The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-21

brosia and sylabub or flights of fancy but he got right down to the corn bread and pot Iiouor of this case. And after all that is what you want.
 "They ask you to put stripes on Will liam wise for no other reason than that he went down there to that hotel to pre- serve and protect the chastity and virtue of his own sister The idea of passing conspiraey on such evidence Is preposter- ousl It Is the greatest exhibition of nerve that has been made during this trial.
 Didn't Bring Lathem's Pistol.
 "Why haven't they brought that pistol of I.athem's here? You don't know whether that pistol failed to work or not You know that the cartridge did not ex- plode but you don't know whether the hammer of the pistol ever snapped or not Of course the state believes that this defendant Is guilty. Brother Hetlin has been in the business so long that he can't believe anything else than that man Is guilty.
 You couldn't make them believe that there Is any virtue in William Wise after fifty leading citizens of this city came and testified to his good character. And Brother Weakley says such testimony as that reminds him of wasp nest light bread What you want Is meat. They have given you a little thin slice Of black meat, cooked up to suit them and l don blame you for holding your noses. Two negro witnesses! And then to wave away all that character testimony. Why, you wouldn't use that meat they have thrown at you as bait for a cat fish
 ''VVhy didn't they show some good char acter for Elias Lathem? We gave them chance. We brought out that he was car rying a pistol for his own father-in-law.
 Why Didn't He Go Home7
 "Why didn't he go home that night when he came to town? Why didn't some pure guardian angel direct him to his home where he could turn down the covers and press a kiss on the brows of those pure, innocent babes? Why didn't some guardian angel prevent him from going to Reeces drug store the next morning and attempting to make an improper engagement with another mans wife? An, gentlemen of the jury that man killed himself. He Is the man that is to blame.
 ''There Is one thing that you must ad- mire in this case and that Is that Will Wise has tried to conceal nothing. He admits that he 1ooped the loop;' he ad- mits that he went back into the fight and caught Lathem from behind because 1t was his fight. At 1923 o'clock court adjourned until
  argument He discussed the bruises on Lathem's head and explained that there were none on top where 1t Is claimed that Wise struck him with the billy. He at- tackled the testimony of Tom Cox and briefly outlined that of the other states witnesses.
 Captain White Begins.
 Capt r. S. White for the defendant be- gan speaking at 2:30 o'clock.
 "Gentlemen of the jury" he said. "I had hoped that you would not have to listen to these arguments. An innocent man is always willing to rest his case on the testimony of the witnesses. Will liam Wise was willing to have you judge of that testimony without having the counsel for the two sides argue the mat ter before you.
 William Wise Is charged with the un- lawful. premeditated and malicious killing of Elias Lathem."
 He then proceeded to define those terms and to explain how the defendant was not guilty of any one of those feelings. He argued that the fundamental object of law was the defense of citizens, and to provide that the country could deprive no citizen of his life. liberty or property without due process of law.
 Many Witnesses Not Called.
 Capt White read from the indictment the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury to show that very few of them had been called to testify in this trial by the state.
 Did you ever hear of better char acter than those fifty witnesses who testified here gave William Wiser" he asked. Character Is the essence of life. It Is the consummation of all life's best H.. which protects him from the arrows and darts of every malice and hatred.
 "Do not think you are here to convict, gentlemen of the jury. You are not blood hounds on the track of this man. You are simply to do justice. For the law it. self says it Is better that ninety and nine guilty men should go unwhipped by jus tice than that one innocent man should be punished
 Capt. White devoted some time to the testimony of Vassar and Wilksey. He said the action of those two negroes in walking up and standing there in range of those bullets was one of the greatest exhibitions of courage In the history of the country.
 Negroes Not So Brave.
 why if negroes had such bravery as that we made a great mistake in not hay Ing them Tn the Confederate army" he said "A regiment of negroes as ugly, as black and as brave as Jim Vassar would have startled the world. Now Isn't that like a ngger?
 "Jim Vassar reminds me of the monkey l once heard about. An old nanny walked up to the cage and said: Look here chile, yo' quit cutt1n. such capers: yo' looks enough like varmint now: yo' ought to be home with yo' mammy think that must have been Vassar in that cage when he was young. You are not going to believe those two negroes against all those white men. You know the negro too well for that"
 The speaker pitted the evidence of Bert Clifford against that of the negroes re- garding the billy in Wise's hand. He said that Clifford was closer to Wise than any other man, that he was on his right side and yet Clifford testified that he did not see a billy in Wises hand. Capt. White also showed that J. H. Lynch, who was looking directly at the fight. did not see the billy and that Cross likewise failed to see 1t. Askew and the defendant testi- fled the same thing said Capt White, making five white men against two ne- groes.
 At o'clock court adjourned until 9so this morning, when Capt. White will con- tinue his argument.
 
 Weak, Haggard, Wornout Women q f.,