Micah Taul memoir

for the present. After eleven Jurors had been reviewed, he was called back, & upon re examination did not then think he had formed an opinion & was received as a juror, the challenges on the part of the State being exhausted I had myself seen him in Conversation with Mr. Campbell, in the interval between his being directed to stand aside for the present & his being called into Court again. They had a lengthy conversation & doubtless Mr. C. convened him, he had not formed an opinion. Henry Rennells another bad man, who lived in the town of Winchester, & kept a public house was summoned, as a tales-man, immediately before Hunt was called back, & stated on oath that he had not formed or expressed an opinion had not heard any of the evidence, or conversed with any of the Witnesses to his knowledge. He admitted he saw A. shoot T. - was standing by the Liberty pole, about 60 yards off. (No doubt had placed himself there on purpose to see). The Judge decided that he was a competent juror, & he was challenged peremptorily by the State, which exhausted his peremptory, challenges. This man some years afterwards, removed to Texas, where he was killed, possibly murdered. Hunt at the time of the trial was a bankrupt as [sheriff?], he afterwards removed to Texas. Another citizen of the town, Mr. David Deshard, was also summoned as a tales-juror - he had not formed or expresssed an opinion, alltho he had heard much of the evidence; he was merchant in partnership with Alfred Henderson, & his Counting room was Anderson's Head

27 Quarters" his partner Mr. H. being a devoted friend of A. & his brother Benjamin & Peter Deckerd of the same town, men of talent and of influence, taking a decided & active part in his favor. He admitted, that he was not impartial, had some feeling about it, & was there fore set aside - Possibly he might not have formed a decided opinion - as to the grade of the Homicide. Possibly he had not expressed an opinion - He had a Sensible wife, whose judgment & feelings were right - and he might not have been willing to oppose either her, or his brothers by expressing an opinion He has generally been considered an honest worthy man. The following is a List of the Jury. William Knight, 1 - William O'Rear 2, William Starnes 3. Durham Kelly, 4 - Willis Kelly (his son) 5. John C. Wells 6 - Rankin 7 - Nathaniel Hunt 8 - Hezekiah Faris 9(commonly called Black Kye) - James Harris 10. William Crownover 11. I have no doubt, but what every man on the Jury (except Rankin, who was a very ignorant man, & possibly had no opinion) went on with a determination to acquit the Prisoner right or wrong. Willis Kelly, swore that he had not formed or expressed an opinion when in fact and in truth he had not only publicly expressed an opinion a short time before the trial, in favor of the Prisoner, but actually wanted to fight another man, for expressing a different opinion _ This information was communicated to me, immediately afterwards by William McClellan, an honest worthy man & a cousin of Kelly's, & now a Citizen

28 of Talladaga County, Ala. In fact, he stated it publicly, on the public square in Winchester immediately after Kelly swore as he did, as a matter that he had himself witnessed. The jurors, with the exception of Faris, all resided in the upper end of the County; he was doubtless accepted by the Prisoner & his Counsel because his father was then in Jail on a charge of Murdering, one of his own Slaves by whipping of which he was clearly guilty - but was tried and acquitted at this same court, in which there was no law to punish a murderer. After a laborious investigation of several days the examination of many witnesses, & lengthy arguments pro & Con, & a boisterous, windy charge from the Judge, the Jury retired & perhaps in less than an hour, returned with a Verdict of Not Guilty. From what I had ascertained in relation to the Corruption & partiality in packing the jury and that a portion of them, had sworn falsely in order to get upon it, I had lost all expectation of a Conviction, but I still thot it possible, that there might be one, honest man on the Jury, that there be no verdict_but in this, I was mistaken. Now, altho' there was a great deal of illegal & incompetent evidence admitted, & much false swearing to my knowledge, yet in regard to the main facts, there was no conflict, there could not be. It was a cold blooded murder, committed in the open day, perhaps in the presence and hearing of 500 men _ without the slightest justification or excuse _ the murdered man not knowing the person of his murderer, (altho' his brother in law), or dreaming of his being

29 in the County ( A. resided in Pickens County Ala. 300 miles from Winchester) see the facts as detailed on pages _ and yet a Jury of 12 men, upon their oath, returned a verdict of Not Guilty I was believed by many, that the Jurors were bribed, with Money - I did not believe that - altho' I was informed, by a Man who had been summoned as a Juror, that after he was summoned, he was taken into a certain Law office, on a table on which was placed 12 Packages of Bank Notes, marked or labelled $1000, to which his attention was significantly directed by the Gentleman in the office, without expressing for whose use or for what particular purpose, they were designed. He had expressed his opinion from having heard the evidence or part of it, & was set aside - I did not believe the story - for many reasons - 1st There was but one man connected with the family, who was able to make such an outlay - & I don't know that he would have been willing to furnish money to be used corruptly - He no doubt assisted in employing Counsel. 2nd There would have been no necessity for bidding so high & less would have answered the same purpose. 3rd In Nine Cases out 10, yet can get a Corrupt Jury, without actual bribery- In this case, I am satisfied, that the Jurors had been talked to before the trial, by corrupt men, & their opinions fixed.

If I had the leisure, I should like, to record every thing, connected with this extraordinary

30 I have neither the leisure or the patience to do it, altho' I have a very clear & vivid recollection of almost every fact, & incident connected with it. Notwithstanding the lapse of near 20 years. The shock at the time was very great but thank God, I have had the fortitude to bear it better than I expected. Very few of the prominent men, connected with the Trial are now living. Judge Mitchell died in Mississippi, several years ago,: He was almost literally [?] from the bench in Ten. : his rudeness, vulgarity, tyranny, & oppression having become insupportable. Mr. Campbell, died in Ten. a few years ago, having been for a long time nothing but the wreck of the man he had been. Judge Grundy, the leading Counsel, has also been dead several years - Judge Anderson (Wm E.) died in Miss. Judge Lay, another one the Counsel, died in N. C. Thos. H. Fletcher died suddenly in Nashville several years ago. Judge Isack has also been dead many years : He died a Miserable death, having been for years under the influence of a most loathsome disease. Stephen Adams, at present in Miss. is the only one of the Prisoners Counsel, now surviving : He had just then Commenced the practice of the law, had been an acting Constable, & was, as far as I know, a worthy man : He was put up, to make a little speech, as he afterwards informed me, because it was supposed he had some influence with a particular juror James H. (or A) Collingsworth was also one of the Counsel for the Prisoner. He removed