Horrible and Heinous Crime: Was Committed at Bellamy, Sumter County, Sunday Night

Gulley and Holly were the fiends – A most horrible and revolting crime was committed by two negroes at Bellamy, Sumter County, last Sunday night. Robert Gulley and Simon Holly were the two fiends. About 12 o’clock Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Gray were quietly sleeping, when a slight noise awakened Mrs. Gray and seeing a negro man in the room she called her husband, who was sleeping soundly. The negro Robert Gulley, told her to keep quiet or he would kill her; she called her husband and the negro shot her through the brain killing her instantly. Mr. R. T. Gray awakened at this juncture and seized Robert Gulley around the waist just as the negro fired a revolver shot at him. The leaden bullet tore through the fleshy part of Mr. Gray’s leg, but he grappled with the fiend and a fight to the death took place. The two fought for five minutes inside the room stumbling over the dead body of Mrs. Gray. During the scuffle Gray was again shot through the hand, but he held the negro, finally throwing the negro to the floor just inside the hallway. An axe was lying on the floor near the entrance to the room where the desperate encounter was taking place. As the negro was thrown to the floor, Mr. Gray seized the opportunity, grabbed the axe and sent the sharp blade crashing through the skull of the negro, killing him instantly.

At the noise of the first shot fired by Robert Gulley at Mrs. Gray, Simon Holly leaped though a window and made his escape. Early Monday morning at daybreak a determined posse of 25 men visited the cabin of the Holly negro. He confessed being with Gulley in the burglary and murder, but claimed Gulley fired the shot which killed Mrs. Gray. The mob searched the house of the negro, and found many stolen articles, and hanged his body to tree and literally riddled it with bullets.

Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Gray had been married six months. The bride was a beautiful belle of Holley, Ala., while Mr. Gray was in the employ of the Allison Lumber Co., where he has been working for six years. The remains were shipped to Holley for the funeral and internment. It is not believed that Mr. Gray’s wounds will prove fatal.