Crime News Items from Travis County, TX

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Travis County Execution Newspaper Articles

JIM DAVIDSON
JIM DAVIDSON WAS HUNG
One of the Murderers of the Engburgs Expatiated His Crime
Watrous, His Partner, Hung Oct. 27
Confessed His Guilt and Prayed for Forgiveness - Remarks on the Scaffold - Story of the Crime

Austin, Nov. 24 - The launching into eternity of Jim Davidson this morning avenged the horrible murder of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Engburg, which was committed by Davidson and his cousin, Sam Waltrous, near Manor, June 2 last. The execution was witnessed by about the customary number of people admitted by Sheriff White to such affairs. The execution was conducted as smoothly as that of watrous, which took place October 27 last. The doomed man's neck was broken and he was pronounced dead seventeen minutes after the trap was sprung.

Davidson slept well last night, retiring early, and arose about 6 o'clock this morning. He was in grand spirits, chatted with the jailer and guard, telling them that he was prepared to die and believed he would go to heaven.

In the early morning several colored ministers arrived at the jail and held religious services. Davidson took much interest in the service, confessed his crime and prayed for forgiveness. Shortly after the close of the services, Edmund Davidson father of the condemned man, arrived and shook hands with his son, bidding him a last farewell.

At 11 o'clock those who held tickets issued by Sheriff White were admitted to the jail. When they got to the scaffold, Davidson his spiritual advisers and the officers were on the scaffold. After the spectators got seated and quiet Sheriff White announced that Davidson had a few remarks to make. The doomed man stood near the trap, cool and collected. He looked straight at the crowd. This is what he said:

"I am before you today, only for a short while; I have to leave to leave you soon. I am guilty of the crime I am accused of. I took part in it. It was a mighty horrible crime; but I am guilty. I hope the Lord has forgiven me; I believe He has and I will go to heaven. I stand here and say I took part in it, but I was led into it. Now my turn has come, God be with you all."

Davidson then stepped on the trap, To the surprise of everyone present Davidson, while being pinloned, laughed and made this remark to Will Waddrell, the negro convicted of burglary, who was peering through the bars of his cell opposite the scaffold:

"Will Waddell, you must be a better boy and don't get into trouble."
"I sure will," came back from Waddell, who seemed to be more greatly affected than Davidson.

Deputy Sheriff Corwin put the black cap on and adjusted the rope. At 11:11 o'clock Sheriff White pulled the lever, the trap flew open and Davidson went to his death.

DETAILS OF THE DASTARDLY CRIMES
Jim Davidson, who met death on the scaffold today, was a mulatto, about 23 years of age, the son of Edmund Davidson a respectable old negro who has farmed in the vicinity of Manor a number of years, and who by his honesty and industry has always gotten along well with his neighbors. Young Davidson had borne a good reputation until he became implicated in the horrible murder of George W. Engburg and wife, committed on the night of June 2 last.

Jim Davidson was led into the crime by his cousin, Sam Watrous, who was executed in the Travis county jail October 27. Watrous had an idea that the Engburgs had a large sum of money concealed in their home. He told his cousin of this and induced him to join him in a scheme to rob, rape and murder. The Davidsons lived a short distance from the Engburg place and on the night of the crime Jim Davidson and Watrous left the former's home shortly after supper. Watrous carrying a double barreled, muzzle loading shotgun which had been borrowed from a neighbor by Davidson's brother some time previous to this. The two friends went to the home of the Engburgs. The Engburgs were Swedes and Watrous, who could talk Swedish a little after stationing himself behind a china tree, thirteen feet in front of the door of the Engburg house, called to Engburg in Swedish. The unsuspecting man opened the door and when he appeared Watrous, without a word of warning, shot him down. Engburg fell inside of the house. His wife who was in the room ran to the door closed and locked it. She than ran into an adjoining room got a pistol and fired one shot. This had the effect of frightening the scoundrels, but they soon recovered and proceeded to finish their hellish crime. Davidson took a rock and with it beat on the door of the room in which the frightened woman had taken refuge. She ran out of the room into the death chamber where she was shot down by Watrous who fired the shot through a window. She fell near the body of her husband. The negroes then climbed through the window and each criminally assaulted Mrs. Engburg while she lay dying in a pool of her own blood. After satisfying their fiendish lust the black brutes beat in her skull with a stick of wood, finishing the bloody job by jabbing a butcher knife in the dying woman's throat. They then crushed in the skull of Engburg making sure that he was dead before they began searching for booty. The murderers and rapists were unable find any money; they only found some shea? Silverware, several silk handkerchiefs, a pistol and a gold ring which was taken from the dead woman's finger.

