Jamison v. People

• Decision Date: 15 June 1893
• Citation: 34 N.E. 486,145 Ill. 357
• Parties: JAMISON v. PEOPLE.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

145 Ill. 357

34 N.E. 486

JAMISON

v.PEOPLE.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 15, 1893.

Error to circuit court, Adams county; Oscar P. Bonney, Judge.

W. W. Berry, for plaintiff in error.

M. T. Moloney, Atty. Gen., Carl E. Epler, and J. C. Thompson, for the people.

BAILEY, C. J.

At the May term, 1892, of the circuit court of Adams county William J. Jamison, alias William M. Smith, was indicted for the murder of Charles N. Aaron, and at the September term of the court he was tried and convicted, and his punishmennt was fixed at death. Sentence having been pronounced upon him in accordance with the verdict of the jury, he has sued out of this court a writ of error, which has been made a supersedeas, and the record is now before us for review.

There is little, if any, controversy as to the fact of the homicide, or the circumstances under which it was committed. Charles N. Aaron, at the time of his death, was a man about 33 years of age, and unmarried, and was living with his father and mother on a farm in Ellington township, Adams County. His mother was then an invalid, and was suffering from a cancer in her face. Jamison, the defendant, who then gave his name as William M. Smith, was a negro, but claimed to be an Indian doctor, and to have special skill in the treatment of cancers. On the 15th day of February, 1892, he went to the house where Charles N. Aaron and his parents lived, for the purpose of treating Mrs. Aaron, and an agreement, as it seems, was thereupon entered into between him and Charles N. Aaron, by the terms of which he was to give Mrs. Aaron treatment for her cancer, and in case of a cure he was to be paid the sum of $300. Jamison thereupon took up his abode with the Aarons, and remained there until April 19th, preparing medicines and applying them to the face of his patient. During that time he slept on a pallet on the floor of the sick room, which was also the family sitting room. On the morning of April 10th, John Aaron, the father, was the first to rise. After making the kitchen fire, and on returning to the sitting room, at about 7 o'clock, he found Jamison about getting up, and looking, as Aaron testifies, ‘as if something was wrong.’ Nothing was said by either until Jamison commenced to talk about cutting stalks, saying that he could cut more stalks in a day with a pole than a man could with a team. John Aaron replied that he thought Jamison could not do that, whereupon Jamison retorted: ‘You are hairbrained, and have not got any sense. You stop and talk to everybody you see.’ John Aaron testifies that in this conversation Jamison ‘talked angry and looked wicked.’ There were then present in the room Jamison, John Aaron and his wife, and Burgess Meyers, an employe on the farm. Just then Charles N. Aaron entered the room, and, having overheard what Jamison had just said to his father, he remarked to Jamison: ‘You will have to quit abusing Pa. He is in his own house, and you stop it.’ John Aaron also said: ‘Yes, please do not talk to me in that way;’ and Charles N. Aaron added: ‘I mean it. You will have to stop.’ To this Jamison replied: ‘I will show you what kind of a man I am,’-and jumped up, put on his hat, and set his valise on a chair, as if he was going to leave. At this point breakfast was announced by Mrs. Simonds, the housekeeper, and John Aaron left the room. Jamison then said: ‘Charley, I want my money for some prescriptions I gave you.’ To this Charles replied: ‘You have not cured her yet. When you cure her, I am willing to pay you. The agreement was, I was to pay you when you cured her. You have not cured her yet;’ and he then went into an adjoining room for the prescriptions, and returned with a large bundle of them, containing, as the witnesses testify, from 20 to 50, and threw them down on a chair a short distance from Jamison, saying: ‘Come out and behave yourself.’ Jamison replied: ‘You are robbing me. I want my money.’ Charles then left the sitting room and passed into the dining room. As he did so. Jamison said: ‘I will show them what kind of a man I am,’ and went to his valise, and took something therefrom, and followed into the dining room, closing the door behind him. He then said two or three times: ‘Charlie, you are trying to rob me. Give me my money, or I will shoot you.’ Charles replied: ‘Doc., you will not shoot anybody.’ Immediately Jamison fired off a revolver which he held in his hand, and Charles N. Aaron fell to the floor mortally wounded, and died of his wound a few minutes afterwards. Jamison then turned his revolver upon John Aaron, and demanded money of him. Aaron begged him not to shoot, saying that the would give him a check, and he thereupon ran across the room and went out, going through the kitchen. Mrs. Simonds here interposed, saying: ‘For God's sake, do not shoot another here,’ and Jamison pointed his revolver at her, and said: ‘Do not say another word, or I will shoot you.’ Jamison then went back across the hall, but immediately returned, and chased Aaron around the house to the front door of the dining room. He was then close upon him, and said: ‘Give me that check; give it to me quick.’ Aaron thereupon went into the dining room, followed by Jamison, and there drew a check in Jamison's favor for $300; Jamison, while it was being drawn, standing over him with his revolver drawn, and telling him to be quick about it, or he would shoot. On receiving the check, Jamison left, going in the direction of Cliola, a railway station, about one-half of a mile away. Jamison went from Aaron's house to Cliola, and there inquired for a train to Quincy. Being informed that a train was due at 7:55, he remained at the station a short time, and then started down the railroad track towards Quincy on foot. In the mean time, Burgess Meyers having gone to the neighbors and told them what had occurred, a number of men collected, and started in pursuit of Jamison, and came within sight of him between Cliola and Eubanks station, a station about two miles from Cliola. When his pursuers came within gunshot of him, firing commenced between Jamison and his pursuers; they firing at him with guns, and he returning the fire with his revolver. The evidence as to whether Jamison or those in pursuit commenced firing is conflicting, but the firing was kept up until Jamison was shot twice, first in his hand and afterwards in some part of his body, and he then dropped his valise, threw away his revolver, and ran to a house near the track, and, after attempting unsuccessfully to break in the door, sat down in a chair on the porch, and was there taken prisoner.

