Appendix — Parker v. Randolph

FILED

APPENDIX JAN 11 1979

MICHAEL RODAK, JR., CLERK

IN THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER TERM, 1977

No. 78-99

CHIEF HARRY PARKER,

Petitioner,

Vv

JAMES RANDOLPH, WILBUR LEE PICKENS and

ISAIAH HAMILTON

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

LET LAT TNR EN ARR eA RRR

PETITION FOR CERTIORARI FILED JULY 18, 1978

CERTIORARI GRANTED NOVEMBER 27, 1978

——_—

IN THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER TERM, 1977

No. 78-99

CHIEF HARRY PARKER.

Petitioner,

v

JAMES RANDOLPH, WILBUR LEE PICKENS and

ISAIAH HAMILTON

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

APPENDIX

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

FROM THE TRIAL RECORD:

1. Signed Statement of Robert Hugh Wood (Exhibit

31, pg. 381, Vol. 4, State Record) ............ 1

2. Redacted Statement of Robert Hugh Wood, read

during the testimony of Detective Lewis (pp. 399-

433, Vel. 4, Rate Record) .... ccc cc cceene 61

3. Testimony of Robert Hugh Wood (pp. 884-925,

Vol. 7 and Vol. 8, State Record) ............ 106

4. Police Record of Isaiah Hamilton’s Oral Statement

(Exhibit 33, p. 547, Vol. 5, State Record) ...... 150

5. Signed Statement of Isaiah Hamilton (Exhibit 34, p.

S47, Vel. S, Deate Ba awe sac sce sc ccisces 152

6. Testimony of Detective Lewis regarding oral state-

ment of Isaiah Hamilton (pp. 559-560, Vol. 5,

UN TE 5s acca. 0c oe bee Ge ae uae eee ei 160

7. Testimony of Lt. Terry E. Merritt regarding first oral

statement of James A. Randolph (p. 630, Vol. 6,

et, eee 162

8. Testimony of Detective Lewis regarding second oral

statement of James A. Randolph (pp. 670-671, Vol.

G, Sean TROCR is BA oss vice creveeccn 143

9. Signed statement of Wilbur Lee Pickens —* 35,

p. 765, Vol. 7, State Record) .............4%. 164

10. Redacted statement of Wilbur Lee Pickens, read dur-

ing testimony of Detective Robert N. Straton (pp.

772-777, Vol. 7, State Record) ............06. 170

11. Testimony of Thomas Edward Thomas (pp. 164-174,

186-210, Vol. 3, State Record) .............. 176

FROM THE STATE APPELLATE COURTS:

12. Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee at Jackson,

Opinion: (Robert Hugh Wood, Joe E. Wood,

Isaiah Hamilton, James Albert Randolph and Wil-

ber Lee Pickens v. State of Tennessee) .......... 215

Dissenting & Concurring Opinion (Robert Hugh

Wood, Joe E. Wood, Isaiah Hamilton, James Albert

Randolph and Wilber Lee Pickens v. State of

DOD noose 6dee ce eesti se vcstetereectee’s 220

iii

13. Supreme Court of Tennessee at Jackson, Opinion:

(State of Tennessee v. Robert Hugh Wood, Joe E.

Wood, Isaiah Hamilton, James Aibert Randolph

RD WORE Ge I, Bo veces vec seve neces:

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT RECORD:

14. Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Randolph) (2-

ge, GR eg She eC ENS ie ES Ee Ee

15. Amendment to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

(Randolph and Pickens) (2-27-76) ............

16. District Court Order of Consolidation (Randolph and

EE SUPE | 25. 5/6 i’ vena Rae dhmena’eeina

17. District Court Order to Show Cause (Randolph and

POR NATED: 0 o.0 bald so ab wa cede k cecder's

18. Response to Order to Show Cause (Randolph and

ec ou a waa bd 6 ug 6 064. 60

19. Order of Reference to Magistrate (Randolph and

Ee ee ie ee bo.

20. Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Hamilton) (7-

i EEC ee CE OREES Te TEES CL ORES

21. District Court Order to Show Cause (Hamilton)

De a an NE ke Sais se eS ah bse bi

22. Response (Hamilton) (8-3-76) ..................

23. Magistrate’s Preliminary Report on Habeas Corpus

Application (Randolph and Pickens) (9-17-76) ..

24. District Court Order of Consolidation and Appoint-

ment of Counsel (9-22-76) ...........ccccee.

25. Second Amendment to Petition for Writ of Habeas

Corpus (Hamilton) (11-10-76) ...........

227

247

256

258

259

259

264

264

272

274

279

296

. 297

ae

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

ae,

32.

33.

iv

Second Amendment to Petition for Writ of Habeas

Corpus (Pickens) ((11-10-76) ................

Second Amendment to Petition for Writ of Habeas

Corpus (Randolph) (11-10-76) ..............

District Court’s Second Order to Show Cause (12-22-

FOP cst cect ide LER ER eee Ube ba hice

Respondent’s Second Answer (1-13-77) ..........

District Court Order of Reference to Magistrate

C1-BF-7 7). gens ientamamauie akin: ane n eae

10-77)

District Court Order Dismissing Certain Claims and

Order Granting and setting Hearing as to the other

claims and Authorizing Writ of Habeas Corpus for

Petitioner Pickens (3-23-77)

.

eee 86 & 6:66 6 OOS HE Cw. 2456.45.80 6 ee 6

District Court Memorandum Decision, Chief Judge

Bailey Brown (5-2-77) .........0.0cc0cece. ¢)

300

304

1. SIGNED STATEMENT OF

ROBERT HUGH WOOD

STATEMENT OF: ROBERT HUGH WOOD, male white,

age 35, 124 Air Base Sub-Division, Columbus, Mississippi,

phone area code 601, 434-8435, salesman, made at Central

Police Headquarters, Thursday, July 9th, 1970, at 1:15 p.m.,

to Lieutenant B. N. Linville, Detective J. A. Dungan, Patrol-

man D. O. Lewis, in the presence of Attorney M. A. Hinds,

Attorney Harry Scruggs Jr., and Mr. John Wood. This state-

ment transcribed from tape.

Typed by: Jeanne Powers

Statement relative to the fatal shooting of WILLIAM DOUG-

LAS, male white, age 52, alias BILL, on Monday, July 6th,

1970, at approximately 9:25 p.m., in an apartment located at

3403 Benbow Drive, apt. No. 1, with a small calibre pistol

(weapon) by unknown parties.

This tape was taken in the presence of his attorneys with the

understanding that this was to be a material witness statement

and that Robert Hugh Wood was not under arrest. The first

part of this tape deals with an understanding between the

police officers and the attorneys, as to the type of statement

being taken. It was also agreed that a photograph would be

made by the police photographer to show witnesses in hopes

that it would be necessary to hold showups. They did agree

for a photograph to be made without B. of I. numbers.

Scruggs: Just for the record, I'd like to get the names of

everyone in the room. What’s your name, sir?

Lewis: D. O. Lewis. \

Dungan: J. A. Dungan.

Linville: B. N. Linville.

Hinds: M. A. Hinds.

John Wood: John Wood.

Scruggs: Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Robert Wood.

Linville: Just tell us what happened.

Robert Wood: The night, Monday night, I met my brother at

the Krystal on Winchester. I'd say ten after seven.

Linville: Okay, sir.

Robert Wood: We went on down to apartment one, I don’t

know the number.

Lewis: Which apartment was that?

Robert Wood: Jog Wood. A man known to me as Ray

opened the door to apartment one.

Dungan: Is that apartment one at the Benbow Apartments?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Linville: A man known to you as Ray?

Robert Wood: He said his name was Ray Blaylock.

Dungan: That’s the man that was later killed that night,

right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: He was watching a television program, and

as soon as that was over, about, well, it had to be over at

seven thirty, it was Gunsmoke, we went to Lowenstein’s East

and bought some plastic cards.

Dungan: Who all went to Lowenstein’s, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Me, and him and my brother.

Dungan: Just the three of you?

a F

7

Linville: Now that was Lowenstein’s in Whitehaven, am I

correct?

Dungan: Was it the three of you that went to Lowenstein’s?

Robert: Well, it was another boy there—I don’t know, I

know his first name, I don’t know——

Dungan: Who was that?

Robert Wood: Tommy.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: We bought the cards and came back to the

apartment.

Hinds: How much did you pay for the cards?

Robert Wood: Four seventy-five.

Dungan: Plastic playing cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Okay, sir.

Robert Wood: And, uh——

Hinds: Who paid for the cards?

Robert Wood: Well, we paid five dollars each for ‘em.

Dungan: Who handed the clerk the money? Who actually

transacted the business there?

Robert Wood: I laid a ten dollar bill on the counter, and he

gave me a five.

Duncan: I see. Who gave you five—the man that got killed?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: We went back to the apartment.

Dungan: Was this Tommy at the apartment when you ar-

rived?

EEE

ee. Yona

Robert Wood: No, he came in after, I did.

Dungan: Before you went to get the cards, though?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Okay, go ahead from there.

Robert Wood: We started playing cards, I don’t know, "bout

the time it took us to go out there and back, I guess it was

five or ten minutes till eight, and about, oh, somewhere be-

tween nine fifteen and nine thirty.

Lewis: Who all was playing cards?

Robert Wood: Me and one man.

Dungan: The one you knew as Blaylock?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: What happened about nine fifteen? Or whatever

you said?

Hinds: Before that—how much money was on the table?

Robert Wood: Approximately twenty-five hundred dollars.

Hinds: That money was yours?

Robert Wood: I had eighteen hundred dollars involved.

Dungan: All right—that was your part, eighteen hundred dol-

lars involved in the game. Right? Get on to what happened

at this time, you say about nine fifteen or nine thirty.

Robert Wood: About two or three loud kicks and the door

came in——

Dungan: Which door was that?

Robert Wood: The front door.

Dungan: All right, what happened then?

Robert Wood: Ray jumped up and I guess he was reaching

for a gun. I didn’t see it but I—— ,;

— oe

Linville: Didn't you tell me this morning you thought he had

the gun on him?

Robert Wood: I said he had a .38 on him. I’m sure he had

a .38 on him.

Linville: And he jumped, and then what?

Robert Wood: There were some shots fired—they were all

in the apartment. I was sitting next to the wall and he was

sitting back to the kitchen and I was behind the partition there

and the shots were fired. They didn’t—I don’t know whether

they seen me or not. I got out the door. The door was kicked

open and left open.

Dungan: Who are you talking about they?

Robert Wood: When the door was kicked open, I seen ‘two

or three colored guys and shot by——

Linville: You told me three.

Robert Wood: I think it was three. Had a shotgun——

Linville: One had a shotgun.

Robert Wood: And two pistols.

Dungan: Each one had a pistol and one had a shotgun—what

you believe to be a shotgun.

Robert Wood: I think it was a sawed off shotgun. I’m not

sure.

Dungan: Who fired the shots? Did the—Ray——

Robert Wood: I’m not sure of some of it. Sounds like two

shots fired, and I was behind the partition.

Dungan: Which partition are you talking about, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Right inside the front door—it’s a little parti-

tion——

Dungan: To the left as you walk in the door?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And you were sitting with your back to the wall

which I believe would be the west wall. Is that correct?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: All right. After the shots were fired, what hap-

pened?

Robert Wood: I got out the door that was kicked open, left

open and I got to my car which was behind the apartment.

Dungan: Behind the apartment. Parking area parked behind

there?

Robert Wood: Well, it was on the west, naw, east side a little

bit behind the driveway.

Dungan: In the indented place that comes out there?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Dungan: Did you see Ray pull his gun out?

Robert Wood: Just seen him jumping up and reaching for it.

I don’t know whether Ray ever got it out or not.

Dungan: Who all were in the apartment when these Negroes

came in?

Robert Wood: Me, this boy known as Tommy, my brother

and him.

Linville: Now when you say your brother, you're talking

about Joe?

Robert Wood: Joe Wood.

Dungan: All right, you ran straight out the front door and

which way did you go around the apartment?

Robert Wood: I went out the front door and around to the

east, to my car.

oak Was

Dungan: You went around toward the driveway on the cast

side of the apartment and went straight to your car?

Robert Wood: To my car.

Dungan: What kind of car do you drive Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: A ’67 Plymouth.

Dungan: What color is it?

Robert Wood: Blue.

Dungan: Solid blue?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Which way did you leave?

Robert Wood: Off——

Dungan: You know where I understand you were parked,

you could either go around the circle and go out the west side

or.

Robert Wood: I came straight out on the east side of the build-

ing.

Dungan: In other words, you pulled out, backed up appar-

ently, or however you parked?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And went back down the east side. Right?

Robert Wood: I backed up and came out the east side.

Linville: Who met you at the car?

Robert Wood: My brother was there, right behind me.

Linville: You talking about Joe?

Robert Wood: Joe, yes, sir.

Dungan: Did Joe go directly to the car with you or did he

meet you out there?

Robert Wood: Well, he met me out there. I run in the shoot-

ing. I wasn’t looking anywhere, just getting loose from all the

shooting.

Dungan: What happened to the fellow, Tommy?

Robert Wood: I don’t know, sir.

Dungan: Did you see Mr.—I’m going to call him Douglas

from now on—you call him Blaylock. You understand we are

referring to Blaylock, Douglas be the one you refer to as Biay-

lock. Did you see what happened to Blaylock or Douglas after

the shots were fired—did you see him fall? Did you know he

was hit?

Robert Wood: I heard some shots and apparently two—I

don’t know—I didn’t know—I didn’t see him hit or didn’t know

who was hit, didn’t know whether it was his shot or whose shot

it was.

Dungan: All right. Now this fellow, Tommy, will you de-

scribe him to me?

Robert Wood: About thirty years old——

Dungan: He is a white man isn’t he?

Robert Wood: Right. Yes, sir.

Dungan: How tall is he?

Robert Wood: Close to six foot.

Dungan: What kind of build has he got? Compared to

yourself. Stocky? Slim? Or——

Robert Wood: Oh—he’s not quite as heavy as I am, I don’t

guess. Probably 170 to 180 Ibs.

Dungan: What kind of looking hair has he got?

Robert Wood: He’s got—-his hair’s longer than mine—it ain’t

real long.

— an

Dungan: Is it combed back, kind of like yours? Is his hair

line as far back as yours?

Robert Wood: No—he’s got a lot more hair than I've got.

Dungan: Is it the color of yours? Darker like mine or like

Mr. Scruggs here?

Robert Wood: Id say it’s about the color of yours.

Dungan: What kind of clothes did Tommy have on?

Robert Wood: Well, he was wearing tight britches and I

couldn’t even———

Dungan: What do you mean, tight britches?

Robert Wood: I don’t know.

Dungan: New kind?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Dungan: Do you remember what color they were?

Robert Wood: Grayish.

Dungan: How about his shirt? What type? Did he have a

tie and shirt on or over shirt or what?

Robert Wood: He had one of these slip over shirts on.

Dungan: Was it dark or light colored?

Robert Wood: It was darker than his pants, I gues, like this.

Dungan: Do you know how Tommy got to the apartment?

Robert Wood: No, I don’t. I didn’t see a car. He got there

right after we did.

Dungan: You don’t know how he came?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: You don’t know how he left and you didn’t see him

leave? After you and your brother left, you didn’t pay any at-

tention to him?

—_— ee

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him leave.

Dungan: Did he leave out of the apartment ahead of y'all,

or-——

Robert Wood: I really don’t know. I don’t know whether he

was ahead of us or behind us.

Dungan: All right, before we get to these Negroes——

Robert Wood: I seen in the paper that the description of ——

Linville: Don’t believe anything you read in the paper———

Robert Wood: The description fits him, that said, “Call the

police.” and the boy turned around and disappeared, the one

about 180 or 190 Ibs.

Dungan: Okay. Let me ask you this. Before we get to the

Negroes and what they look like, so we can get a good back-

ground on it. You were seated with your back to the wall at

the time at the table. Is that right?

Robert Wood: Well, my back was to the partition, it wasn’t

to the wall——_

Dungan: To the partition, just to the left of the front door.

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay. Now where was Douglas, or Blaylock as

you call him?

Robert Wood: Straight across from me—his back was to the

kitchen.

Dungan: To the kitchen door—right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Now where was your brother, Joe?

Robert Wood: Over in the living room.

Dungan: He wasn’t seated at the poker table or at the dining

room table?

— jj] —

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: He was in the living room. Right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Where was the fellow, Tommy?

Robert Wood: Well, I think—I believe—I forget which way

it was arranged. One of ’em was in a chair, and the other one

was on the couch.

Dungan: Okay—one in a chair and one on a couch. Right?

Lewis: Did you see a dog?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir—there was a little dog there.

Dungan: There was a dog in the apartment? What kind of

looking dog was it?

Robert Wood: A little small, guess it was a Chihuahua.

Dungan: After y'all came back with the cards, you went to

Lowenstein’s, you said, I believe, on 51 South. The four of

you came back together. Whose car did you go down there in?

Robert Wood: Mine.

Dungan: Your car. All right. You got the cards and came

straight back to the apartment. Where did you park it? You

parked where you got in it. Right?

Robert Wood: Right. Yes, sir.

Dungan: You didn’t move it any time?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Did all of you go into the apartment together?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did anybody leave the apartment before the Ne-

groes kicked the door open?

Robert Wood: No, not that I know of.

_ om

Dungan: You, Tommy, you or Mr. Douglas, or Joe or

Tommy didn’t leave?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Is this Tommy a local fellow?

Robert Wood: I really don’t know.

Dungan: Have you ever seen him before?

Robert Wood: I have seen him a couple of times.

Dungan: Where did you see him?

Robert Wood: I seen him at the Hershel’s Pool Room on

Madison.

Dungan: All right, anywhere else?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: If you wanted to get in touch with him, would you

know how? Would you know somebody to go to that mutually

knows him and could get in touch with him?

Robert Wood: Well, not exactly. I don’t know his name other

than Tommy.

Dungan: Anywhere we could go and ask somebody and say

we want to talk to Tommy or you want to contact him, could

you do so?

