Jefferson County, Texas, Newspaper Articles

JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS

Crime News Articles

WILLIE JONES DIES
Publicly Executed at Beaumont for a Foul Murder
Hanging of the Negro is Witnessed by a Crowd of Between Four and Six Thousand People
Collection Taken up at Scaffold to Defray His Burial
Twelve Minutes After the Drop Before Jones was Pronounced Dead - Died of Strangulation - Had Killed His Young Wife with a Razor
Beaumont, Tex., March 5 - (Special) - Willie Jones, colored, gave his life as the penalty for the atrocious murder of his young wife in this city several months ago. The execution was public and was witnessed by a crowd estimated at between 4000 and 6000. Escorted by the sheriff and his deputies and accompanied by Rev. Wm. H. Bendford of Galveston, Jones mounted the scaffold at 10:50 o'clock. Rev. Boulding addressed the assembled multitudes, explaining that the condemned man had been converted and was ready to meet his maker. Jones followed with a rambling talk in which he warned his former companions against evil. When Jones finished Rev. Boulding asked for a collection to defray the expense of meeting the condemned man's request to have his body shipped to Waco for burial. While the collection was being taken up Jones prayed vigorously and many in the assemblage echoed his supplications. At 11:38 Jones stepped on the trap and a moment later he dropped into eternity. Death, however, was not instantaneous. The knot slipped to the back of his head, failing to break his neck and he died from strangulation.

It was 12 minutes after the drop when he was pronounced dead by the physicians. The body, after it shot though the trap door was in full view of the immense crowd and its fall was accompanied by a shriek and many colored women fainted. When cut down the remains of the Negro were taken to an undertaking parlor and prepared for burial. The boy was then taken to the Live Oak Baptist Church where funeral services were conducted and tonight it was shipped to Waco for burial.

On the night of May 3, 1899, at about 11 o'clock, Jones killed his young wife, Lou, a bride of but a few months, by cutting her throat with a razor. There was no motive for the murder and jealousy was the only excuse. About ten days prior to the murder, Jones had brutally beaten his wife with a rope and driven her from home.
(San Antonio Express, March 10, 1900, page 2, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

WILL MURRAY
WILL MURRAY HANGED
Negro Executed at Beaumont for the Killing of His Mistress
Beaumont, Tex. - April 25 - Will Murray was hanged at 11:30 this morning, Sheriff Landry pulling the lever which threw the drop, and in thirteen minutes he was pronounced dead.
The crime for which Will Murray, alias Michigan Kid, was hanged today was the murder of his mistress, Josephine Baker, on Sept. 22 last. Murray was a large negro, standing 6 feet 2 inches and his victim was a diminutive negress, scarcely weighing ninety pounds. The crime was committed on the river front near the Tram Lumber Mill planes in the house in which the woman was making her home at the time.

Murray was arraigned in the Fifty Eighth District Court, Judge W. H. Pope, presiding on Oct. 16 and entered a plea of guilty. The testimony in the case was presented and in seven minutes after it went to the jury a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree with punishment set at hanging was returned by the jury. The case was appealed by Murray's attorney, but the verdict was affirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeals, the mandate having been received here early in March.

Murray has never shown the least remorse for his crime and has maintained that he was ready for execution at any time. When the prisoners in the division of the jail where he was confined attempted to saw their way out he refused to work on Sundays and finally quit work altogether, saying that he did not care to get out. (Dallas Morning News, April 26, 1904, page 4, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

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