After bolting all the doors the black brutes made their exit through the window by which they had entered and went home.

A little over a month after the commission of the crime, Watrous was captured by Sheriff White, the details of the arrest having been printed in these columns. The pistol which was stolen by the negroes led to the arrest of Davidson. A few days after the murder Davidson took the pistol to Manor and sold it. Shortly after this a negro stole the weapon from the man who bought it. The thief was subsequently arrested, the pistol being found on him. The weapon was identified and it was an easy matter to find out that it had been sold by Davidson.

On July 7, Davidson was captured by Zack Puckett, at that time constable in Manor. He was brought to the city and kept here until July 9 and then removed to the jail at San Marcos. On July 16 Davidson made a full confession to Sheriff White but not until after the sheriff had promised that Davidson should see his folks again and that a mob be prevented from burning him. He recited the full details of the crime, laying the blame on Watrous. He said Watrous planned the murder and induced him to assist in its commission.

The evidence introduced by the state at the trial of Davidson was clear and conclusive and the jury reached a verdict assessing the death penalty in a few minutes.

Davidson filed a motion for a new trial intending to appeal to the higher court. A day or two later he withdrew his motion with the understanding that he be given sixty days to live. If this move had not been made Davidson would have been executed with Watrous, who did not make a motion for a new trial, but resigned himself to his fate when the jury found him guilty. (Fort Worth Morning Register, November 25, 1899, page 2, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

NICHOLS WAS HANGED
MAINTAINED TO THE LAST THAT HE WAS NOT GUILTY OF THE CRIME
He was Executed for the Outrage of Anna Straka, the Little 11 year old Bohemian Girl

Austin, Tex., Jan. 12 - At exactly 3:58 this afternoon, Sheriff R. E. White sprung the trap that sent the soul of Ed Nichols across the waterless river that marks the boundary between life and death. At 2 o'clock the crowd thronged the jailyard just to get a glimpse of what they could see between the narrow windows with iron bars. There were whites, Mexicans and negroes. There were men women and boys. For two hours they laughed and joked, jollied each other, smoked cigarettes and frolicked as though the terrible event which they longed to see was but the crushing of a viper. They filled the yard and covered the roof of a long shed which had been erected to protect workmen from the weather at the time when the officers were making the final preparation for the execution. The uproar outside was terrific. Inside the jail it was different.

It was 2 o'clock when the reports and those who had permits to witness the execution were admitted. They were admitted to the cell which the condemned man occupied and found Nichols neatly attired in a black suit of clothes, a hat upon his head and smoking a cigarette. If it had not been for the cold stone walls and the massive iron bars and the racket made by the workmen who were adjusting the gibbet, one might have well thought he was simply prepared to take an outing on Sunday after a week of labor in the field, rather than waiting for a transit to unknown dominions beyond the confines of life.

He smoked and chatted with his visitors, and seemed oblivious of the doom which the fleeting moments were drawing around him. Nichols was a typical negro, except the chocolate hue of his skin. The short curly wool, large flat nose, large mouth, and thick lips, small ears and massive neck and the low forehead and dark expressionless eyes stamped him as a being of the lower order of human life, a creature whose passion was greater than his judgment and whose animal propensities were more powerful than the dictates of heart or will or intellect. There he sat in holiday attire waiting for his trip to that country from which there is no returning footsteps.

"How old are you, Ed?"
"Nineteen," he said.
"Are you ready to die?"
"Yes , sir."
"Have you any confession to make before you are executed?"
"I have nothing to say except a statement which Rev. Campbell will read."
"Is it your statement, or did he write it for you?"
"He wrote it for me and read it to me. It is all I have to say."
"Is the rumor that you have confessed true or not?"
"I have not confessed to any man."
"At this hour, when you are about to be executed, will you say whether you or innocent or guilty of the crime for which you are condemned?"
"I've got nothing to say about it," replied the negro and he maintained his stubborn indifference to such questions and his impending fate up to the moment the trap was sprung and his form was quivering and dangling under the unyielding beam which was unconscious of the terrible weight it supported.

