The Macon Daily Telegraph

Description: Three Violent Deaths Near San Antonio.

Date: December 14 1910

Newspaper published in: Macon, GA

San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 13 --Three violent deaths were reported in the vicinity of San Antonio during the past twenty-four hours. At Beville Jas. Cockrill, a farmer, was found in a field with his throat cut.  Two strangers are under arrest pending further investigation.

W. G. Swarth sent his daughter from their home at Smiley and fired a charge of buckshot in his side. He was in ill health and despondent over the recent death of his wife.

Douglas Mahon, aged 2 years, fell down while playing at his home in Gonzales and bit his tongue. The child bled to death.

HANGING OF JIM BARBER

Executed at Gonzales for the Deliberate Murder of His Wife

Was Coolest Man on the Scaffold

Sang a Negro Melody in Strong, clear Voice - Life was Extinct in Seven Minutes

Gonzales, Tex., Oct. 7 - Hanged by the neck until dead. Jim Barber has expiated his crime upon the gallows in accordance with the supreme mandate of the state of Texas.

Your correspondent called up on the prisoner this morning and conversed with him about his last day on earth. During the conversation Barber stated that he had a good refreshing sleep during the night. That he went to sleep at 2 a.m. and awoke at 6, feeling quite refreshed.

He ate sparingly of a good breakfast and felt in all things that he would be able to undergo the last trying ordeal of this life. He claimed that he has been happily converted and did not fear death and the future; that he has truly repented of his sins and the crime for which he must die, and that he only wished that the hour was come.

Without a hitch, without a ripple, the entire program of the execution was successfully carried out. At exactly 2 o'clock this afternoon the march to the gallows began from the prisoner's cell. Sheriff Glover accompanied Barber, leading the way followed by a number of colored preachers and a number of deputies brought up the rear. As Barber appeared before the audience admitted to witness the execution the smilingly bowed to the audience below and seemed to be the coolest man in the jail corridor.

It was thought a few days ago that he would not be able to stand the great nervous strain and that he would have to be carried upon the death trap, but this was all a mistake and he ascended the steps to the scaffold without a tremor. After the noose had been adjusted a song was sung by the colored brethren followed by a prayer. Brief remarks were then made by the clergy present. It was then announced that the condemned man desired to sing a song by himself and in a strong clear tenor voice the prisoner standing upon the trap sang four verses of a very pathetic negro melody entitled "There Will be Somebody to Miss Me When I'm Gone."

The words coming as they did from the life of a man standing upon the brink of eternity and sung with such sweetness and fervor had a wonderful effect upon those in attendance and there was not a dry eye present. The incident was the more pathethic owing to the fact that Barber leaves an only child, a little daughter and the application was made to her when the prisoner sang. Even though he had committed a most terrible crime the instincts of a fathers lover still remained and he sang with a sweet and tender pathos seldom, if ever heard.

At the conclusions of this song he bade those on the scaffold a tender goodbye and then looking down to the audience below he said in modest tones, "Goodbye to all of you," and a hearty and feeling response from every man below. "Goodbye Jim." Was wafted up to him, then just as the black cap was about to be drawn he once more said "Goodbye to all, I hope to meet you in heaven."

For one moment thereafter the prisoner stood erect, motionless and alone. The next a sharp click was heard and his body shot through space at lightning speed and the spirit of Jim Barber was launched into eternity. Not a muscle moved, not a fiber twitched after the rope had been drawn. The neck was broken and absolute paralysis resulted. The trap was sprung at exactly 2:32 and in eleven minutes life was extinct, in fifteen minutes the body was cut down and then placed in a coffin where it appeared to be asleep.

