55 Ga. 325 | Ga. | 1875
Dr. Joseph B. Dunwoody was murdered at the door-sill of his house in Plouston county under circumstances of great atrocity. He was called out between ten and eleven o’clock
Defendant said he had been to kill a man, who was not at home, the night before, and the murderer was at Dunwoody’s the night before, and Dunwoody was not at home. Defendant had a double-barreled shot gun, and rode a horse such as is described. This gun was loaded with the sort of buckshot which killed deceased, and with the number of shot found in the body of deceased and in the door and house where the killing was done. He took ten buckshot to load.it, one fell on the floor and did not go in the gun, and nine were found. One witness recognized him on the gray horse, and riding rapidly towards Dunwoody’s house. Many saw him, but failed to recognize his face, but the description they gave fit his appearance. He failed to account for his absence from the party at Scarborough’s, from eight o’clock to nearly midnight, and to account for his having a double-barreled gun, and taking it to the party, and leaving it outside concealed; and his own statement is by no means satisfactory. He was absent some three to five hours from the party, and in his statement said he had gone to sleep in a fence corner after trying to see a woman of easy virtue, who was not at home, and could show by no one who told him that she was not at home. The night was very cold. On the whole, we think he got off well by the recommendation to mercy, and
J udgment affirmed.