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Connie Franklin (1896?–1932) became widely known in the United States for testifying at his own murder trial in 1929. Franklin was known in the popular press as the "Arkansas Ghost".〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title=Lyon College professor researches mysterious Stone County 'murder' ) 〕 ==Background== In January 1929, Connie Franklin moved to the town of St. James in Stone County, Arkansas. At the time, he claimed to be 22 years old, and worked cutting timber and as a farm hand. Soon after his arrival in the area he began courting a local 16-year-old girl, surname Ruminer, whose given name is reported variously as Tillar,〔 〕 Tillir,〔 〕 Tiller,〔 〕 and Tillie.〔 〕 In March 1929, Franklin disappeared. After an investigation, Sheriff Sam Johnson presented Bertha Burns and Tillar Ruminer as his evidence to a grand jury, but as there were at that time no witnesses willing to testify, the Grand Jury took no action in the case.〔 〕 In the fall of 1929 Bertha Burns, who had found the bloody hat that supposedly belonged to Franklin back in the Spring, contacted Johnson and brought him to a pit of ashes not far from her home, claiming that there might be the evidence of Franklin's murder in the pit. Johnson found some bone fragments and teeth, which he took to the Arkansas state health officer, Dr. C. W. Garrison, who determined that at least one of the shards came from a human skull.〔 Some months after Franklin's disappearance, Johnson intercepted a note which provided him with some information about the case, and he renewed his efforts to find witnesses.〔 Ruminer had told the Sheriff in May 1929 that she and Franklin had been attacked by "night riders" on March 9, 1929.〔 She explained that she and Franklin intended to marry, and en route to the Justice of the Peace they were attacked by four men; Hubert Hester, Herman Greenway, Joe White and Bill Younger.〔 〕 According to her statements, Hester and Greenway took her into the woods and raped her, while the others tortured, mutilated, and then burned Franklin alive.〔 When Ruminer was questioned about her delay in reporting these crimes, she said that she had kept quiet due to the violence inflicted upon her and the threats of further violence made against her: "One of the attackers threatened to kill her, whipped her father and mother, carried away her brother as a hostage."〔 Without bones, or witnesses, they could not issue arrest warrants. On November 18, 1929, the Grand Jury issued indictments for first degree murder for Alex Fulks, Joe White, Herman Greenway, Hubert Hester, and Bill C. Younger following the discovery by Bertha Burns of a fire pit and bones near her home, 8 and a half months after the alleged crime.〔 A trial date was set for December 17.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Murder of Connie Franklin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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