Rev. L. L. Campbell the colored Baptist minister, came into the cell and all hats were removed as he read the 21st and 32nd Psalms. Silence prevailed within the jail and only the preacher's voice could be heard. The other prisoners seemed to appreciate the terrible event which was at hand, but outside the reckless crowd chattered and shouted as though they were watching for a balloon ascension or awaiting the announcement of the result of the election. There was little sympathy for the poor wretch that was listening and bowing his head as he heard voicings of scripture that seemed to him to meet his condition. The doors of the jail swung open and a hundred or more who had tickets crowded in and perched upon the cages and waited. The prisoners in the cells commanded a view of the gallows peered through determined to see every movement.

At length Sheriff White leading the condemned man ascended the steps followed by the colored ministers: Revs. L. L. Campbell, Alex Walker, W. T. Boulding and Wm. Beckham, Baptists, and J. W. Willard a Methodist from New Orleans. The only evidence of nervousness displayed by Nichols was the rapidity with which he smoked his cigar. Rev. Campbell commenced the last service by reading a portion of the 32nd Psalm after which Elder Beckham prayed fervently. Then Campbell read the last declaration of Nichols as follows:

"The last words of Ed Nichols sentenced to hang Jan. 12, 1894 at Austin. I wish to say that I never thought of reaching this period in life. I am very thankful to the officials of the jail for the kind treatment at their hands. The few weeks respite from the hands of the governor were thankfully received. I feel grateful to the religious people for their visits and prayers. The sermons and scripture readings from Rev. L. L. Campbell of the Baptist Church here have been the means of my conversion and baptism. Sheriff White has been very accommodating to me indeed. I feel prepared to meet death. My soul is at peace with all mankind. Even those who testified against me have found favor in my sight. I am informed that rumors are out that I confessed the crime alleged. This is untrue. I have never confessed to anyone. If anyone has thought so they are mistaken. Many have talked with me about this matter, but I have never said I was guilty. My last words to you are that I am not guilty of the crime for which I am about to hang. God is my secret judge and ye are my witnesses. Farewell. Meet me in the better land where the father himself will execute and mete out justice to all. Ed Nichols

The preachers sang a verse of "Nearer My God, to Thee," and Rev. L. L. Campbell read the following prayer:

"Almighty father of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, today we come in the presence of men and unseen angels and thy trinity to witness the execution of Ed Nichols, who has been tried by the court of Travis County and convicted to be hanged by the neck on the 22nd day of December, 1892, but the attorney for the defense feeling that the circumstances connected with the case were not sufficient to convict, appealed to his excellency, the governor of Texas, for a fair hearing and a clear examination of the details in the affair. The governor being anxious to do the right thing gave a respite until the 12th day of January 1894, in order that ample time might be had for a thorough investigation of such papers as should come before him and the final decision of the chief executive of the state is not to interfere with the previous renderings of the lower court. Thus we are to do the biddings of the law while the decisions of the lower courts have been sustained and Ed Nichols is to swing into eternity in a short time. The supreme court of heaven will be in session. Sheriff Death is on his black steed, is but a short distance away, coming to arrest the soul of this man to meet the trial at the higher bar where God himself is supreme ruler, Jesus, his son, the attorney and the Holy Ghost the prosecutor. While we are weak and frail creatures, not able to give justice, thou knowest the secret of every heart and will give such decision in any and all cases as would be pleasing in thy most precious sight. Let this execution be a warning to the flesh of sinful men, because tho has said, the way of the transgressor is hard. Rape, we are told is the crime for which Ed Nichols is to be brought to the gallows. We are thankful for his conversion to the faith of Christ. The Thief on the cross got a hearing so we are not astonished when this man tells us he has heard from above and is perfectly willing to risk his soul in the care of those who gave it. Let there be more care among our people as to the raising of children. This man still claims to be not guilty. If there were ever a time in the history of life for truth this is the hour. One out of the many mansions will be his. Some of the robes will fit him and one of the crowns he can wear. In all things, merciful father, let they will be done on earth as is heaven, forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever, Amen."

A preacher started the song, "And am I born to die and lay this body down, And must my trembling spirit fly into the world unknown."

