[1] As a result of this confession, James Wood was released, while Elijah was charged with first-degree murder and ordered to stand trial on January 9, 1913.
He spent most of his time either by himself, chatting with friend and fellow death row inmate Hugh Alvin "Boss" Gaylord or talking to his spiritual advisers.
In an article written in the Batesville Daily Guard, an anonymous writer declared his belief that Pearson had supposedly confessed in private that he had fired the fatal shot, not Wood.
The third murder he had supposedly confessed was that of local merchant and farmer Yancey Mashburn, who had been shot and killed near Little Rock on October 7, 1910, during a botched robbery.
[6] Since Wood had already been executed and thus could not stand trial for these crimes, Gaylord's claims could not be definitely proven and the aforementioned murders officially remain unsolved.