The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-03
RALPH ARMSTRONG IS
 ON TRIAL FOR MURDER

Mrs. H. Clay Armstrong, the mother | of Ralph Armstrong, heavily yelled, sat
 at the side of her son throughout the | trial.
 The prominence of the persons in the unfortunate tragedy has made the trial | one of the most notable in the history l of Macon county. The prisoner is son \ of General H. Clay Armstrong. twice | speaker of the Alabama House of Rep | resentatives, consul to Brazil. Grand Master and Grand Secretary of the Ala bama Lodge of Masons, and one Of the best known men of the State. The vic | tim of the tragedy was a niece Of Gen. eral Armstrong and a first cousin of | Ralph Armstrong.
 The case for the State was closed this afternoon at o'clock. The court room. crowded to the doors, | was rapped to order at 10:40 o'clock by Judge N. D. Denson. In doing 90 he said. q would regret to resort to harsh meas
 ures to preserve order, but quiet must be maintained" .s ......s A rectangular space to the right of | the judges stand and within the railing | was roped off, to give space and freedom of movement to the attorneys, jury and | witnesses. Outside of this reserved space every available inch of standing and sitting room was occupied.
 Ralph Armstrong. the young prisoner. | 4s | nor ,as the court was called to order. He
 bore in his face the signs of his six
 weeks confinement. The saunt face was ! scanned and lined with the traces of | mental sufferings. and the big dark eyes shone out with an almost unnatural bril-
 liance. from under black eyebrows. The
 pale face told, too. of the wiIdness of
 youthful years before the awful night fin October.
 He took seat at the desk surrounded
 by his five attorneys. He. watched every development within the court room with eager, tense interest.
 The long list of witnesses was called and only a few absentees were noted. Oscar Lewis, attorney for the defense moved to Quash the special venire. In support of this motion he contended that thirty days notice had not been given as required by law and, that the defend ant had not been given a proper list of the jurors and that the list was not the proper one for this week of the court.
 The contention of the defense was
 briefly answered by W. C. Fitts, for the
 State. T presume" said MT. Fitts, "that
 the attorneys have no faith in the mo-
 ton. the court having previously ruled
 upon it."
 ''The motion is overruled," said Judge
 Denson.
 The jury was quickly selected, the
 work occupying less than two hours.
 The special and regular panel of seven- ty-four napes was exhausted with the
 selection of the tenth juror. In the se-
 lection Of the other two jurors twenty extra men were summoned. Each juror was asked Have you any fixed opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner which would bias your verdict! There were many answers in ] the affirmative, indicating the previous
 deep interest In the tragedy. An additional question asked the jurors
 was. Did you contribute anything to-
 wards the payment of the fees of the at- l torney for the prosecution?' No venire- man had made any such contribution. The jury selected is as follows: c. F. Smith, A. c. Shearer. W. R. Small, A. l A. Bullock. T. s. Carr. c. Y. Lamar, W. S. Carr. B. c. Godfrey, R. H. Tucker, ! L. A. Welsh s. H. May, A. w. Humph- l reys.
 As soon as the jury had been selected an adjournment of two hours for dinner was taken.
 At the beginning of the afternoon ses-
 sion the indictment was formally read l by Solicitor s. L.. Brewer. To the charge of murder. Attorney Lew | is. for Armstrong, answered, Mot l guilty"
 | The State opened with pr. W. g. Ward, | practicing physician. He was examined | by Solicitor s. L. Brewer. He had been | a practicing physician for fourteen years. He knew Ralph Armstrong and had been | called in to attend Miss Allie Armstrong. Her death had been caused by pistol shot wound. The witness had examined | Miss Armstrong thirty minutes after she
 had been wounded. The ball entered be- tween the sixth and seventh rib on the right side, passing backward and down. ward and coming out at the back. The | bullet passed entirely through the body. It passed through the lower kidney or right capsule of the kidney. The witness testified that there was second wound, which was in the back. The bullet pass ed through the right shoulder blade and
 back and lodged in the left shoulder blade.
 The witness testified that he reached the house at ten minutes after o'clock on the night of the shooting. The shoot ing occurred at Notasulga, in Macon County. October 24, 1908. at the home of Mrs Ellen Delbridge. Death was caused
 by the shot which passed through the
 body. The shooting occurred on Friday
 night and Miss Armstrong died the next Monday morning week.
 Miss Nellie Armstrong, cousin of Miss Allie Armstrong, and cousin of Ralph
 Armstrong, was the next witness called.
 She testified that she knew the two par ties to the tragedy and that she knew Mrs. E. c. Delbrdge, who is her aunt.
 She heard one pistol shot on the night
 Allie Armstrong was shot. It was about o'clock at night. She saw Allie lying on the floor of her aunt's room. She said I'm dying! I'm dying!' The blood stained clothing of the young woman was handed the witness. She tes-
 lified that they were the clothing of ner | cousin. Allie Armstrong. She held the
 clothing in her lap during the remainder | of her testimony.
 Allie ran down the hall into her aunts
 room where she fell on the floor, she tes-
 tifed.
 What else did she say. after saying
 I'm dying. I'm dyingT asked Solicitor l Brewer.
 We object" said MT. Barnes. for the
 defense. The question was suspended. On the predicate sought to be laid by | the prosecution, Mr. Barnes for the de-
 fense, questioned the witness. She teSti-
 fled that Allie had gotten up off the floor and had undressed herself 10 get in bed. | Mrs. Delbridge was in the room while Allie was talking. The witness was afraid to stay in Allies room after the
 shooting Allie had put away her cIosn- | ing.
 The Solicitor renewed his question as to what Allie had said while lying on l the floor.
 The defense challenged the admissibility of this evidence as a dying declaration. For the prosecution the point of admissl- hNy a1A flr-