Robert Wood: I don’t think so.

Lewis: Whose apartment was it? Whose apartment?

Robert Wood: Well, the man told me that we have regular

ring around games here all the time but the man at the apart-

ment—lI never did see him.

Dungan: In other words, you don’t know the owner of the

apartment, the man that occupies it?

Robert Wood: He never was there. I don’t know.

a {a

Dungan: How many times you been in the apartment before

that night?

Robert Wood: Two times before.

Dungan: When was that?

Robert Wood: Thursday, the week before and on Friday, the

weck before that.

Dungan: Thursday, the week before?

Robert Wood: The Thursday before Monday and then the

previous Friday to that.

Lewis: You mean the Friday before the Thursday.

Robert Wood: Uh huh.

Lewis: Three weeks ago?

Robert Wood: Uh huh. Be three weeks this coming Friday.

Dungan: Did y’all have a game then?

Robert Wood: I was told there was going to be a regular

game there and I showed up but——

Scruggs: Well, tell him how you knew there was going to be a

game there?

Robert Wood: The man I seen at the Southern Frontier.

Scruggs: That’s at Bellevue and Madison?

Dungan: Now, let me get back—you were there the previous

Friday before and then the Thursday, I'm sorry, the Thursday

before Monday night and the previous Friday before that Thurs-

day. In other words it’s been about two weeks. Not quite two

weeks. All right, now how did you come about going to that

apartment to start with the first time?

Robert Wood: A man I seen around town several times, |

don’t know his name, at the Southern Frontier, said they had a

game there on Tuesdays and Fridays.

— 14—

Hinds: Now when did you see him at the Southern Frontier?

Robert Wood: Well, it was on Friday—he told me about it

on Wednesday before the Friday, be two weeks, be three weeks

ago yesterday, I guess.

Dungan: Let’s go a little further. Let’s get these dates

straight NOW. It happened on the 6th and you were over

there Thursday, July 2nd, 1970. All right, before that—let’s

go back to June. Now when did you meet this guy at the

Southern Frontier in reference to that Friday, June 26th, 1970?

Robert Wood: It was on a Wednesday.

Dungan: Was it Wednesday night, or in the day time——

Robert Wood: Wednesday night.

Dungan: All right, that'd be on the 24th, then, Wednesday,

June 24th, 1970.

Hinds: What time did you meet him?

Scruggs: What time of day?

Robert Wood: I was—between ten and eleven o'clock.

Scruggs: Day or night?

Robert Wood: Night.

Dungan: Were you by yourself when you met him or were

a at

Robert Wood: I was by myself.

Dungan: All right, you've seen him around town. How did

yall get together at the Southern Frontier?

Robert Wood: Well, I guess. I’ve seen him in several lounges

and pool rooms on one or two occasions.

Dungan: Okay. Did you just meet him in there or did you

all sit down and have a beer and drink together or just what?

a= {5

Robert Wood: Well, he came over to the table where I was at

and started telling me about the poker game———

Dungan: He approached you and started telling you about

a poker game. What poker game?

Hinds: Exactly tell him what he told you.

Robert Wood: That there was a poker game out on Win-

chester every Tuesdays and Fridays.

Dungan: On Tuesday and Friday. Okay.

Scruggs: Did he give you the address?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: The address where it happened. Right? He gave

you the actual address, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did he ask you if you'd be interested in playing,

or what? What happened after that?

Robert Wood: Well, he asked me if I'd be interested in play-

ing and I said yes.

Dungan: Did he tell you anything about the size of the game?

Robert Wood: No, he said it was a pot limit game, played

on Tuesdays.

Dungan: What’s the limit or what———

Lewis: What did you call this man? Did you know him by

name?

Robert Wood: I heard his nickname.

Lewis: What's that?

Robert Wood: Woppy. I don’t know his name.

Dungan: Woppy?

Robert Wood: Woppy.

— =

Dungan: Okay. Woppy. Now he told you it was a pot limit

game and he told you it was pot limit game and asked you if

you wanted to play? Did he invite you over to play——

Robert Wood: Well, he said there was going to be a game

Friday, said they were going to play that Friday.

Dungan: Said there was going to be a game that Friday, but

there was usually one there Tuesday or Thursday?

Robert Wood: Tuesdays and Fridays.

Hinds: Did he tell you who run the game?

Robert Wood: No, he didn’t, sir.

Dungan: He invited you over that particular night and you

went over there?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: All right, what happened that Friday night over

there?

Robert Wood: Well, this guy, Ray, opened the door, and he

was watching television at the time. Wasn’t nobody else there.

Dungan: He was alone. Right?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Dungan: Okay, did you go in the apartment?

Robert Wood: I went in the apartment.

D. L. Lewis: Did you know him previously?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: This is the first time you made contact with this man?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did you, did he introduce himself to you? He

introduced himself as Ray Blaylock. Right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

=— i

Dungan: How long did y’all stay that night? Did y'all have

a game between yourselves?

Robert Wood: Yeah—he said we expected some people at

any time and we started playing some Rummy at the table.

Dungan: Allright. Did anybody else ever come?

Robert Wood: Nobody ever came. I left. I went over about

a quarter till seven and left about eleven o'clock.

Lewis: Did you win or lose?

Robert Wood: I lose. There was twelve hundred and some-

thing dollars the first time.

Lewis: Was this all in Rummy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And he was the only one there throughout the game.

Right? Was the do there that time?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Nobody came or went from the apartment. Right?

Lewis: You went by yourself in your car?

Dungan: Same car?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir—’67 Plymouth.

Dungan: Then after that game, did you have any more con-

tact with Woppy?

Robert Wood: Nothing about the game. I seen him downtown

after that.

Dungan: All right, when was that?

Robert Wood: Saturday night. I played pool with him in

fact.

Dungan: That would be the next night after the night you

played Rummy with him.

Pa en

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: It was the night of the 26th you played Rummy—

the 27th would be Saturday. Right?

Robert Wood: No, I went back home to Columbus follow-

ing this game and I came back to town and I played pool with

Woppy Saturday night—this past Saturday night.

Lewis: Where?

Robert Wood: On Madison, at Hershel’s Poo] Room.

Dungan: How did you meet Woppy? Did you meet him at

the pool room or where?

Robert Wood: Well, I just went in there and he was playing

somebody else pool when I got there——

Lewis: Who was he playing?

Robert Wood: Jack Hunter, he limps—I don’t know exactly

who.

Lewis: Was Tommy there?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: All right, that’s on the 4th. I understand you said

y'all played twice before on July 2nd, 1970. You played Fri-

day night and you said something about Thursday

Robert Wood: Thursday.

Dungan: Thursday would be the second?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did you go back to the apartment where you played

the Rummy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: What caused you to go back on that Thursday

night? Did you contact somebody or did they contact you?

ey en

Robert Wood: He called up at the pool room while I was up

there—and, uh——

Dungan: Who called up there?

Robert Wood: This Ray—it would have been Douglas.

Dungan: When did he call? What day was that on?—to set

this game up on Thursday night?

Robert Wood: On Thursday afternoon. Asked me did I

want to pay any more.

Linville: Were there any women present?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: All right. Then you went over there on Thursday

night which would be the 2nd. Right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Who was there that time?

Robert Wood: Just him.

Dungan: What time did you go over there that night?

Robert Wood: About seven o'clock.

Dungan: How long did you stay?

Robert Wood: Till between eleven and twelve—I don’t know

exactly.

Dungan: Okay. What did you play that night?

Robert Wood: We played poker.

Dungan: Poker? Just you and him. Right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: What kind of cards did you use?

Robert Wood: I used paper cards then.

Lewis: What kind of poker did y'all play?

—

Robert Wood: Low ball (7?)

Dungan: All right. How much did you win or lose that

night or—what happened?

Robert Wood: I lose a little over two thousand dollars.

Dungan: Lost two thousand dollars that night? In other

words he was in to you for about thirty-two hundred dollars,

that night, at this point. Right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay. Did anybody come in and out during the

game?

Robert Wood: No.

Lewis: You were by yourself when you went over there?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, I was by myself.

Lewis: Same car?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did he get any phone calls while you were there?

Robert Wood: As far as I knew there wasn’t no phone in

the apartment.

Dungan: Okay. Do you know where he called you from to

get you to come over there?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: When you left that night, you were in your own

car that night. Right? The same Plymouth?

Robert Wood: That's right.

Dungan: That’s getting us on through the second. You said

you met Woppy at the pool hall on the 4th. Is that right?

Robert Wood: Let’s see, Saturday was the 4th. Yes. I believe

it was Saturday night when I played.

— )

Dungan: Did he approach you or did you approach him?

Robert Wood: Well, he was playing a guy name Jack Hunter

when I went in. I watched three or four games.

Lewis: Where is this?

Robert Wood: At Hershel’s on Madison.

Lewis: Pool.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: This is Saturday night the 4th, before this thing

happened on the 6th?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Dungan: What was y’all’s conversation that night—you and

Woppy?

Robert Wood: Nothing. He, uh, after they broke up, I think,

Woppy lost two or three games to him and asked me wouid I

play him any.

Dungan: Did you play him some pool?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Dungan: Did you lose them?

Robert Wood: I won. I won him then.

Dungan: How much did you win?

Robert Wood: One hundred and sixty dollars.

Lewis: What kind of pool did you play?

Robert Wood: Nine ball.

Dungan: A hundred and sixty dollars. All right, what led up

to you going back the 6th, Monday night?

Robert Wood: Well, I play quite a bit of cards and I just

figured I'd had a chance, and I just knew there was a lot of

=== 22 «=

smart people in this world. I suggested going and getting the

plastic cards.

Dungan: Well now who contacted you to come over there

on Monday night? What I'm getting at is how did you come

about going Monday night? ihe 6th? In other words, you saw

Woppy before?

Robert Wood: Yeah. Well, on Thursday when I played him,

I told him I'd play him some more.

Dungan: You told Blaylock you’d play him some more?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir. I told him I'd play him some more

if we used plastic cards and set "em down on the table and deal

from the table.

Lewis: What was the reason for that?

Robert Wood: Well, I suspected him—maybe a little sharper

than I was.

Dungan: Let me get at this. I may not be getting the point,

or may not understand—but Monday, did you just go over

there on your own? They contact you?

Robert Wood: No. On Thursday when I played him, I told

him I'd him some more on Monday.

Dungan: Did they call you or make arrangements or any-

thing?

Robert Wood: I just told him I'd meet him over there around

seven thirty.

Dungan: You told him you'd meet him there Monday at 7:30

p.m. at night, Monday.

Lewis: You didn’t talk to him anytime Monday, other than

when you arrived at the apartment? Is that right?

Robert Wood: That's right.

Dungan: You'd already made previous arrangements to play

—_— Yon

a game with him Monday night, provided you used plastic cards

and not the paper cards.

Lewis: Did he ever contact you by phone?

Robert Wood: No.

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: He never called you?

Robert Wood: No. He called me up at the pool room?

Lewis: Hershel’s? When?

Robert Wood: Uh, for, for a second game he called up

there. I was there on—he asked me did I want to play some

more.

Lewis: How did he know you were going to be there?

Robert Wood: Well, he didn’t know, I guess. I went in there

about three o'clock, been in there bout I guess six or seven

times.

Hinds: I mean, did he know you went there previously?

Robert Wood: Well, yeah, after the game there.

Dungan: Then he called you up there the second time, he

didn't contact you anytime after that by telephone?

Robert Wood: He didn’t—I didn’t—there wasn’t no phone

at the apartment. He never, he didn’t—I didn’t know where he

was staying or anything. I didn’t know if there was a phone in

the apartment.

Linville: Who was to get a cut out of this game for setting

it up?

Robert Wood: Well, they were suppose to cut the pot, if it’s

been a ring around game, but since we were playing, nobody

didn’t cut in on it. We just played.

Lewis: Nobody was suppose to be given anything? Nobody

—_

he contacted and said I've got a game set up and I'll give you

a certain percentage? Of the winnings?

Robert Wood: Not in that apartment. I don’t know who was

suppose to get any percentage of it. As far as cutting the pot—

the pot wasn’t cut cause there was just two of us playing.

Dungan: Okay, by pre-arrangement you and your brother,

Joe, went over there Monday night, in your car.

Robert Wood: I called my brother Monday afternoon be-

cause I was a little short of money, for him, I was going to bor-

row some money from him was the reason he was there.

Dungan: How much did you borrow from your brother?

Robert Wood: Eight hundred dollars.

Dungan: Is that the reason he decided to go to the game

with you?

Robert Wood: He brought the money and met me at the

Krystal.

Hinds: Where did you meet him?

Robert Woods: At the Krystal.

Hinds: Did he leave his car there?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Whet kind of car did he leave there?

Robert Woods: I really don’t know. It was a blue car but

he runs a cleanup shop on Summer, and he drives different cars

all the time, and he come and got in the car with me and went

on down there. I was waiting inside the Krystal. He showed

up—went on and drove in.

Lewis: Hold it. Now, go ahead.

Robert Wood: I was inside the Krystal and he drove up, and

I seen him pull in and I just went out, and he got out and came

and got in the car with me. He didn’t go inside.

—

Lewis: Do you know what kind of car he was in?

Robert Wood: He was in a blue, I think it was a Chevrolet

but I'm not sure. In a blue car.

Dungan: Okay, y’all went straight on to the game?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Hinds: Did you take him back to his car?

Robert Wood: I took him, I took him back and he got out.

Dungan: This was after the shooting?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: What time was that?

Robert Wood: Nine thirty, nine thirty-five, or soemthing like

that.

Dungan: This was immediately after the shooting. You didn’t

go anywhere else and then come back later?

Robert Wood: No, I didn’t.

Dungan: Where did you go after you took him back to his

car?

Robert Wood: I just drove around for several hours, and

went by his shop the next day and went back to Mississippi.

Dungan: Where did you stay that night?

Robert Wood: I didn’t stay anywhere. I just drove around.

Dungan: Drove around all night.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Do you know anything that, I mean, do you know

anyone that lives out in that area?

Robert Wood: On Winchester? Not real close there—no.

Hinds: Who do you know out there?

== 26 —

Robert Wood: Nobody on Winchester. I know a David

Frazier that lives in Whitehaven. I haven't seen him in three

or four years but I know him.

Lewis: Do you have any close friends that live in that apart-

ment complex?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: In that vicinity of the apartment complex?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Where do you normally stay when you come to

Memphis? And spend the night when you don’t go back to

Mississippi right away?

Robert Wood: I got a girl friend here and I stay with her.

Dungan: All right, do you have a girl friend? Did you go

there that Monday night and stay?

Robert Wood: I had been there that day, but-——

Dungan: Do you waht to tell us who she is?

Robert Wood: Do I have to?

Dungan: Well, we'd like to know.

Robert Wood: She works at the Red Coach Inn.

Dungan: What’s her name?

Robert Wood: Sarah John——

Hinds: Y-a-h-n?

Robert Wood: Y-o-o-n.

Dungan: You pronounce it Yonn (phonetic yon—) Yoon.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Where does she live?

Robert Wood: On Knight Arnold Road.

—~

Dungan: Is it in an apartment?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir. Sir?

Dungan: On Knight Arnold Road, in an apartment or a

house?

Robert Wood: In an apartment.

Dungan: Do you know the number?

Robert Wood: I know the apartment number and the phone

number but I don’t know

Lewis: What's the phone number?

Robert Wood: 362-2659.

Dungan: But you didn’t go there this night. Did you go by

the Red Coach Inn after this thing happened and talk to her?

Robert Wood: She knows nothing about it.

Dungan: All right—let’s get back to the poker game now.

You said you, I think you said they were eighteen hundred dol-

lars in to you—you had eighteen hundred dollars in the game.

Robert Wood: Well, that was on the table. I wasn’t much

loser, I

Dungan: Did you pick the money up and take it with you

or

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: When the fellow started kicking the door, you didn’t

grab your money up?

Robert Wood: I didn’t have time.

Dungan: Who did? Grab the money up?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see anything. When I left there it was

still on the table.

Dungan: You backed behind the partition? Right?

—

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Well, surely you would have been able to see the

table from where

Robert Wood: I could see the table but when I left there

the money was still on the table.

Dungan: Well, when these guys started kicking the door,

what was y’all’s immediately reaction?

Robert Wood: Well, it scared us all, I think, we both knew

what it was, and I jumped up and stood against the partition and

he was jumping up from the table and was reaching——

Dungan: What do you mean you think he was going for a

gun?

Robert Wood: Well, he was reaching for his pocket. I never

did see him get the gun out cause I heard a shot.

Lewis: You know he had a gun?

Robert Wood: Well, he had on britches where you could see

it in his pocket.

Mr. Scruggs: Was it a revolver or an automatic?

Robert Wood: It looked like a .38 revolver.

Mr. Scruggs: Stuck down—bulging out of his pocket?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir—he on, he had on——

Mr. Scruggs: With the butt of the pistol sticking out where

you could see it?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: The grips on the pistol where you could see

em.

Dungan: In other words you know he had a pistol. You're

saying that. Right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

—

Hinds: How much money would you estimate, total, was lay-

ing on the table?

Robert Wood: Approximately twenty-five hundred dollars.

Hinds: Could have been more?

Robert Wood: It could have been four or five hundred more.

Lewis: Were y'all playing table stakes?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Were you winning or losing at this point?

Robert Wood: Well, I ahead, we’d been playing about an

hour and I was very little beaten, about two or three hundred

at least.

Dungan: In other words you were fairing better than you had

before? Right? With the plastic cards, not the paper cards?

Robert Wood: Right. We went to Lowenstein’s and got them.

Lewis: Were there any words said when they first kicked the

door open and came in?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: They didn’t say a word? Who came in?

Robert Wood: Three niggers.

Lewis: Did they come inside?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Lewis: How did you get by them, when you ran out the door?

Robert Wood: They were inside and I's around that partition

and out the door. It was wide open.

Lewis: You're saying there wasn’t any white man that come

in with them?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see a white man involved—except the

ones involved in the poker game.

