standing in front of these three was another woman.

According to the Gazetteer, the shooter, without warning fired his .45-caliber pistol. The flash startled everyone, and then was followed by a few seconds of hushed stillness. Not a breath was drawn, not a voice was heard and no one moved. Another flash was seen as the culprit began shooting at Garner from the door and hit Maude instead, then turned and ran. Maude threw up her hands and cried out in a low, but audible voice, “I’m shot!” He missed Garner completely.

The wildest confusion followed with women screaming and men darting out and behind every conceivable object. Someone made a break for the rear door and men and women literally trampled one another in the stampede to exit the building.

The first bullet had passed entirely through the right side of Maude Kramer, through the arm of the chair, then the clothing
of the woman standing in front of Alice Adams and George Garner before burying itself in the opposite wall near the door leading out to the beer chest.

The second shot entered Maude’s body near the center on the right side and passed entirely through the stomach. Its force had been spent, however and it fell down into the chair and when she was removed, it rolled out onto the floor. She was taken to the upper room and a physician was summoned.

The house soon filled with an excited crowd of morbidly curious men. During the excitement, news was received of the earlier tragedy at the home of Dr. W. F. Haynes near the Exposition Building in south Denison.

After the shooting at Madame Lester’s a man with a heavy mustache, dark clothing, square shoulders and a rather striking appearance called at the front door and asked permission to see the wounded woman. His request was denied and the man acted very strangely. He drew out a large pistol from his hip pocket and said: “The wages of sin is death,” and turned to a man nearby and said “You would make a good target.”

He spoke at some length on the wickedness of the world and appeared to be a kind of ministerial crank. On leaving the building he headed toward Main Street and nothing more was seen of him. He was a stranger to everyone and by a good many he was thought to be implicated in the assassination.

A short time after the shooting at Madame Lester’s someone ran across the block to the Rivers bagnio and informed the
girls there of the tragedy, and all, of course, wanted to go down to see. In the front east room was a girl, Rosa Stuart, and her company. The lamp was burning brightly, and Rosa gathered an outer garment and was putting it on over her head when there was a flash and a loud pop and the girl sank to the floor with a stream of blood gushing out from the right lower breast and another on the opposite side behind.

The window shade had not been pulled completely down, leaving a crack about two inches between the top of the window sill and the bottom of the curtain. On the outside of the window was a wire screen and the deadly bullet passed through the screen.

The doctor was just finishing dressing the wounds of the Kramer girl when he was summoned to rush to the Rivers house, where his services were urgently needed. Everything possible was done for Rosa but at that time it was thought that death would be sure and soon.

After the shooting, the killer was believed by McAfee to have returned to his Austin Avenue business, and then headed north toward Morton Street.

According to the newspaper article, news of the shootings spread like wildfire. Men armed themselves and waited at their homes for the next attack of the “fiend.” The Stanley Rangers and the Denison Rifles were called out and every stranger on the streets was stopped. Officers Preston and Deering stationed themselves at a point in the rear of the Star Lumber Yard.
A suspicious character was seen, and when he was called to surrender, he turned on his heels and fled. Chase was given, four shots were fired, but the fleeing man turned the corner at the north approaching the viaduct and disappeared in the darkness. His identity was never known.

Some believed that Tom also had a contract to kill Rosa that had been arranged by her brother who came down from Michigan and was rejected in his plea for Rosa to return to her husband and children back in that state. Sheriff McAfee surmised that Tom recognized Rosa and decided it was as good a time as any to complete the contract so he shot her too.

Fortunately Rosa didn’t die, but she did return home to her family in Michigan as soon as she was able to travel. Maude, however, didn’t fare as well, and died.

About 3:20 a.m. a courier came down to Main Street from the North part of town and announced that there had been another killing. The fourth article in the series will go directly to Morton Street where the killing occurred.

1892 murderer shot his victim through the window
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
November 6, 2013

Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.

This last article in the series will cover the murder of the third victim and the shooting of a fourth who survived on the night of May 18, 1892, in the normally peaceful and quiet 20 year old Denison.

While people were still milling around the 100 block of West Chestnut (named Skiddy Street at the time) where two young women had been shot in brothels there and another had been shot a couple of hours earlier at her home in south Denison,
a courier came down to Main Street from North Denison about 3:20 a.m. and announced that another shooting had taken place in the 200 block West Morton Street.

The young organist at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was shot through the window as she sat in the lap of her widowed mother, trembling after an intruder had taken their jewelry. Mrs. Hawley and her daughters, Florentine “Teen” and her sister, Allie, had come to Denison some eight or ten months earlier from Shreveport Louisiana, and had been living in the brick cottage about four months. Teen Hawley was an accomplished, modest and refined young lady who was highly respected. She and her sister were rapidly becoming members of Denison’s best society.

