The sworn confession made by Mrs. Eula Elrod Thompson, confessing her part in the killing of Coleman Osborne, accusing her alleged lover of plotting the murder, and declaring that her husband and the negro, Jim Hugh Moss, are innocent, follows:

B. W. Swan, of Chatsworth, Ga., and I plotted to kill Coleman Osborne. Clifford Thompson and Jim Hugh Moss are innocent.

B. W. Swan and I, on the night of July 26, 1927, were on a road near Oakman, Ga., in Swan's car when he told me that Coleman Osborne had told about us keeping company and said this would ruin him (Swan). He then said if I would help him frame Cliff that he could get a man to kiss Osborne for $500. He said if I would help him switch the gun which he would have used to kill Osborne that would be sufficient evidence against Thompson. I agreed to help him change the pistols.

Swan said that he would rather pay the $500 to get Osborne killed and give me $5,000 to swear that Thompson was not at home in Etowah, Tenn., that night (the night on which Osborne was to be killed).

I agreed to switch the guns. So on August 6, the next day after Osborne was killed, Jim Lowry brought a gun to my house. Jim Lowry is a negro. I knew him right along.

I can die happy now. I felt awfully bad yesterday after Cliff's mother left. But I couldn't bear it any longer this afternoon.

We met near Fairmount on July 26, Swan and me. It was late in the afternoon. He said, "Aren't you going to help me save that money. I told him yes, if I knew anyway to do it. He said Osborne is the cause of it all. We've got to get him out of the way. He then told me about getting someone to kill Osborne and how to switch the guns.

Then we agreed not to communicate with each other until after Osborne was out of the way.

EULA ELROD THOMPSON,
Witness: T. K. Jones
Witness: Lewis Hawkins
Mrs. M. W. Cornett,
Notary Public,
Fulton County, Georgia.

Old News Stories