Newton County GaArchives News.....C. H. ECHOLS ACQUITTED April 4, 1889
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Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 May 16, 2005, 7:59 am

The Georgia Enterprise April 4, 1889
     The evidence in the Echols case was completed Thursday afternoon, being 
immediately followed by arguments from the attorneys. All the speeches for and 
against the prisoner, eight in number, were able and forcible. The evidence was 
all circumstantial in its nature, and being of such length and magnitude we are 
unable to give it in detail. The case went to the jury after 9 o’clock Friday 
night under a clear and impartial charge from Judge Roney. Early Saturday 
morning the announcement was made on the streets that the jury had agreed upon 
a verdict. At 8:30 the Judge was in the court room and announced his readiness 
to hear the verdict. The crowd was comparatively small when the jury came in, 
although persons on the streets were hurrying to get there. Mr. Echols sat 
facing the jury as they came from their room, and seemed calm and collected, 
showing great anxiety but no excitement. Foreman John R. Bird handed the 
verdict to Solicitor General Womack, who read it to himself, paused a moment, 
and then in a clear voice read aloud, “We the jury, find the defendant not 
guilty.” Signed J. R. Bird, Foreman. The other jurors were: 
A. L. Jackson, W. C. Thompson, P. E. Middlebrook, A. J. Lewis, W. S. 
Kirkpatrick, W. M. S. Downs, L. W. Lee, A. S. Hays, J. H. Willingham, W. B. 
Harvey, T. A. Boyd.  
      Immediately  after the verdict was read friends and loved ones crowded 
about the liberated and free young man, pressed his hand and tendered 
congratulations. The warm and devoted demonstrations of his brother, sister and 
other relatives who had appeared, was of a most tender and pathetic nature, too 
sacred for comment and too earnest and sincere for criticism through the 
columns of the press. Mr. Echols shook hands with every member of the jury who 
had by their verdict, returned him his liberty by pronouncing him “Not Guilty.”
About 9 o’clock he entered a carriage and was driven to his home where a 
welcome awaited him by her who gave him birth, and such a welcome the 
imagination cannot picture and none on earth can give except a kind and loving 
mother. Here we leave Mr. Echols at the home and in the arms of those whom he 
adores and who in return idolizes him.
     It is said that the trial cost the defendant three thousand dollars or 
more, while it cost Newton County at least two thousand dollars. We are told 
that Mr. Echols left Monday on a visit to relatives and friends in Aberdeen, 
Mississippi. As to whether he will make his home anywhere else besides the city 
or near Covington will doubtless depart upon his own inclination. He is a free 
man once more, and this being a free country, he can and will settle down 
wherever in his judgment deems best. We have made no comments on this case 
because, in our opinion, none are necessary. A jury was selected and sworn to 
try this issue, and verdict of acquittal has been rendered, and that verdict 
must stand, it can never be changed.


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