The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-10-16
IlLI1M Al S SIiiEsz Lii -,
1u the Great Trial Now ID Ding son ,ilS
PRESENTED TO- eHESJURYsS. B.
The The Lawy ers in sa Tilt,S but ;St the
Jnd re Puts a stop to The q q
Il Row In the 81 COURT
Room.

the jury the Tillman case was adj
journed from Saturday until Wednes.g
day when twas resumed Sharpe
tie sick jury man, looked very much;
pinched when lie took his seat In the;
box dnesday morning. All eyes
were turned on his haggard features
ana every man oman and child I'm
tnes court room vas men ntally y measnr.j
Ing his condition and speculatin on,
what; bis strength might or might5not
oe. When 1t was announced that he
thought himself we'll enough to stand
the; strain Of the hearing for q few
hours anyhow, there was q great sigh
OF relief throughout the entire court
room for the suspense In this matter
mas been very botherSolne, as we'll as
expensive to all concerned.
THE OAsE RESUMED.
The defense; began with. I motion
to rule out the testimony OF Vedder
Zimmerman, Frances Weston Smith.
George King and Dr. $Lankett. These
people all testified to seeing q pistol.
IN IN the possession OF the defendant
several days prior to the shooting.
Judge Gary declined to rule out
this testimony. ,5sl Pa s i li'
The next move was to Introduce an
editorial, June 20, 1901. tt was en-
titled "a Plea for a Sporting States
man. The editorial #as concerning
visit of Tillman to a cock fight: held
In Sumter county, prior to date tof..
editorial. 1t was charged that he
lost 81, 600 on the fight, which is al.
legged was due in a large measure to
his habit that enables him very fire.
quently to see double and therefore
he saw more sand inrthe craw Of his.
chicken than it really possessed 7
a second editorial from the State OF
Oct. 20, 1898, under the head 4 Presto
-Change," came next. 1t dealt sin
part with Tillman's record as com;
mander Of the First South Carolina. ~
Itwas charged In this editorial that
Fillman when lieutenant colonel OF
the regiment took the part Of the
privates and advocated the disband-:
ment OF the regiment, and as soon as
he succeeded to the colonelency he Z
sides with the officers, and went to un-
do what he had formerly done. It i
charged practically that he$ deserted i
his men when he was made the head :
of.the regiment. Sy aiS',, 49, : n
Next number Of editorial
paragraphs retiect ting s. on Tillman4
were read from the. State. Some I
OF these l parag phs referred to-
articles reprinted from the New
York World and NewEY ork Sun. Ny tt i
was asked to introduce these clip:
.pings In evidence because they appear:
ed IN the State and the references ia &
the editorial paragraphs were to them.
The state objected to this aud alter;
argument the court allowed the clip
pings and editorials to be adtnltted.
The algument, while short, Was In
teresting. Mr.. Nelson argued that
the defense had a rign. 70 snow That
deceased boret ill-wili tt,ward the en-.
tire eTillman family, and that 1t was
right and Just 10 pu'l in 9Lh..,evldence.
"A WAR OF WORDS. M I.
Mr. B5sllinger objected Because OF tne
political coloring tllaL was being given
the case. - sSgs :; ;s,.gl; 81
MIR. Nelson rose quietly in bis place Z
were In slow, measured voice, replied
that any statement from any source
whatever, charging uim with endeay-.
orlng 10 make 5he case q political one
was false. 8;.
Mr.. Bellingcr arose again and said K
that while he did not mean any res
Election in the sense that Mr.. Nelson
seemed to take 1t. he did think that
it was the intention to give q slight
political colOring to the case. He said
he was willing to reiterate his state-
ment on the outside of the court
house.
Mr.. Nelson was in no way excited.
He rose to reply as calmly as before.
He said that the explal Jon sof. Mr..
Bellinger was as unsatisfa pry as his
original statement. He { Me saw
40 reason to change his origln.sAstats-
ment. ~ "a -
Matters began to look a little
squally at this juncture and Judge
Gary took hand. He said that the
matter must'be dropped, and recognize s
ed Mr.. Crawford. The gentleman
eluquently addressed himself to the
question that editorials or articles re-
flecting on Senator Tillman could not
be used In the case Of the state vs..
James Fl. Tillman. He urged that
only snch writings as ref, ,cted direct.
ly on the defendant were competent
evidence.
Col Johnston replied for the de-
fense aDd was eloquent and Interest,"
ing indeed. Before he finished the
court announced that it had made up
it's mind. He instructed the editorials
to be read, and told the jury to give
them such weight as they, the jury
men, thought they deserved. #
One of the editorials, as well as the
clipping denounced the two Tillmans,
Ben and Jim, in the most drastic
terms. 1t referred to; the Tillman.
McLaurin scrap in the senate and
the incident OF Jim Tillman's withes
drawal of the Invitation to Roosevelt
TO present the jenkins sword at Z
Charleston. These writings called q
spade spade all the way through and
were the most scathing in thought,
word and expression.
Other editorials were read In which
1t was charged that Jim Tillman's
vote was not of very high character.
1t was charged that his supporters
were mainly blind tiger keepers gam
blers, sandhiQers and mill operatives, !
It was considered good work for the
defense to get these editorials In evil -a
dence. There are four mill opera
tives on the jury and several sand