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the HUST LER OF ROME.
THIRD year.
GREAT CLEARING OUT SALH
LARGEST AND FINEST STOCK OF
DIAMONDS, WATCHES. CLOCKS
JEWELRY, solid silver, SILVER PLATED wa re
NOVELTIES, RAZORS, SCISSORS, POCKET
KNI VES, DREGS, ETC IN THE CITY.
THIS SALE LASTS M SATURDAY, MI4TH.
THIS IS JN.TT OPPORTUNITY
ape especialy invited to attenia
The sales, Where tlie utmost decorum will be rigidly enforced.
Everything will be guaranteed as represented by the auctioneer and sold without reserve.
I WE IMZE-A-TT business
Come and See for \ ourself.
•HAMMACK LUCAS & CO.,**»
DRUGGISTS and JEWELERS, 300 Broad Street, Rome Georgia.
MfK.
V rites a Letter to her dead
Husband's Father.
SAYS HE WAS FRIGHTENED.
But if put on the Stand Again she
Would Swear the Truth and that
the I ruth Would Break Frank’s
i N'«ck. She re-considers and departs.
Vsterday afternoon Mi. James
A- Sthphena was put on the wit
ness stand to testify in the Wil
kerson murder, trial.
Bul on account of technicalities
ne evidence was h“ld not-admis
iljle and the truth whi:h should
* gwen to the jury was with-held.
r -■ is as fine a e p ec i_
e r> of old naar.hood as could be
Un m the State; he is hale and
J ar ty, and the erect but rather
, Iyform -8 yet imbued w. th the
ner^ B oflife.His fatherly ap-
X anCe> kiudl y and courte
_J&ar'ng, would win for him
>f e a and consideration
h; s h evidence much more so is
®ode ff Wh6U he is fouud a
are whtre^he etaC ? BPICU ° U 8 ***“
kißi ™ s i»«»t™r re ' ut oi "° f
Watt h" |,hen “ Col •
ten him,. i mar ‘’ bad writ *
e i-The a etter t 0 COaaß aud Bee
*tive and th W6r Waß 1D th9 afflrm
‘ ffhat did shews qUeßtioU WaP
\ ent ‘0 Bee he r r^ U Wh<>U y ° U
Ejection Jh 18 raised the
ite Phen 8 ’ WH Hnd ’ because Mrs.
bribed / preßeut 80 that
fr ty the ev i g ] roUUdß COuld be iaid,
bejury. UCecould notgo to
hewed Mr v? l* Rome inter
the witness R ? P j 6 ’’ B after ’ he lef t
neBB Bta nd and obtained
•ROME GEORGIA. TUESDAY EVENING APRIL 10. 1894,
I the following letter:
Livingston, Ga.,
Sept - 28th,*1893.
I Mr. Janies A. Stephen,
Cartersville, Ga.
i Mr. Stephens:—
If you should
come to Livingston at any time
soon, I would’like to have acon
fereuce with you. as I am prepar
ing to leave the South at an early
date. The faCts which I desire tv
communicate to you, are of such
nature as to demand a personal
interview, and they are unknown
to any one save myself alone,
hence, should you decline the op
portunity of acquainting yourself
with same, I can safely aver that
you will regret it; they are of vital
importance to you.
I have said this much to you,
regardless of all the advice to the
contrary, believing it to be a con
scientious duty.
Please give the above lines to
your serious consideration before
deciding the matter, which is a
momentous one.
Hoping your decision may be a
wise one,l am m haste,
Yours Respectfully
Jessie B. Stephens.
“Well” asked the Hustler, after
reading the well written epistle,
“you went did you not?”
“Yes sir, I went down toLiving
ston abcut four weeks after, and
went to see Jessie.”
“She said that she was glad that
I had come and she talked with
me a long time about ths case aud
told me a great deal tha’ had nev
er come out before.
She said that Judge Branham
and Frank Wilkerson had made
her believe from the first that if
the facts all came out that she
would not only hang, but would
te hung before Wilkerson was
swung up. She said that she had
therefore with-held much of rhe
truth when put on the stand at
the other trial, but if she was ev
er put up again she would make a
clean breast of it.
She said that Wilkerson had,
not only killed Free, but that he
had actually snot himself in the
left wrist, and more than that,
l.bat one night just before the kil
ling, that Frank had drawn his
revolver and as she and he walked
uUI uu the verandah behind her
Husband, that Frank leveled the
pistol on Free's head—That she
could not stand it ard had snatch
ed his arm back and saved him.
Mr, Stephens says that while he
was silting talking to Jessie that
Wilkersons brother-in law came in
—that he looked surprised tv see
mm there aud that he with-drew
very hastily, hitched up his horse
and came into the city and that in
a lew hours, Frank Wilkerson was
in Livingston aud was at Mrs.
Stephens residence that night.
Mr. Stephens says that Mrs’
Jessie A. Stephens made an up
poinlment with him, to meet Col.
Watt Harns at the residence of
Mr. Hargrove in Rome and re
duce her statement io the proper
form, but afterwards sh? wrote
Mr. Harns positively declining to
aeep the appointment auu all
subsequent efforts to get her to re
peat the true facts in the case had
proven futne.
TWO BOMBS EXPLODE.
