The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-20
PROCTOR GOES FREE
JURY FOUND HIM NOT GUILTY OF
MURDER OF LYMUs LAWRENCE.
HALF AN HOUR TO DECIDE.
LITTLE TIME WASTED IN REACH
ING A VERDICT.


Shot and Killed Lawrence Last
AuGust-Witnesses Vary Essen
tally as to the Incidents of the
Killing. Those for the state De-
cIaring II Was CoId-BloOde6
Murder. While the Defendant and
witnesses in His Behalf Say II
Was an Acknowledgement
support Latter Contention.
Philip Proctor was tried in the Su-
perior Court yesterday for murder.
Charged with the wilful and malicious
homicide of Lymus Lawrence. the jury
by which Proctor was tried found him
not guilty, and he was given his lib
erty.
But little time was consumed In the
selection of a jury. After some spar
ring the following members of the
panel were chosen: Jasper N. McGil-
lis, Henry B. Harden, Andrew S. Grif-
FIN, William H. w. Schey, John G.
Butler George A. McGoiley, Frank
Beville, John H. Audessey, Edward ].
Gleason, Charles H. Leopold, R. r.
oakman, and George w. Dwelle, Jr.
Lawrence was killed on the evening
of Aug. 80 last, while he and Proctor
r. S. Freeman, one of the witnesses
for the state, and John Linman were
returning from work. All the men
were in the employ of the S. p. Shot
ter Company, and had left the works,
west of the city, and reached the cor
ner of Huntington and West Broad
streets when the homicide was COM
mitted.
1t developed at the hearing yester-
day that there had been a previous
quarrel between Proctor and Wash
1ngton, and that the latter, very much
the physical superior of his slighter
antagonist, had given Proctor a sound
thrashing, and, when he was on the
ground, kicked him in the head This
was admitted by both sides, or at any
rate there was no essential conflict of
evidence as to this point. 1t was as
to what occurred at the time and
just before the homicide was COM
nliteed that the conflict began.
DR.. Elton G. Osborne, police sur
geon, who had made an exanin9~sass
of Lawrence'S body after death tes-
titled as to the nature of the wound
and the course of the bullet He said
that the bullet had entered the right
side of the abdomen and ranged up
ward. The. ascending course of the
bullet was a powerful circumstance
in support of the theory of the homi-
eide offered by the defendant and was
forcibly brought to the attention of
the jury by his counsel.
John jenkins was the first eye-wit-
ness of the homicide introduced on be-
half of the state. He knew nothing of
the previous difficulty between the two
men, but he had seen the last quarrel
and its fatal termination.
He said he had been attracted TO
the scene by the triangular alteration
that seemed to be in progress, in which
Lawrence, Proctor and Freeman were
all taking part He heard Freeman
say. You have been making these
threats all the evening; now / am GO
ing to see what you've got on YOU"
and advanced towards Proctor. placing
his hand on his arm. Then it was that
Proctor jerked himself away, drew a
revolver from his pocket and fired.
To the witness 1t seemed that Proc
tor fired at Freeman but he soon saw
that Lawrence was the man who had
been hit Before his eyes the mortal
~ wounded man staggered a step or
two backwards and fell dead
To emphasize the entire disinterest-
edness of his position and evidence in
the matter Jenkins volunteered the
statement that he was eating a sand
witch when he first saw the trouble
brewing and had continued to MUNICH
the delicacy after Lawrence had been
shot and killed. In further explana-
ton he said ne had seen so many men
killed that the experience had ceased
TO possess for him anything more than
a very mild and transient interest
The explanation caused much
when it was made and
was the subject of sarcastic comment
from Judge Twiggs in his argument
to the jury.
E. S. Freeman, the next witness,
told, with some additions, substantial
ly the same story. He recounted the
incidents of the first quarrel between
Lawrence and Proctor, and said that
after this occurrence the latter had
insisted on following Lawrence and
the party with him about, as if seek
ing to renew the difficulty. They had
been asked to leave a saloon in which
they stopped to buy a drink because
of the loud talking and voluble threats
of the defendant.
Freeman said that these threats had
been repeated after the party left the
saloon and that he, in the effort to
stop the trouble that seemed to be
imminent, said to Proctor that he was
going to see what he had with which
TO make the threats good and caught
him by the arm. AS he did so Proctor
drew away and fired The bullet
struck and killed Lawrence.
There were some other witnesses.
Willie Williams, a negro jail bird in
troduced by the Defense told story
of the homicide so wildly improbable
that even counsel for the defendant
discarded ii as unworthy of belief. He
described the struggle in which Free
man and Proctor engaged in a manner
which showed on it's face that ii was
a product, either wholly or in large
part of a fertile but somewhat un-
trained imagination.
To rebut this evidence, the state in
tfoduced Joe Demere, who enjoys a
reputation quite as unsavory as that
OF Williams, who swore that while he
was last an inmate of the Jail he had
overheard Proctor offer williams $40
TO make the statement he had made
on the stand.
II was the statement of the defend
ant. supported by some evidence and
very strongly by the physical facts of
the case, that weighed with the Jury.
Proctor said he had been twice at
tackled and ill-treated by Lawrence
on the evening of the homicide, and
mat at the last Freeman had also
taken part against him. Freeman
struck him in the face and reached
behind his back to his hip pocket
with the avowed intention Of disarm-
ing him. He had endeavored TO retain
possession Of his pistol, and in the
Struggle that enSued IL had bqpr1 1vaxr,,,