On Tuesday night the family had retired about the usual time. Mrs. Hawley occupied a small bedroom to the extreme north end on the west side of the home, while the girls slept in an adjoining room to the east. The doorway leading from the mother’s room opened into the kitchen as well as into the girls’ room. Watt Smith and a Mr. Kellogg of the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas civil engineering corps, rented the front room next to the parlor, but Kellogg was down the road at work and Smith was in their room alone.

About 3 a.m., a peculiar noise in the kitchen woke Allie, and she saw the form of a man approaching the bed. In the dim light in the room, she saw a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. She screamed and the man commanded her to hush or
he would kill her. She told him, “Take anything you want. If you can’t find it, I will get it for you. I don’t want you to wake my sister. She is very excitable and will go into hysterics.”

“I’ll do worse than that,” he answered. “I am going to kill her.” Allie screamed and jumped out of the bed, evading the intruder.

A noise in another room frightened the villain and he started to run. Both young ladies were terribly frightened and jumped out of bed. He turned and fired back into the room, but the bullet buried itself in the brick wall of the opposite side of the room.

By this time, Teen and Allie were hysterical, and Teen ran into her mother’s room and sat down in her lap. Mrs. Hawley put her arms around her daughter and tried to console her. Smith, who had been awakened by the first shot, went back into the kitchen and, after closing the door and window and assuring the ladies that the man was gone, returned to his room. As Mrs. Hawley and her daughters sat there, the revolver rang out again. Through the wire screen of the window came a bullet that struck Teen just below the right shoulder blade, making a ghastly wound through her body. She fell forward and died instantly.

The noise aroused the neighbors, and Alex Regensberger, who lived next door, saw a man in the backyard of the Hawley place as he ran out through the rear gate. Tom Cutler, who also had been awakened by the shooting, saw the man run down the alley east on Morton and north on Austin Avenue to the alley between Morton and Bond.

Men on horseback and on foot began scouring and beating the alleys and streets in every part of town, but without avail.
The murderer had either hidden well or had escaped from town. The hunt went on.

Terror seized everyone and no one could conceive of a more horrible situation in any community or city. Four women had been shot as though they were targets for a sportsman’s practice. At that time, two were dead and the other two were only clinging to life by a thread. Maud Kramer soon died, and Rosa Stuart was the only shooting victim to survive.

On Wednesday morning in Denison, men gathered about over town in groups and squads and with heads bowed in sorrow talked about the awful situation.

Back at the home of Dr. Haynes, every motorcar brought friends and sympathizers. As the day wore on, a burial service was being planned. Florentine Hawley was dressed in a burial robe of black, and, as hundreds of people filed in and out of the small, yet beautiful, parlor, there was only one feeling in the minds of all attending: Mystery! Who did it? Why did he do it? Or, was it the work of some madman bent on destruction.

Later in the day it was announced that the burial would take place from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on Thursday morning.

The murder of Mrs. Haynes indicated that robbery was the motive, but no attempt at robbery was made at the other places. Officers believed that all the murders were the work of one man. A .45-caliber pistol was used in every instance. Wednesday morning two men, Tom Crane and Tom Little, were seen near the Exposition building, heading for Sherman. Constable John Blain took them in but soon became satisfied that they knew nothing about the killings. They were allowed to leave, according to the Sunday Gazetteer story. Several others were subsequently brought in and allowed to leave.

It was said that a gambler named Dick Edwards, who had dated Teen Hawley at one time, had disposed of the Haynes’ jewelry in Dallas. He was supposed to have taken the rings to Dallas and had given them to a madam to sell or pawn for him. Sheriff McAfee believed that Edwards had double-crossed the madam, who was sweet on him, and, instead of getting rid of the jewelry, she went to the police.

McAfee’s term in office ended on Jan. 1, 1893, and a man named A. E. Hughes succeeded him. Sheriff Hughes put out a pick up order on Edwards, and they traced him all over the country, finally running him down in Duluth, Minn. in February. He was brought back to Sherman and charged with the Haynes murder. Evidence was so slim that they couldn’t hang Edwards, but gave him a life sentence. He died of pneumonia in the Sherman jail before he could be sent to prison or his lawyers could arrange an appeal.

Two men were charged with the murders of Maude Kramer and Florentine Hawley, but were not convicted and were released after their trials.

Mrs. Haynes was buried in her father’s cemetery lot in Fairview Cemetery. The Hawley family left Denison soon after the funeral and was never heard from again. Florentine was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Madam Lester paid to bury Maude Kramer in Oakwood Cemetery, but an old sweetheart from Ironton, Missouri, heard about her murder and paid to have her remains disinterred and shipped back home for burial under her real name, Alta McIntosh. Ike Lindsay, a local mortician, handled the disinterment. He waited until it was dark, then dug up the grave by lantern, and
during the job, he fell into the grave and broke several ribs.

