Maxwell v. State

Griffin Smith, Chief Justice.

Appellant is a Negro twenty years of age. By information the State charged that on July 20th, 1949, he raped Mrs. Walter Nichols, a white woman whose husband was a plantation tenant residing south of Hope near Highway 29. The crime is alleged to have occurred shortly after eight o’clock in the morning while Mrs. Nichols was otherwise alone. Her testimony was that Herman stopped by the house, tapped lightly at .the front porch, and asked for a drink of water. He made incidental inquiries and went away, but shortly returned and requested matches.

Substance of Mrs.…