The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-21
IN The JURY'S HANDS
BATE OF w. J. POTTER AND HIS
SON RESTS.
MISTRIAL is LOOKED FOR.
no AGREEMENT UP TO O'CLOCK
THIS MORNING.


Judge BarrOw's Charge Clear md
Concise-The Arguments of Coun-
sci Occupied Thirteen and One
Half HoUrs-Judge TvigGs and So
HECTOR General Osborne Took Up
the Entire Day-The Court Room
Packed From Bench to Gallery.
Judge, Attorneys, Jury and Court
Omcials Fatigucd From the Long
Strain and Prisoners Nearly over
come.
After one of the most sensational
trials in the criminal history of Chat
ham county, the fate of w. ]. and
6wayne Potter, father and son, charg-
ed with the murder of Gugie Bourquin
and his faithful old negro servant, Fred
Taylor, rests in the hands of jury
of their peers.
The argument Of counsel was con-
Guided at $50 o'clock last night. after
which Judge Barrow delivered his
charge, and at 1920 o'clock the jury
retired TO its room. Throughout the
day the court room was packed with
q curious and interested crowd. On
the faces of the spectators was writ
ten the interest which the most re-
markable case elected. The argument
of counsel occupied the attention of the
court the entire day, and when late at
night the crowd dispersed, prophesies
as to the result OF the trial, were on
the lips of the hundreds who, through
out the entire week, have availed them
selves of every chance to listen to the
proceedings.
The most prevalent impression is that
It will be a mistrial. The state ad-
vanced two theories for the purpose of
proving the guilt of the accused, and 1t
is thought that, of the testimony ad-
duced and the consequent number OF
witnesses whose credibility must be
weighed, it is improbable that all twelve
men will arrive at a common conclu-
sion.
The Jury Fatigued.
There was a faded and weary look
on the faces of jurors. prisoners and
counsel, alike. when the trial reached
fits conclusion. and the tedious task
which devolves upon the conscientious
Juror is hardly susceptible of apprecia-
ton. Excluded from the customary en-
vironments of home and business, kept
apart from the outside world. without
access to diversion, at the end of
firing trial where only the intense in
Jerest elected by the evidence relieved
the strain attendant upon a consider
alton of the case, the twelve tired
Jurors entered upon the performance
of their duty.
The concluding arguments by senior
counsel were made yesterday. Judge
H. D. D. Twiggs for the defense. and
Solicitor General Osborne for the state
Judge Twiggs' argument was an elo-
quent one, a mixture of the grave and
the gay. At one minute he threw his
hearers into commissions of laughter
and the newt dimmed the eye with pity
and compassion. He directed his satiri-
cal invectives particularly against Dep
uty Sheriff Charles Westcott, the prin-
cipal witness for the state.
and the solicitor general, whose
theories, he. said. If reduced to fluid
state would not have enough strength
to run down hill.
Solicitor General Osborne's effort was
Enthusiastically convincing. He de-
voted much of his time to q discussion
of the diagram of the scene of the
crime, which had come in for share of
satire from Judge Twiggs. At the out
set of his argument he outlined the
proposition which he proposed to prove
relative to the circumstantia1 evidence,
and concluded with an argument as to
the credibility of the testimony of the
states eye witness, Candace Kelly.
The Judges Charge.
Judge Barrow's charge was clear and
forceful. He enunciated the laws APP
plicable to the case in a clear and con-
else manner. charging especially the
doctrine of circumstantial evidence, the
law relative to alibis. the definition of
a reasonable doubt, and the provision
for a recommendation to mercy
The prisoners sat in their customary
places. Directly behind them sat the
members of the family and relatives of
the accused. While the arguments
were being heard they frequently dis
solved in tears. as with all the elo-
quence at their command the attorneys
now touched a sympathetic chord. now
heaped accusations upon their heads.
Judge Twiggs' Argument.
Judge Twiggs, in the outset an
nounced that he would prove that the
case was one purely of circumstantial
evidence, and said that the web Of
unfortunate clients would never have
been imagined had it not been for the
known animosity existing between the
accused and the murdered man. He
admitted animus. Even after the COM
mission of the crime, Potter with per-
feet bluffness, potent evidence of in
nocence said that he would give $40
toward the defense of the murderer
The threats, taken in connection with
the proximity of the Potters to the
crime on that day. he said, formed the
sum and substance of all the testimony
which had been adduced.
They got up a hunt" continued
Judge Twiggs; they had the woods
ringing with the music of hounds, when
old Candace Kelly had scarcely fin
ished her early morning meal-and, yet,
mark you, by her own testimony, this
star eye witness placed the Potters
back in Savannah With Gugie Bour-
quin was yet alive. And is it not a
remarkable fact that with all the
noise and din-the woods echoing and
resoundlng with the baying of hounds,
that old Candace and her superanu-
ated husband, We're the only living
mortals who in the still woods on that
peaceful Sabbath morning. heard the
noise Of the hunt?"
Dropped Into Verse.
"Ah. gentlemen. II was necessary
40 have the chase and they had one.
THE stag at eve had drunk it's MI.
Where danced the moon on LovelPs
hill.
Ana deep his midnight lair had made
~ mat lone forests deepest shade;
lSut when the sun his bacon red
haq MndJed on poor Caudace head