Davis v. State

Davis was indicted for aiding a prisoner (his son) to escape, by forcibly attempting to break the lock of the jail in which he was confined, the escape not having been effected. The defendant was found guilty, and he moved on the general grounds for a new trial, which was denied. There was testimony by the jailer that the lock had been hammered on in his absence at night; and the lock was put in evidence, together with a chisel which he found in a crack in the jail. The only testimony connecting the defendant with the commission of the offence was given by Dan Smith, who was in jail at the…