Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1889 — A SHOCKING STORY. [ARTICLE]

A SHOCKING STORY.

A dispatch from Birmingham, Ala., says: One of the most remarkable murder cases ever recorded in Alabama is on trial in the Fayette County Criminal Court. L. R. Smith was employed last spring as a detective. He arrested Jackson, the negro he killed, thinking he was a murderer. He afterward learned ho was mistaken in his man. In order to secure his reward,Smith told the Negro he would release him if Jackson would allow him to cut off one of his ears. Jackson’s ears were marked similarly to those of tbe negro wanted. The negro agreed aud the ear was cut off. Smith then feared that Jackson would b;tray him, and determined to kill him. He gave him the choice of hanging himself or being hanged. The negro choose the former, and while pretending to search for a suitable place made a break for liborty. Smith fired and too negro fall Smith left, believing him dead. The negro liveu, however, to tell the tale, and Ms dying statement is the prinbipal evidence