Ira Barbee Won Parole After Sheriff, Prosecutor Say He May Be Innocent, Oct. 9, 1925

Uncertainty of Guilt Wins Barbee a Parole. . . Now Believed That Conviction May Have Resulted from Mistaken Identity

Raleigh, Oct. 8—Uncertainty of his prosectors as to his guilt won a parole today for Ira Barbee, Stanly county white man, after serving two months of an eight months’ sentence imposed by Stanly Superior Court upon his conviction last July of making liquor.

Sheriff Furr of Stanly, who was one of the principal witnesses against Barbee, wrote the governor he was uncertain as to his identity and that he is now of the opinion that he was convicted because of mistaken identity. Other officers in the county and the trial solicitor recommended a parole for the same reason.

“I am of the opinion that there is the possibility that we convicted an innocent man,” the solicitor wrote.

From page 2 of The Concord Daily Tribune, Friday, Oct. 9, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-10-09/ed-1/seq-2/