The Austin Weekly Statesman
Austin, Texas
Thursday, May 7, 1885
pg 1

SHERMAN

The Convictions of Joe Smart and Joe Williams.

Special Telegram to the Statesman
Sherman, May 1 - Joe Williams was to-day convicted of the murder of Wm. Gaither, near Denison in February last, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He laid in wait for his victim and shot him from a clump of bushes, as he was returning from school. Williams had previously laid in wait for Gaither, and shot him so that his right arm was completely crippled, and although 25 years of age, was attending school to perfect himself as a teacher, that he might earn a living.
Stillwell H. Russell, the ex-United States Marshal, recently released from the Chester, Illinois penitentiary, who has located at Denison as an attorney, defended the prisoner.

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