_ a

Lewis: That’s what I thought you were saying. As far as

you know there wasn’t a white man involved in the robbery?

Robert Wood: The only white men I seen was is the ones I

saw inside the apartment.

Dungan: You, you heard the kicking on the door. You got

up, backed against the partition and Blaylock or Douglas stood

up where he was standing. You saw him going for his pocket?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Then what happened?

Robert Wood: The shots were fired-——

Dungan: How many shots?

Robert Wood: I heard two shots before I got away.

Lewis: Were they the same sounding shots?

Robert Wood: Well, I couldn’t tell. I was so scared I couldn’t

tell one shot from another except it wasn’t a shotgun.

Lewis: Did it sound like it came from the same pistol? Or

were they different sounding calibre shots?

Robert Wood: I couldn’t tell. Loud noises——

Dungan: Let’s describe these three fellows you saw come in

the door.

Robert Wood: All I seen was—the—kicked the door in and

all of ’em rushed in together.

Dungan: The front door?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: All right, did they come up to the table where you

were or did they go in the living room or did they go back in

the kitchen, or where?

Robert Wood: After the shots, two of them run by there and

I jumped out the door.

onto 8 es

Dungan: Two of them run by where now?

Robert Wood: Down that hallway—the doors to both bed-

rooms was closed and stayed closed all the time I was there.

Two of ’em ran down the hall.

Dungan: Where did the other one stay?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him. I got out the door, getting

out as fast as I could.

Dungan: Did all three of them come by you where you could

get out or did one stand in the door or what?

Robert Wood: They were all by me cause I didn’t see any-

body when I left there.

Lewis: Did they ever point the pistol or say anything to you?

Robert Wood: Wasn't a word said.

Lewis: Kicked the door in and started shooting?

Robert Wood: Well, probably wouldn’t have started shoot-

ing, I figure they seen him reaching for a gun—he probably had

it in his hand by that time.

Lewis: Was he wearing any jewelry?

Robert Wood: Nothing but a watch.

Lewis: No ring?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: You didn’t see what they did around the table or

who got the money? You didn’t get the money? Your brother

didn’t get the money to your knowledge?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: How about this other fellow—was he diving for

the money?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him after that.

—_— ya

Dungan: You didn’t even see your brother as I understand it?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Until you got to the car?

Robert Wood: He was at the car, right behind me.

Lewis: Behind you?

Robert Wood: Behind me. My car was locked and by the

time I got it unlocked, he was on the other side.

Lewis: What did your brother say when he got there?

Robert Wood: He didn’t say nothing. I just said let’s get

out of here.

Dungan: He didn’t tell you anything about what he saw?

Lewis: You said, “Let’s get the hell out of here?”

Robert Wood: No. I was at my car. I just unlocked the door.

Lewis: I understood Mr. Scruggs to say, “Let’s get the hell

. Out of here.” and I thought that’s what you had told him. I

was just asking.

Robert Wood: I wasn’t wasting no time talking—I was mov-

ing!

Mr. Scruggs: Did Joe ever tell you later on what he saw?

Robert Wood: I hadn’t talked to him much. He called me

at home in Columbus, last night and said he was gonna get an

attorney and turn hisself in. I said, “Well, I guess that’d be

the best thing to do. I think I'll come up and do the same

thing.” I called him last night and he recommended that I come

in this morning.

Dungan: Called Mr. Scruggs?

Mr. Scruggs: You know, I told you to come in and we’d sur-

render. Let me ask you this, can you identify any of the male

Negroes? Were they all male Negroes?

~~

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: Can you describe their height of any of those

Negro men? How tall were they? Were they my height—I'm

e's

Lewis: Let’s just take the number one male colored and

see what you can do with it.

Hinds: Compare him in height with yourself.

Mr. Scruggs: What was the first colored man in height, just _

tell the detectives, describe him—hair, everything. How tall

was he?

Robert Wood: There was one around 6’ and the other two

—seemed like they were 5’7” 5’8” 5’9” somewhere in that

vicinity.

Dungan: How old a man were they?

Robert Wood: I couldn’t see very much, I'd say—they wasn’t

real young. They was twenty-five or thirty-five.

Lewis: Which ones were armed?

Robert Wood: All three of them were armed.

D. O. Lewis: What did the taller one have?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall. I just heard a shot and got out

of there in a hurry cause the door was wide open.

Dungan: Was he slim build, fat or skinny or what?

Robert Wood: Well, I think the tall one was about my size

—the other two were——

Dungan: What would you call yourself? Heavy? Medium

Heavy?

Robert Wood: Heavy. I weigh a little over two hundred.

Mr. Scruggs: What kind of clothes that tall man have on?

a” ye

Robert Wood: I really don’t know what kind of clothes he

had on.

Dungan: Can you say whether they had on suits and ties,

overalls, levis, or

Robert Wood: No, no—they had on older clothes. They

didn’t have regular overalls on, I think they just had, well, it

happened so fast I can’t describe ‘em.

Lewis: Were they loudly dressed? Flashly?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Did they have on bell-bottom—clothes like that—

high pocket pants or—just average clothes or what?

Robert Wood: Just average clothes. They wasn’t no fancy

clothes.

Lewis: You said you saw one of them with a shotgun. Do

you know which one you saw with a shotgun?

Robert Wood: It wasn’t the tallest guy—he had a pistol.

Dungan: What kind of looking pistol did he have?

Mr. Scruggs: Was it blue steel, nickel plated or what?

Robert Wood: I couldn’t tell.

Lewis: Automatic, revolver?

Robert Wood: There’s no way I can tell. I don’t know.

Dungan: Can you identify them. If you saw them again would

you recognize them?

Robert Wood: I doubt it cause I——

Lewis: Is there any explanation about that?

Robert Wood: The best I know—he kept ’em there to keep

people from busting in.

Lewis: Was there any discussion about it?

=}.

Robert Wood: Wasn’t no discussion—the front door didn’t

have the same bar across it—it had a two by four that he braced

up on each. up underneath it.

Lewis: Was that up there at the time the door was kicked?

Robert Wood: Yés, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: The brace was on the door at the time it was

kicked?

Robert Wood: Well, it was across it—I don’t know if it was

braced up or not.

Dungan: All right, let me ask you this. When you went out

the front door, who was outside the apartment?

Robert Wood: I seen some people there but I was moving so

fast I-——

Dungan: Where did you see them?

Robert Wood: In the doorways.

Dungan: Of what?

Robert Wood: I can’t recall. I didn’t stop to look at anybody.

I just ran but I did see some people out there.

Dungan: How about on the parking lot?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see anybody at the parking lot. When

I got to my car. The time I got to my car—the time I got the

door unlocked, my brother was standing at the door. I'd done

got in and he was standing at the door the time I got in.

Lewis: Did you have a gun?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: You carry a gun?

Robert Wood: Lotta times I got one in my car.

Lewis: What kind?

Oi

Robert Wood: A .38.

Lewis: Did Joe have a gun?

Robert Wood: No.

Lewis: Tommy?

Robert Wood: If he did, I didn’t know it.

Lewis: The only one you knew that was armed was Douglas?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, look at these photographs of male

coloreds here. We have some snapshots and also I'll let you

look at the mug shots. Concentrate on them carefully and your

memory may bring back to you what they looked like and you

may recognize some of them. Look very closely. Take your

time with them.

Robert Wood: I think one of these boys worked at my broth-

ers cleanup shop at one time.

Dungan: The one that came in the apartment or the one, or

one of these———

Robert Wood: One of these here. I could recognize anybody

coming in the apartment.

Dungan: Which one do you recognize that worked at your

brother’s cleanup shop?

Robert Wood: I believe I seen him there.

Dungan: 113179?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Look through these now. These are snapshots.

They're not mug shots. They don’t have numbers on them.

Robert Wood: That’s the same boy I recognize here.

Dungan: You don’t recognize any of them as the ones that

came in on the game?

—=_ =

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: Did you borrow two thousand dollars to continue the

game at one time?

Robert Wood: I borrowed a thousand one time.

Dungan: Who did you borrow the thousand from?

Robert Wood: A man at the Casbah Lounge.

Dungan: When was that?

Robert Wood: The second game we played.

Dungan: When did you borrow it from him? The day before?

Right before?

Robert Wood: The day we played.

Dungan: The day you played and you borrowed a thousand

dollars.

Linville: You were already broke and you went back and

got an additional thousand?

Dungan: Then you borrowed eight hundred from your

brother, Joe, Monday night, Monday?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Who did you borrow it from?

Robert Wood: James Hughes. I've already paid him back.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, how were you dressed that night? Mon-

day night?

Robert Wood: I had on an orange shirt, well light colored

shirt and khaki pants.

Dungan: Did you have a hat on?

Robert Wood: No, sir. I never wear a hat.

Dungan: How about your brother, Joe? How was he dressed?

=

Robert Wood: He had on white pants. I don’t remember the

color of the shirt.

Dungan: What kind of shirt did he have on?

Robert Wood: I don't remember.

Lewis: What kind of white pants did he have on? Were they

white dress pants or white work pants, or what?

Robert Wood: Denims, I believe.

Lewis: White levis?

Robert Wood: Uh, huh.

Dungan: Now, let’s go over this Tommy again. What, or

how was he dressed?

Robert Wood: He had on a, he had on slacks, I think they

were a dark color, gray or brown.

Dungan: What type shirt would you say he had on?

Robert Wood: He had a slip over shirt and it was dark. I

don’t know exactly what color.

Dungan: How was Mr. Douglas, or Mr. Blaylock as you

call him, dressed?

Robert Wood: He had on tight, pretty tight slacks. I believe

they were gray. I’m not sure. I don’t remember the shirt.

Dungan: When y'all went to get the cards, were you dressed

the same as you were when this thing happened?

Mr. Scruggs: Did the three Negroes have on hats, or were

they bareheaded?

Robert Wood: I believe they were bare-headed. I’m not sure.

Dungan: Did they have on any kind of mask or glasses?

Robert Wood: I don’t think so.

Mr. Scruggs: Stocking over their head or face?

—

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Had y’all been examining any jewelry or, watches,

rings, or what-have-you before the game and/or during the

game?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Do you recall seeing any in the apartment?

Robert Wood: Naw—the apartment looked like, except for

the man and the dog, looked like it wasn’t nothing in there

except a television set. The bedroom doors were pulled to. I

didn't open either one of them.

Lewis: Did anyone come over to borrow anything while the

game was going on?

Robert Wood: The second game, a real young boy came

and asked for some vanilla. A real young boy, 18 or 19 years

old.

Lewis: Who was in there at the time?

Robert Wood: Just me and Ray.

Lewis: Just the two of you?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Woppy wasn’t there?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Have you ever seen Woppy at the apartment?

Robert Wood: Yeah, he was, he went by there (one of the)

one other occasion, and left when we got there.

Mr. Scruggs: Did he come into the apartment?

Robert Wood: If he did, he left immediately after we got

there.

Hinds: Did these Negroes have what the Negroes call an

Afro, or African haircuts—their hair grows all——

—

Robert Wood: I didn’t see 'em long enough. I was behind

that partition. I didn’t see em long enough to recognize them.

Dungan: Do you recall if they had hair like this? (Hold that

right there a minute) (indicating photographs) Or like this?

That’s what he means by an African haircut.

Robert Wood: I really couldn't tell. I was behind that parti-

tion.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, were you smoking that night?

Robert Wood: I don’t smoke. |

Dungan: You don’t smoke. How about your brother?

Robert Wood: I don’t believe he does either—sometimes——

Dungan: How about Mr. Douglas? What was he smoking?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall.

Lewis: Cigarettes, cigars?

Robert Wood: Cigarettes.

Dungan: How about this fellow Tommy?

Robert Wood: I don’t believe he smokes either. I didn’t see

him smoking cause I wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Dungan: Do you recall anybody smoking a cigar that night?

Lewis: He wasn’t playing—Tommy wasn’t playing?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Nobody, to your knowledge, was smoking a cigar?

Robert Wood: I don’t remember anybody smoking a cigar.

Lewis: What was the purpose of two men being there to wit-

ness this play?

Robert Wood: I guess—well, my brother came by there

with me to bring me some money at the Krystal and went down

there with me and, uh——

=

Linville: You hadn’t already lost some money, had you?

Robert Wood: No. I had some money and I called him at

work, told him to come over there, that I might need to borrow

some money.

Dungan: Were there some more cards there, besides the ones

y'all went out and bought?

Robert Wood: I think there was a deck of paper cards from

a previous game that we had, that we hadn't opened.

Dungan: Where did they come from? Do you know?

Robert Wood: I don’t know.

Dungan: The cards you played with before, where did they

come from? Do you know?

Robert Wood: I believe they came from up there at one of

those 7-Eleven stores.

Dungan: Who bought them?

Robert Wood: First time we played, he already had some

cards there, and the second time we went up and got some.

Dungan: Where? The Seven-Eleven Store?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Linville: I’m assuming that in your opinion, he was cheating.

Robert Wood: I imagine so.

Linville: How?

Robert Wood: I don’t know how. I’ve heard of the man

before after he was identified today. I’ve heard of Douglas be-

fore, but I'd never met him and didn’t

Dungan: Where did you hear from him before?

Robert Wood: Well, I'd heard he was in this town a couple

of years ago, and played a man——

Dungan: Who did he play on that time?

—

Robert Wood: He played a man up in Tipton County.

Dungan: Who was that?

Robert Wood: Hagen.

Dungan: Akin?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Do you feel like those cards were marked cards?

Robert Wood: Well, I suspected they was. That’s the reason

I wanted to go with him to get some plastic cards.

Mr. Scruggs: You thought the paper cards were marked

cards?

Robert Wood: I suspected they were.

Mr. Scruggs: Any glasses—did he have glasses when he

played.

Robert Wood: Rim glasses.

Mr. Scruggs: He did wear rim glasses, when he was playing

cards. Did he normally wear glasses when he wasn’t playing

cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, he had the glasses on while he was watch-

ing television too.

Mr. Scruggs: At any time that you met him did he have

glasses on?

Robert Wood: Well, he had glasses on most all the time I

met, met him.

Dungan: Back when y’all left the apartment to go buy the

cards, did he have glasses on?

Dungan: Look at these photographs here. Look close. Do

you recall any of them?

Linville: Do you know Woppy?

— fn

Robert Wood: I know him by that name. I don’t know his

real name.

Dungan: Did Douglas call you on this Monday at any time

in the day or the night as far as that goes?

Robert Wood: We had an appointment to play that night.

Dungan: You had an appointment—when was this appoint-

ment set up?

Robert Wood: From the previous Thursday.

Dungan: From the previous Thursday.

Mr. Scruggs: Was that down at the pool hall where you were

contacted—Hershel’s?

Robert Wood: We played on Thursday. Yeah, it was.

Mr. Scruggs: He contacted you at Hershel’s?

Robert Wood: I played Woppy some pool one night for about

forty-five minutes.

Dungan: Well, let me ask you this. Was there ever anything

discussed between you and Douglas about bringing your brother

over there or anybody else to the game? I think you said on the

previous occasion that y’all were the only ones there. How

come on this night that there were two other people there? Your

brother and this other fellow.

Robert Wood: My brother, he don’t gamble hardly any at

all. I'd called him at work and he told me he could bring me

some money when he closed up.

Lewis: Do you know a fellow by the name of O’Neal?

Robert Wood: I played a man with a different name and |

heard his name was O'Neal later.

Dungan: What was the different name you played him by?

Robert Wood: Burt Thompson.

ee

Dungan: Burt Thompson?

Robert Wood: But this was two or three year ago.

Lewis: Did you beat him?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: At the time you were playing, did you ever tell

Douglas that you were going to bring your brother with you, or

did you just bring him there that night?

Robert Wood: I just brought him there that night cause I had

called him for him to bring me some money.

Dungan: All right, but you didn’t tell Douglas he was com-

ing?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, that’s right, I didn’t.

Dungan: Did Douglas object to him being there, you think?

Robert Wood: He said, well—when we showed up, he was

watching television, and I done told him I wasn’t playing unless

we went to get some plastic cards.

Linville: You didn’t have a telephone conversation with

Douglas in which you mentioned your brother was coming?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: At any time during one of these games, did you

leave the game and go borrow some money from anybody?

Robert Wood: Yeah. I went and borrowed some money

from James Hughes—on one occasion, I forget now whether it

was the first or second one.

Dungan: How much did you borrow?

Robert Wood: A thousand dollars.

Dungan: One thousand dollars?

Robert Wood: That’s right. I brought it back to him and

paid him back.

— Po

Dungan: While y'all were playing this last game, did any-

body take the dog out for a walk?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Stayed shut up in the apartment the whole time.

Lewis: Monday night, did the dog start barking for someone

to let it out to use the bathroom?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall it.

Lewis: You don’t remember the dog started barking and

wanting out and nobody would let it out? Nobody left the

apartment for any reason?

Robert Wood: Not that I know of.

Dungan: You didn’t go in another apartment or talk to any-

body going out the front door of that apartment?

Robert Wood: No, sir. I got to my car as fast as I could.

Linville: Have you ever heard of Titanic Thomas?

Robert Wood: Heard of him—never met ’em.

Linville: Do you know whether he has any relatives in town

or not?

Robert Wood: No, but I heard he had a son, but I don’t

know where he is. I just heard he had a son.

Linville: Was that Titanic Thomas’ son that was in the game

with you?

Robert Wood: I’m not sure. His name was Tommy is all I

know. No one played in the game cept me and the other man.

Dungan: I want you to look through these photographs——

(interrupt)

Robert Wood: No one played in the game cept me and: the

other man.

Linville: I didn’t mean that—I meant Tommy.

ee

Robert Wood: That boy’s name Tiller, I think.

Dungan: Do you know which one he is?

Robert Wood: No, just that he’s one of the Tiller brothers.

Dungan: Do you have any connection with him in reference

to these games?

Robert Wood: He was at the pool room the night I played

Whoppy.

Dungan: He was at the pool room when you played Woppy?

Look at these photographs and be real specific about who you

know in there and name them and where you know them from.

