The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-13
BOTH WE'RE ACQUITTED.
Fred Garden, CoIOred, Found Not
Guilty of Assault to Murder.

Guilty of Assault to Murder.
The transactions Of criminal business in
the Superior Court yesterday were not
distinguished by the disposal of any case
Of pre-eminent Importance. The most in
teresting and exciting was that of Fred
Garden, alias Fred Gardner, colored, who
was charged with assault with intent to
murder Mrs. r. Cooley.
Gardner, or Garden, was represented by
Mr.. w. F. Slater and an ingenious de-
Tense was offered by the counsel for the
| prisoner "A number of witnesses offered
| their evidence to show that Garden was
| not in the store or the barroom of Cooley
| When the shooting occurred, and the OBJ
| Vlous inference, brought out by the tes-
| umony of the witnesses and supported by
the statement of the prisoner and the ar
| gument of his counsel was that Cooley
| himself had done the shooting and that
| Garden was innocent.
| Mr.. Slater's plea in behalf of his client
| was especially ingenious and forcible. He
| urged that the evidence showed that Car
| den had not been in the store when the
| shooting was done and that the defendant
| mad been accused by the prosecuting wit
| ness of the crime for the purpose of
| shielding himself In support of this con-
| tention Mr.. Slater instanced the apparent
| ly undisputed evidence to the effect that
| shortly after the shooting of the other in
| dlVldual by Cooley, he had offered to
have the man taken to the hospital and
| his wounds dressed at the expense of him
| who had inflicted the wound.
1t was urged in behalf of the prisoner
| mat Cooley had been struck then with the
| opportunity to force his own crime on an
| other, and had ordered the arrest of Car
| Den. Mr.. Slater argued from the state
ment Of one of the witnesses, that Cooley
| mad telephoned physician that he had
! shot his wife, that, therefore, the thought
| of charging Garden with the commission
| of this crime had come to him after
| wards, and was designed to save himself
| from the consequences of his own wrong
| The jury evidently took this view of the
matter, for after being out a couple of
| hours, it returned a verdict of not guilty
Ii is certain that the evidence presented
did not make out case with the certain
ty that the law requires, that is beyond
| reasonable doubt, and the jury, in bring
| ing in its verdict did not follow the in
struction given in the charge of the court
to resolve any doubt it might entertain in
favor of the defendant
Richard Dayes had been indicted by the
grand jury for the offense of highway
robbery, alleged to have been committed
on and from the person of John Oliver
The evidence was not satisfactory In this
case either, and the jury, after a brief
period of consideration, brought in a YER
dict of not guilty. These were the only
two criminal cases tried during the day,
and both of them resulted disastrously 10
the state. In neither instance was it pos
sble for the state to make out its case
or prove the guilt of the defendant.
The trial of the case against Garden was
rendered interesting by the evidence of
the prosecuting witness. Coo.ey became
very much excited and in the course of
his examination, by the acting solicitor
general and the counsel for the defendant,
gave evidence that would have been dam
aging to himself had he been the one on
trial Urged on by the question of Mr..
Slater Cooley confessed virtually that he
himself had done most of the shooting and
that he had inflicted the wounds received
by all of those injured, with one single
exception, his wife.
At one stage of the trial Mr.. Slater
asked the prosecuting witness what he
had used to fire the shots to which he con-
fessed. In answer to this interrogatory
Cooley pulled from his pocket mammoth
revolver and excitedly exclaimed that he
had used the weapon then exhibited 10 the
| court and jury.
fered by Judge Falligant to pass without
comment but after the jury had brought
in a verdict acquitting Garden and tnere
was a lull in the proceedings and recess
the Judge was telling some members Of
the grand jury about a similar incident
that had happened during Judge Adams
incumbency of the bench. 1t appeared
that a witness who had exhibited bowie
knife in the court room had been turned
over by Judge Adams to the solicitor gen
eral for punishment Judge Failigant re-
marked that the witness had proven him
self guilty of two offenses, carrying con-
| cealed weapon and bringing a weapon
likely to produce death into a court of
justice.
Garden had not then left the court ROOM
and Judge Falligant was lecturing him
upon the offense with which he had been
charged and the advisability of not ap-
pearing again on the same account.
Cooley was twisting and squirming in his
chair evidently very in at ease and anx-
ous to be away. stop a bit" said the
Judge to the acquitted defendant. Cooley
| thought the admonition intended for him
self and the last seen of him was his fly
| ing coat tails as he rushed through the
| swinging doors into the corridor. He had
| thought that the one case being disposed
| Of the court was about to investigate his
| reasons for carrying concealed weapons.