The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-27
TrenChent Blows Dealt by
Counsel.
Continued from First Page.)
Thursday Afternoons Session.

Mr. F. A. Woodland opened the argument
for the defense. He said in part:
F. A. wooDARD's ARGUMENT.
1T was the wise ruling of His Honor
when he said the proper place for a trial
was IN the court house and not on the
streets or by the newspapers. A method
OF procedure has been prescribed by law.
Gentlemen, there deyolves On you the re-
sponsibihty of passing upon the evidence
In this case. His Honor is Judge of the
law, while you are judge of the facts.
Each OF you then have a duty TO perform
You are here instructed by the law to
pass upon the facts in this case
Il would charge you that the nero
TACT that these men have been indicted
does not argue that they are guilty: you
arc to consider them innocent until they
are proven guilty. / have no sympathy
with the crime which was committed. and
argue that the guilty should be punished
But when this crime came to my knowl-
edge there also came TO my mind the fact
that a man was living here in sight of
church steeple In adultery with a negro
woman. When he was led from his room
by the officer there were good men IN
Wilson who said that this man ought to
be driven out of town. And had he gotten
what his acts deserved he would have
been driven out and this horrible killing
would have been averted.
''On what evidence are you asked to
convict these men of murder in the sec
ond degree? Sift it and l have no fear of
your verdict. This evidence is circum-
stantial. No. l had forgotten the evil
dence of Bill Barnes and it deserved to be
forgotten. You would not convict the
commonest dog on such testimony. The
FL osecution realizes the worthlessness of
Barnes testimony. and / will venture the
assertion that as the years pass by the
gentlemen who are prosecuting these men
will see that their zeal in the prosecution
has led them into methods which they
will regret. The law says you can be
lieve an accomplice when he comes of his
own free will, but it also says that it is
dangerous to convict on the unsupported
testimony of an accomphce, so Barnes
wanting to get out of the affair made
confession. He was acting on advice from
his counsel through his brother, JEFF
Barnes. He did not make this statement
for lack of money to hire counsel, be-
cause he had counsel who had appeared
he did this because it was one of the ten
thousand lies which Bill Barnes admitted
that he had told about this case. Gen
tlemen of the jury, would you doom
an old man like Gill Ward to spend the
remainder of his natural life in the peni-
tertiary on such evidence? When you
come to consider that Barnes made this
statement on a promise of immunity you
/ Will
one such testimony. Would you rely
on this statement when you know that
Barnes mad given Mr.. Sid Woodland an
affidavit, swore to it, in which he said
he knew nothing about it? Would you
send men to the penitentiary on such evil
dence as this? do not believe you will
Eliminate Bill Barnes testimony and
you must do it, and you have nothing to
rely on except crcumstantial evidence.
You cannot convict a man because the
hand of suspicion points to him. These
circumstances must convince you beyond
reasonable doubt; and claim that in
the case of some OF these men the evil
dence does not even cause suspicion
that they are guilty. There is no testi-
mony which shows motive why any of
these defendants should ave wanted to
| kill Jones or do him an injury nor is
| there any testimony which shows that
any of the defendants were in Jones room
except Allen, and unless the testimony
satisfies you beyond all reasonable doubt
that these men are guilty. then it is your
duty to acquit
who are these men? Gill Ward, not q
l perfect man, one who at times has yielded
to his desire for strong drink But he
i brought here from his old home good men
who testified to his good character. He
comes out of an honora BILE service for his
country with q good character. He was
tried and acquitted on a charge of muir
der by those who knew him. If Gill