The ministers all joined in the song while Nichols stolid and without a visible trace of either physical or mental anguish kept his seat.

At 3:45 Sheriff White read the death warrant after which the noose and ropes were adjusted. Before the black cap was adjusted, Nichols calmly shook hands with and bade farewell to all upon the platform and said quietly he hoped to meet them all in heaven. At 3:58 Sheriff White sprung the trap and Nichols shot down to his death.

Below the platform were Drs. McKinley, Groves, Smith and Cummings. In a moment the pulse was beating at 152 and then it beat feebler, until at the end of five minutes, there was no pulsation at the wrist at all, although the heart was still beating. At the end of fourteen minutes the doctors pronounced life extinct, and at fifteen minutes past 4 the body was cut down and prepared for burial. Thus did the law avenge the outrage upon Anna Straka, the little 11 year old Bohemian girl.

Some three criminal assaults upon women in this county were reported immediately after the Paris tragedy and the governor's sensational message to the legislature immediately thereafter. There might be a suggestion of coincidence as to the one or the other. The cruelty of the mob on one hand might be supposed to excite desperate defiance upon the part of such criminals, or on the other their ignorance might lead to a fatal misconstruction of the governor's attitude in justly denouncing the terrible deed of the Paris lynchers.

However that may be this community was excited to a high pitch by the first two assaults, one being successful and the guilty party now being in the penitentiary. The third for which Ed Nichols paid the penalty with his life today was in some respects as cruel and brutal as that which inflamed the passions of the citizens of Lamar county.

On March 30, 1893, Anna Straka, a little Bohemian girl 11 years of age, left her father's house in the southern portion of this county to visit her uncles' family over a mile distant. Returning in the aftertnoon before sundown, walking and carrying a small bundle of clothes she passed by the field where Ed Nichols and another colored boy were plowing. When she had passed it and was some half mile from home Nichols confronted her in a lonely portion of the road, shaded and sheltered by high hills.

The little girl said the road was dark and she was frightened when the negro stopped her and asked some question. As she had come from Bohemia only a few years she did not understand English and supposing he wanted to know what the bundle she had contained she began untying it when he made his brutal assault.

She was so lacerated and wounded and so weak from loss of blood when she started home that she could only crawl a few years at a time and rest. She was missed and her father hunting for her, found her back of his field, unable to go further and carried her home. This is substantially her testimony.

Peace officers were immediately notified and in a few hours arrests of Ed Nichols and another suspect were made and the latter upon being confronted with Anna, who failed to identify him was released. Upon Nichols were found evidences of guilt in the blood upon his clothes. The officers traced him from the place where the crime was committed to a pool of water where he had squatted down and washed his hands. The tracks made on the margin of the pool of water in the red mud fitted Nichols shoes was the same color as that at the pool. When his clothing was closely examined in jail and found stained with blood through and through, and after Anna had identified him as the ravisher, he made a confession to Sheriff White.
He was convicted and the sentence of death rendered at the first term of court. His counsel, Mr. George Walton, appealed the case, and after the judgment of the trial court was affirmed by the court of criminal appeals he appealed to the governor on the same ground, that the confession was not legally admitted in evidence. The governor gave the brief appeal and statement of facts a full day's consideration and concluded there was no ground for interference.

Nichols was a youth of some 20 years of age, ignorant and stupid. He has not up to a late day realized his situation. His father died when he was a child and his mother married Nichols, whose name he assumed and has borne many years.

Bob Ake for criminal assault upon a little German girl, was the last man executed in this county and that was some fifteen years ago. He was also a negro youth and went to glory ascribing his fate to bad company and licentious habits. (Dallas Morning News, January 13, 1894, page 1, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