Look at that fellow right there. Do you know him?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Don’t know him.

Robert Wood: No, sir. This boy looks familiar, but I can’t

think of the name.

Dungan: Did he have anything to do with this deal? Setting

up the game, or

Robert Wood: No. I think I’ve seen him before.

Dungan: About that other fellow, before we get to him?

Robert Wood: No, I don’t know him. ~

Dungan: Now this one?

Robert Wood: This is Woppy.

Dungan: This is Woppy, number 113854, is that who you

identified as Woppy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Do you know him.

Robert Wood: No. This is Sonny Byrd here.

Dungan: Did he have anything to do with it.

ais iain

Robert Wood: I don’t imagine so. I know this one here.

Dungan: Who’s he?

Robert Wood: James Parks from Jackson, Tennessee.

Dungan: Did he have anything to do with this deal?

Robert Wood: No. Now, I’ve seen this man before. Prob-

ably my picture was taken at the same time his was.

Dungan: Did he have anything to do with this?

Robert Wood: No, I haven’t seen him in five years—That's

Michael.

Dungan: Did he have anything to do with this?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Was Mike at the pool room with his brother——

Robert Wood: No, sir. I believe that’s another Tiller boy,

but I haven’t seen him over once or twice.

Dungan: That’s George, there. None of these had anything

to do with it?

Robert Wood: That’s right.

Lewis: Does your brother, Joe, know Woppy?

Robert Wood: I think the said he knows him by that name,

Woppy is all.

Lewis: Where has he seen him?

Robert Wood: Alibi Lounge right across from where his

business is, and I guess he’s seen him two or three times besides.

Dungan: Let’s go back so we can get this here. Number

79194—that’s the one you said was Tiller that was at the pool

room?

Robert Wood: Right. He was there last week when Woppy

was there.

eae EE

Dungan: When Woppy was there? Is this the first meeting

or the second meeting you and Woppy had at the pool room?

Robert Wood: The second time I seen him, there. I’ve seen

Woppy off an on for over a year. I seen him at Tupelo even.

I’ve always known him as just Woppy, never known his name.

Dungan: What was he doing at Tupelo?

Robert Wood: Playing pool. He was playing——

Dungan: Here’s some more male coloreds—would you look

at them? Look close now, because you might be able to rec-

ognize one.

Robert Wood: These are the same ones I done looked at be-

fore—and.

Dungan: I don’t think so.

Robert Wood: I ain’t seen none of them.

Lewis: Do you have a local phone number how we can con-

tact you?

Robert Wood: There’s a phone at that apartment where I

Stay at my girl friend’s sometimes.

Mr. Scruggs: You can get in touch with us and we’ll have

him available at any time you need him.

Dungan: At the time you were in the pool hall with Woppy

and this Tiller fellow here, were they conversing or having any-

thing to do with each other? Were they playing pool together?

Robert Wood: I think they was—Woppy was a pool for him

and I think Tiller had up half of the money when he was playing

Jack Hunter and when he was playing me, too.

Dungan: Did Tiller leave with him?

Robert Wood: They left in the same car together, cause the

pool room closed.

Dungan: Well——{interrupt)

—_— a

Lewis: What kind of car?

Robert Wood: A green Pontiac, I believe. A green Pontiac.

Lewis: Does your brother, Joe, know Tommy?

Robert Wood: Not that I know of.

Lewis: You say your brother, when he was over at the apart-

ment, had on white levis, you don’t know the color of the shirt.

Robert Wood: He had on white pants. I don’t know whether

they were white levis or slacks.

D. O. Lewis: How does he, your brother, wear his hair?

Robert Wood: Most of the time, he’s got it cut off fairly

short.

Lewis: How does he comb it?

Robert Wood: It ain’t hardly long enough to comb.

Lewis: Did he have long sideburns or did he have it styled?

Robert Wood: His hair’s not long, but he has it styled some-

times.

Dungan: You were the first one out the door after the

shooting?

Robert Wood: As far as I know I was.

Dungan: Who did you see when you got outside?

Robert Wood: I just seen some people.

Lewis: Where was the Negro at that fired the shot.

Robert Wood: Close to the door because——

Lewis: He fired across the room then.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did you hear any bullets strike anything? In the

apartment?

— §0 —

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Did you see Douglas fali, go down or holler?

Robert Wood: A shot—I don’t know if it was in the apart-

ment or not, but it was really loud

Lewis: Was any furniture turned over?

Robert Wood: Darned if I know. I was excited and just got

out as fast as I could.

Dungan: Do you recognize that photograph?

Robert Wood: Yeah, I guess that’s him. Somewhat different

dress.

Dungan: How about that one—the other one?

Robert Wood: It’s not—you can’t see it too good but I guess

it’s the same guy, I’m not sure.

Lewis: Is that the man you were playing cards with?

Robert Wood: I’m certain. Almost positive of it. I'm pretty

sure it is. I’m almost positive cause I’m use to seeing him

dressed, not with his shirt off.

Dungan: Look at this photograph here. See that shot right

there? Do you wear glasses Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Do you recognize that—did you ever see that

before?

Robert Wood: I don’t know whether it’s a ring, a key ring or

what it is.

Dungan: You don’t know what it is? Did you know Sherman

Dean?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Dungan: How well do you know Sherman?

=

Robert Wood: Well, I hadn’t seen him in a good long while

but I know him.

Dungan: Do you ever gamble with him?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, I've been at a game or two with him,

about two or three year or more.

Dungan: When was the last time you saw him?

Robert Wood: When me and the man ‘hes talking about

played. O’Neal, Burt Thompson, or whatever his name is.

Lewis: Is he the one that set the game up?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did he set this game up?

Robert Wood: Far as I know he didn’t, cause if I even heard

his name, I'd go the other way.

Lewis: Dean?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Lewis: You had no idea who called Douglas in Las Vegas

and told him to come down here, that there was a game ready?

Robert Wood: No, sir—well, there wasn’t no game ready.

Dungan: When's the last time you saw Sherman Dean?

Robert Wood: I guess, I seen him pass on the street but the

last time I seen him close up is when me and O’Neal or Burt

Thompson played.

Dungan: In the game?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Lewis: Did your brother have any guns that you know of?

Rifles? Shotguns?

Robert Wood: No.

awiiihios

Lewis: You've never seen him with a gun?

Robert Wood: Well, I've seen him with a little pistol.

Lewis: What kind?

Robert Wood: I guess it was .32 or a .38—but it’s been a

year or so ago since I seen him with it.

Lewis: You haven’t seen him recently with any kind of gun?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: Never go hunting?

Robert Wood: Well, I don’t think he hunts much—I don’t

know.

Lewis: He’s no hunter?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: But you never saw that he had several different calibre

shells?

Robert Wood: I haven't never seen any.

Lewis: Have you ever been to Woppy’s house?

Robert Wood: No. I’ve only seen him around different places.

I've seen him in Tupelo. I seen in oh, numbers of places.

Lewis: Did he set up the game? Did he tell you a game was

in progress?

Robert Wood: He told me they played on Tuesdays and

Fridays.

Lewis: That’s your first contact with playing cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: On Benbow Drive—With Woppy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did he write it down on a piece of paper and give it

to you?

= §3

Robert Wood: No, he told me where—I followed him out

there and then he left.

Lewis: Does he know your name?

Robert Wood: No.

Lewis: What kind of car does he drive?

Robert Wood: A maroon Ford.

Lewis: Was he by himself?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: What car was he in the night you shot pool with

him and Tiller was present?

Robert Wood: A green Pontiac.

Dungan: You don’t know whose car that was?

Robert Wood: Well, Tiller was driving it.

Dungan: Tiller was driving it. Have you ever seen Woppy

with his wife or do you know if he has a wife?

Robert Wood: I’ve seen him in the pool room with his wife.

Dungan: What does she look like?

Robert Wood: A little dark headed woman wears glasses,

had a daughter with ‘em. She was asleep on the pool table

while he was playing pool.

Dungan: How old is this daughter?

Robert Wood: Four or five years old.

Linville: Whenever y'all were in the apartments, you said

the bedroom doors were closed. Did either you, Joe, Tommy

or Douglas go in the bedrooms and check to make sure no one

was in there?

Robert Wood: Not as far as I know, they didn’t. They went

to the bathroom and the bedroom doors are in the hall.

_—

Linville: Who's that?

Robert Wood: Everybody used the bathroom on one or two

occasions. I used it—I don’t think I used it Monday night

cause we wasn’t there very long but I had used it before.

Linville: Monday night, who all used the bathroom?

Robert Wood: I believe all three of them were in the bath-

room on one or two occasions, or just on one occasion.

Linville: How about in the kitchen?

Robert Wood: They went in to take a—mix a drink. The

kitchen’s real small. I can see in the kitchen from where I was

sitting.

Dungan: Well, you could pretty well see down the hall from

where you were sitting, couldn’t you?

Robert Wood: No, well you can see the first bedroom door.

You can’t see the second one and you can’t see the bathroom.

Mr. Scruggs: Robert, I want to ask you a question. Did you

carry a weapon inside that room, any kind.

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: To the best of your knowledge, did your

brother, Joe, take a weapon, any kind, either a knife or a gun

in the room with him?

Robert Wood: I don’t think so—he had on pretty tight

britches.

Mr. Scruggs: You do know this dead man, Blaylock, had a

pistol on him?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: How far were the Negroes from him when they

shot?

Robert Wood: Three to five feet.

—_

Mr. Scruggs: Three to five feet?

Dungan: Did you tell anybody, other than your brother, that

you were going to be playing cards for pretty high stakes at that

apartment? Prior to Monday night.

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: How about the man you borrowed money from, pre-

vious occasion, did you tell him where you were playing or who

you were playing with?

Robert Wood: No. I didn’t tell him who I was playing with

because I'd told him the man’s name was Ray—what he told me.

Dungan: Did you tell the man you borrowed the money from

that you were going to be playing poker or playing cards, using

the money to gamble with?

Robert Wood: I just told him I'd pay him back either late

that night or the next week.

Dungan: You ever borrowed money from him before?

Robert Wood: I think I either borrowed a hundred or two

hundred before.

Dungan: But he let you have a thousand on this occasion?

Robert Wood: Well, I been knowing the man well for ten

or twelve years.

Dungan: I’m getting at that, but it was a pretty large sum.

Lewis: Was the man you know as Ray wearing glasses when

y'all played?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did he wear them all the time? When he met you,

or just put them on?

Robert Wood: I wasn’t around him that much but what time

he was watching television, he had on glasses.

_— =

Dungan: You don’t recall whether he wore them in the store

when you bought the cards?

Robert Wood: No, I don’t.

Dungan: Show me where you were sitting. Was the table

sitting over here, like this—this is the kitchen, this is the hallway.

Robert Wood: I was sitting over this a way.

Dungan: All right, where were you sitting?

Robert Wood: Now, from the kitchen, I was up—there’s a

partition back here that doesn’t show it, and I was sitting with

my back to that partition.

Dungan: Where was Ray sitting?

Robert Wood: With his back to the kitchen. Directly across

from me.

Linville: The way that the game was arranged for that day—

you said it was previous. You said it was a previous arrange-

ment. And what day was the other game, the game you had

just before that?

Robert Wood: Thursday.

Linville: That was on a Thursday? July 2nd, and that’s when

the arrangements were made?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: And Joe didn’t play Saturday? When were the ar-

rangements made for the game Monday? That's what I was

getting at.

Robert Wood: On Thursday, when we played the last time.

Linville: Thursday—the last time you played?

Lewis: You didn’t play Saturday or Sunday?

Linville: When did the boy come over to borrow the vanilla?

nS Rin

Robert Wood: I don’t really know what day it was. It was

a young boy. I remember him coming to the door.

Linville: You said it was the second night you played.

Robert Wood: The second time I was there.

Linville: Is that when the arrangements were made? For the

next game?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Linville: That was a Sunday, that was July 5th, 1970.

Robert Wood: When the boy came there for vanilla?

Linville: When the boy came there asking for the vanilla was

Sunday, July Sth, 1970, the day before this game.

Robert Wood: I remember a young kid coming——

Linville: Coming and asking for the vanilla. Right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Linville: Well, that’s, that was on Sunday, That's what I'm

trying to help you get your dates straight a little bit because

they're off right now. This was the night before the fatal game.

Dungan: He played the night before the fatal game?

Linville: Where were you Sunday, July 5th, 1970?

Robert Wood: I was over to the apartment, most of the day,

I don’t really don’t remember—Yeah, I was down at the pool

room on Sunday.

Linville: How did Douglas know that your brother was com-

ing to the game?

Robert Wood: He didn’t know it, I don’t guess.

Linville: He’d told some people that your brother was com-

ing to the game. That’s what I meant. You said you didn’t get

a telephone call from him. This is just a point we're trying to

clear up.

aw §§

Robert Wood: I was thinking it was Thursday when the boy

come to the door. He told me to answer the door. I opened the

door and there was a boy there who said, “I want a bottle of

vanilla.” He growled and said, “We ain’t got no vanilla,” and

shut the door in his face, but there was not activity taking place.

Linville: No, there was no activity taking place, but this was

Sunday, and that’s when the game took place?

Hinds: Were you ever there in a game on Sunday?

Robert Wood: Not that I know of.

Lewis: You weren’t there in a game on Sunday?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Linville: Where did the beer come from? Didn’t you say

your brother was drinking beer? Where did it come from?

Robert Wood: It was in the refrigerator there.

Lewis: How about the whiskey?

Robert Wood: It was sitting over there on the table, and it

was whiskey there everytime I was there——

Lewis: And the beer was there also?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: But you did not get a telephone conversation from

either Douglas or Woppy on Monday?

Robert Wood: Well, Woppy has got a phone number over

there at the apartment.

Lewis: At the apartment?

Robert Wood: At the apartment, yeah, but uh.

Lewis: And that’s that 332———

Robert Wood: I believe it’s 2659.

— ke

Lewis: But he didn’t call you there? Or you didn’t call him.

Where was he staying?

Robert Wood: I have no idea.

Lewis: So you couldn't have called him, and if he had called

you, that’s where it would have been.

Robert Wood: Uh huh.

Lewis: And Woppy had that phone number?

Robert Wood: Woppy had that phone number and I been in

that pool room down there a bunch of times and I been know-

ing Hershel from down at Peoples, ten or fifteen year ago.

Lewis: Well, where were you at Monday. What did you do

Monday? Before the game?

Robert Wood: I was at an apartment all day and called my

brother and told him I might need some money that night, to

meet me. I was at the apartment nearly all day, Monday.

Lewis: Can you recall going anywhere?

Robert Wood: No, didn’t go anywhere.

Lewis: Then you couldn’t have got a call at the pool hall or

some other place?

Robert Wood: Yeah, I called my brother.

Lewis: No, I meant a call about the game. What I'm getting

at, they tell us that your brother was coming with you and I

just wondered how they knew that he was coming with you.

Robert Wood: I don’t know.

Dungan: What was the discussion between you and Woppy on

Saturday night, now?

Robert Wood: Nothing. we just played pool.

Dungan: No discussion about the game—not the past game

— =

or the future game? Now, Mr. Wood, tell us about what you told

Detective Lewis about the cashier checks.

Robert Wood: Five hundred dollar checks. I’m not spe-

cific whether it was the first or second play that —cashed

them——

Dungan: One of the previous games? What did you do?

Robert Wood: They were made out to Robert Wood and I

signed them on the back and

Dungan: And gave them to Mr. Douglas, whom you call

Ray Blaylock?

Robert Wood: He act like he didn’t want to take them, and I

said, “Well, the next time I see you, if I've got the money, I'll

get them back from you.”

Dungan: Did you ever give him the money back? Did he take

these checks and put them up, or what did he do with them?

Robert Wood: I have no idea.

Hinds: Tell him what bank you got the cashier’s check.

Robert Wood: National Bank of Commerce, N. B. C. in

Columbus.

Dungan: N. B. C. in Columbus, Mississippi. Right?

Robert Wood: Right. I got the receipts at my home.

Dungan: You do have the receipts.

Linville: You got any idea what date you got em?

Robert Wood: I bought them two or three months ago. The

dates I can’t remember.

/s/ ROBERT HUGH WOOD

== 6] —

2. REDACTED STATEMENT OF ROBERT HUGH WOOD,

READ DURING TESTIMONY OF DETECTIVE LEWIS:

(Detective Lewis Reading Statement of Robert Hugh Wood)

“Statement of ROBERT HUGH WOOD, male white, age

35, 124 Air Base, Sub-Division, Columbus, Mississippi, phone

area code 601, 434-8435, salesman, made at Central Police

Headquarters, Thursday, July 9, 1970, at 1:15 AM to Lieu-

tenant B. N. Linville, Detective J. A. Dungan, Patrolman D.

O. Lewis, in the presence of Attorney M. A. Hines, Attorney

Harry Scruggs, Jr., and Mr. John Wood. This statement tran-

scribed from tape. Typed by Jeanne Powers. Statement rela-

tive to the fatal shooting of WILLIAM DOUGLAS, male white,

age 52, alias BILL, on Monday, July 6, 1970, at approxi-

mately 9:25 AM in an apartment located at 3403 Benbow

Drive, Apartment No. 1, with a small caliber pistol (weapon),

by unknown parties. This tape was taken in the presence of

his attorneys with the understanding that this was to be a ma-

terial witness statement and that Robert Hugh Wood was not

under arrest. The first part of this tape deals with an under-

standing between the police officers and the attorneys, as to

the type of statement being taken. It was also agreed that a

photograph would be made by the police photographer to show

witnesses in hopes that it would be necessary to hold show-ups.

They did agree for a photograph to be made without Bureau

of Identification numbers.

Scruggs: Just for the record, I'd like to get the names of

everyone in the room. What’s your name, sir?

Lewis: D. O. Lewis.

Dungan: J. A. Dungan.

Linville: B. N. Linville.

Hinds: M. A. Hinds.

John Wood: John Wood.

_— ‘oe

Scruggs: Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Robert Wood.

Linville: Just tell us what happened.

