Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1915 — Negro Slayer Confesses And Gets Life Sentence. [ARTICLE]

Negro Slayer Confesses And Gets Life Sentence.

Bert Watson, colored, brought his trial at Monticello for the murder of Clinton O. Young, a Vandalia railroad brakeman, to an abrupt ending Monday, when he pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Watson’s change of plea was a result of proof by the state that he had admitted the murder in conversations in jail with Alwin Berridge, his alleged accomplice. Policemen in hidng in the jail overheard the negro’s statements, while a stenographer made a record of them. Berridge’s case has not been set for trial. Young was murdered and robbed at Clymers Station, Cass county.