EMMA MCCOLL SWORN: . . . Q. Are you any kin to Ernest Hammonds? A. He was my stepfather, but I called him daddy because he raised me from when I was three to eighteen. Q. Did you see him very much? A. Yes. Q. When was the last time? A. About three o'clock when I left him Thursday afternoon. Q. Did you notice anything peculiar about Earnest? A. No. Q. Had he been drinking? A. A little Q. Did he have any money with him? A. I don't know whether he had any that day, but he usually had money because everything I asked for he gave me. Q. Was he accustomed to carrying money in his pocket. A. Yes. . . Q. Did he have a gun? A. Yes. Q Could you identity that gun? A. Yes. (Gun presented Sawed off shotgun; 12 gauge; one empty extra-long bullet; 18 in. barrel) Q. Emma, was that his gun? A. Yes. . . Q. Where there any disturbance down there? A. Daddy tried to tell me about some kind of fuss, but I never did get the straightness of it. It was between Ernest Hudson, Anna Ruffan, Willie Wilson, a mad down below my daddy in Clayton Broom's car. . . I walked up to the door and went in to get my baby's clothes, and he was lying down there. He said it was one of Miss Anna's friends she brought from Hartsville. Q. You left him there? A. Yes. Q. Had they been drinking? A. I think they went off and got whiskey
DR. M. W. HOOK SWORN . . . This man had very evidently been killed by a gun shot wound fired at extremely close range. The size of the wound and the location of the wound directly over his heart, the powder burns on his shirt and skin were sufficient evident to make the causes of his death very evident. . .
Clayton Broome sworn. . .Coming on back across the river, Ernest Hudson fell out with his girlfriend, Anna Ruffan. . .
MAZIE RICHARDSON SWORN . . . they drove up, and she walked in. This Mr. Hudson and another man came in with her. I asked her who they were, and she said that was just somebody that asked them to ride and they picked him up along the road . . . When he finished eating, he got up and said he was going. He walked out the door, and Emma McColl walked up. This man went on down the road, and I stood in the door and watched him, and I haven't seen him since
Mazie Richardson recalled . . . When he gave me the money out of it, he laid it on the chair. I put in under the pillow. Q. Did he you ask you anything about going back home? A. Yes. He said, "Sweetheart, if you leave me tonight, you won't get any further than Society Hill because you will come back. I'm going to die and my soul is going to Hell." And he told me to pray for him. . . .
ERNEST HUDSON SWORN . . . We picked up a fellow, but I didn't know him when I saw him. After we got to Earnest Hammonds', I guess it was an hour, I asked him if he was sick, but he said no. He said, "I'm going to die and before you get to Society Hill, you'll have to turn around." That was the first time I have ever seen Earnest Hammonde. He didn't say no more but walled his eyes. I wondered what was wrong with him, but then I thought that was his usual way. I didn't think a man would put a whole lot of people to trouble . . .
Lawrence Caulder Sworn . . . When I went in the door, the first thing I noticed was Ernest Hammonds on the right of the door just as you go in, lying on his right side. He was dead, blood all over him and the sheets. This gun was across the room about five or five and a half feet. The butt part lay on the floor, the muzzle against a heater like someone had leaned it up against there. His clothes were on a chair at about the head of the bed, and a woman's red coat lying on the foot of the bed . . .