Robert Wood: The night, Monday night, I met blank at the

Krystal on Winchester. I'd say ten after seven.

Linville: Okay, Sir.

Robert Wood: We went on down to apartment one, I don’t

know the number. A man known to me as Ray opened the

door to apartment one.

Dungan: Is that apartment one at the Benbow Apartments?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Linville: A man known to you as Ray?

Robert Wood: He said his name was Ray Blaylock.

Dungan: That’s the man that was later killed that night, right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: He was watching a television program ‘and

as soon as that was over about, well, it had to be over at seven

thirty, it was Gunsmoke, we went to Lowenstein’s East and

bought some plastic cards.

Dungan: Who all went to Lowenstein’s, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Me and him and blank.

Dungan: Just the three of you?

Linville: Now that was Lowenstein’s in Whitehaven, am I

correct?

Dungan: Was it the three of you that went to Lowenstein’s?

Robert Wood: Well, it was another boy there—I don’t know,

I know his first name, I don’t know——

| on

Dungan: Who was that?

Robert Wood: Tommy.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: We bought the cards and came back to the

apartment.

Hinds: How much did you pay for the cards?

Robert Wood: Four seventy-five.

Dungan: Plastic playing cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Okay, Sir.

Robert Wood: And, uh——

Hinds: Who paid for the cards?

Robert Wood: Well, we paid five dollars each for ‘em.

Dungan: Who handed the clerk the money? Who actually

transacted the business there?

Robert Wood: I laid a ten dollar bill on the counter and he

gave me a five.

Dungan: I see. Who gave you five—the man that got killed?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: Okay.

Robert Wood: We went back to the apartment.

Dungan: Was this Tommy at the apartment when you arrived?

Robert Wood: No, he came in after I did.

Dungan: Before you went to get the cards though?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: Okay, go ahead from there.

—

Robert Wood: We started playing cards, I don’t know, "bout

the time it took us to go out there and back, I guess it was five

or ten minutes till eight and about, oh, somewhere between nine

fifteen and nine thirty.

Lewis: Who all playing cards?

Robert Wood: Me and one man.

Dungan: The one you knew as Blaylock?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: What happened about nine fifteen? Or whatever

you said?

Hinds: Before that—how much money was on the table?

Robert Wood: Approximately twenty-five hundred dollars.

Dungan: That money was your’s?

Robert Wood: I had eighteen hundred dollars involved.

Dungan: All right—that was your part, eighteen hundred

dollars involved in the game. Right? Get on to what happened

at this time, you say about nine fifteen or nine thirty.

Robert Wood: About two or three loud kicks and the door

came in——

Dungan: Which door was that?

Robert Wood: The front door.

Dungan: All right, what happened then?

Robert Wood: Ray jumped up and I guess he was reaching

for a gun. I didn’t see it but I

Linville: Didn’t you tell me this morning you thought he

had the gun on him?

Robert Wood: I said he had a .38 on him. I’m sure he had

a .38 on him.

ay

Linville: And he jumped and then what?

Robert Wood: There were some shots fired—they were all

in the apartment. I was sitting next to the wall and he was

sitting back to the kitchen and I was behind the partition there

and the shots were fired. They didn’t—I don’t know whether

they seen me or not. I got out the door. The door was kicked

open and left open.

Dungan: Who are you talking about they?

Robert Wood: When the door was kicked open, I seen two

or three others and shot by——

Linville: You told me three.

Robert Wood: I think it was three. Had a shotgun———

Linville: One had a shotgun.

Robert Wood: And two pistols.

Dungan: Each one had a pistol and one had a shotgun—

what you believe to be a shotgun.

Robert Wood: I think it was a sawed off shotgun. I'm not

sure.

Dungan: Who fired the shots? Did the—Ray——

Robert Wood: I’m not sure of some of it. Sounds like two

shots fired and I was behind the partition.

Dungan: Which partition are you talking about, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: Right inside the front door—it’s a little par-

tition———

Dungan: To the left as you walk in the door?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And you were sitting with your back to the wall

which I believe would be the west wall, is that correct?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

ae

Dungan: All right. After the shots were fired what happened?

Robert Wood: I got out the door that was kicked open, left

open and I got to my car which was behind the apartment.

Dungan: Behind the apartment. Parking area parked behind

there?

Robert Wood: Well, it was on the west, now, east side a little

bit behind the driveway.

Dungan: In the indented place that comes out there?

Robert Wood: Yeah.

Dungan: Did you see Ray pull his gun out?

Robert Wood: Just seen him jumping up and reaching for

it. I don’t know whether Ray ever got it out or not.

Dungan: Who all was in the apartment when the others

came in?

Robert Wood: Me, this boy known as Tommy, blank and

him.

Dungan: All right, you ran straight out the front door and

which way did you go around the apartment?

Robert Wood: I went out the front door and around to the

east, to my car.

Dungan: You went around toward the driveway on the east

side of the apartment and went straight to your car?

Robert Wood: To my car.

Dungan: What kind of car do you drive, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: A 1967 Plymouth.

Dungan: What color is it?

Robert Wood: Blue.

Dungan: Solid blue?

~~ wo

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Which way did you leave?

Robert Wood: Off——

Dungan: You know where I understand you were parked, you

could either go around the circle and go out the west side or——

Robert Wood: I came straight out on the east side of the

building.

Dungan: In other words, you pulled out, backed up ap-

parently or however you parked?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And went back down the east side, right?

Robert Wood: I backed up and came out the east side.

Dungan: Did blank go directly to the car with you or did he

meet you out there?

Robert Wood: Well, he met me out there. I run in the shoot-

ing. I wasn’t looking anywhere, just getting loose from all the

shooting.

Dungan: What happened to the fellow Tommy?

Robert Wood: I don’t know, sir.

Dungan: Did you see Mr.—I’m going to call him Douglas

from now on—you call him Blaylock. You understand we are

referring to Blaylock, Douglas be the one you refer to as Blay-

lock. Did you see what happened to Blaylock or Douglas after

the shots were fired? Did you see him fall? Did you know he

was hit?

Robert Wood: I heard some shots and apparently two—l

don’t know—I didn’t know—I didn’t see him hit or didn’t know

who was hit, didn’t know whether it was his shot or whose shot

it was.

ion

Dungan: All right. Now this fellow Tommy, will you de-

scribe him to me?

Robert Wood: About thirty years old——

Dungan: He is a white man isn’t he?

Robert Wood: Right, yes, sir.

Dungan: How tall is he?

Robert Wood: Close to six feet.

Dungan: What kind of build has he got compared to yourself?

Stocky, slim?

Robert Wood: Oh, he’s not quite as heavy as I am, I don’t

guess. Probably 170 to 180 pounds.

Dungan: What kind of looking hair has he got?

Robert Wood: He’s got—his hair’s longer than mine—it

ain’t real long.

Dungan: Is it combed back, kind of like yours? Is his hair

line as far back as yours?

Robert Wood: No, he’s got a lot more hair than I’ve got.

Dungan: Is it the color yours? Darker like mine or like Mr.

Scruggs here?

Robert Wood: I'd say it’s about the color of yours.

Dungan: What kind of clothes did Tommy have on?

Robert Wood: Well, he was wearing tight britches and I

couldn’t even——

Dungan: What do you mean tight britches?

Robert Wood: I don’t know.

Dungan: New kind?

Robert Wood: Yes.

=

Dungan: Do you remember what color they were?

Robert Wood: Grayish:

Dungan: How about his shirt? What type? Did he have a

tie and shirt on or over shirt or what?

Robert Wood: He had one of those slip over shirts on.

Dungan: Was it dark or light colored?

Robert Wood: It was darker than his pants, I guess, like this.

Dungan: Do you know how Tommy got to the apartment?

Robert Wood: No, I don’t. I didn’t see a car. He got there

right after we did.

Dungan: You don’t know how he came?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: You don’t know how he left and you didn’t see

him leave?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him leave.

Dungan: Did he leave out of the apartment ahead of ya'll

or

Robert Wood: I really don’t know. I don’t know whether

he was ahead of us or behind us.

Dungan: Alright, before we get to these others———

Robert Wood: I seen in the paper that the description of ——

Linville: Don’t believe anything you read in the paper——

Robert Wood: The description fits him, that said, “Call the

police” and the boy turned around and disappeared, the one

about 180 or 190 pounds.

Dungan: Okay, let me ask you this. Before we get to the

others and what they look like, so we can get a good back-

ground on it, you were seated with your back to the wall at the

time, is that right?

— Ms

Robert Wood: Well, my back was to the partition, it wasn’t

to the wall.

Dungan: ™9 the partition, just to the left of the front door?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay, now where was Douglas or Blaylock as you

call him?

Robert Wood: Straight across from me, his back was to the

kitchen.

Dungan: To the kitchen door, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Where was the fellow Tommy?

Robert Wood: Well, I think—I believe—I forgot which way

it was arranged. One of em was in a chair and the other one

was on the couch.

Dungan: Okay, one in a chair and one on a couch, right?

Lewis: Did you see a dog?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, there was a little dog there.

Dungan: There was a dog in the apartment? What kind of

looking dog was it?

Robert Wood: A little small, guess it was a Chihuahua.

Dungan: After ya'll came back with the cards, you went to

Lowenstein’s you said, I believe on 51 South, the four of you

came back together. Whose car did you go down there in?

Robert Wood: Mine.

Dungan: Your car. Alright, you got the cards and came

straight back to the apartment. Where did you park it? You

parked where you got in it, right?

Robert Wood: Right, yes, sir.

sta GR i

Dungan: You didn’t move it any time?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Did all of you go into the apartment together?

Rok»rt Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did anybody leave the apartment before the others

kicked the door open?

Robert Wood: No, not that I know of.

Dungan: You, Tommy, you or Mr. Douglas or blank or

Tommy didn’t leave?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

| Dugan: Is this Tommy a local fellow?

Robert Wood: I really don’t know.

Dungan: Have you ever seen him before?

Robert Wood: I have seen him a couple of times.

Dungan: Where did you see him?

Robert Wood: I seen him at the Hershel’s Pool Room on

Madison.

Dungan: Alright, anywhere else?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: If you wanted to get in touch with him, would you

know how? Would you know somebody to go to that mutually

knows him and could get in touch with him?

Robert Wood: Well, not exactly, I don’t know his name other

than Tommy.

Dungan: Anywhere we could go and ask somebody and

say we want to talk to Tommy or you want to contact him,

could you do so?

an

Robert Wood: I don’t think so.

Lewis: Whose apartment was it? Whose apartment?

Robert Wood: Well, the man told me that we have regular

ring around games here all the time, but the man at the apart-

ment—lI never did see him.

Dungan: In other words, you don’t know the owner of the

apartment, the man that occupies it?

Robert Wood: He never was there. I don’t know.

Dungan: How many times you been in the apartment before

that night?

Robert Wood: Two times before.

Dungan: When was that?

Robert Wood: Thursday, the week before and on Friday, the

week before that.

Dungan: Thursday the week before?

Robert Wood: The Thursday before Monday and then the

previous Friday to that.

Lewis: You mean the Friday before the Thursday?

Robert Wood: Uh huh.

Lewis: Three weeks ago?

Robert Wood: Uh huh. Be three weeks this coming Friday.

Dungan: Did ya'll have a game then?

Robert Wood: I was told there was going to be a regular

game there and I showed up, but

Scruggs: Well, tell him how you knew there was going to be

a game there.

Robert Wood: The man I seen at the Southern Frontier.

—_ 73 =

Scruggs: That’s at Bellevue and Madison.

Dungan: Now, let me get back—you were there the previous

Friday before and then the Thursday, I’m sorry, the Thursday

before Monday night and the previous Friday before that Thurs-

day. In other words, it’s been about two weeks, not quite two

weeks. Alright, now, how did you come about going to that

apartment to start with the first time?

Robert Wood: A man I seen around town several times, I

don’t know his name, at the Southern Frontier, said they had a

game there on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Hinds: Now when did you see him at the Southern Frontier?

Robert Wood: Well, it was on Friday. He told me about it on

Wednesday before the Friday, be two-weeks, be three weeks ago

yesterday, I guess.

Dungan: Let’s go a little further. Let’s get these dates straight

now. It happened on the 6th and you were over there Thurs-

day, July 2nd, 1970. Alright, before that—let’s go back to

June. Now, when did you meet this guy at the Southern Frontier

in reference to that Friday, June 26, 1970?

Robert Wood: It was on a Wednesday.

Dungan: Was it Wednesday night or in the day time?

Robert Wood: Wednesday night.

Dungan: Alright, that’d be on the 24th then, Wednesday,

June 24, 1970.

Hinds: What time did you meet him?

Scruggs: What time of day?

Robert Wood: I was—between ten and eleven o'clock.

Scruggs: Day or night?

Robert Wood: Night.

—

Dungan: Were you by yourself when you met him or were

a

Robert Wood: I was by myself.

Dungan: Alright, you’ve seen him around town. How did

yall get together at the Southern Frontier?

Robert Wood: Well, I guess, I’ve seen him in several lounges

and pool rooms on one or two occasions.

Dungan: Okay. Did you just meet him in there or did you all

sit down and have a beer and drink bee" together or just what?

Robert Wood: Well, he came over to the table where I was

at and started telling me about the poker game.

Dungan: He approached you and started telling you about a

poker game. What poker game?

Hinds: Exactly tell him what he told you.

Robert Wood: That there was a poker game out on Win-

chester every Tuesday and Friday.

Dungan: On Tuesday and Friday. Okay.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Scruggs: Did he give you the address?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: The address where it happened, right? He gave

you the actual address, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did he ask you if you'd be interested in playing or

what? What happened after that?

Robert Wood: Well, he asked me if I'd be interested in play-

ing and I said yes.

Dungan: Did he tell you anything about the size of the game?

—

Robert Wood: No, he said it was a pot limit game, played on

Tuesdays.

Dungan: What’s the limit or what?

Lewis: What did you call this man? Did you know him by

name?

Robert Wood: I heard his nickname.

Lewis: What’s that?

Robert Wood: Woppy. I don’t know his name.

Dungan: Woppy?

Robert Wood: Woppy.

Dungan: Okay, Woppy. Now he told you it was a pot limit

game and he told you it was pot limit game and asked you if

you wanted to play? Did he invite you over to play?

Robert Wood: Well, he said there was going to be a game

Friday, said they were going to play that Friday.

Dungan: Said there was going to be a game that Friday, but

there was usually one there Tuesday or Thursday?

Robert Wood: Tuesdays and Fridays.

Hinds: Did he tell you who run the game?

Robert Wood: No, he didn’t, sir.

Dungan: He invited you over there particular night and you

went over there?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Alright, what happened that Friday night over

there?

Robert Wood: Well, this guy, Ray, opened the door and he

was watching television at the time. Wasn’t nobody else there.

Dungan: He was alone, right?

a

Robert Wood: Yes.

Dungan: Okay, did you go in the apartment?

Robert Wood: I went in the apartment.

Lewis: Did you know him previously?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: This is the first time you made contact with this man?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did you, did he introduce himself to you? He intro-

duced himself as Ray Blaylock, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: How long did ya'll stay that night? Did ya'll have

a game between yourselves?

Robert Wood: Yeah, he said he expected some people at any

time and we started playing some Rummy at the table.

Dungan: Alright, did anybody else ever come?

Robert Wood: Nobody ever came. I left. I went over about

a quarter till seven and left about eleven o'clock.

Lewis: Did you win or lose?

Robert Wood: I lost. There was twelve hundred and some-

thing dollars the first time.

Lewis: Was this all in Rummy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: And, he was the only one there throughout the

game, right? Was the do there that time?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Nobody came or went from the apartment, right?

Lewis: You went by yourself in your car?

=

Dungan: Same car?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, ’67 Plymouth.

Dungan: Then after that game, did you have any more con-

tact with Woppy?

Robert Wood: Nothing about the game. I seen him downtown

after that.

Dungan: Alright, when was that?

Robert Wood: Saturday night. I played pool with him in fact.

Dungan: That would be the next night after the night you

played Rummy with him?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: It was the night of the 26th you played Rummy—

the 27th would be Saturday, right?

Robert Wood: No, I went back home to Columbus following

this game and I came back to town and I played pool with

Woppy Saturday night, this past Saturday night.

Lewis: Was Tommy there?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Alright, that’s on the 4th. I understand you said

ya'll played twice before on July 2nd, 1970. You played Friday

night and you said something about Thursday.

Robert Wood: Thursday.

Dungan: Thursday would be the second?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Did you go back to the apartment where you played

the Rummy?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: What caused you to go back on that Thursday

night? Did you contact somebody or did they contact you?

ry ae

—

—

Robert Wood: He called up at the pool room while I was up

there—and—uh——

Dungan: Who called up there?

Robert Wood: This Ray—it would have been Douglas.

Dungan: When did he call? What day was that on? To set

this game up on Thursday night?

Robert Wood: On Thursday afternoon, asked me did I want

to play any more.

Linville: Were there any women present?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Alright, then you went over there on Thursday night

which would be the 2nd, right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan. Who was there that time?

Robert Wood: Just him.

Dungan: What time did you go over there that night?

Robert Wood: About seven o'clock.

Dungan: How long did you stay?

Robert Wood: Till between eleven and twelve—I don’t know

exactly.

Dungan: Okay, what did you play that night?

Robert Wood: We played poker.

Dungan: Poker? Just you and him, right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: What kind of cards did you use?

Robert Wood: I used paper cards then.

Lewis: What kind of poker did ya'll play?

=

Robert Wood: Low ball.

Dungan: Alright, how much did you win or lose that night

or what happened?

Robert Wood: I lost a little over two thousand dollars.

Dungan: Lost two thousand that night? In other words, he

was in to you for about thirty-two hundred dollars, that night,

at this point, right?

Robert Wood: Right.

Dungan: Okay, did anybody come in and out during the

game?

Robert Wood: No.

Lewis: You were by yourself when you went over there?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir, I was by myself.

Lewis: Same car?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: Did he get any phone calls while you were there?

