The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-25
READS LIFE WITH THE JURY.
CONFLICTING EVIDENCE rs THE
STEWART MURDER CASE.

True, Makes Out a Case Oh Cruel
and Wanton Murder-Read Says
lie Was Attacked by Stewart and
Another Before He Fired the Fatal
ShOt-Dr. COrbin and DR.. FARRELL
Give Evidence That Read Had
Wounds on His Face-Scventeen
Jurors went on for Canse.
]. J. Read was on trial in che Superior
Court all of Yesterday for the murder
of William Stewart. Shortly after o.
clock the evidence was concluded
and recess was taken. The ar
guments will be made when court con-
venes this morning.
A large part OF the morning session was
consumed in the selection of jury. and
it was after ] O'Clock when the case was
ready for the introductory arguments Of
counsel for the state and the defense and
the Introduction OF witnesses. At noon
the panel OF jurors had been eX-
hausted and it was found necessary 10
take a recess for an hour while talesmen
Jurors We're found and summon ed. The
following jury was finally secured:
James L. Mehrrens. William G. Vaughn.
Henry C. Rose, John B. Harvey, A. J.
Fulton, James H. jenkins. K. J. Nevis,
William H. Sauls. John J. McDonough,
Jr.; Joseph z. Delaney, Charles kohler
and Edward Carter. OF the prospective
jurymen who faced counsel for the state
and the defense. the state struck seven,
abe defense nineteen and seventeen went
off for cause.
The prisoner was in court with his coun-
sci, Judge H. D. D. Twiggs and Messrs.
r. l. Coding and F. NJ. oliver. while
near him sat his wife mother and brother.
The wife held in her lap an infant two
years old. while a second child. a tribe
more advanced in years, played about
its mother and Uncle.
Solicitor General Osborne, smiling, ready.
alert and confident, looked after
the interests of the state. In his
opening remarks 10 the jury the
solicitor general said, after reading she in
dictment and those sections of the code
applicable to the case, that he eX
pected to show that Stewart had been
Killed without reason, justification or prov
ocation. The defendant, under the infiu-
ence of liquor, and in consequence ugly,
qusrrelsome and meddlesome had delib-
erately and wantonly provoked difficult
ty with the man he afterwards killed, and
had then shot him down in cold blood
The case was one which well fitted the
definition of the code as to implied malice,
In that no considerable provocation APP
peared, and all the circumstances of the
killing showed an abandoned and malig-
nant heart" II was a case in which the
evidence demons ira ted the slayer TO be a
man at war with mankind.
The first witness introduced on behalf
of the state was Coroner John A. Goettc
called to the bedside of the victim,
Stewart, while he was still alive and 20
seeing him afterwards dead. The
coroner said that death had resulted from
a wound from revolver bullet. that pen
etrated the body about six inches to the
left Of the navel.
From this point the solicitor general be-
gan the Introduction of evidence that
built up waA Of guilt about the defend
ant. Mamie Bapper testified that she saw
Read Stewart the brother of the latter.
Philip Variia, the Greek proprietor of the
store before which the shooting occurred
and William Washington, standing close
TO each other. Read was on the sidewalk
and the Others on the space intended for
a grass plat that runs down the length
OF the street. She turned into her house
and while she was inside, heard the report
OF revolver. When she heard the shot
she had not been inside and out of sight
of the participants in the difficulty more
than few seconds. When she rushed out
of the house she saw Varilla, the Greek
and Read struggling together for the pos
session of a revolver.
adelaide Nelson was the next witness
She testified that she passed in front of
Narilla's store few moments before the
homicide was committed. At the time
Read was standing on the sidewalk and
Varitla and several negroe men on the
stretch of sand in front of the store She
heard Read say that he didn't have to
get drunk to come around any - mig
gers" and saw him, almost Immediately af-
ter this remark. draw a revolver from his
pocket To use her own language, "she
went around the corner" and as she did
so she heard the shot fired.
Harry Fraley heard the shot fired from,
a position across the street, in the gate
way of the Plant System depot He looked
up to see Read struggling with Varila
and Stewart making his way across The
street. b. c. Payne gave practically the
same evidence as the witness who had
preceded him on the stand.
Robert Richards was the first witness
OF prime importance for the state He
was he said, a fireman for the Central
Railway, and was standing in front of
the store Of Philip Varilla, on East Broad
street, with William Stewart Walter
Stewart and Tom Willis when the shoot
ing occurred. AS Read came up from the
direction of Liberty street, the witness
had his hand on Walter Stewards Shout
DER. Read stopped in front of the store
and placed one hand on an iron post
that supported the awning. Standing thus
he looked at the men gathered below him
and said:
which one of You
- insuled me as I came by here?"
according to the witness there was no
answer 10 this question from anyone but
the Greek, who said that no one there
had insulted Read and that if anyone
had, he had gone. Then said Read: u be-
Heve 1t was one of you - yellow
- "." The only mulattoes in the
crowd were William Stewart and his
brother, and the former told Read that
he did not have TO get drunk to come
around and apply the epithet he had
used. The witness said that Read heaped
insult after insult upon Stewart to which
the latter had made but mild replies, and
that finally Read told Stewart TO get
6OvyF or his Epaae 70,