Sherman Daily
Democrat
Friday,
September 6, 1912
pg.4
The
News of The Courts - Sam Jones Murder Case
This afternoon
at 12:30 o'clock the attorneys had finished
arguing the case against Sam Jones, the
Negro charged with the murder of Eddie
Jones. Judge Pearson charged the jury
soon after court reconvened this
afternoon. Yesterday there was some
delay in securing witnesses for the defense
and the argument of the case was not entered
into until this morning, after one witness
had been introduced by the state.
Yesterday
afternoon one of the principal witnesses was
the defendant, Sam Jones. He
admitted every essential detail that was
contained in his confession given in writing
to B.F. Gafford soon after the killing
Friday, August 16th. He said that he
meant to kill Eddie Jones, his divorced
wife, because she would not agree to marry
him again, that he determined if he could
not live with her no one else should and
that he told her the same. He asserted
that he at first attempted to fight the
woman with a pick and hit her on the arm
with it but she got it away from him.
Then he got his knife but she also took that
away from him. After this he choked
her unconscious and then hit her 2 blows
with an ax.
Prince Childs,
an old Negro man, who stayed at the house
with the woman, testified relative to Jones
visiting the house on Thursday night
previous to the killing.
Alonzo Holland,
a Negro man 22 years of age, testified that
he was at the ho use with Eddie Jones when
the defendant came Thursday night.
Holland had been visiting the woman for
about 2 months and for about a week prior to
the time she secured a divorce from Sam
Jones. The deceased was about 45 years
of age.
Assistant County
Attorney Gafford was the first to speak this
morning and after E.W. Neagle, counsel for
the defendant spoke, County Attorney Cal T.
Freeman made a speech. Both of the
attorneys for the state affirmed t hat the
jury should return a verdict of murder in
the first degree according to the law and
evidence in the case. Mr. Neagle
asserted that the defendant should not be
charged with a more serious crime than
manslaughter or murder in the second degree.
Towards the
close of Mr. Freeman's remarks he made the
statement that the Negro citizens of this
county are entitled to equal justice as any
other citizens. He said that Negroes
are hanged for murdering white people,
therefore in this case where the defendant
is charged with murdering a Negro woman this
should be no difference in the eyes of the
law. Mr. Freeman remarked that this
was the last appeal that he expects to make
to a jury in behalf of the state.
Whitewright
Sun
Columns 1 and 2
Fri Sep 20, 1912
Columns 3 and 4
Sherman Daily
Democrat
Wednesday,
October 16, 1912
pg. 1
NEGRO HANGS FOR
MURDER
Sam Jones Pays
The Penalty For Killing His Divorced Wife
ROPE CUTS HIS
THROAT
Head is Almost
Severed From Body by the Fall and Blood
Splatters in Every Direction - Talks on
Gallows
Samuel M. Jones
was the third Negro to pay the highest
penalty exacted by the laws of the land,
within the last 67 days at the Grayson
county jail.
Sheriff Lee
McAfee pulled the trigger at 11 minutes
after 12 o'clock, noon, today. County
Physician Dr. J.F. Jones felt of the body
immediately after the drop and said: "There
is no pulse, he is dead."
In 4 minutes
after the fall he was cut down and given
over to the charge of S.L. Talley and
assistants for the Dannel Undertaking
company.
The hangman's
rope used was the rope that has been at the
jail for a long time. It was rather
stiff, and on account of the damp weather
the knot did not work just right.
However, there was no bad effect from
that. When Jones dropped, an artery in
his neck was severed and an immense quantity
of blood flowed from him. His neck was
partially torn from his shoulders. The
request that no one be allowed to visit his
cell was rigidly enforced by the officers
until the very last. Jones was
consulted as to whether or not anyone should
be admitted. He could be seen talking
with his friends and was not remarkably sad
about the affair. He said all morning
that he was anxious for the time. Just
at 12 o'clock Sheriff McAfee was
talking to him and asked him if he wanted
the hanging to be put off awhile. He
said that he did not, but was ready as soon
as he could finish dressing.
When he was
brought from the cell and faced the crowd,
Mr. McAfee called for quiet and said that
Sam could make a statement if he desired.
Jones said: "I ain't got much to say,
but I'll say this: I am a Negro and I
know it, and I've always stayed in a Negro's
place until now. I'm willing to go,
and I don't fear it a bit. That is all
I got to say. I don't fear it a bit,
not a bit."
Soon after this
and when his hands and feet were being tied,
someone called from the crowd and asked if
he wanted to tell them goodbye.
Discovering that it was S.F. James, a
white man of Sherman, he asked for him to
come upstairs and that the execution be
delayed until he told him goodbye. The
request was granted, and Sam told Mr. James
that he hoped to meet him on the other side
of the river. Just before the trap was
sprung, Jones told Sheriff McAfee and his
death watchmen, Arthur Vaughn and Jimmie
Gee, goodbye remarking to each of them that
they had been his friends.
Sheriff Murphy of
Coalgate, Oklahoma is here today and
assisted Sheriff McAfee.
