The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-19
CRAWFORD CASE
A Touching Scene Between Mrs Craw
ford, Her Husband and Her Son.


The feature of attraction at the court
house has been the trial of DR.. G.. B.
Crawford and his son, DR.. c. c. Craw-
ford, of Loves Lake, Red River parish,
indicted for the murder of J. H. Vick-
ers in the Manhattan saloon at about :
o'clock on the morning of October ?.
1902. On NOVEMBER !. 1902, the accused
had preliminary before Judge A. D.
Land when DR.. c. O. Crawford was dis
charged and Dr. O. B. Crawford was re-
leased few days afterwards on a bond
oS $4,000. At che sitting OF the grand
jury on January E. 1908, the father and
the son were indicted for murder She
accused surrendered to Sheriff Ward on
January 20, and were jailed The case
was called for trial Wednesday and con-
tinued to Thursday o~ing % absent wit
nesses foe the defendants, and after
some legal delays the following named
citizens were empanelled and sworn to
try the case: w. b. GARNER. B. d.
Roach, q w. Iummus, E. &. Hearne,
B. H. Norton, Jack Mccain. John E.
Murray. O. p. Ogilvie. W. P Nicholson,
Charles Wimbish. e., 70 Harrison and
c. w. Cory. District Attorney Land rep
resented the State, assisted by g H.
Shepherd and NJ. c. Elstner. and the de-
PENDANTS by y NJ. Foster of Thigpen &
Foster, Fl. P. Wells of Wells & Wells,
and Naples & Mcdonald. 1t is in order
to state as matter of fact that Mr. Elst-
ner was not the leading counsel for the
prosecution assisted by District Attorney
Land and J. Henry Shepherd as has
been reported in the Times and the Jour
nal. Such a statement is ridiculous and
would leave the impression of personal
or individual prosecution with the States
attorney assisting. The district attorney
is always the leading counsel for the
prosecution.
One of the incidents of the trial was
the arrest of Tom Hardy, charged with
to influence jurors in favor
of the accused
On Friday there was an affecting scene
between the accused and his family In
the court house were seated Mrs G. B..
Crawford and her FIVE daughters aged
from five to fifteen years. and when the
court was adjourned for dinner these
walked to where the elder Crawford and
his son were seated. Dir. Crawford and
his wife embraced and the children could
not repress their pent-up grief. The spec
tators were moved to tears while the
accused, almost speechless from emotion.
to encourage them and as
sure them that all would be we'll in the
end
The testimony was in substance as al
ready detailed in newspaper reports Had
DIR. Crawford left his pistol at home he
would not have killed young man who
had done him no injury and would not
have been on trial for murder. and yet
this example of the concealed weapon
will have little if any effect on some men
who do not consider it safe to go about
in civilized community unless they
GO armed. and being armed with a con-
cealed weapon are ready to kill and muir
der ON the first opportunity.
The State presentation was clear an&
forceful.
On behalf of the defendants it was in
evidence that Nickers held an opened
knife in his hand as he came from be-
hind the bar to meet DR.. c. c. Crawford
who had abused him outrageously, but
this witness was challenged by other wit
nesses. One strong feature of the de-
PENDANTS was their effort to show that
Vickers after being "cussed out by DR..
G.. C. Crawford had tried to get into
drawer where it was customary to leave
a pistol, but the prosecution demonstrat-
ed that when Viekers was shot he was
unarmed nor was there knife or pistol
found at his side or anywhere about the
body when it was first viewed and taken
away to Warnings to be prepared for
burial The defendants managed their
case skilfully. @.---
In his charge Judge Land announced
hat in defense of his son or his family
Dr.. Crawford could shoot the aggressir.
This was the question over which the
try wrestled.
After hearing the exhaustive charge on
he points of law and the verdict which
/ could render, guilty, guilty without
,apital punishment, or not guilty, the
ury retired to consult over their verdict
which was. C. c. Crawford not guilty.
The jury then retired to consider their