Robert Wood: As far as I know there wasn’t no phone in the

apartment.

Dungan: Okay, do you know where he called you from to

get you to come over there?

Robert Wood: No, Sir.

Dungan: When you left that night you were in your own car

that night, right, the same Plymouth?

Robert Wood: That’s right.

Dungan: That’s getting us on through the second. You say

you met Woppy at the pool hall on the 4th, is that right?

Robert Wood: Let’s see, Saturday was the 4th. Yes, I believe

it was Saturday night when I played.

-- 90

Dungan: Alright, what lead up to you going back the 6th,

Monday night?

Robert Wood: Well, I play quite a bit of cards and I just fig-

ured I'd had a chance and I just knew there was a lot of smart

people in this world. I suggested going and getting the plastic

cards.

Dungan: Well, now, who contacted you to come over there

on Monday night? What I'm getting at is how did you come

about going Monday night, the 6th? In other words, you saw

Woppy before?

Robert Wood: Yeah. Well, on Thursday when I played him,

I told him I'd play him some more.

Dungan: You told Blaylock you’d play him some more?

. Robert Wood: Yes, Sir. I told him I'd play him some more

if we used plastic cards and set ’em down on the table and

dealt from the table.

Lewis: What was the reason for that?

Robert Wood: Well, I suspected him—maybe a little sharper

than I was.

Dungan: Let me get at this. I may not be getting the point

or may not understand, but Monday, did you just go over there

on your own? They contact you?

Robert Wood: No, on Thursday when I played him I told

him I'd play him some more on Monday.

Dungan: Did they call vou or make arrangements or any-

thing?

Robert Wood: I just told him I'd meet him over there around

seven thirty.

Dungan: You told him you’d meet him there Monday at

7:30 PM at night, Monday.

=

Lewis: You didn’t talk to him anytime Monday, other than

when you arrived at the apartment, is that right?

Robert Wood: That’s right.

Dungan: You'd already made previous arrangements to play

a game with him Monday night, provided you used plastic cards

and not the paper cards.

Lewis: Did he ever contact you by phone?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: He never called you?

Robert Wood: No. He called me up at the pool room.

Lewis: Hershel’s? When?

Robert Wood: Uh, for, for a second game he called up there.

I was there on—he asked me did I want to play some more.

Lewis: How did he know you were going to be there?

Robert Wood: Well, he didn’t know, I guess. I went in there

about three o’clock, been in there bout I guess six or seven times.

Hinds: I mean did he know you went there previously?

Robert Wood: Well, yeah, after the game there.

Dungan: Then he called you up there the second time, he

didn’t contact you anytime after that by telephone?

Robert Wood: He didn’t—I didn’t—there wasn’t no phone

at the apartment. He never, he didn’t—I didn’t know where he

was staying or anything. I didn’t know if there was a phone in

the apartment.

Linville: Who was to get a cut out of this game for setting

it up?

Robert Wood: Well, they were suppose to cut the pot if it'd

been a ring around game, but since we were playing nobody

didn’t cut in on it. We just played.

_—

Lewis: Nobody was suppose to be given anything? Nobody

he contacted and said I’ve got a game set up and I'll give you

a certain percentage of the winnings?

Robert Wood: Not in that apartment. I don’t know who was

suppose to get any percentage of it. As far as cutting the pot—

the pot wasn’t cut cause there was just two of us playing.

Dungan: Okay, by pre-arrangement you and blank went over

there Monday night in your car.

Robert Wood: I called blank Monday afternoon because I was

a little short of money—for him, I was going to borrow some

money from him was the reason he was there.

Dungan: How much did you borrow from blank?

Robert Wood: Eight hundred dollars.

Dungan: Is that the reason he decided to go to the game with

you?

Robert Wood: He brought the money and met me at the

Krystal.

Hinds: Where did you meet him?

Robert Wood: At the Krystal.

Hinds: Did he leave his car there?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Lewis: What kind of car did he leave there?

Robert Wood: I really don’t know. It was a blue car, but

he runs a clean-up shop on Summer and he drives different cars

all the time and he come and got in the car with me and went on

down there. I was waiting inside the Krystal. He showed up—

went on and drove in.

Lewis: Hold it. Now, go ahead.

Robert Wood: I was inside the Krystal and he drove up and

== §3

I seen him pull in and I just went out and he got out and came

and got in the car with me. He didn’t go inside.

Lewis: Do you know what kind of car he was in?

Robert Wood: He was in a blue, I think it was a Chevrolet,

but I’m not sure. In a blue car.

Dungan: Okay, ya’ll went straight on to the game?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Hinds: Did you take him back to his car?

Robert Wood: I took him, I took him back and he got out.

Dungan: This was after the shooting?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: What time was that?

Robert Wood: Nine thirty, nine thirty-five or something like

that.

Dungan: This was immediately after the shooting. You didn’t

go anywhere else and then come back later?

Robert Wood: No, I didn’t.

Dungan: Where did you go after you took him back to his

car?

Robert Wood: I just drove around for several hours and

went by his shop the next day and went back to Mississippi.

Dungan: Where did you stay that night?

Robert Wood: I didn’t stay anywhere. I just drove around.

Dungan: Drove around all night.

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Do you know anything that, | mean, do you know

anyone that lives out in that area?

enn ciite

Robert Wood: On Winchester? Not real close there, no.

Dungan: Alright, let’s get back to the poker game now. You

said you, I think you said they were eighteen hundred dollars

in to you—you had eighteer hundred dollars in the game.

Robert Wood: Well, that was on the table. I wasn’t much

loser, I

Dungan: Did you pick the money and take it with you or

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: When the fellow started kicking the door, you didn’t

grab your money up?

Robert Wood: I didn’t have time.

Dungan: Who did grab the money up?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see anything. When I left there it was

still on the table.

Dungan: You backed behind the partition, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Well, surely you would have been able to see the

table from where

Robert Wood: I could see the table but when I left there the

money was still on the table.

Dungan: Well, when these guys started kicking the door,

what was yaall’s immediate reaction?

Robert Wood: Well, it scared us all, I think, we both know

what it was and I jumped up and stood against the partition and

he was jumping up from the table and was reaching——

Dungan: What do you mean you think he was going for a

gun?

Robert Wood: Well, he was reaching for his pocket. I never

did see him get the gun out cause I heard a shot.

= 65 —

Lewis: You know he had a gun?

Robert Wood: Well, he had on britches where you could

see it in his pocket.

Scruggs: Was it a revolver or an automatic?

Robert Wood: It looked like a .38 revolver.

Scruggs: Stuck down—bulging out of his pocket?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, he had on

Scruggs: With the butt of the pistol sticking out where you

could see it?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Scruggs: The grips on the pistol where you could see ’em?

Dungan: In other words, you know he had a pistol. You're

saying that, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Hinds: How much money would you estimate, total, was

lying on the table?

Robert Wood: Approximately twenty-five hundred dollavs.

Hinds: Could have been more?

Robert Wood: It could have been four or five hundred more.

Lewis: Were ya'll playing table stakes?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Were you winning or losing at this point?

Robert Wood: Well, I'm ahead, we’d been playing about an

hour and I was very little beaten, about two or three hundred

at least.

Dungan: In other words you were fairing better than you had

before, right, with the plastic cards, not the paper cards?

_

Robert Wood: Right. We went to Lowenstein’s and got them.

Lewis: Were there any words said when they first kicked the

door open and came in?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Lewis: They didn’t say a word? Who came in?

Robert Wood: Three others.

Lewis: Did they come inside?

Robert Wood: Yes.

Lewis: How did you get by them when you ran out the door?

Robert Wood: They were inside and I’m around that par-

tition and out the door. It was wide open.

Lewis: You're saying there wasn’t any other person that came

in with them?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see any other person involved except

the ones involved in the poker game.

Lewis: That’s what I thought you were saying. As far as you

know there wasn’t any other person involved in the robbery?

Robert Wood: The only other person other than the ones

that busted in the door I seen was the ones I saw inside the

apartment.

Dungan: You heard the kicking on the door. You got up,

back up against the partition and Blaylock or Douglas stood up

where he was standing. You saw him going for his pocket?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Then what happened?

Robert Wood: The shots were fired.

Dungan: How many shots?

Robert Wood: I heard two shots before I got away.

—_ =

Lewis: Were they the same sounding shots?

Robert Wood: Well, I couldn’t tell. I was so scared I

couldn’t tell one shot from another except it wasn’t a shotgun.

Lewis: Did it sound like it came from the same pistol? Or

were they different sounding caliber shots?

Robert Wood: I couldn’t tell. Loud noises.

Dungan: Let’s describe these three fellows you saw come in

the door.

Robert Wood: All I seen was—the—kicked the door in and

all of em rushed in together.

Dungan: The front door?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Dungan: Alright, did they come up to the table where you

were er did they go in the living room or did they go back in

the kitchen or where?

Robert Wood: After the shots, two of them run by there and

I jumped out the door.

Dungan: Two of them run by where now?

Robert Wood: Down that hallway—the doors to both bed-

rooms was closed and stayed closed all the time I was there.

Two of ’em ran down the hall.

Dungan: Where did the other one stay?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him. I got out the door, getting

out as fast as I could.

Dungan: Did all three of them come by you where you could

get out or did one stand in the door or what?

Robert Wood: They were all by me cause I didn’t see any-

body when I left there.

Lewis: Did they ever point the pistol or say anything to you?

————e

Robert Wood: Wasn’t a word said.

Lewis: Kicked the door in and started shooting?

Robert Wood: Well, probably wouldn’t have started shoot-

ing, I figure they seen him reaching for a gun—he probably had

it in his hand by that time.

Lewis: Was he wearing any jewelry?

Robert Wood: Nothing but a watch.

Lewis: No ring?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: You didn’t see what they did around the table or

who got the money? You didn’t get the money? Blank didn’t

get the money to your knowledge?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: How about this other fellow—was he diving for the

money?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see him after that.

Dungan: You didn’t even see blank as I understand it?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Until you got to the car?

Robert Wood: He was at the car, right behind me.

Lewis: Behind you?

Robert Wood: Behind me. My car was locked and by the

time I got it unlocked he was on the other side. I just said

let’s get out of here.

Lewis: You said, ‘Let’s get the hell out of here’?

Robert Wood: No. I was at my car. I just unlocked the door.

Lewis: I understood Mr. Scruggs to say, ‘Let’s get the hell

— =

out of here’ and I thought that’s what you had told him. I was

just asking.

Robert Wood: I wasn’t wasting no time talking—I was

moving.

Lewis: Which ones were armed?

Robert Wood: All three of them were armed.

Lewis: What did the taller one have?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall. I just heard a shot and got out

of there in a hurry cause the door was wide open.

Dungan: Was he slim build, fat or skinny or what?

Robert Wood: Well, I think the tall one was about my size—

the other two were

Dungan: What would you call yourself, heavy, medium

heavy?

Robert Wood: Heavy. I weigh a little over two hundred.

Scruggs: What kind of clothes that tall man have on?

Robert Wood: I really don’t know what kind of clothes he

had on.

Dungan: Can you say whether they had on suits and ties,

overalls, levis or-——

Robert Wood: No, no, they had on older clothes. They

didn’t have regular overalls on, I think they just had, well, it

happened so fast I can’t describe ‘em.

Lewis: Were they loudly dressed? Flashly?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: Did they have on bell-bottom—clothes like that—

high pocket pants or just average clothes or what?

Robert Wood: Just average clothes. They wasn’t no fancy

clothes.

See

Lewis: You said you saw one of them with a shotgun. Do

you know which one you saw with a shotgun?

Robert Wood: It wasn’t the tallest guy—he had a pistol.

Dungan: What kind of looking pistol did he have?

Scruggs: Was it blue steel, nickel plated or what?

Robert Wood: I couldn’t tell.

Lewis: Automatic or revolver?

Robert Wood: There’s no way I can tell. I don’t know.

Dungan: Can you identify them? If you saw them again

would you recognize them?

Robert Wood: I doubt it cause I——

Lewis: Is there any explanation about that?

Robert Wood: The vest I know—he kept ‘em there to keep

people from busting, ir.

Lewis: Was there any Giscussion about it?

Robert Wood: Wasn’t no discussion—the front door didn’t

have the same bar across it. It had a two by four that he

braced up on each—up underneath it.

Lewis: Was that up there at the time the door was kicked?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Mr. Scruggs: The brace was on the door at the time it was

kicked? .

Robert Wood: Well, it was across it. I don’t know if it was

braced up or not.

Dungan: Alright, let me ask you this. When you went out

the front door, who was outside the apartment?

Robert Wood: I seen some people there, but I was moving

so fast I-——

—

Dungan: Where did you see them?

Robert Wood: In the doorways.

Dungan: Of what?

Robert Wood: I can’t recall. I didn’t stop to look at anybody.

I just run but | did see some people out there.

Dungan: How about on the parking lot?

Robert Wood: I didn’t see anybody at the parking lot. When

I got to my car—the time I got to my car—the time I got the

door unlocked blank was standing at the door. I’d done got

in and he was standing at the door the time I got in.

Lewis: Did you have a gun?

Robert Wood: No, Sir.

Lewis: The only one you know was armed was Douglas?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, look at these photographs here. We

have some snapshots and also I'll let you look at the mug shots.

Concentrate on them carefully and your memory may bring

back to you what they looked like and you may recognize some

of them. Look very closely. Take your time with them. You

don’t recognize any of them as the ones that came in on the

game?

Robert Wood: No, Sir.

Lewis: Did you borrow two thousand dollars to continue the

game at one time?

Robert Wood: I borrowed a thousand one time.

Dungan: Who did you borrow the thousand from?

Robert Wood: A man at the Casbah Lounge.

Dungan: When was that?

Robert Wood: The second game we played.

aes

=

Dungan: When did you borrow it from him, the day before,

right before?

Robert Wood: The day we played.

Dungan: The day you played and you borrowed a thousand

dollars.

Linville: You were already broke and you went back and got

an additional thousand?

Dungan: Then you borrowed eight hundred from blank Mon-

day night, Monday?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Lewis: Who did you borrow it from?

Robert Wood: James Hughes. I’ve already paid him back.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, how were you dressed that night, Mon-

day night?

Robert Wood: I had on an orange shirt, well, light colored

shirt and khaki pants.

Dungan: Did you have a hat on?

Robert Wood: No, Sir. I never wear a hat.

Dungan: How about blank? How was he dressed?

Robert Wood: He had on white pants. I don’t remember

the color of the shirt.

Dungan: What kind of shirt did he have on?

Robert Wood: I don’t remember.

Lewis: What kind of white pants did he have on? Were they

white dress pants or white work pants or what?

Robert Wood: Denims, I believe.

Lewis: White levis?

Robert Wood: Uh, huh.

ee

Dungan: Now, let’s go over this Tommy again. What or

how was he dressed?

Robert Wood: He had on a, he had on slacks, I think they

were a dark color, gray or brown.

Dungan: What type shirt would you say he had on?

Robert Wood: He had a slip over shirt and it was dark. I

don’t know exactly what color.

Dungan: How was Mr. Douglas or Mr. Blaylock as you call

him dressed?

Robert Wood: He had on tight, pretty tight slacks. I believe

they were gray. I’m not sure. I don’t remember the shirt.

Dungan: When ya'll went to get the cards were you dressed

the same as you were when this thing happened?

Scruggs: Did the three others have on hats or were they bare-

headed?

Robert Wood: I believe they were bareheaded. I’m not sure.

Dungan: Did they have on any kind of mask or glasses?

Robert Wood: I don’t think so.

Scruggs: Stocking over their head or face?

Robert Wood: No, Sir.

Dungan: Had ya'll been examining any jewelry or watches,

rings or what-have-you before the game and/or during the

game?

Robert Hood: No.

Dungan: Do you recall seeing any in the apartment?

Robert Wood: Naw—the apartment looked like, except for

the man and the dog, looked like it wasn’t nothing in there ex-

cept a television set. The bedroom doors were pulled to. I don’t

open either one of them.

=

Lewis: Did anyone come over to borrow anything while the

game was going on?

Robert Wood: The second game a real young boy came and

asked for some vanilla. A real young boy, 18 or 19 years old.

Lewis: Who was in there at the time?

Robert Wood: Just me and Ray.

Lewis: Just the two of you?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Woppy wasn’t there?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Have you ever seen Woppy at the apartment?

Robert Wood: Yeah, he was—he went by there on one of

the other occasions and left when we got there.

Scruggs: Did he come into the apartment?

Robert Wood: If he did he left immediately after we got there.

Dungan: Mr. Wood, were you smoking that night?

Robert Wood: I don’t smoke.

Dungan: You don’t smoke. How about Mr. Douglas, what

was he smoking?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall.

Lewis: Cigarettes, cigars?

Robert Wood: Cigarettes.

Dungan: How about this fellow Tommy?

Robert Wood: I don’t believe he smokes either. I didn’t see

him smoking cause I wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Dungan: Do you recall! anybody smoking a cigar that night?

Lewis: He wasn’t playing—Tommy wasn’t playing?

a

Robert Weod: No, sir.

Dungan: Nobody to your knowledge was smoking a cigar?

Robert Wood: I don’t remember anybody smoking a cigar.

Lewis: What was the purpose of two men being there to

witness this play?

Robert Wood: I guess—well, blank came by there with me

to bring me some money at the Krystal and went down there with

me and uh——

Linville: You hadn't already lost some money, had you?

Robert Wood: No. I had some money and I called him at

work, told him to come over there that I might need to borrow

some money.

Dungan: Were there some more cards there besides the ones

ya'll went out and bought?

Robert Wood: I think there was a deck of paper cards from

a previous game that we had, that we hadn’t opened.

Dungan: Where did they come from, do you know?

Robert Wood: I don’t know.

Dungan: The cards you played with before, where did they

come from, do you know?

Robert Wood: I believe they came from up there at one

of those 7-Eleven stores.

Dungan: Who bought them?

Robert Wood: First time we played he already had some

cards there and the second time we went up and got some.

Dungan: Where? The Seven-Eleven Store?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Linville: I'm assusning that in your opinion he was cheating.