Tom, a good looking man with a big flowing black mustache, finally went to the penitentiary for burglary about two years after the murders. He never returned to Denison.

The three murders officially remain unsolved although Sheriff McAfee was certain that Tom, who was discussed in the third article in the series, was guilty of being a participant in all three killings.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, January 8, 1893
pg 1

EDWARDS HABEAS CORPUS TRIAL

Friday evening the habeas corpus trail of Dick Edwards, charged with the murder of Mrs. Haynes, of this city, was called for trail in the district court at Sherman. The defense announced ready but the state asked for further time on account of the absence of a material witness. The court overruled the motion for a continuation and the examination of witnesses began. Dr. Haynes was the first witness on the stand. He was not acquainted with the defendant and had no personal knowledge of the facts leading up to the indictment of the grand jury. Henry Hackney, the second witness, gave a detailed statement of the circumstances leading to the indictment. Defendant was in the city about the time of the killing, his actions were very suspicious and numerous letters had been received, and from which no other conclusion could be reached but that the writer was connected with the killing.
The state refused to produce the letters, pistol, shells, etc, in open court and the judge passed the matter to Saturday, today, for further consideration. The other witnesses Friday were: J. W. Lisson of the Monarch saloon, Mayor Yocum, Sheriff Hughes, Policeman Skeen and Mr. J. D. Garner, father of Mrs. Haynes. At five o'clock court adjourned to 8:30 the following morning. Capt. J. D. Wood, attorney for the defense is positive that Edwards knows nothing whatever of the killing for which he stands charged.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, November 26, 1893
pg 1

FOR THE MURDER OF MRS. HAYNES

The case of Dick Edwards, charged with the murder o Mrs. W. F. Haynes in this city on the night of May 18, 1892,
was called in the district court at Sherman Wednesday and both sides announced ready. The work of selecting a jury began immediately, and by night eleven jurors had been accepted. The twelfth man was secured early on the following morning. J. D. Garner, father of the murdered lady, was the first witness. His testimony related to facts and incidents immediately surrounding the murder. The story a familiar to the Denison public and its republication is not now necessary. During the day Thursday Mrs. Garner, Dr. Haynes, A. R. Williams, Joseph Jewell, Henry Hackney and one or two others gave in their testimony Mr. Hackney related his experience in the pursuit and capture of Edwards at West Superior. Mr. Williams testified that he saw Edwards in Denison during the latter part of May of last year. Dr. Haynes stated that his wife and her brother, George Garner, were kind to one another and were affectionate. Mrs. Garner stated that she did not know that her son, George, was in the city until the day following the murder. Mr. John Freels stated that he carried Mr. Tom Spears, Dick Edwards and another party or two from Denison to Colbert in a wagon a few days after the night of horrors. Mrs. Edwards, wife of defendant, is attending the trial. The case is attracting much attention, not only in Sherman and Denison but throughout the country generally.

The Times
(Philadelphia, PA)
Sunday, November 26, 1892
pg. 11

HE MURDERED MRS. HAYNES
A Texan Who Would as Soon Kill as Woman as a Dog
Denison, November 25 - The testimony i the case against Dick Edwards, on trial at Sherman for the murder of Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, and who is supposed to have killed 2 other women in this city the same night, was of a most damaging character. He was identified by a scar on his foot as Edward Spears, a farm hand, despite the fact that he has denied ever living in this State. Mrs. Annie Edwards testified that Edwards was at her house several times in the week of the murder. He wanted her to go to Kansas City with him, and she consented. Edwards returned the next day and broke the engagement, saying he had not succeeded in getting enough money from the safe in the Haynes house. The witness asked him if he had killed Mrs. Haynes.
Edwards replied: "Yes, I did. I don't care any more about killing a woman than a dog.

Chanute Daily Tribune
Chanute, Kansas
Saturday, December 2, 1892
pg. 1

DICK EDWARDS GUILTY
He Gets a Life Sentence - Said to Have Murdered Three Women

Denison, Texas, December 2 - The jury in the case of Dick Edwards, charged with the murder of 3 women at Denison, Texas, on the night of May 17, 1892, returned a verdict of guilty in the case of Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, and fixed his punishment at life imprisonment. The prisoner was brought into court when the verdict was read. He was weak, pale and trembled perceptibly. He evidently expected the verdict would be death, and brightened greatly when he heard it. Immediately upon arriving at the jail he began to sing and dance, and was more talkative than usual. He still protests his innocence. Edwards' attorneys filed a motion for a new trial.

The Bryan Eagle
Bryan, Texas
Thursday, January 31, 1895
pg. 1

The sentence of Dick Edwards to life imprisonment for the murder of Mrs. Hattie Haynes at Denison has been confirmed.