Jesse Furr, well-to-do farmer of Paw Creek township, was pronounced guilty of abandonment of his fifth wife and four small children, ranging from 1 to 11 years of age, by a jury in superior court Saturday afternoon, following an all-day trial, but was not sentenced by Judge Finley, owing to the lateness of the hour at which the jury reported. He will be sentenced Monday. The jury was out only a few minutes after it received the case, following Judge Finley’s charge.
Furr has been married five times and has had 20 children by four wives. One wife was divorced shortly after he married her and he had no children by her. All but one or two of the children are living.
Two attorneys, Miss Julia Alexander and D.E. Henderson, assisted Solicitor George W. Wilson in the prosecution of the case. Jake F. Newell represented the defendant, Furr. The case has been pending trial in the Superior court more than a year since it was first heard before Justice of the Peace S.S. Stokes, who found probable cause and bound the defendant over. Because of the crowded dockets and for other reasons the case has been postponed from court to court.
Furr drove his wife away from his home in Paw Creek according to some of the evidence submitted, more than a year ago and she went to Mt. Holly, where she has been working in the cotton mill since and supporting her four small children. He said he refused to live with her.
The trial of, the case was one of unusual accompaniments. The deserted wife and four small boys were conspicuous, and the boys kept up considerably more noise than is accustomed to prevail in the staid presence of a Superior court judge and attendants at court. The defendant, an intelligent and ready-witted, lean and wire-looking son of the soil, gave many answers to questions that were racy and snappy. Many times the court spectators and court officers were convulsed with laughter as some humorous phrase of the tangled marital affair was unraveled and several times threw re near-tears as the pathetic side of the case, an abandoned other and four children, was testified to.
Other Cases Settled in Superior Court:
--Walter Foster, white, who was convicted of the larceny of a quantity of meat from Asbury Sims of North Charlotte was sentenced to the roads for six months.
--W.H. Brooks, white, convicted of obtaining goods from W.A. Yandle, Pineville merchant, on the false pretense that he had obtained employment at the Pineville mill and expected his family there soon, was sentenced to one year on the roads.
--J.B. Brannon convicted of handling liquor was given a suspended sentence of 12 months of the road, the sentence to become effective at the first evidence he has been dealing in liquor again.
From The Charlotte News, Jan. 8, 1922
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