Rome, Apiil 8. —Two bombs were
exploded today before the house of
the military governor in Siena, Tus
any • No damage was done and no
body injured, although the Governor
who is critically ill, was startled
greatly. The Siena police have ar
resti d five men who had explosives
in then rooms.
Hon. W‘ J, Neel, mayor protein
of this city is out once more, after
a painful illness of three or fou
days.
WITH HIE.JURY.
The Evidence Closed and the
Speaking Under Way
WITNESSES TAMPERED WITH
Airs. Stephens Alter the Killing Ask-
ed Mi. Joe Morton Which Side She
Should Swear for. Who the Speak
ers are.
Today at noon, one week ago,
the Wilkerson murder trial was
begun and as we go to press, while
the evidence has been closed, the
speakers by neither the state or the
defense have closed.
Wilkerson, the defendant is
present and has watched every
phaze of the case with the keenest
interest, His father, and uncle R
T. Wilkerson, have continued with
him almost throughout. the trial.
One thing a little remarkable for
.a murder trial, noted in this case
is the abscence in the court room
of mother, sisters or lady relatives
of the defendant. '
After The Hustler or Rome,
went to press yesterday afternoon
Mr. Joe West finished his testi
mony, Mr. Wes t had been calhd
by the.state. He swore that Mr.
Tom Mathias had sent word to
Marian Uhastian that he could get
the gray horse if he would change
his testimony to help Wilkerson.
Crossed, he said that this mes
sige from Mathias was sent to Chas
tain on Sunday during the former
trial. That if he (Chastain) would re
turn to the stand at the Court house
monday morning aud change his tes
timony’, that the gray horse or SIOO
might be comeatable.
He said that Chastain was his son
in-law.
Taylor Cooper was put on the
stand and swore that he saw Stephen
on July 4th two and a half miles this
side of Livingston. Swore that be
knew Win. Pyle, and that after the
former trial he had heard Pyle say
t.iat ‘ there is money in this thing aud
the next side that gets me to swear
lor it will have to pay me for it “
He had asked Pyle how much he
intended to have before he would
swear and that Pyle replied ‘*s2o,”
J . A. Stephens, fattier of the de
ceased, was put on the stand and
stated that last Fall Mrs Jessie B.
Stephen wrote him a letter asking
him to come and see her, that about
our weeks a't er war If, .he did go,
but here the lawyers for the defense
raised an objection to what Mrs.
Stephens had told witness on that o«
casion . His Honor sustained the ob
jection because the state had not
laid properly prescribed grounds.
Tue slate admitted this and show
ed that they could not do so, because
of the absence of Mrs. Stephens. The
evidence was thus withheld horn the
Jury.
M F; ank Stephens, tlsoof C irters
ville, and brother of ttie deceased,
was put on the stand ami swore that
he had ueier cn any occasion, asked
Chastain or any one eke to withhold
one iota of evidence—on the other
band he had told Chastain he would
not have the defendant convicted ex
cept upon the truth.
Will Ann Foster, col. was called
She had testified in the case on the
former trial, and repeated that evi
dence yesterday. She said that the
defendan , ’’’rank Wilkerson had gone
to her home one night about 9 o’clock
and had tried to get her to change
her evidence from the former trial.
Ou eross, she swore that Wilker
son and a Mr Webb had gone to her
house at night and read a paper to
her and told her if she signed it she
should not be hurt for it she could
not read but she was going to swear
the truth every time.
Alonzo Shipley testified that he
saw Mrs. Stephens after the murder
and talked with her and that she
10 CENTS A WEEK
did not believe that Free intended to
kill Frank but just to frighten him oft
and make him leav .
Capt L. B. Wragg, was put on
the stand and swore at the prelimi
nary trial at Livingston that Airs
Stephens had firmly admitted that
the handwriting on the back of th
the envelope was that of her husbam
C >urt took a recess until this
forenoon, when by consent the testi
mony of Air. C. C. Bass was read
Solicitor W. J. Nunnally wasswoin
and said on the day of the commit
ment trial he was al Livingston and
was in the Stephens residence. That
the cast .iron hasp into which the
catch of the doer, between Mrs
Stephens room and the nursery, fitted
was loose at the bottom. That M the
bottom screw had been torn from the
door facing and with the fresh wood
still in the groves it was hanging in
the hasp.
Here the state closed.
Major Z. B. Hargrove, uncle of
Mrs, Step hens was put back on the
stand ana swore that he had at
tended the committal trial
aud that he did not hear Mrs.
Stephens swear that the handwrit
ing on that envelope was that ot
tne deceased.
At 9 o’clock the defense was an
nounced closed aud at 9 10 Solici
tor General Joe Nunnally opened
for the state in a powerful argu
ment lasting for just two hours.
Mr. Nunualy stated the line of
prosecution, he read the wonderful
decision of ihe supreme court*
handed down on this particular
case and then he went into some
of the evidence.
i'he claims that by no tes
timony has it been shown that
Stephens ' ’knew” actually knew of
the criminal intimacy of the wife
and Wilkerson, nor had any trust
worthy witness testified that Steph
eus had ever intimated an inten
tion to kill Wilkerson.
Air. Nunnally said that “the
Continued on 3rd column 2nd page.