List of Birmingham homicides in 1893

This is a List of Birmingham homicides in 1893. It includes homicide cases occurring within the city limits during the calendar year. Note that not all homicides are ultimately ruled to be murder in courts of law.

Listing

1. January 15: Perry Carpenter, former Birmingham City Clerk, died at Miss McRae's Infirmary from gunshot wounds received the previous evening when he interrupted an attempted robbery of George Hansberger on the 2100 block of 5th Avenue North. Several armed robberies had been reported in the vicinity in the weeks before the murder. The shooter fled the scene and was not caught. Hansberger, an African-American shop owner, was encouraged by Detective Sullivan to canvas the city in hopes of identifying the murderer. He was asked to enter a room of Mrs Barfield's boarding house on 20th Street North to see a man who matched his description and had a pistol, on the pretext of building a fire for the lady, Hattie Sullivan, who was sharing his room. He could not see the man at the time because he was under bedcovers, but identified him when he left the house, and he was arrested and identified as Ed Denton. A grand jury indicted him for murder and his trial began at Erswell's Hall before Judge R. A. Sedwick on January 27. Hansberger testified for the prosecution. Defense witnesses testified that Denton, who walked with a limp never mentioned by Hansberger, had been drinking at the Court Saloon at the time of the murder and had also gotten a shave at Vollmer's Barber Shop nearby and visited other saloons that night. The prosecution brought witnesses to relate conflicting accounts Denton had given of his whereabouts, and conflicting information about whether he walked with a limp. Eventually Denton was acquitted, and he and Miss Sullivan were married by Judge Sedwick on February 2. A few days later Sheriff George Morrow charged a man named Bob Echols with Carpenter's murder. He was arrested by police at his home in Rome, Georgia, and was identified by a Miss Woods as the same man who had accosted her and two male companions on the way to church in the same area. Echols expressed confidence that he could prove an alibi.

References

• "Shot Down" (January 18, 1893) The Weekly Age-Herald

See also

• Birmingham homicides by year