Johnson v. State

• Decision Date: 26 June 1889
• Citation: 87 Ala. 39,6 So. 400
• Parties: JOHNSON v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

6 So. 400

87 Ala. 39

JOHNSON v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 26, 1889

Appeal from city court of Selma; J. HARALSON, Judge.

The defendant in this case, Willie Johnson, was indicted jointly with Saunders Collier for the murder of Frances Rodgers, by shooting her with a pistol; and, being tried separately, a severance having been granted, was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to death by hanging. The deceased was shot and killed on Saturday night, November 19, 1887 between the hours of 8 and 9, by a man who came to her house and called her to the door. Harriet Gladden, who lived in the house with her, thus testified on the part of the prosecution: "I went to the door. A man stood in the porch. He asked me if Frances Rodgers lived there. I said 'Yes.' He said he wanted to see her. I asked him if I would not answer. He said, 'No,' he wished to see her; that he had a message for her. I told Frances what the man said, and she went to the door. The pistol fired, and she fell." The assailant was not recognized by any one, and he escaped. Other evidence, adduced by the prosecution showed that two men made inquiries that night for the house of Frances Rodgers, and went there together, one stopping at the gate, while the other went in and called her out; and the prosecution proceeded on the theory that these men were the defendant and said Saunders Collier, and that they were instigated to the murder by one Wiley Lewis, who had married a daughter of Frances Rodgers. The defendant introduced evidence tending to show that he was, until late in the evening on the day the murder was committed, in Birmingham where he, Collier, and Lewis lived or resided most of the time.

The principal witness on the part of the prosecution was one Willie Clark, who testified to several conversations he had heard between the defendant, Collier, and Lewis, and conversations he had had with one or both of them. Numerous exceptions were reserved by the defendant to the testimony but they need not be set out at length. The nature of the testimony, and the grounds of objections are shown by the following from extracts from the bill of exceptions: "The solicitor asked the witness [after he had testified to the acquaintance with the several parties in Birmingham] if he had ever heard the defendant say any thing about the killing of Frances Rodgers before the killing occurred,-to tell what it was,-to which question the defendant objected, on the ground that no conspiracy had been proved, and duly excepted to the overruling of his objection. The witness answered: 'I recollect once, about a week and a half before Frances Rodgers was killed, defendant told me that Wiley Lewis had asked him to come to Selma, and kill Frances Rodgers. He said he went to collect a debt from Lewis, and Lewis would not pay him, and that he told Lewis if he did not pay him he would tell what he [Lewis] had tried to get him to do,-to kill Frances Rodgers.' The defendant moved to exclude these declarations, on the ground that no conspiracy had been proved; and, his motion being overruled, he excepted." The witness continued: "At first defendant said he would tell me if I promised not to tell. I said I would not tell, and asked what it was. He said Wiley Lewis had been trying to get him to come to Selma to kill a woman. I asked who it was, and he said Frances Rodgers, and that Lewis had been trying to buy a pistol to do it with. He told me, if Lewis tried to buy the pistol I had, not to let him have it; and said that he guessed he would have been gone if he could have got a pistol. I told him not to go, and to have nothing to do with it, and I tried to persuade him to nothing of the kind." The bill of exceptions then states that the defendant "objected to each and every declaration as next above set out, on the ground that no conspiracy has been shown," and an exception was reserved. The witness further testified that the defendant came to him, "about the middle of the week before the November 19th, and asked if he had let Lewis have the pistol, and he answered that he had not; that Saunders Collier then came up, and, in the defendant's presence, proposed to buy it, saying that he wanted it for a particular purpose;" that he refused to sell the pistol, but it was stolen Friday night; and that he heard of the murder on Sunday morning. The witness then continued: "I saw the defendant Sunday, about dark. Saunders Collier was with him. I had a talk with them, and said to Saunders: 'Hello! You all got back?' He said, 'Yes.' I asked him where my pistol was. He said he had it, and pulled it out, but would not let me have it. He said that nobody knew what had been done but me, and if I told he would keep the pistol to blow me up with. I told him he ought to give me the pistol, as he had done what he wanted to do with it; but he said, 'No, that he might give it to me after a while.' The defendant was present all this time, and I asked him who did the shooting. He said Saunders did it. I asked him how many times he shot, and he said once. I then asked Saunders to let me see how many balls were out of the pistol. He showed it to me, and one ball was out. Neither of them mentioned the name of anybody...