Clay County GaArchives Obituaries.....LAWRENCE, BABY August 1896
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REBECCA STEWART rstewart@enervest.net December 27, 2011, 5:26 pm

FT. GAINES SENTINEL, AUG 28 1896
CORONERS INQUEST
CORONER EE ROYAL WENT DOWN TO WOMMACK’S LAST SATURDAY TO INVESTIGATE THE DEATH 
OF THE INFANT BABE OF LEILAH LAWRENCE, COL, THE FINDING OF WHOSE BODY IN AN 
OLD GOODS BOX WAS MENTIONED IN THESE COLUMNS LAST WEEK.  THERE WAS NO POSITIVE 
EVIDENCE  BY WHICH THE MOTHER COULD BE HELD FOR INFANTICIDE AND THE CORONER’S 
JURY MADE A RETURN WHICH WAS INTENDED TO CONVEY A VERDICT OF THAT EFFECT, BUT 
WHICH WAS WORDED IN A MANNER CALCULATED TO CONFUSE MORE MOST ANY MIND EXCEPT 
THOSE SO ACCUSTOMED TO MR. ROYAL TO FATHOMING COMPLEX DOCUMENTS OF THAT 
NATURE.  THE JURY SEEMS TO HAVE LABORED UNDER THE IMPRESSION THEAT THEY WERE 
EXPECTED TO EITHER CONVICT OR ACQUIT SOMEBODY OF SOME CRIME, RATHER THAN TO 
ASCERTAIN IN WHAT MANNER THE DEAD BABY CAME TO ITS DEATH, AND THE VERDICT READ 
AS FOLLOWS; “WE THE JURY SWORN AND EMPANNELED IN THE CASE OF THE STATE VS. 
LEILAH LAWRENCE, NOT GUILTY.”
THE MOTHER OF THE CHILD WHO IS ALMOST SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD, STATED THAT THE 
CHILD WAS BORN OUT IN THE WOODS AND THAT THERE WAS NO ONE WITH HER AT THE 
TIME.  THE CHILD, SHE SAID, WAS DEAD WHEN BORN, AND IN ORDER TO HIDE HER 
SHAME, SHE CONCEALED ITS BODY IN AN OLD BOX BEFORE RETURNING TO THE HOUSE.
BUT SOME OF THE NEGROES OF THE NEIGHBORHOODR ARE STILL SUSPICIOUS AND EVEN 
AFTER THE INVESTIGATION THE WOMAN WAS BROUGHT BEFORE JUDGE LARK, OF THE COUNTY 
COURT LAST MONDAY FOR A MORE RIGID TRIAL.  BUT THE EVIDENCE PROVING NOTHING 
BEYOND THE FACT THAT THE WOMAN HAD CONCEALED THE BIRTH OF HER CHILD.  JUDGE 
LARK DID NOT SEE FIT TO RUN THE COUNTY TO EXPENSE BY COMMITTING HER TO JAIL.
THE GRAND JURY MAY SEE FIT TO MAKE SOME FURTHER INQUIRY CONCERNING THE MATTER.



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