Sims v. Commonwealth

Houston Sims was convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of twenty years. The murder occurred in the public road immediately in front of a small store that was conducted by the accused. The road is a narrow country road and nearly entirely occupied by the roadway.

Peter Philpot, who was killed, and the accused, and all of the eye witnesses to the killing — in fact, practically all of the witnesses in the case — were negroes, and *742the differences between the witnesses as to what they observed at the time of the trial is such that it is not easy to…