“I can’t conceive of a meaner thing than a white man stealing a hog,” said Judge Albion H. Dunn in Superior Court here last November just before sentencing Melton Sellers, white man, to two years on the county chain gang, after a jury had convicted the defendant.
Sellers is now a free man, Governor A.W. McLean having issued a full pardon Friday and upon doing so stated, “This pardon is granted because of the statement of that after the case was tried and upon thoughtful investigation, it is apparent beyond any reasonable doubt that the prisoner is entirely innocent of the charge for which he was convicted.”
After the trial, which was the result of the theft of a hog, Van Walters, prosecuting witness, testifying that Sellers had stolen his hog, which bore certain ear marks, the hog was brought to Lumberton and shown to the solicitor, sheriff and several members of the jury, some of whom were acquainted with the peculiar ear marks of hogs, and as a consequence an application for pardon was started pending an appeal to Supreme Court.
From the front page of The Robesonian, Monday, Feb. 15, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84026483/1926-02-15/ed-1/seq-1/
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