The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-27
EVIDENCE WAS TOO WEAK.
JUDGE DIRECTED VERDICT OF
NOT GUILTY IN sABRo's CASE.


ants Guilt of the Crime of At
tempted Abduction the Law De-
mands-"OnIy "A Bare Suspicion
Engendered,' Said Judge Fall
Eant-PrestOn Everett and His
Father on the stand-sabrO's Let
tiers TO the Boy.
King Sabre has been given his liberty.
At the conclusion of the evidence for the
state, at yesterdays trial in the Superior
Court, Mr.. r. L. Colding, who represent
ed Sabre. moved the court to direct a YER
dict of not guilty, and Judge Falligant
sustained the motion and directed the
verdict.
The hearing of the case was not with
out its interesting features, nor indeed,
without its pathos. 1t developed to the
! fullest extent the strange and unreason-
ing infatuation that possessed Sabre, of
which the boy he was charged with hav-
| ing attempted to abduct, Preston Everett,
! was the object 1t revealed the fact that
| the man is mentally or morally wanting,
and excited the sympathy of the court
! spectators, rather than their indignation
The opinion was freely expressed that
the insane asylum would better suit Sabre
as an abiding place than the penitentiary.
and that his incarceration in the former
institution would better answer the die
| tates of good sense and the demands of
justice.
John r. Everett, the father of the boy
whose abduction Sabre, or Cashwel, or
Parsons, as he is variously known, is
charged with having attempted, was the
| hrst witness placed upon the stand by,
| the state In answer to the questions
propounded to him by Mr. Thomas L.
| Hill, who conducted the prosecution, Mr..
| Everett told what he knew about Sa-
| BROS efforts to get the boy away from
| his home and from under the protecting
influence of his family. But the evidence
! OF the witness was made up more of
| charges and statements of his opinion as
to what he conceived to be Sabro's inten-
lions, than of bald facts known TO him
| personally
! Preston followed his father on the stand
and ted the old, old story all over again.
| II mas been printed so often that its
| repetition is Improbable and would GER
| tainly be tiresome. The several attempts
made by Sabre to get word with the boy
| MS own fear and aversion for the man
anu the circumstances or the night when
| Sabre made the alleged attempt to kid
nap him were entered into and described
at length. According to Preston's evil
dence nothing that had been said to him
by Sabre, when they met in Madison
square, on the Sunday evening when the
crime is said TO have been attempted,
| could justify more than faint suspicion
| that it was the mans intention to carry
| him away against his will
According TO Preston what Sabre did
say was to tell him he was going away.
to which he added a request to be al
lowed to send the boy money. as he
claimed to have been in the habit of do
ing. Before there was an opportunity for
| more extended conversation young Sauls
had jumped the sword swalower and the
fight was in progress
Several of the leReres written by Sabre
to the boy were offered in evidence. They
We're of the most weakly sentimental
| description, Astounding in professions of
attachment and maudlin terms of en-
| dearment. They were sufficient to convict
any man of being n fool, but scarcely of
| the crime of attempted abduction. While,
of course, it may have been Sabro's in
| tention TO attempt the forcible abduction
| of young Everett, there was nothing in
the letters or in the other evidence suffi-
cient to satisfy the minds of the jury of
| sonahle doubt. "On the contrary" said
| Judge Falligant, "the evidence is not suf-
! hcient to do more than raise a bare sus-
| ptcon of the defendants guilt of the
crime for which he has been indicted"
When the states evidence was in, Mr.
4 Colding moved the court to direct a YER
! dict of not guilty. In support of his mo-
ton Mr.. Colding briefly Outlined the evil
| dence in the case, pointing out that none
had been submitted that could do more
| than raise a suspicion of Sabro's guilt
| There was nothing in the mans conduct
| Mr. Colding argued, that contradicted his
| statement in his note to Preston that he
| was going away and only wanted to tell
| the boy goodby. Such desire was in
| entire accord with the affection that Sa-
| bros every action in connection with
| Preston evinced.
| Judge Falligant took the same view of
the matter and in few words, expressive
| of his agreement with the legal correct
ness of the contentious of counsel for the
defendant, directed the jury to return the
verdict of mot guilty" The verdict was
prepared and signed by Foreman Richard
w. Adams and Sabre was given his lber-
| ty.
1t did not endure for any great length
| of time. Scarcely had the discharged de-
| PENDANT left the court room, when he
was arrested on warrant sworn out by
Mr.. Everett in the court of Magistrate
Kline, in which he was charged with the
theft of the theatrical costume and prop
critics that Preston had used when the
| vaudeville troupe of which he and Sabre
were members was on the road
The crowd that had listened to the
hearing in the Superior Court room fol-
lowed the officer who made the new arrest
and his prisoner to the office of Magistrate
Kline, on DrayGon street The crowd
thronged and overlooked the premises, SO
that the prisoner and counsel for both
sides were admitted to Magistrate Kline 6
| private office, where the hearing was had
Sabre said that the costumes had been
left by the boy in the express Office at
Rome, and that he had never had them
in his possession since.
1t was apparent, as Mr.. Colding pointed
out, that even If the man was guilty of
the crime of larceny, the courts of This
couny had no jurisdic ton, and the war
rant was dismissed.
In the meantime the elder Everett and
the crowd still packed the outer ofica
| and 1t became a. matter Of some perplexitv
| as to how Sabre was to be got out of the
way, thus avoiding another warrant or
another row. In this dilemma counsel
came to the assistance of the court and
the ex-defendant. In loud and stridept
tones Messrs. Colding and Hill argued an
imaginary case, flashing each other win
| whips of sarcastic invectve. Under covar
of the tumult thus created, Sabre was
spirited out through a window and escort-