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THURSDAY, FEB. 21, 194«.Harlan County Justice bS'Many people have read in the newspapers the stories of r ihe brutal slaying of Mrs. Cornelia Stewart and the arrest and ^ trial of the murderers. To enumerate all the details pertain- „ would be quite lengthy, however the following is a brief ^ summary:On the night of last September 3rd (Labor Day) three r young men around eighteen years old went to the home of P Mrs. Stewart Who lived alone and killed and robbed her v sometime about the hour of midnight At the time of the J murder no clue could be found although the then Mayor and city policemen seemed to be making every effort to find the perpetrators of the crime. Special policemen were assign- a ed to the ease, also State Patrolemen and the Criminal investi- * gating department were assisting in an effort to find the criminals. The case was finally broken by the Criminal in- G veetigating department when they were in hot pursuit of s the guilty parties, one young man named Howard Christian, s nephew of the then Mayor of Haflan told of his part in the 1 crime and telling of his two accomplices, Eugene Johnson and s Calvin McKinney all of near Evarts, Ky., a few mUt* from E Harlan. Before any arrests were made McKinney apparently 1 became frightened* and left for a visit with relatives some- c where in Georgia- Later the state patrolemen arrested McKinney who swore to a written confession while he was sev- 1 eral hundred miles away telling how they went into the old ; lady’s Home about 11:00 o’clock and knocked on her door and J when she asked who was there one of them said “Joe” and 4 before anything else could be said they had pushed the door open and were inside her house- ^A written confession was also sworn to by Johnson who 1 did not know of the McKinney confession and both state- j men is told about the same story, telling how'they robbed and , beat her over the head with a pistol and shot her twice. The ; confessions were practically the same although taken hund- » reds of miles apart. . |:Mr. Middleton when it developed that his sister’s son , was involved in the case began working for the defense and hired the best of attorneys, some five in number and through their maneuvering, pleading “not guilty” and evidently much false swearing, even denying what the State men swore was their signed confession and of their own free will. The case was so well built up that the young men invented a “mythical man and woman” whom they said came into the house and ran them away and they later heard the shots which they thought was fired by the “mythical man ’.We must say we were also let down completely when the Prosecuting Attorney, Daniel Boone Smith failed to assist or cooperate in any way The county attorney was also absent- Tne Prosecuting Attorney Smith seemed to be ill at ease because we hired Attorney Astor Hogg to help prosecute. When we hired Attorney Hogg we never dreamed a Prosecuting Attorney could be so small. In fact he stated in no uncertain terms that he was not interested in the case, that we had hired Attorney Hogg to prosecute, so now we could look to Hogg for the prosecution. Since we now have a clearer in-signt into the trial, we are proud that we hired Attorney Hogg. Had we not done so. we sincerely believe all three of the criminals would have been acquitted. Attorney Hogg was the logical man for us to hire because he was a good friend of ours, from our home county and who was Prosecuting Attorney of Harlan and Bell counties at the time the crime was committed. In the final windup of the trial Howard Christian was acquitted while Eugene Johnson and Calvin McKinney were given 10 years each charged for manslaughter. To any one who does not know, this is the kind of justice given in Harlan county. We must add here however, that Attorney Astor Hogg fought with all his might and did remarkably well against five other lawyers not to mention1 the Commonwealth Attorney and the former Mayor, Mr Merle Middleton. Judge Forrester gave a fair and impartial | trial and did his duty to the utmost.A woman was murdered in her bed in her home. Three boys confessed and swore to the confession later pleading not guilty, then one being cleared and two getting a verdict ofmanslaughter Is this iustiee?
Newspaper Details
Whitesburg Mountain Eagle
Whitesburg, Kentucky, US
Thu, Feb 21, 1946
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
University O.
KY, USA 19 Nov 2023
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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle
