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Friday, December 9, 2022

Joe Dixon Granted Reprieve, C.E. Mathews and Albert Smyer Paroled, Dec. 9, 1922

Two Paroles and One Reprieve Granted Friday. . . Morrison May Commute Negro’s Death Sentence to Life Imprisonment

By Brock Barkley

Raleigh, Dec. 8—Governor Morrison today granted a third reprieve of 60 days to Joe Dixon, Craven County negro, under sentence of death for burglary.

The judge who sentenced Dixon and the solicitor who prosecuted him recommended to the Governor some time since that the sentence by commuted. The third reprieve is granted to give the Governor time to thoroughly investigate the case. Dixon’s second respite expires next Tuesday, while the new one gives him a lease on life until February 12. In the meantime, an investigation by the Governor is likely to result in a change of sentence to life imprisonment.

C.E. Mathews, Harnett County, veteran of the World War and until sentenced a patient at Oteen Hospital, was paroled today from a two-year sentence in the State’s prison for assault. The judge who sentenced Dixon and the solicitor who prosecuted him recommended to the Governor some time since that the sentence by commuted. The third reprieve is granted to give the Governor time to thoroughly investigate the case. Dixon’s second respite expires next Tuesday, while the new one gives him a lease on life until February 12. In the meantime, an investigation by the Governor is likely to result in a change of sentence to life imprisonment.

The judge who sentenced Dixon and the solicitor who prosecuted him recommended to the Governor some time since that the sentence by commuted. The third reprieve is granted to give the Governor time to thoroughly investigate the case. Dixon’s second respite expires next Tuesday, while the new one gives him a lease on life until February 12. In the meantime, an investigation by the Governor is likely to result in a change of sentence to life imprisonment.

The judge who sentenced Dixon and the solicitor who prosecuted him recommended to the Governor some time since that the sentence by commuted. The third reprieve is granted to give the Governor time to thoroughly investigate the case. Dixon’s second respite expires next Tuesday, while the new one gives him a lease on life until February 12. In the meantime, an investigation by the Governor is likely to result in a change of sentence to life imprisonment.

It is said that Mathews committed an assault while on a visit home from Oteen and he is supposed to have been intoxicated at the time. He is a sufferer from tuberculosis. The judge who sentenced Dixon and the solicitor who prosecuted him recommended to the Governor some time since that the sentence by commuted. The third reprieve is granted to give the Governor time to thoroughly investigate the case. Dixon’s second respite expires next Tuesday, while the new one gives him a lease on life until February 12. In the meantime, an investigation by the Governor is likely to result in a change of sentence to life imprisonment.

The judge and solicitor of the Harnett County Recorder’s Court recommended the parole. Mathews has a wife and five children. He has served seven months of the two year sentence.

A second parole granted today goes to Albert F. Smyer of Catawba County, sentenced last month to a year on the roads for driving an automobile while intoxicated. Evidence presented to the Governor indicated the prisoner had not had a fair trial, the solicitor who prosecuted him writing that the sentence was not just and that he had not been properly defended. Practically every business establishment in the in the town of Newton petitioned for the parole and all of the jurors joined in the petition.

From page 2 of The Asheville Citizen, Dec. 9, 1922

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