The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-05
KELLAR FOUND GUILTY
Recommended to Mercy But Gets a
Five Years Sentence.

CndTSS AIJeT having Been OAl Eli
teen Hours-A Mistrial Was Ex-
peeted as the Jurors Stood Ten to
Two-The Defendant Almost Over
come by the Result.
The trial Of Francis B. Kellar on a
charge of seduction, preferred by Miss
Florence w. Marshall, was concluded
yesterday by an agreement Of the jury,
which, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon,
brought in this verdict:
We, the jury, find the defendant guilty, and
recommend him 20 the mercy Of the court.
J. M. CARoLAE, Foreman.
The Jury was out all night, and it was
thought verdict would have been
reached by yesterday morning, but 10
O'Clock came, the court convened, and
there was no word from those with whom
the question of the prisoners guilt or in
nocence was left
Opinion with regard to the result was
very much divided before the jury gave
any intimation as to how it stood. When
it failed to come down night before last
after an hour and half mistrial was
predicted, while some of those around the
court room were strong in the belief that
the prisoner would be acquitted.
So great was the interest in the case
that there were crowds at the courthouse
| when court convened yesterday morn
ing, it being thought that the jury would
surely have agreed by that time. Such
was not the case, however, and many
waited around all the morning and after
noon to hear the result.
About o'clock, 1t was noised around
that the jury had come to a conclusion
and that they were coming down. Those
in the court house fastened TO gather in
| the superior court room.
WANTED TO BE REcHARGED.
They were somewhat disappointed,
however, when they learned that the jury
had not agreed, and, in fact, seemed no
nearer a conclusion than before. There
had been a disagreement among them as
to some point of law and they had come
down only to ask the judge to recharge
them. They wanted more exact and def
mite information as to what constituted
| the o4ense charged. Judge F'alligant
read from portion of the supreme court
records in the case of Jones VS. the state
while persuasion as well as promise
of marriage must be proved, yet it is not
| necessary to prove persuasion by direct or
positive evidence; it may be shown by the
satisfactory proof of such circumstances
as human experience and observation of
| human conduct would Justify the jury in
inferring persuasion.
ITO make love to virtuous unmarried
woman, woo her. make honorable pro-
posals of marriage, have them accepted,
and afterwards undo her under solemn
promise of marriage or repetition of the
engagement vow, Is to employ persuasion
as well as promises of marriage.
when consent is part of the original
| AuTepUn emit tn y hnfppfhnl and lie
procured solely by the understanding TO
marry and nothing more the transaction
may be coarse and corrupt traffic and
not seduction; but when consent is
given pending virtuous engagement in
consequence of repetition of a prom
Use to marry already made aud accepted,
the woman yielding in reliance ON the
plighted faith of her lover, and he in
tending that she shall trust and be de-
ceived, such case would be one of seduc-
tion.
"The term virtuous, as used here, has
a legal significance or meaning.
The question of what is a virtuous wo-
man is question of law for the court.
Persuasion and promises of marriage
subsequent to the offense, he said, would
not make out the crime but may be con-
sldered as circumstances along with the
other evidence and circumstances in the
case He concluded by stating that the
question as to what a chaste woman is, is
a question for the court, but the question
OF the chastity of particular woman is
a question for the jury to decide.
STOOD TEN TO TWO.
Even that did not seem to set at rest
the minds Of some of the members of the
jury, and when an hour went by and they
did not return, it was believed that mis-
trial would be the certain result.
Two, three and four hours went by be
fore they were ready TO come down. II
was learned that the Jury had stood ten
to two in favor of the verdict as finally
brought in. At O'Clock, however, the
Jury announced that verdict had beer
reached, and it seemed that the two OBJ
stinate Jurors would hold out no longer
but had concluded to agree on the verdict
of guilty with the recommendation to the
courts mercy.
Kellar and number of his friends who
were in court, were very much affected
when the verdict was read. To some Of
them it was surprise and a shock
Mr.. Saussy, Kellar's attorney, at once
gave notice of motion for new trial, and
asked the court to suspend sentence, pend
lug the motion.
SENTENCED FOR FIVE YEARS.
Judge Falligant took the matter o.
pond under motion for new trial, under
consideration and fixed it at $1,000. He
refused, however, to suspend the sentence
pending the motion, and after directine
the prisoner to stand up, said
1.-THE offense of which the Jury ha:
found you guilty is very grave one. The
jury must have believed the evidence t
have found you guilty. They have re
commended you to the mercy of the
court, however, and under that recon.
mendation shall impose lighter sen
tence than would otherwise have been
the case.n
Judge F'alligant then sentenced him Il
serve five years in the penitentiary The
statutory sentence for this offense is from
two to twenty years, in the discretion o.
the court.
Kellar's attorneys viii file motion fol
a new trial this morning, procure tht
bond required and obtain his release
Some of the judges rulings and his re
fusal to charge upon certain points re
quested by the defendants attorneys will
be among the grounds urged in the mo