JOHN RENFRO
RENFRO MUST HANG
Governor Declines to interfere in Case of Premeditated Murder
Austin, July 9 – The governor today declined to interfere in the carrying out of the sentence of the court in the case of John Renfro, sentenced to be hanged. Renfro is to hang at Cleburne on next Friday, July 13, for murder. The governor gave the following reasons for declining to interfere:
“Every fact and circumstance as shown by the papers submitted including the proceedings the trial court as they appear in the transcript filed with the criminal court of appeals, has been most carefully and thoughtfully considered.
“The applicant stands convicted of the premeditated murder of a quiet, peaceable and law-abiding citizen of Johnson county, who had sought and was then relying upon the judicial protection and vindication of his daughter against the most cruel wrong that could be perpetrated upon female character.
“The deceased, when slain by the applicant, was on the way to the courthouse, unarmed, unsuspecting danger, and entirely helpless against the murderous assault.
No unprejudiced mind can calmly review the statement of facts as agreed to by counsel on both sides and in connection therewith the application made and sworn to by the defendant for the continuance of the case without reaching the conclusion that the penalty, though the severest known to the law is none too heavy.
“If there were irregularities during the trial, the law afforded means by which they could have been brought to the attention of the appellate tribunal. So far as I am advised this was not done nor attempted to be done.
“For the reasons stated the application is denied and the sentence of the court will be executed.” (Fort Worth Morning Register, July 10, 1900, page 2)

RESPITE FOR JOHN RENFRO
Board of Pardons will Consider His Plea for Cummutation
Austin, Tex., June 23 – John Renfro, sentenced to hang in Johnson County next Friday, for murder, has been granted a respite by the Governor until July 6 in order to give the Pardon Board an opportunity to investigate the application for a commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment. (Dallas Morning News, June 24, 1900, page 3, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

JOHN RENFRO IS EXECUTED
Murderer of M. M. Williams Hanged at Cleburne yesterday at Noon – He made a Brief Statement
Cleburne, Tex., July 27 – Today at 12:12 o’clock John Renfro paid the death penalty on the gallows for the murder of M. M. Williams which occurred at the south door of the courthouse in this city on Feb. 3, 1899. The execution was private, only about 100 witnessing it. An inclosure had been built in the rear of the jail and the same scaffold was used as that on which John Wilkins and John Shaw were hanged. The same rope which hanged John Shaw and which has become famous over the State by being used in so many executions served in this instance.
Renfro did not go to sleep till 2 o’clock this morning, but rested well the remainder of the night. He ate a hearty breakfast and after receiving a bath and shave dressed and received visitors till about 10 o’clock when Revs. Newbrough and Hendricks were admitted. At this time all save his spiritual advisers, guards and newspaper men were excluded. After reading from the Scripture by Rev. Newbrough, a song, prayer and short talks, Sheriff Stewart came in and read the death warrant.
A nice lunch was then brought in and the prisoner ate lightly of it and insisted that those present partake of it. Officer D. O. Pollard sat by him and ate a few mouthfuls and chatted with him in a low tone.
The march to the gallows was taken up at 11:50. Renfro ascended the steps at 11:55, walking steadily. After prayer by Rev. Hendricks the prisoner spoke for only a few minutes. He said he had made his peace with God and was not afraid to die; the he knew he had to die some time; and while he felt that an injustice had been done him he was ready to die without malice towards anyone.
He spoke in a kindly tone without bravado. The tying of his hands and feet, the adjustment of the rope and the saying of good-bye required only a few minutes, and at the time stated Sheriff Stewart sprung the trap and the orders of the court had been obeyed, and the murder of old man Williams avenged. The neck was broken and there was not a quiver of limb or body to show that there was the least suffering or pain. County Physician J. D. Rucker pronounced him dead in twelve minutes from the time the trap was sprung.
The crime for which Renfro today paid the death penalty can be told in a few words. He had been indicated on a charge of slandering the daughter of M. M. Williams. The case was to have been tried on Feb. 3, 1899. On the morning of that day Williams and Renfro reached the door he turned and fired five shots into the body of Williams, which resulted in death in a few minutes. Readers of The News are already familiar with the details of the trial and conviction and subsequent trial on a charge of insanity.
John Renfro was 29 years old and of one of the best families in the county and was a very intelligent young man. The murdered man was a good honest farmer honored and respected by his neighbors. (Dallas Morning News, July 28, 1900, page 3, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

SID SPEARS
RESPITE GIVEN SPEARS
Gov Sayers Will Examine Application for Commutation of Sentence
Austin, Tex., May 31 – Judge E. C. McLean of Sherman was here today on business with the Governor relative to the Sid Spears Case.
Judge McLean filed with the Governor papers, requesting that the death sentence of Sid Spears be commuted to life imprisonment. Spears is sentenced to hang Monday, June 4, for the murder of his wife, Emma, on July 2, 1899. The Governor grated a respite for two weeks in order to enable him and the Pardon Board an opportunity to examine the papers in the commutation application. (Dallas Morning News, June 1, 1900, page 4, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

