The herald., 1897-09-17
Grinding Out Arguments in
the McCamish Case
A HEAVY DAMAGE CLAIM
PROPERTY AGGEEGATING $67.
7SO DESTROYED
A Curious Point in the Young Divorce.
That House Building Contract.
Shot to Kill

Again yesterday there was a large
crowd that filled the court room of de-
the arguments in the McCamish murder
trial. Ordinarily arguments to the jury
have little fascina ton for the public,
but this is an exceptional trial. In it
there was total absence Of direct testi :
mony and upon circumstantial evidence
the prosecution have been compelled
to altogether rely. Such being the case,
the presentment of the facts in logical
sequence during the arguments of op-
posing counsel has an exceptional inter-
est, for, from the particular standpoint
taken, circumstances may tell as much
In favor of innocence as, from another
point of vision, they may carry to the
minds of the jury conviction of the de-
fendants guilt.
Assistant District Attorney Williams
resumed his address to the jury and
with painstaking care continued, as on
the day previous, going through the en-
tire testimony of the case, and link by
link forging chain of circumstances
which seemed to indicate the unmis
taxable guilt Of the accused.
lie Compte Davis opened for the de-
tense and talked until quarter to five,
when court adjourned. By that time he
had dealt with two of the four parts into
which he divided his address. These
four links were, first, the motive or in
centive to the crime; second, the plan OF
preparation for the crime; third, the
killing or crime itself; fourth, the con-
fession of the crime.
Examining into the allegations of the
prosecution that McCamish had been
criminally intimate with Mrs Pyle, and
in order to obtain her shot her husband,
Mr.. Davis first took up the evidence Of
Daily Lineberger, passed on to Sol Ed
wards and Lucienne Edwards and ex-
coriated them urmercifully. Edwards
particularly was branded as an infamous
scoundrel for diStorting actions inno-
cent in themselves and injecting into
them vile meaning conjured from his
own base heart. The testimony of Bram-
well, Allen and Mr.. and Mrs. Krisbaum
was taken seriatim and shown to pre-
sent nothing definite, but simply the
shadowy and unfounded suspicion en-
anating from argus-eyed and gossipy
neighbors. Abiding to Madison's tes-
timony, wherein the defendant stated
specifically that he had been intimate
with Mrs. Pyle for year, and that she
wished to poison her husband, Mr.. Davis
said: GAS to the truth or untruth of
this confession at this time will say
nothing; I propose to discuss it later
Assuming for the present, however, that
1t Is true, I still maintain that no mere
tricious relations existed between the
defendant and Mrs Pyle. Even if in my
heart I were convicted that Madison
told the truth-and 1 know he did not
it would not raise a doub: in my mind as
to the absolute virtue and chastity of
Mrs. Pyle. A man who would sustain
such relations with the wife Of his best
friend, and who would voluntarily con-
fess to such thing and bring ruin and
disgrace upon her before the whole
world, has sunk so low in the scale of
humanity that I would not believe him
though he spoke the truth. Nay, I
would even doubt what I previously
knew to be the truth if it came from his
lips. No matter if my best friend should
come to me and say that on such and
such day he had seduced the wife of his
ly committing adultery with her,
would tell him he was a liar. A man so
base is not entitled to any credit
Turning and pointing his finger a the
defendant, counsel continued: II say
10 you, Ed McCamisn, looking this jury
In the face, that If you made that con-
fession you are guilty of murder and
baser than the basest and ought to be
hanged a hundred times if you had
hundred lives. And I say, moreover,
that if I knew you had made it l would
not believe that slandsrous and scan
dalous portion against this woman. Its
source would be so base that it would
have no weight with any honest man.
Passing on to the second part of his
argument, the plan or preparation for
the crime, Mr.. Davis reviewed the con-
tention Of the prosecution that he ar
ranged a burglary of his room at Fill
more with the Interior motive OF in
weighing Mccoy Pyle to some lonely
place that he might kill him. That he
kept chloroform on hand to odorize his
room and the tent of Rev. Fields in or
der that they might corroborate him in
that particular. Counsel then proceed
ed to examine into the particulars in
the light of the facts conceded by the
prosecution, ard passing on reviewed
the circumstance immed lately anterior
to the killing. He showed how con-
sistent these were with the supposition
OF innocence, and the straining of the
facts to prove murder on the part of
the defendant necessitated their dlstor-
ton in such way as could not appeal to
any reasonable man. indicating, as in
such case they would do, that the de
fendant himself had al that time been
acting in such unreasonable a way as
the jury was not warranted in suppos-
ing
THE YOUNG DIVORCE