Months after the fact, a North Carolina newspaper picked up this blurb about the murder allegedly committed by a Wilson man:
Wilmington Messenger, 1 August 1893.
This short account appeared in an Atlanta paper just after the crime:
The Atlanta Constitution, 4 April 1893.
After Courney’s execution, The Constitution ran a deeply detailed story of Courney’s life and the events that led to Smith’s death:
The Atlanta Constitution, 29 July 1893.
- Jim Courney — His real name was Burroughs Kearney. Though not found in Wilson County records, in the 1880 census of Shocco township, Warren County, North Carolina: farmer Logan Kearney, 45; wife Virginia, 35; and children Burroughs, 15, Lucy, 13, Cherrie, 10, Cilla, 7, George, 4, and Emely, 3. The family appears in the 1870 census of Sparta township, Edgecombe County, and Burroughs Kearney was married there in 1887.