JONES' LAST NIGHT
Condemned Man
Slept Well and Arose at Usual Hour
Sam Jones calmly
dressed himself in his new suit and attire
this morning, shaved himself and talked
freely to the few people who were permitted
to see him. His hand was steady when
he buckled the straps of the grio containing
his cast-off clothes and several possessions
that he has had with him at the jail; his
voice did not quiver when he would talk of
almost being time for the hanging.
He has conducted
himself in a decided opposite manner from
that of Sellars Vines
and Wood Maxey, who
were hanged on August 9. They
were rather restless for most of the night
preceding the execution. They kept the
jail in a hum by loud prayers and hymns.
Jones did not sing or pray in a loud
manner this morning. He said that he
did not believe in it and that he thought
that was mostly for show. Sam said a
day or two ago that his desire was to
fulfill the penalty in a cool deliberate
manner and to be possessed by his normal
sense, unexcited.
KEEPS UP HIS
NERVE
When a
representative of the Democrat
first saw him this morning, he was getting
ready for the hanging. He recognized
him at once and said, "Well, do you think
you could do this as easy as I am?"
Not to exaggerate, Sam Jones was a
most resolved man to die as a penalty for
killing the woman that he once called his
wife, and that he continue to love and
almost worship.
RELATIVES
DISAPPOINT HIM
Jones seemed
somewhat disappointed that none of his
relatives have spent the last few days with
him. He said that no matter what kind
of trouble they were in, if he was free he
would see them through to the last.
"But it is with them and their God,"
he remarked. He is survived by a
brother, J.M. Jones, 8 miles east from Mt.
Pleasant; a sister near Pittsburg, Texas,
Joe Alice Trailer; a sister near Corsicana,
Mollie Robinson; Rachel Elliott Jones.
This afternoon a hearse will carry the
casket, which equipment will be furnished
free of charge by the undertaking company.
STORY OF THE
CRIME
Jones Killed His
Divorced Wife Here Two Months Ago
The crime for
which Sam Jones today paid the law's penalty
was one of the bloodiest in the history of
Grayson county. On the morning of
August 16, just two months ago to the day,
Jones killed his divorced wife, Eddie Jones,
at her home, 1000 North Throckmorton street.
The murder was committed with an ax.
Only two licks were struck. The
first split the woman's head over the left
eye and crushed her skull into the brain.
The second lick actually severed the
left eye and cheek bone, leaving a
gash from which her life blood and brains
ran onto the ground. Jones first
attacked his wife with a pick but she
overpowered him and took the pick. The
he drew his pocket knife but the woman also
took that away from him. Then she ran
from the house. Jones pursued her,
overtaking her just outside the door.
He choked her down and while she was almost
unconscious he went around behind the house
and secured the ax with which he finished
his bloody deed.
Jones and his
wife were married at Mt. Vernon, Texas,
several years ago. On July 12,
1912, the woman was granted a divorce, the
decree being granted on the grounds of cruel
treatment. At the time of the crime
Jones was working on the section, being
located at Choctaw, about 5 miles east of
Sherman. The night before the tragedy
he came to Sherman, went to the home of his
wife and pleaded with her to return to him.
She refused. He remained around
the house all that night and the next
morning again went in and begged his wife to
return to him. When she again refused
he told her that if she would not live him
[sic] she could never live with any one
else, then proceeded to murder her.
After the murder,
Jones started toward the city and had
reached the post office when he was arrested
by Deputy Sheriffs Jim Spears and Arthur
Vaughn.
Jones admitted
from the first that he killed his wife and
said that he was ready to hang for the
crime. The grand jury of the 59th
District Court was in session at the time
the crime was committed and Jones was
indicted the very day he killed his wife.
On the afternoon of the day of the
murder in Justice of the Peace T.W. Hudson's
court at a preliminary hearing Jones pleaded
guilty to the murder and was remanded to
jail to await the action of the grand jury.
The trial of
Jones began in the 59th District Court on
the morning of September 4. District
Judge J.M. Pearson presided at the trial,
County Attorney C.T. Freeman was in charge
of the prosecution and E.W. Neagle, who had
been appointed by the court, made a strong
defense in behalf of the Negro.
The jury sitting
in the case was composed of M. Young,
painter, Denison; J.B. Shipp, farmer,
Preston Bend; W.R. Perkins, farmer,
Gordonville; J.C. Moles, dealer in feed
stuffs, Whitewright; S. Jobe, farmer,
Luella; J.D. Case, farmer, Luella; O.T.
Thornton, farmer, Ida; M.C. Cordell, farmer,
Rockport; M.?. Michael, car repairer,
Denison; G.E. Martin, Drayman, Van
Alstyne; J.L. Blackburn, merchant, Howe.
The jury brought
in a verdict of guilty and assessed the
punishment at death.
On the 14th day
of September Jones was sentenced to be
hanged and at his own request the date of
his execution was fixed for October 16.
He asked to be hanged at 10 o'clock in
the morning, as that was the hour he killed
his wife. The court told him he could
not grant the request as the law fixed the
time of execution at any time in the day
between 11 o'clock a.m. and sundown.
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