— ee

Robert Wood: I imagine so.

Linville: How?

Robert Wood: I don’t know how. I’ve heard of the man

before after he was identified today. I've heard of Douglas be-

fore, but I’d never met him and didn’t

Dungan: Where did you hear from him before?

Robert Wood: Well, I'd heard he was in this town a couple

of years ago and played a man.

Dungan: Who did he play on that time?

Robert Wood: He played a man up in Tipton County.

Dungan: Who was that?

Robert Wood: Haen.

Dungan: Akin?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Do you feel like those cards were marked cards?

Robert Wood: Well, I suspected they was. That’s the rea-

son I wanted to go with him to get some plastic cards.

Scruggs: You thought the paper cards were marked cards?

Robert Wood: I suspected they were.

Scruggs: Any glasses—did he have glasses when he played?

Robert Wood: Rim glasses.

Scruggs: He did wear rim glasses when he was playing cards.

Did he normally wear glasses when he wasn’t playing cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, he had the glasses on while he was watch-

ing television too.

Scruggs: At any time that you met him did he have glasses on?

Robert Wood: Well, he had glasses on most all the time I

met him.

_—

Dungan: Back when ya'll left the apartment to go buy the

cards did he have the glasses on? Look at these photographs

here. Look close. Do you recall any of them?

Linville: Do you know Woppy?

Robert Wood: I know him by that name. I don’t know his

real name.

Dungan: Did Douglas call you on this Monday at any time

in the day or the night as far as that goes?

Robert Wood: We had an appointment to play that night.

Dugan: You had an appointment—when was this appoint-

ment set up?

Robert Wood: From the previous Thursday.

Dungan: From the previous Thursday.

Scruggs: Was that down at the pool hall where you were

contacted—Hershel’s?

Robert Wood: We played on Thursday. Yeah, it was.

Scruggs: He contacted you at Hershel’s?

Robert Wood: I played Woppy some pool one night for

about forty-five minutes.

Dungan: Well, let me ask you this. Was there ever anything

discussed between you and Douglas about bringing blank over

there or anybody else to the game? I think you said on the pre-

vious occasion that ya’ll were the only ones there. How come

on this night that there were two other people there, blank

and this other fellow?

Robert Wood: Blank, he don’t gamble hardly any at all. I'd

called him at work and he told me he could bring me some

money when he closed up.

Dungan: At the time you were playing, did you ever tell

=

Douglas that you were going to oring blank with you or did you

just bring him there that night?

Robert Wood: I just brought him there that night cause I

had called him for him to viing me some money.

Dungan: All right, but you didn’t tell Douglas he was coming?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir, that’s right, I didn’t.

Dungan: Did Douglas object to him being there, you think?

Robert Wood: He said, well—when we showed up, he was

watching television and I don’t told him I wasn’t playing unless

we went to get some plastic cards.

Linville: You didn’t have a telephone conversation with

Douglas in which you mentioned blank was coming?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: At any time during one of these games did you

leave the game and go borrow some money from anybody?

Robert Wood: Yeah, I went and borrowed some money from

James Hughes on one occasion. I forget now whether it was the

first or second one.

Dungan: How much did you borrow?

Robert Wood: A thousand dollars.

Dungan: One thousand dollars?

Robert Wood: That’s right. I brought it back to him and

paid him back.

Dungan: While ya’ll were playing this last game did anybody

take the dog out for a walk?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Stayed shut up in the apartment the whole time?

_— ie

Lewis: Monday night did the dog start barking for someone

to let it out to use the bathroom?

Robert Wood: I don’t recall it.

Lewis: You can’t remember the dog started barking and want-

ing out and nobody would let it out? Nobody left the apartment

for any reason?

Robert Wood: Not that I know of.

Dungan: You didn’t go in another apartment or talk to any-

body going out the front door of that apartment?

Robert Wood: No, sir. I got to my car as fast as I could.

Linville: Have you ever heard of Titanic Thomas?

Robert Wood: Heard of him—never met ’em.

Linville: Do you know whether he has any relatives in town

or not?

Robert Wood: No, but I heard he had a son, but I don’t

know where he is. I just heard he had a son.

Linville: Was that Titanic Thomas’ son that was in the game

with you?

Robert Wood: I’m not sure. His name was Tommy is all I

know. No one played in the game except me and the other man.

Dungan: I want you to look through these photographs

and———- (interrupted)

Robert Wood: No one played in the game except me and

the other man.

Linville: I didn’t mean that—I meant Tommy.

Robert Wood: This is Woppy.

Dungan: This is Woppy, number 113854, is that who you

identified as Woppy?

a

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Was any furniture turned over?

Robert Wood: Darned if I know. I was excited and just got

out as fast as I could.

Dungan: Do you recognize that photograph?

Robert Wood: Yeah, I guess that’s him. Somewhat different

dress.

Dungan: How about that one—the other one?

Robert Wood: It’s not—you can’t see it too good but I guess

it’s the same guy, I’m not sure.

Lewis: Is that the man you were playing cards with?

Robert Wood: I'm certain, alniost positive of it. I'm pretty

sure it is. I'm almost positive cause I’m use to seeing him dressed,

not with his shirt off.

Dungan: Look at this photograph here. See that shot right

there, do you wear glasses, Mr. Wood?

Robert Wood: No.

Dungan: Do you recognize that—did you ever see that be-

fore?

Robert Wood: I don’t know whether it’s a ring, a key ring or

what it is.

Lewis: Have you ever been to Woppy’s house?

Robert Wood: No. I’ve only seen him around different places.

I've seen him in Tupelo. I seen him in oh, numbers of places.

Lewis: Did he set up the game? Did he tell you a game was in

progress?

Robert Wood: He told me they played on Tuesdays and

Fridays.

— 101 —

Lewis: That’s your first contact with playing cards?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: On Benbow Drive with Woppy?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did he write it down on a piece of paper and give it

to you?

Robert Wood: No, he told me where—I followed him out

there and then he left.

Lewis: Does he know your name?

Robert Wood: No.

Lewis: What kind of car does he drive?

Robert Wood: A maroon Ford.

Lewis: Was he by himself?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir. _

Linville: Monday night, who all used the bathroom?

Robert Wood: I believe ail three of them were in the bath-

room on one or two or just on one occasion.

Linville: How about in the kitchen?

Robert Wood: They went in to take a—mix a drink. The

kitchen’s real small. I can see in the kitchen from where I was

sitting.

Dungan: Well, you could pretty well see down the hall from

where you were sitting, couldn’t you?

Robert Wood: No, well you can see the first bedroom door.

You can’t see the second one and you can’t see the bathroom.

Scruggs: Robert, I want to ask you a question. Did you carry

a weapon inside that room, any kind?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

wines

Scruggs: To the best of your knowledge, did blank take a

weapon, any kind, either a knife or a gun in the room with him?

Robert Wood: I don’t think so. He had on pretty tight

britches.

Scruggs: You do know this dead man, Blaylock, had a pistol

on him?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Scruggs: How far were the others from him when they shot?

Robert Wood: Three to five feet.

Scruggs: Three to five feet?

Dungan: Did you tell anybody, other than blank, that you

were going to be playing cards for pretty high stakes at that

apartment prior to Monday night?

Robert Wood: No, sir.

Dungan: How about the man you borrowed money from,

previous occasion, did you tell him where you were playing or

who you were playing with?

Robert Wood: No. I didn’t tell him who I was playing with

because I'd told him the man’s name was Ray—what he told me.

Dungan: Did you tell the man you borrowed the money from

that you were going to be playing poker or playing cards, using

the money to gamble with?

Robert Wood: I just told him I'd pay him back either late

that night or the next week.

Lewis: Was the man you know as Ray wearing glasses when

ya'll played?

Robert Wood: Yes, sir.

Lewis: Did he wear them all the time, when he met you or

just put them on?

— 103 —

Robert Wood: I wasn’t around him that much, but what time

he was watching television he had on glasses.

Dungan: You don’t recall whether he wore them in the store

when you bought the cards?

Robert Wood: No, I don’t.

Dungan: Show me where you were sitting. Was the table

sitting over here, like this—this is the kitchen, this is the hall-

way.

Robert Wood: It was sitting over this a way.

Dungan: Alright, where were you sitting?

Robert Wood: Now, from the kitchen I was up—there’s a

partition back here that doesn’t show it and I was sitting with

my back to that partition.

Dungan: Where was Ray sitting?

Robert Wood: With his back to the kitchen. Directly across

from me.

Linville: The way that the game was arranged for that day,

you said it was previous, you said it was a previous arrangement,

and what day was the other game, the game you had just before

that?

Robert Wood: Thursday.

Linville: That was on a Thursday? July 2nd, and that’s

when the arrangements were made?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Lewis: And, blank didn’t play Saturday? When were the

arrangemenis made for the game Monday? That’s what I was

getting at.

Robert Wood: On Thursday, when we played the last time.

Linville: Thursday, the last time you played?

<tc Son

Lewis: You didn’t play Saturday or Sunday?

Linville: Then did the boy come over to borrow the vanilla?

Robert Wood: I don’t really know what day it was. It was

a young boy. I remember him coming to the door.

Linville: You said it was the second night you played.

Robert Wood: The second time I was there.

Linville: Is that when the arrangements were made for the

next game?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Linville: That was a Sunday, that was July 5, 1970.

Robert Wood: When the boy came there for the vanilla?

Linville: When the boy came there asking for the vanilla was

Sunday, July 5, 1970, the day before this game.

Robert Wood: I remember a young kid coming——

Linville: Coming and asking for the vanilla, right?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Linville: Well, that’s, that was on Sunday, that’s what I’m

trying to help you get your dates straight a little bit because

they’re off right now. This was the night before the fatal game.

Dungan: He played the night before the fatal game?

Linville: How did Douglas know that blank was coming to

the game?

Robert Wood: He didn’t know it, I don’t guess.

Linville: He’s told some people that blank was coming to

the game. That’s what I meant. You said you didn’t get a tele-

phone call from him. This is just a point we’re trying to clear

up.

Robert Wood: I was thinking it was Thursday when the boy

come to the door. He tole me to answer the door. I opened

— 105 —

the door and there was a boy there who said, ‘I want a bottle

of vanilla’. He growled and said, ‘We ain’t got no vanilla’ and

shut the door in his face, but there was not activity taking place.

Linville: No, there was no activity taking place, but this was

Sunday and that’s when the game took place.

Hinds: Were you ever there in a game on Sunday?

Robert Wood: Not that I know of.

Lewis: You weren’t there in a game on Sunday?

Robert Wood: No, Sir.

Linville: Where did the beer come from? Did you say blank

was drinking beer? Where did it come from?

Robert Wood: It was in the refrigerator there.

Lewis: How about the whiskey?

Robert Wood: It was sitting over there on the table and it

was whiskey there everytime I was there.

Lewis: And the beer was there also?

Robert Wood: Yes, Sir.

Lewis: But you did not get a telephone conversation from

either Douglas or Woppy on Monday?

Robert Wood: Well, Woppy has got a phone number over

there at the apartment.

Lewis: At the apartment?

Robert Wood: At the apartment, yeah, but uh——

Lewis: And, that’s that 332.

Robert Wood: I believe it’s 2659.

Lewis: But he didn’t call you there or you didn’t call him?

Where was he staying?

Robert Wood: I have no idea.

ae |

= =

Lewis: So, you couldn't have called him and if he had called

you that’s where it would have been?

Robert Wood: Uh huh.

Lewis: Well, where were you at Monday? What did you do

Monday before the game?

Robert Wood: I was at an apartment all day and called

blank and told him I might need some money that night, to meet

me. I was at the apartment nearly all day Monday.

Lewis: Can you recall going anywhere?

Robert Wood: No, didn’t go anywhere.

Signed Robert Hugh Wood.”

(Conclusion of reading of statement to jury.)

3. TESTIMONY OF ROBERT HUGH WOOD:

DEFENDANT'S PROOF

ROBERT HUGH WOOD

The said witness first having been duly sworn, testified as

follows:

Direct Examination by Mr. Stanton

Q. State your name, please. A. Robert H. Wood.

Q. Where do you live, Mr. Wood? A. Tupelo, Mississippi.

Q. Do you have a family? A. Yes, sir, a wife and four

children.

Q. Where are your children? A. They are at home.

— 107 —

Q. How old are they? A. 13, 9, 7 and 6.

Q. Ali of them in school? A. Three of them are in school.

Q. One hadn’t started yet? A. The one that’s six hasn't

started yet.

Q. Where were you brought up? Where were you reared?

A. Huntingdon, Tennessee.

Q. What was your father’s occupation?

Mr. Strother Objects: Your Honor, I am going to object to

this line of questioning. It’s irrelevant and immaterial.

The Court: Sustained. Usually that’s restricted and limited

so don’t please try to go too far into it. It’s collateral and the

State’s objecting to it.

Q. Alright, I just wanted the jury to know something about

his background.

The Court: The Court usually allows some matters of that

nature. Limit it. Sustain the objection. Give you some latitude.

Q. What his father did, that’s the last one I'll ask.

The Court: Yes, sir, alright.

A. He’s been dead about eight years, 17 years before he died,

he worked for the Corps of Engineers.

Q. Now, let’s get on to the case in hand and I'll ask you if

you knew a person named William Douglas? A. I knew him by

that name later but another name first.

Q. What's the first name you knew him by? A. Ray Blaylock.

Q. And, tell the jury how you came to know, when you first

has some dealings with Ray Blaylock or William Douglas? A.

When, I only knew him by his nickname, Whoppy, took me to an

apartment to meet him.

ate

on Ns

Q. And, when was that in relation to this homicide? A. I

don’t know exactly, approximately about three weeks before.

Q. Alright, sir, what happened on that first occasion that

you had some dealing with Ray Blaylock or Douglas? A. I was

told by Walter Gaddy that there was going to be a poker game

that night and I followed him out to the apartment where he

showed me where he lived.

Q. Were you expecting anyone else? A. He told me they had

a regular game that night.

Q. And, how many people were you expecting? A. Any-

where between five and seven or eight I guess.

Q. And, did he tell you anything about Blaylock? A. He

told me he played golf with him at a country club and played

cards with him on one or two occasions.

Q. And, what happened when you got over to Whoppy’s

apartment? A. Well, I didn’t know it was Whoppy’s apartment.

When I got over there, it was just man there known as Ray and

we watched television a while and he said these other people

were going to be here shortly and after 30 minutes or so we

just started playing cards waiting on somebody to show up.

Q. And, then what happened? A. Oh, as we played and he

increased the price and I would say I played about three hours,

three and a half hours.

Q. What were you playing the first night, Mr. Wood? A.

We was playing Rummy to start with and after I got three or four

hundred dollars loser he turned it into poker.

Q. Whose cards were you using this first time? A. Well, we

was using the ones that was already there, supposed to be set up

for the other players to come in with. ! just went ahead and

played with the cards that was there the first night.

Q. And, did you win or lose? A. I lose.

—

Q. How much did you lose? A. Twenty something hundred

dollars.

Q. This is the first night? A. Yes, sir.

Q. What kind of poker were you playing this first night? A.

Well, we played two different games, we played low ball and we

played some seven card high, played both games, mostly low

ball.

Q. How, tell the jury how low ball is played, what the rules

are about that? A. Well, we was playing seven card low ball,

just like seven card high poker if they know what that is and

except for the lowest hand wins. Placing cards in pairs counts

against you.

Q. Alright, and, when did you next see Douglas? A. I

guess about, I don’t know exactly, about a week after that I

guess.

Q. Where did you see him this time? A. At the same place.

Q. Did you think you had been cheated the first time you

played, Mr. Wood? A. Well, I wasn’t sure, I was skeptical be-

cause they said several people was going to show up and no

one, not even a single sole showed up.

Q. Alright, what happened on the second time you played?

A. Well, I played him some more low ball and I lose again.

Q. Now, how much did you lose the second time? A. Oh,

between $1500 and $2000 again.

Q. And, did you, you were playing low ball all night? A.

Yes, sir.

Q. Now, when did, when did you see him the next time? A.

After that?

Q. Yes, sir. A. I went over there with Thommy Thomas and

he played him.

Q. Went over where? A. To the same apartment.

— 110—

Q. Alright, and, what was the agreement about playing him

this time? A. Well, he played him a thousand dollars worth,

he puts up four hundred dollars and I put up six hundred dol-

lars. He didn’t have, I was going to put up five hundred a piece

with him but he didn’t have five hundred he said so I was sup-

posed to receive two-thirds of it.

Q. A portion to share. And, did you win or lose or did

Tommy Thomas win or lose? A. He lose the thousand he was

playing.

Q. What were they playing? A. They were playing low ball.

Q. Aad, you had given him how much money, Tommy

Thomas how much money? A. Six hundred dollars.

Q. So you had lost about how much money to Douglas prior

to July 6, 1970? A. Oh, around $4500 I guess.

Q. Alright, now, going to the night of July 6, 1970, what

happened on that night earlier in the evening? A. At the apart-

ment?

Q. Yes, at the apartment? A. I arrived there before 7:30

because he was still watching a program at that time.

Q. How did you know to arrive there at that time? What

type of arrangements had you made? Had you made any ar-

rangements to play that night? A. Yes, sir.

Q. When were they made? A. Over the telephone and we

talked about it the last time we played too.

Q. Alright, and, you arrived over there I think you said

7:30? A. Ten or fifteen minutes before 7:30.

Q. Who was with you if anyone? A. My brother Joe Wood.

Q. And, what kind of car were you in? A. I met him and

we was in my ‘67 Plymouth.

Q. Alright, you met who? A. Joe Wood.

—illl—

Q. And, did you have any kind of weapon with you? A. No.

Q. Then what happened after you got there? Who was there?

A. Nobody but Douglas or Ray whichever way you want to

refer to him.

Q. And, what happened after you got there? A. He finished

watching the program and we just sat down there, wasn’t in a

hurry or anything said at all. We wasn’t there over five minutes

or so before Tommy came in.