HISTORY OF THE CRIME

The crime for which Jim Barber was sentenced to death and for which he today forfeited his life was one of the most horrible homicides that ever occurred in this and perhaps any other country. It was in the spring of 1897 that the citizens of Gonzales were startled by the intelligence that perpetrator was a fugitive from justice. Later it was learned that Jim Barber and his wife, who were at that time living in a servant house of Mr. Ed Scheske, had been in a difficulty, and a further investigation developed the whole story of the tragedy faced penalty under the laws of our state. It seems that Barber had married his wife, Patsy about four or five years ago. She was a light mulatto woman and called by many a very handsome negress. Barber, himself was a yellow negro and not at all bad looking. He came to this county some ten years ago from Virginia and since that time has always bore a first class reputation in every way. He was a butcher by trade and was a steady hand at the business. Soon after their marriage it seems that some trouble arose over the company kept by Barber's wife and he objected to her going with other men. This trouble led to a temporary separation of the couple but upon certain representations the past offenses were condoned and they lived together again as husband and wife. On the evening of the commission of the crime it seems that Barber's wife was making preparations to go to a dance in the country, when Barber learned of her intentions. He went to her and forbade her leaving the house that night but she insisted on going. Barber then returned to the meat market where he was employed and secured a revolver belonging to another employee of the market. Upon returning to his house he discovered that his wife Patsy was dressed and ready to go to the dance. Several young girls of Mr. Scheske and his neighbor were at the time playing shoot the yard. They saw Barber enter the house and shut the door a moment later they heard three pistol shots ring out in quick succession and followed immediately by death piercing screams of a woman. The little girls ran up to the window and looked in and saw the human butcher at his work. He ordered them away on the pain of death and then completed the work he had commenced a few minutes before. As soon as help could be summoned it was found that Barber had done his awful work only too well. Upon entering the little room it was found to be carefully barricaded the window blinds had been drawn and an iron bar had been placed across the door entrance. Upon the floor lay the dead body of Barber's wife a terribly mangled corpse. Three bullets had entered her body any one of which would have proved fatal. But this was not all. The entire room and articies contained therein were bespattered with blood and hair from the head of the murdered woman. After having emptied his pistol. Barber seized a hatchet and deliberately chopped the woman's head and chest into pieces. He then, not satisfied with this much of the work he had completed took a large sized butcher knife and stabbed her again and again long after life had left her body. He then took the knife and threw it lightly across his own throat, but not with sufficient force to injure him in the least. After this he ran to the county jail and gave himself up stating that he had hurt his wife, who had tried to cut his throat.

For the crime above set forth Barber was tried at the July term of the district court, 1897 and after a fair trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, assessing his punishment at death. His case was appealed to the court of criminal appeals where upon a hearing the sane was affirmed, and the mandate returned to the district court of this county. At the last term of the district court Barber was brought before Judge Kennon who sentenced him to death and directed that he be hanged by the neck until dead on the 7th day of October, 1898.

"After the sentence of death had been pronounced upon him Barber, was taken back to the jail where he remained until the day of his day of his death. He has been an exemplary prisoner in every respect and has given his jailer no trouble at all.

A petition was circulated and forwarded to the governor for a commutation of his death sentence to that of imprisonment for life, but the board of pardons refused to entertain it, and the supreme decree of the law was enforced. When Deputy Sheriff Frank Fly read the letter from the governor, refusing to further interfere in the matter, and attempted to encourage Barber, a very pathetic scene occurred at the jail of the cell where the domed man was confined. As soon as the letter had been read, the deputy looked up and noticed that Barber was acting very strangely, but thinking that it was only a temporary grief, he permitted him to remain as he was. Upon returning from dinner, Barber was found lying in the same position as when left, a few hours before. Mr. Fly called to the prisoner in a sharp commanding tone, and he immediately sprang to his feet with a wild stare in his eyes and acting as though he were suffering intense pain. Dr. Nixon was sent for and the negro's pulse registered 110. The doctor, thinking that perhaps the man had taken poison with suicidal intent, worked on him with a stomach pump for a time and soon had him in a convalescent condition. The sudden collapse was caused by the nervous prostration that followed the reading of the letter. Barber has hoped all along that he would get his sentence commuted to a life term in the penitentiary, and when the worst came, he was unable to stand the strain. The condemned man had a carefully prepared statement which he had prepared for the press, and which he claims is his side of the story, the statement is as follows:

MY EXPLANATION

I was married to Miss Patty Price on March 17, 1888. We lived happily together and shared each other's joys until the year 1896, when she began to receive the attention of other people, then she treated me with contempt and was somewhat unkind to me. She would neglect her home affairs, go from home persuaded by other people. Her whereabouts I did not know at the time. I was kind to my wife, oh so kind. She wanted for nothing in the world. I made every effort possible in making every convenience for her, and every person in town knows these to be facts. One child, a female was the fruits of our marriage. She was persuaded to leave me and the child behind and go from home by parties I took to be my friends, to San Antonio, where she and a man lived as man and wife for some time. Then her health failed and she sent for me for assistance, acknowledging her wrongs and promising never to treat me unkind again. I loved her with love that seemed to lift me to the very gates of heaven, and sent her money to come home. After some delay she came. We agreed and went together. I forgave her and considered her as dear to me as ever. We lived very well for a while. Then confusion began to exist again and I made up my mind to leave town for comfort, but by being persuaded by her and others both white and blacks I decided not to go and resolved to try again to live with her. Had I ever mistreated her I, of course, would not have expected any better, but heaven knows I treated my wife like an angel and every one knows it who knows anything about us. They can't say anything else and speak the truth but that I treated her well, supported her and tried to make her happy and life a pleasure. When she wanted money or anything else she always got it by making her wishes known and Mr. Scheske can witness these facts if he will let the truth from his lips. It is known by several that I have been threatened often about my wife by black people and have risked my life several times unaware of danger. She has often told other people that she was not afraid of me. I never had any intention whatever to do what I have. Could have done so plenty of other times. When my wife was in company with other girls, hugged up by men where I could see it, the men would make sport of me and sing "sporting" songs, giving hints to me and at the same time armed for me. I wanted to shun trouble and tried every way possible to do so. She knew I loved her and that is why she treated me as she did. I never did object to her going in respectable company but I did not want her to keep the company of those she was keeping and why I did what I have is not because of her going with such people. I would never have done so had she not first assaulted me with a knife. I was not thinking of anything of the kind. I was preparing to go to a ball. Had my clothes on my bed making ready to dress when she cut me with a knife. I having no idea that anything of the kind was going to happen, and when I got into this trouble all the people who knew about how I had been treated kept their mouths and would not speak the truth. Why didn't they keep their mouths before and be ladies and gentlemen? JAMES ANDREW Alias JAMES BARBER

Gonzales county and the surrounding country has been settled by white people for nearly a century and this is the fifth legal hanging that has taken place in that time.

The first legal hanging that ever occurred in this county took place in 1856, when Sheriff A. D. Harris executed a man by the name of Frank Hill for the murder of a shepherd named Ben Weed. Both parties were white men and the execution created a great sensation at the time.

The next legal execution that occurred in this county took place on May 17, 1878, when the notorious outlaw, Brown Bowen, a white man was hanged for the murder of Thomas Haldeman. This was a most atrocious crime and the verdict of the court and jury was heartily approved by the entire populace. Bowen, seeing a man whom he did not like sleeping under a tree deliberately walked up to him and shot his brains out while the man slept. The hanging was a public affair, witnessed by more than 5000 people. The scaffold was erected on the old jail square, and when the prisoner was led forth he completely broke down and had to be carried up on the trap and supported while the noose was being adjusted.

In 1881 a negro by the name of Isaiah Walker was hanged by Sheriff James C. Jones for the murder of his wife a crime similar to the one for which Barber died today.

In 1891 the present sheriff, R. M. Glover, hanged a negro by the name of Will Blackwell for the murder of a man named Lump Rainey, since which time there has been no other legal hangings until today. (Dallas Morning News, October 8, 1898, page 5, transcribed by Peggy Thompson)

GONZALES MAN FOUND DEAD
G. W. Parks Picked Up in Road With Gunshot Wound in Head.
Gonzales, Texas, Sept. 30 -- G. W. Parks, a wealthy citizen of this section, was found dead early today on the road from his house in Nixon, near here. A gunshot wound was in the back of his head. At noon today there was no clue to the crime.
[October 1, 1914, transcribed by Amanda Jowers

L.E. Kelly, a prominent merchant of Gonzales, died there last Friday.  [Transcribed and submitted by Marla Zwakman]

KOVAR-BLASHEK — Smithville , Tex. , Oct. 5.—Mr. Martin Kovar and Miss Jennie Blashek were married at 9 o’clock this morning at the Catholic church, Rev. H. J. Eaker officiated. [Transcribed and Submitted by Marla Zwakman]