NO MERCY FOR SPEARS
Gov. Sayers Refuses to Commute the Wife Murderer’s Sentence
Austin, Tex., June 15 – The Governor this evening gave the following reasons for declining to grant the application for commutation of the sentence (death penalty) of Sid Spears, who was convicted at the April term, 1899 of the District Court of Grayson for the murder of his wife:
“After a most careful examination of all the papers submitted to me I have not been able to discover a single fact or circumstance that would tend to excuse in the least the act of the appellant. The killing was absolutely without justification and the extreme penalty of the law will be none too severe. JOSEPH D. SAYERS, “Governor.”
(Dallas Morning News, June 16, 1900, page 4, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

SAM WATROUS
SAM WATROUS, FIEND
The Black Brute that Murdered a Family and Ravished One Victim
Austin, Oct. 27 - Sam Watrous, one of the murderers of the Endburg family was hanged in the Travis County jail this morning at 11:22 o'clock. His neck was broken by the fall and death was instantaneous. Through the courtesy of Sheriff Emmett White he was allowed to pass the night in the same cell with his cousin. Jim Davidson his partner in crime who will be executed one month from today.

Watrous walked to the gallows with a steady step and neer showed any signs of faltering when his hands were being tied and the black cap was being placed over his head. Prior to these preliminaries he made a rambling talk in which he expressed himself as being perfectly willing to die, and stated that he had made his peace with God. A death like stillness prevailed for a moment, when Sheriff White touched the lever and the body of the doomed man shot through the trap and 7-1/2 feet below. The crowd numbered about 150 people who had been invited by the sheriff to witness the execution.

SAM WATROUS' CRIME
Sam Watrous was a fiend in every sense of the word. Not in the criminal annals of Travis county has there been a more fiendish crime than that which Watrous planned and carried out. He and Jim Davidson, his cousin murdered Mr. and Mrs. George W. Engburg at their residence, a short distance from Manor, on the night of June 2, last. The crime was revolting in the extreme.

The murder was not discovered until the following morning, and the sight which met the eyes of the part making the ghastly find was horrible in the extreme. Lying on the floor in blood one-half inch in depth were the bodies of the murdered couple. Their heads had been beaten into a pulp and so great had been the mutilation that they were almost beyond recognition. The heads were filled with shot and a large butcher knife had been stuck in the throat of the unfortunate workman. Between the bodies lay a biliet of wood, covered with blood. Near the man was found a large rock and it was bloody. Bloody tracks made by the murderers in their search for money were found in all the rooms of the house.

From the positions in which the bodies lay it was surmised that Engburg had been called to the door, and as he opened it he received the full charge from a shotgun, which was fired from behind a tree a short distance away. The lower limbs of the tree were powder burned. Engburg fell backwards after being shot. The wife was also shot with a shotgun the load being fired through a window on the side of the room opposite the door. There were evidences of the woman having been outraged. The shotgun wounds did not prove fatal instantly and before pounding out her life, the fiends ravished her. There were also evidences that the unfortunate woman made a desperate struggle with her slayers.

The murder remained a mystery until about a month after its commission when Watrous came to Austin and delivered a gold band ring to Sheriff White saying that it had been given him by two negro boys named Jim Young and Albert Wilson and be believed it was the property of Mrs. Engburg.

Sheriff White did not arrest Watrous at this time but proceeded to ascertain if there was any truth in the negro's story. He found Young and Wilson and learned from them that they never gave Watrous the ring: that they had never heard of the ring.

When Sheriff White began looking for the second man in the crime it did not take him long to discover that Jim Davidson was with Watrous the night the murder was committed. On July 7 Davidson was captured in Manor ostensibly on the charge of gaming. On July 16 Davidson confessed the crime implicating Watrous saying that Watrous planned the murder and did the shooting but both of them ravished Mrs. Engburg.

Sam Watrous was a black negro about 27 years of age. He was blind in his left eye, having been kicked on the head by a horse. He looked the brute he was and took very little interest in his trial. It is believed that he murdered and ravished Mrs. Whittley near his home several years ago. (Fort Worth Morning Register, October 28, 1899, page 2, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)