Morganton, March 20—A surprising turn came in the Collins-Smith murder case, which had been set for trial today, when, upon the opening of court this morning the state moved for a continuance of the case until August, presenting an affidavit setting forth the reasons for the requests as being recent developments of new evidence which should be followed up before the case came to trial.
It was stated in the affidavit that witnesses had been found to testify that Uray Smith, the murdered man, had a considerable amount of money just before the tragedy, and that robbery could probably be shown as a motive for the crime. The affidavit further set out that Isiah Smith had been brought into the case during the present term of court, the indictment having been presented by the grand jury less than a week ago, and that there had not been time to collect such evidence as the state believed it needed to make the case against him.
The defense made vigorous protest against a continuation, charging that there had been a change in the testimony of the state’s principal witness, Mary Collins, young daughter of one of the defendants, Mrs. Rozelia Collins, who, with Isiah Smith, is charged with the murder of Uray Smith, their nephew , and insinuated that it was for this reason that Solicitor Huffman and his associates, Spainhour and Mull, were “playing for time.” The state contended that the reason for the request was that time was needed to follow up new evidence. Judge Finley granted the plea for continuance.
Will Not Change Story
At the jail afterwards, Mary Collins, who was not brought to the court room, denied that she had made any change in the story told at the preliminary hearing when her mother was bound over to the court. She insists that she was telling the truth and that that story is still all she knows.
It will be recalled that she told that Mrs. Collins, young Guy Colllins and Isiah Smith drove off to Glen Alpine soon after dinner on the day Urah Smith’s body was found, leaving her with Uray; that Uray attempted to wrong her, offering her money, and that as she resisted she saw her mother pass the window; that she ran away to the field where Irene Smith, her cousin, was at work, and did not know what happened after she left; that she did not know Uray was dead until she and Irene were called from the field late in the afternoon.
Mrs. Collins denies returning, denies emphatically any knowledge whatever of how her nephew might have come to his death, sticking to her original story that she and her brother left Uray and the girls at home and that upon their return they found his dead body in the yard.
It is a case of many complications and admittedly baffling to all who have given it any thought.
A venire of 100 had been summoned for this morning and the court room was crowded when the case was called. It has created much interest throughout this section of the state.
From the front page of the Cleveland Star, Shelby, N.C., Friday, March 23, 1923
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