Religion: Murder Trial

Five thousand people live in the farming community of Reidsville, N. C. Smith T. Petty was a good deal like the rest of the men in the village, except that he sometimes got conspicuously drunk and beat his wife; on such occasions, his children, Alma, Woodrow Wilson, Smith, and Thelma, would stand in a corner, too scared to look. About a year ago, Smith T. Petty disappeared; after a decent interval, Mrs. Petty died. Last May, a Baptist revival preacher, the Rev. Thomas F. Pardue, gave a sermon in Reidsville on the subject of repentance. After his sermon, Alma Petty, sweet...

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