WNC History: Story behind the accused murderer in 1936 Battery Park Hotel homicide

“I don’t know whether my brother Tom will get here tomorrow for my body or not. Tonight’s his night off,” 22-year-old Martin Moore, a tall and lanky Black man, mumbled to the cadre of reporters stationed outside the bars of his cell in Raleigh’s Central Prison. It was Dec. 10, 1936, and without a pardon from the governor, Martin would enter the gas chamber at 10:30 the following morning.