Q. How much money did you have on you this time, Mr.

Wood? A. Real close to a thousand dollars. I got eight hun-

dred from my brother.

Q. And, I didn’t understand you, eight hundred in addition

to your thousand? A. Yes.

Q. So you had a total of how much money on you? A.

Right at $1800.

Q. Alright, then did you go anywhere to buy cards or any-

thing? A. We went, we discussed it before and I told him I

would play with plastic cards. We went to Lowenstein’s.

Q. Which one? A. Lowenstein’s South. Four of us went.

Q. Huh? A. Four of us went.

Q. Who? A. Douglas, Tommy and Joe and myself.

Q. And, did you buy the plastic cards? A. Yes, sir, two

decks.

Q. And, then what happened? A. We went directly back to

the apartment.

Q. Alright, did you start playing anything? A. We started

playing low ball.

Q. And, were you winning or josing at the beginning of the

game? A. Well, the first 20 or 30 minutes, I was five or six

hundred dollars the winner and after we played about 20 min-

utes, I started losing.

—112—

Q. Alright, what, where was your brother Joe Wood during

this period? A. Him and Tommy wasn’t real close to the table

where they could see our hands. They were in the living room.

They were in the living room. One of them was in a chair and

one of them was on the couch.

Q. Where is that sketch? Pass it to the witness. That’s

State’s exhibit number 11. That’s a sketch of the premises.

Now, Mr. Wood, if you would just step down here if it’s alright

with the Court?

The Court: Yes, sir.

Q. And, I want you to look at that thing for just a few min-

utes and get yourself familiar with it. I don’t know whether

you've seen it or not. You haven't, have you? A. I've seen it

before but it don’t look to me like the layout of the apartment.

Q. Well, it’s not to scale, Mr. Wood, but it’s the best we've

got under the circumstances. Would you come down here so

that everybody can see and show them where the table was

where ya'll were playing poker? A. I believe it was a small din-

ing room table just let out. Right here. Here is the table di-

rectly behind the entrance. You go in the kitchen and the table

is right here.

Q. Alright, and, whose back is to the wall and who was

facing, whose back was to the front door? A. My back was to

the partition right inside the front door.

Q. And, Douglas was where? A. His back was in the kitchen

hallway.

Q. Alright, let me have that back. Where was Joe? A. Like

I say, he was somewhere in the living room either on the couch

or in a chair one or the other. They both wasn’t sitting on the

couch. One of them was on the couch and one was in the chair.

Q. And, where was Tommy? A. In the living room.

—113—

Q. All four of you were in there? A. Well, it’s sort of all

in the same room but the dining room table was over to the side.

Q. Did anyone leave? A. Between 8:30 and 9:00, Joe had

been drinking beer and ran out of beer and asked Tommy did

he want to go with him to get some beer and he turned around

and asked me and Ray or Douglas did we want any cokes, milk

or anything from the store.

Q. And, did you? A. Nobody asked for anything.

Q. Were you drinking anything? A. No.

Q. I mean anything alcoholic? A. No.

Q. Was Douglas? A. Very little if any, I don’t remember.

Q. Alright, your brother left. Tell us what took place while

he was gone? A. We just continued to play poker. I guess I

lost a little while he was gone.

Q. Alright, was Douglas armed? A. He had a pistol on

him and on every occasion I guess.

Q. Did he have a pistol—where did he keep his pistol? A.

I seen it on one occasion in his pocket mostly, the last time

he had it outside of his pants and the pistol was inside of his

pants then.

Q. Did the pistol have a hammer on it? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Could you tell what kind of a pistol it was? A. It ap-

peared to me to be a .38, almost like a policeman uses, snub

nose special.

Q. Alright, did you have any weapon? A. No, sir.

Q. Alright, then what happened after Joe left? Did Joe

come back? A. Well, there was a knock on the door and

Douglas told Tommy to check the door. He went over there to

the door and pulled the curtain back an inch or two and said

something about some shadows being out there or something.

—114—

He said I ain’t sure whether it’s, what’s going on and Douglas

jumped up and run to the back and got the shotgun.

Q. Got which shotgun? A. Automatic shotgun, I guess it’s

the same one.

Q. This shotgun has already been received into evidence.

A. I never expected the shotgun or his pistol. It’s just what

I seen.

Q. Alright, where did he get the shotgun? A. Well, I didn’t

see where, he went in the back and got it somewhere out of

the back.

Q. Alright, then what was he doing? A. He came back to

the doorway. Tommy kept insisting that there was several

people out there or thought he seen something. Douglas stood

in the doorway in the hallway after he come back in there,

cocked the shotgun in one arm and the pistol in the other ons

and he said just open the door and let them through.

Q. And, your brother was outside at this point? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did Joe come in? A. He kept saying that, Tommy asked

him I guess eight or ten times who was it and Joe finally said

it was some people that went upstairs or something and Douglas

still wasn’t sure so he told Tommy to open the little window

beside the door. If he’s by himself, let him through that window.

Q. Was he pointing anything at him when he came in

through the window? A. He walked———(Interrupted)

Q. Did he come in? A. He came in and oh, it’s a real small

window. I probably couldn’t even get through it and had to

crawl through it and Douglas had walked over closer to him

still holding the shotgun and pistol.

Q. On who? A. On Joe as he came through the door. He

had done asked me before if I had.a pistol and I stood up and

showed him I didn’t have.

—115S—

Q. And, what did Joe do after he got in? A. Douglas said

something to him, I forget exactly what it was, looked at him

real close. He had on just a pants and shirt. He didn’t ap-

pear to have no weapon. At that point, after he talked a

minute or two, I forget exactly what was said and hie said well,

everything appears to be alright, let’s resume the poker game.

I said at this point I didn’t, I was ready to leave. I wanted to

quit and as we was standing up our money was still on the

table. He said no, we are going to finish the game.

Q. Who is saying this? A. Ray or Douglas.

Q. Alright. A. He said we are going to play at least until

one of us wins or loses what’s on the table.

Q. Did he have the pistol on you? A. Well, he was holding

it at Joe, around down, I didn’t have one at the time. He set

the shotgun down somewhere, I don’t know where, put the

pistol back on him and oh, I guess it was a few minutes elapsed

there and we continued to play a short while.

Q. Why did you continue to play? A. Well, he said, he was

holding a pistol and shotgun and said we are going to play

until we win or lose what’s on the table.

Q. Alright, what was your brother doing? A. He sat down,

him and Tommy both sat down.

Q. Did he leave the room? A. After about five to six, seven

minutes of playing, he stood up and asked Douglas can I go

to the bathroom.

Q. What did Douglas tell him? A. Yeh, Douglas had looked

at him when he come through there and he asked him, Doug-

las, if it was alright if he went to the bathroom.

Q. Then what happened? A. Well, he was in the bathroom

a matter of a minute or so and when he came out and walked

up behind Douglas which Douglas was almost between the

kitchen door, was close to the hallway when he walked out of

— 116—

the hallway. He walked up to Douglas from behind and had

a, I guess it’s the same Derringer and told Tommy and Doug-

las to get on the floor. Tommy did and Douglas didn’t.

Q. Did he take Douglas’ gun away from him? A. No.

Q. Did he take any money off the table? A. No.

Q. What did he do? A. As soon as Tommy laid down, he

said well, let’s, we might as well get out of here and he handed,

he went on first and handed me the pistol.

Q. Was the door barricaded at this point? A. Well, the

two by four was up under it.

Q. Up under what? A. Up under the doorknob.

Q. Alright. A. He went out the door. I was going to, I

was dumfounded because I didn’t know that he was coming

out of the bathroom with a pistol. In fact, I didn’t even think

that he had one on him because Douglas looked him over real

good when he come through the window.

Q. Alright, then what did you do? A. Well, I knew Tommy

from sometime before. Tommy’s just, I think the pistol was

still in my hand. I wasn’t pointing it at anybody. I dropped

it down to my side. Tommy got up and said we. get to get some

things straightened out and went over and locked the door.

Q. Then what happened? A. Well, as he was locking the

door, I am talking to him. Douglas reached to his waist band

for the gun and I just swung around and snapped the shot.

Q. What happened then? A. Well, he fell at the end of

the table.

Q. Then what happened? Anybody enter the room? A.

Well, it wasn’t but just a matter of a few seconds before the

door came in.

Q. Who came in? A. I didn’t see anybody but the three

colored guys that came in. One of them fired a shot into the

wall.

—_—

Q. Do you know which one it was? A. Not for sure.

Q. Did you know any of the three colored men that came

in at that time? A. Well, one of them had worked for my

brother for a matter of six years, I didn’t, wasn’t familiar with

him too much but I had seen him working for him.

Q. Which one is that? A. The one in the middle.

Q. Let the record show, he’s talking about Isiah Hamilton.

Did you know either Randolph or Pickens at that time? A. I

never met them.

Q. Had you ever had any dealings with these three, with

the defendant Pickens or Randolph or Hamilton? A. I only

talked to Joe.

Q. Alright, and, after they busted into the room, what hap-

pened? A. Well, there was a shot fired into the wall and Doug-

las didn’t appear to be dead but he was hurt real bad. They

started, one of them got ahold of Tommy and I told them not

to hurt him.

Q. What happened to the money that was on the table? A.

Well, the $1800 that I started with, I, after that, I picked up

most of the money that was on the table and stuck it in my

pocket.

Q. Whose money was it? A. Well, I started with $1800

and I had lost some money, $4500 or so previous to that and

there was around $3000 on the table, between $2500 and

$3000.

Q. Then what did you do? A. I went to the, my car, just

before I went out of the apartment, I didn’t go close to Doug-

las but Tommy was standing over there pretty close to him

and he said I ought to call an ambulance, said you get on out

of here before you get into any more trouble.

Q. And, you did that? A. I did that. I was next to the last

one to leave and Tommy was the last one to leave.

~y tte

) ee

— 118 —

Q. And, where was Joe at this point? A. By the time I got

out to my car, he was out there.

Q. Did you pick up any of the weapons that were in the

apartment, any of the weapons, shotgun or any of that? A. I

carried the Derringer to the car that I had in my hand.

Q. Did you pick up any other weapon? A. No.

Q. Alright, whose car did you go to? A. My car, °67

Plymouth.

Q. Who was with you if anyone? A. Well, Joe was out

there at the car about the same time I was.

Q. And, what happened, what were the three black men

doing? A. They had done left ahead of us in Joe’s car, the

GTO.

Q. And, where did you go? A. Joe said, he told me where

to go, said follow him, I want to get my car and we followed

them to where I think one of them lived. Anyway, they all got

out there.

Q. Did Joe get his car? A. Joe talked to them for a while

and then we, I followed, he got his car.

Q. I beg your pardon? He did get his car there? A. Yes.

Q. Then where did you go? A. We went to a place and

stopped and talked and from there I went, we got in one car

and I went to a pay phone.

Q. Alright, up to this point, Mr. Wood, did you know who

Blaylock was? A. No.

Q. Who did you—you knew him as what? A. Knew him as

Ray Blaylock.

Q. Alright, then you went to a pay phone and what did you

do at the pay phone? A. I called Barbara King Howell's apart-

ment.

— 119—

Q. How come you to call it? A. For Tommy.

Q. Alright, then what happened, did you talk to Tommy over

there? A. She answered the phone and then I talked to Tommy.

Q. Did he tell you who Blaylock was then? A. Yes, he told

me it was Douglas.

Q. Had you ever heard of Douglas? A. Many times.

Q. Alright, then what happened? A. Well, the same story

that I told to start with on that statement, him and I talked a

little bit about it on the telephone and he said he would tell the

same story not identifying anybody. In fact, I think he did

tell the FBI the same story.

Q. Alright, did you go to Barbara King Howell’s apartment?

A. Later, after he told me it was William Douglas I knew that

from stories I had heard about him since, from many, many

people———_({Interrupted)

Mr. Strother Objects: Your Honor, I object to what he’s

heard. I object to any hearsay.

The Court: Mr. Stanton, you know the rules that would make

any information applicable here on this situation. I don’t know

how far you intend to go.

Q. I'm not intending to go ¢ 1y further.

The Court: Alright, the State objects to hearsay at this point.

I believe it’s a proper objection unless you qualify somebody to

——Interrupted)

Q. Well, the deceased reputation, he didn’t know who the

deceased was before he killed him so he can’t get it in as part of

that but I think his reputation may have, the fact when he found

out who he was and his reputation made him do certain acts,

namely go to Barbara King’s apartment.

The Court: I think you are privileged some latitude there,

yes, Sir.

— 120 —

Q. Alright, Sir. You knew who this man was, didn’t you, at

that point? A. Yes, Sir, I knew two people real well that’s told

me about him in the past.

Q. And, that information did what to you? A. Well, I knew

that Tommy’s father and this man had been friends for many,

many years.

Q. Tommy Thomas’ father? A. Yes, Sir.

Q. Alright, what did you think as a result of that? A. Well,

Tommy's father and him both were excellent marksmen and

had been in numerous shootings.

Q. And, you were scared that they might come get you? A.

Yes, Sir.

Q. So what did you do then? A. I was discussing it with

Joe. I said as soon as Tommy gets back out west and says some-

thing about this, that they might very well send somebody back

looking for us.

Q. So what did you do? A. I went over to the apartment

on, Barbara King Howell’s apartment to talk to Tommy about it.

Q. Was anybody there when you got there? A. Barbara

King Howell and Tommy was all.

Q. And, who went with you? A. My brother, Joe Wood.

Q. Alright, you had a conversation with Tommy over there?

A. Yes.

Q. And, what did you tell him? A. Well, we still talked

some more about the first statement I gave and he agreed with

that. I said I know that Douglas and Ty was real good friends.

I said what are you going to do about that and he said well, as

far as I'm concerned it’s all over with except the story part.

I said just make sure of that where that you don’t have nobody

come looking for both me and Joe.

— 121 —

Q. Then where did you go? A. Went back and let, took Joe

back to his car and we was in my car at that time.

Q. Then what did you do? A. Well, I, instead of doing like

I said in the statement, I went back to the apartment and spent

the night, went by and seen Joe the next morning and I went

back to Mississippi.

Q. Alright, did you know that you were being cheated? A. I

knew beyond a reasonable doubt that I was.

Q. When did you figure it out? A. In the second game for

sure. I was expecting it in the first game because nobody else

showed up.

Q. And, did you know how you were being cheated? A.

Well, not exactly, I kept watching for it, everything I could

think of but I still didn’t definitely catch it.

Q. Why did you want to get plastic cards? A. Well, paper

cards, sometimes people can even bend them where they can

tell them apart. Mostly plastic cards jump back in place.

Q. When Douglas pulled his pistol on you and told you to, I

believe you said he told you you had to continue playing, did

he not? A. Yes.

Q. Were you afraid at that time? A. Well, naturally you are

afraid of anybody with a gun in their hand.

Q. Were you, did you think he might use that gun? A. I

would think so because he stood in the doorway with a shotgun

and pistol and told Tommy which Tommy wouldn't do it, told

him to open the door and let anybody through that wanted to.

Q. Did, is that the reason you sat down and continued to

play instead of leaving there? A. Yes.

Mr. Strother Object: I object to leading the witness.

The Court: Don’t lead him, sustained.

Q. Is that the reason you did what you did? A. Yes, Sir.

— 122 —

Q. What did you do? A. Well, when he-——(Interrupted)

Mr. Strother Objects: Again I object.

A. When he reached for the pistol I shot him.

Q. What did you do is not leading, if your Honor please.

The Court: We'll let him answer that, yes, Sir.

Q. I didn’t hear you. A. When I was talking to Tommy and

I walked around, he was reaching in his belt for the pistol. I

just wheeled around and shot that little ole Derringer which I

guess I was lucky to hit him because if I didn’t, he would be on

trial instead of me.

Q. I believe that’s all.

The Court: Alright, I believe the proper order would be for

the other defendants to cross-examine this gentleman and then

the State.

Mr. McKnight: I have no questions on behalf of the defendant,

Joe E. Wood.

The Court: Alright, any other defendants, either one or all

of them?

Mr. Smith: James Randolph has no questions, your Honor.

Mr. Cassell: No questions at this time. I would like to re-

serve the right to question him further later.

The Court: Alright.

Mr. Sabella: No questions.

The Court: The State.

Mr. Strother: I have a few.

The Court: Alright.

— 123 —

Cross-Examination by Mr. Strother

Q. Mr. Wood, if I understand correctly, the first time that

you had ever seen William Douglas was the night that, I think

so we will understand each other I think the jury will under-

stand, by calling his name Whoppy. A. Yes.

Q. Carried you over to an apartment which is Benbow Apart-

ments, Benbow Apartments, 3403 Number One where this inci-

lent occurred, is that correct? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And, about how long prior to the shooting was that?

A. I don’t know the exact date, around three weeks.

Q. About three weeks and I believe that you played cards

with him that night, did you not? A. Yes, Sir.

Q. And, you played for what, I think we can agree, for a

considerable amount of money? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000, is that cor-

rect? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And, you lost, is that correct? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you play table stakes that night? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know what tables stakes means? A. Table stakes

is you can’t take anything out of your pocket.

Q. Alright, Mr. Wood, just so we'll understand and every-

one’ll understand, you are not trying to give these gentlemen

the impression that you are not a gambler, are you, sir? A.

I've played poker before, yes, sir.

Q. I mean, you've done a little more than play poker be-

fore, you've played a lot of poker, don’t you, I mean, com-

pared with the average man?

Mr. Stanton Objects: I don’t see that that’s relevant, if your

Honor please.

The Court: We'll overrule the objection, Mr. Stanton.

=—

Q. In fact, you own an interest, do you not, in some gam-

bling establishments, is that correct? A. No, sir.

Q. Were you or were you not in the process of negotiating

with Tommy Thomas to sell him an interest in a club in Tip-

ton County that you owned an interest in? A. I’ve never owned

a club in Tipton County.

Q. You never had ar interest in such a club, is that correct?

A. No, sir.

Q. But you’ve played cards, poker? A. Yes.

Q.

This text is long and has been trimmed here. Open the source document for the complete record.