Atlanta Daily World

Woman Given Two Years In Slaying Of Local Woman

An Atlanta woman was ordered to serve two years in state prison after she pleaded guilty in Superior Court Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter in connection with a homicide that occurred last May.

The woman, identified as Miss Alice Mae Murphy, 28, formerly of a Richardson St. S.E., address, was originally indicted on a murder count but she was allowed to plead guilty on the reduced charge after facts in the case were revealed in a brief hearing Wednesday morning before Judge Luther Alverson.

Miss Murphy was accused in the murder indictment with killing another woman who was identified in court records as Mrs. Rebecca Ford, 34, also of a Richardson St., S. E., address.

The slaying occurred on May 17, 1960, in the neighborhood where both principals lived.

According to police, a dispute had raged between the women inside of a house. The argument moved to the streets where, it was alleged, Mrs. Ford approached Miss Murphy with a butcher knife in her hand.

The gun was fired five times, with one bullet striking Mrs. Ford fatally in the center of the abdomen. The first two shots were allegedly warning shots, police said they were told, but the remaining three were fired at the victim as she allegedly approached the defendant with a knife in her hand.

The case, heard without a jury and without a formal trial, was ended with Judge Alverson's decision to sentence the woman to serve two years in state prison on the voluntary manslaughter plea.