At the May term, 1892, of the circuit court of Adams county, that being the term at which the indictment was found, the defendant presented to the court an application for a change of venue on account of the prejudice of the inhabitants of Adams county, which was denied, and the decision of the court denying him a change of venue is assigned for error. The petition alleged, in substance, that Charles N. Aaron, the deceased, was a prominent citizen of the county, and a member of the board of supervisors; that the news of his death had spread over the entire county, and had reached the homes of citizens and friends of Aaron in each township in the county; that there are three daily newspapers published at Quincy, each having a large circulation in the county; that immediately after the defendant's arrest each of those papers published one-sided statements in relation to the homicide, which were calculated to create, and did create, a lasting prejudice against the defendant among the citizens of the county; that there are many weekly papers published in the county, some of which reach every town and neighborhood in the county; that these weekly papers published one-sided and exaggerated accounts of the killing of Aaron, which were calculated to and did create an undue prejudice in the minds of the people of the county against the defendant; that such feeling was so intense that the defendant feared that he would be forcibly taken from the jail, and hung by a mob; that the sheriff of the county was notified from time to time of the intention of the citizens of the county to congregate and take the defendant from the jail and hang him in defiance of law; that to such an extent did this feeling and purpose exist that the sheriff arranged to call to his assistance the police of the city of Quincy to resist such mob on the giving of an agreed signal; that the sheriff or his deputies or other persons remained on guard all night to guard against the approach of such mob bent upon hanging the defendant without warrant of law; that at about midnight on the 29th day of April, 1892, a large mob, composed of citizens of the county, and containing many prominent men, went to the jail, and demanded the surrender to them of the defendant; that they carried with them sledge hammers of great weight, to be used in forcing whatever obstructions might be between them and the defendant, and also a rope to hang the defendant; that two of these hammers are now in the possession of the sheriff; that the sheriff protected the defendant, and refused to turn him over to the mob, and, with the assistance of the police, succeeded in dispersing the mob; that prominent citizens of the county have openly stated that the men who arrested the defendant should have hung him while they had him in their hands, and that it is common talk in the county that if the defendant should be acquitted he would be hung by the people; that prominent citizens of the county have stated that, if the defendantshould obtain a change of venue, he would never be taken from the county alive, and that the people would never permit him to be removed from the county; that the petitioner fears that he cannot and will never receive a fair and impartial trial in Adams county because of the prejudice of the inhabitants of the county against him in this case; that the facts...