(1) Arrests for the Jefferson Murder.
Special to the Gazette.
JEFFERSON, TEX., Nov. 14.-Sheriff DeWare arrested Charlie Melton yesterday and Ben Grant, Charley Grant and wife of Peter Wright to-day as being accomplices in the murder of Wright last Friday night. This makes six persons who have been arrested for this offense, and it is very likely that out of this number the guilty one will be found. The darkies in the neighborhood of where the murder occurred are very much excited over the occurrence.
Source: Fort Worth Daily Gazette, Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, November 15, 1887; Pg. 7
(2) Hunting Peter Wright’s Murderer.
Special to the Gazette.
JEFFERSON, TEX., Nov. 16.-In the cases against Nathan Phillips, Charles Melton, Jim Bryant, Ben Grant, Elbert Grant and Emeline Wright for the murder of Peter Wright, the examining trials were had to-day before Judge Walker and Nathan Phillips was refused bail. Emeline Wright was given bail in the sum of $500 and Charley Melton, Jim Bryant, Ben Grant and Elbert Grant were given bail in the sum of $250 each. The evidence tends to show that there was a conspiracy to get Peter Wright out of the way, and it promises to be an interesting case when it comes up in the District court.
Source: Fort Worth Daily Gazette, Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, November 17, 1887; Pg. 3
(3) Still Quarrelling Over a Prisoner.
Special to the Gazette.
JEFERSON, TEX., Dec. 3.-The attempt of the Harrison county authorities to take the prisoners charged with the murder of Peter Wright, out of Sheriff Deware’s hands on account of jurisdiction, is still unsettled, and it is thought that it will be that this county has jurisdiction. But if this murder was committed in Harrison county, at such a distance from the Marion county line as is claimed, it is strange that no attention whatsoever was given it by the officers there and no claim for jurisdiction was put in until some time after the arrest and preliminary trial of all the parties. It is also said that the affair was not known at Marshall until Sheriff Deware sent Nathan Phillips to the Marshall jail for safe keeping. Should he give them up it would be a problem as to how the affair could be managed for the want of an inquest and evidence.
Source: Fort Worth Daily Gazette, Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, December 4, 1887; Pg. 2
(4) Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Special to the Gazette.
JEFFERSON, TEX., Dec. 28.-In the District court to-day applications for a writ of habeas corpus were made in the cases of ex parte Emiline Wright, Ben Grant, Jr. and Nathan Phillips. The cases are set for hearing to-morrow. They are indicted for the killing of Peter Wright some months ago.
Source: Fort Worth Daily Gazette, Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, December 29, 1887; Pg. 3
(5) GRANTED 16 PARDONS.
Governor Passed Upon a Bunch of Applications Before Leaving For San Antonio.
Austin, Texas, Nov. 5.-Prior to his departure to San Antonio, Governor Campbell today granted sixteen pardons. The applications are those which have been on the chief executive’s desk for some time, and it was said that the governor was issuing the pardons now so that he would not have so many to consider in December. Heretofore it has been the policy of governors to issue a large number of pardons about Christmas time, giving the convicts a sort of Christmas present.
A few of those pardons follow: W.S. Exon, given twenty years for criminal assault in Bexar county in 1895; John Ferrell, given twenty years for robbery in Tarrant county in 1905; Estaban Garcia, convicted of murder in the first degree and given a life sentence in Guadalupe county in 1891; Nathan Phillips, who has served twenty-one years of a life sentence which he got in Harrison county for murder in the first degree in 1888.
Source: Palestine Daily Herald, Palestine, Texas, Saturday, November 6, 1909; Pg. 10
