Gastonia, Jan. 13—Robert L. Grice and John Carswell, charged with murder on the strength of an affidavit sworn to by Effie Beattie, were remanded to jail this afternoon following a preliminary hearing before Justice of Peace S.H. Morris. Grice and Carswell were arrested last Monday in connection with the notorious John Ford murder, which occurred on a highway west of Gastonia, November 7, 1920.
The Beattie girl, after two years, made an alleged confession swearing that Grice and Carswell, father and uncle of Effie Grice, one of the four principals in the tragedy, were the persons who shot Ford and assaulted her. She says that Grice shot and killed Ford and that Carswell shot her, inflicting a wound from the effects of which she was in a hospital three weeks.
Girl Tells Her Story
On direct examination by Solicitor Carpenter, the Beattie girl swore that on the Sunday evening in question, she Effie Grice, John Ford and Ransom Killian, of Lincoln county, went out of the Bessemer City road for a ride. Arriving at the secluded spot on a by-road, they stopped the car, and the Grice girl and Ford got out and walked away a few paces. She and Killian sat in the car talking. After a few moments she says they heard a shot, and two men approached the car. One of them shot and the bullet entered her back. She swore on the witness stand this afternoon that Carswell and Grice were the parties.
On cross examination by Attorney R.L. Sigmon, for the defense, nothing was brought out in addition to the above information, save the admission that she had told at first that they were negroes. At this point the defense rested, and the state announced, too, that it rested. The whole affair consumed less than 10 minutes.
Solicitor Carpenter announced that he would present the case to the grand jury Monday morning. One o week’s term of criminal court begins here Jan. 15, and it is his intention to bring the case to trial sometime next week.
Interest Was Intense
Interest in the hearing this afternoon was intense. Three hours before the time set for the hearing the courthouse was filling up, and when Solicitor Carpenter arrived from Charlotte at 4 o’clock every inch of space was taken up, and hundreds could not get into the courtroom. It was the largest crowd that ever assembled in the Gaston county courthouse.
Ransom Killian, the young Lincoln county man involved in the affair, refuses to talk for publication. It is understood, however, that he repudiates the Beattie girl’s alleged confession and stands by his original tale of the two negroes. When asked if he had any idea of what inspired the Beattie girl to divulge this hitherto concealed information he replied that there was something behind it that had not come out yet.
There is widespread interest in the case, and the forthcoming trial. Opinion is about equally divided, judging from street talk, as to the truth or falsity of the girl’s affidavit. All are agreed that the negro tail as originally told is not true. In fact, nobody has ever believed that story. One rumor is to the effect that the two boys themselves quarreled, and the shooting ensued.
From page 2 of the Lincoln County News, Lincolnton, N.C., Monday, Jan. 15, 1923
No comments:
Post a Comment