Those Innocent Women
August 10, 1895
Summary
The Planet argues that three black women should not be convicted of a crime where there is no evidence proving them guilty and an alibi saying that they were not involved.
Transcription
To hang a woman guilty of any crime is bad enough; but to hang one or more who are innocent is too fearful a thing to contemplate.
In cases of murder, circumstantial evidence has to be taken with a deal of caution, and in most cases unless every link can be fitted in its place, it is not to be taken at all. The evidence against Mary Abernathy, Pokey and Mary Barnes is fatally defective. It is utterly impossible to convict them according to law.
They proved an alibi, in fact a much stronger one than Mr. Pollard himself have proved. The case is a mysterious one. It merits a careful investigation and the murderer should be hunted down. That this poor woman should have been brutally murdered is to be deplored and we are ready to use our last endeavors to the end that the guilty party may be apprehended and punished.
But there is no need for hurry. A fatal blunder may be committed, and two innocent women launched into eternity. The evidence adduced against them, upon any other occasion would not have been a featherweight. It is a known fact Mary and Pokey Barnes were not upon good terms with Solomon Marable, because as this poor lone woman in the penitentiary stated and this has been echoed by Pokey, - he had no manners to presume that they would have entered into a plot with him is absurd.
No one who has gazed upon the frank open countenance of Mary Abernathy will doubt her innocence. No one who has heard Pokey Barnes state where she was and produced her witnesses to prove her statements would for an instant entertain an opinion as to her guilt.
No one who has heard the candid statement of the old woman, Mary Barnes, with a sad face in the penitentiary would for an instant think but what a grievous wrong had been done her and that it should be corrected at once.
Shall Mary Abernathy hang? Shall Pokey Barnes die upon the gallows? Shall Mary Barnes spend the remaining years of her life in the Virginia penitentiary? Each of our readers can answer this question. As for us, we shall fight it out, regardless of the financial loss to us and the sapping of vital energies in the effort to save human life.
Prayers are being offered, and money raised – the more of the latter the better for their earthly welfare and ere many more days have passed away the result of the efforts put forth will be known to the public.
Poor Mary Abernathy! Brave-hearted Pokey Barnes! Pitiful Mary Barnes!
May success attend us. The fight shall be prosecuted to the finish. If we win, all is well. If we lose, but – we draw the curtain. The thought even is too terrible.
In cases of murder, circumstantial evidence has to be taken with a deal of caution, and in most cases unless every link can be fitted in its place, it is not to be taken at all. The evidence against Mary Abernathy, Pokey and Mary Barnes is fatally defective. It is utterly impossible to convict them according to law.
They proved an alibi, in fact a much stronger one than Mr. Pollard himself have proved. The case is a mysterious one. It merits a careful investigation and the murderer should be hunted down. That this poor woman should have been brutally murdered is to be deplored and we are ready to use our last endeavors to the end that the guilty party may be apprehended and punished.
But there is no need for hurry. A fatal blunder may be committed, and two innocent women launched into eternity. The evidence adduced against them, upon any other occasion would not have been a featherweight. It is a known fact Mary and Pokey Barnes were not upon good terms with Solomon Marable, because as this poor lone woman in the penitentiary stated and this has been echoed by Pokey, - he had no manners to presume that they would have entered into a plot with him is absurd.
No one who has gazed upon the frank open countenance of Mary Abernathy will doubt her innocence. No one who has heard Pokey Barnes state where she was and produced her witnesses to prove her statements would for an instant entertain an opinion as to her guilt.
No one who has heard the candid statement of the old woman, Mary Barnes, with a sad face in the penitentiary would for an instant think but what a grievous wrong had been done her and that it should be corrected at once.
Shall Mary Abernathy hang? Shall Pokey Barnes die upon the gallows? Shall Mary Barnes spend the remaining years of her life in the Virginia penitentiary? Each of our readers can answer this question. As for us, we shall fight it out, regardless of the financial loss to us and the sapping of vital energies in the effort to save human life.
Prayers are being offered, and money raised – the more of the latter the better for their earthly welfare and ere many more days have passed away the result of the efforts put forth will be known to the public.
Poor Mary Abernathy! Brave-hearted Pokey Barnes! Pitiful Mary Barnes!
May success attend us. The fight shall be prosecuted to the finish. If we win, all is well. If we lose, but – we draw the curtain. The thought even is too terrible.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Cord Fox
Citation
“Those Innocent Women,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1443.