Albemarle, April 2—The jury sitting in the case against John Gray, charged with the murder of “Dad” Watkins on the night of October 30, returned a verdict for murder in the first degree at 5:30 o’clock afternoon, after having deliberated in their room for about one hour. The verdict broke all records in Stanly county within the memory of any living man, this having been the first verdict of murder ever rendered carrying with it the death penalty.
Immediately after the verdict, Gray deliberately bit off a chew of tobacco and asked that he be taken ack to jail, as though nothing had happened. As the jury filed into the court room he appeared rather nervous, having fumbled with his hands and wriggled in his seat, but as soon as the verdict had been announced, he recovered himself very quickly. Judge Schenck immediately adjourned court without passing sentence of death on the defendants. It is understood that he will pass sentence early tomorrow.
The tense moment in court appeared today when the 79-year-old mother of th
e defendant went on the stand to testify in his behalf. She was so feeble that she had to have assistance in getting to the witness stand. After she had testified as to John’s peculiarly nervous and sickly disposition in his youth, she turned as she started to leave the witness stand, and looking the defendant squarely in the face said:
“John, It’s too late to call on man now.”
Tears were seen in the eyes of scores of bronzed faced workmen and farmers, and a deathlike stillness, a most distressing, pervaded the quiet courtroom. The cases against the other three defendants will not be tried at this term as the term expires tomorrow and it will be impossible to reach those cases. The judge suggested that a special term of court should be called in order to clear the jail. He thinks it will take at least a week to clear the criminal docket.
From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune, April 3, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-04-03/ed-1/seq-1/
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