The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-15
CRAWFORD CASE
4 Touching Scene Between Mrs. Craw-
ford Her Husband and Her Son.

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. Wick
erS in the Manhattan saloon at about 5
o'clock on the morning of October 7.
1902, On November l. 1902, the accused
had a preliminary before Judge \. D.
Land when DR.. c. c. Crawford was dis
charged and DR.. G. B. Crawford was re-
leased few days afterwards on a bond
of $4,000. At the sitting of the grand
jury on January 6, 1908, the father and
the son were indicted for murder. The
accused surrendered to Sheriff Ward on
January 20, and were jailed The case
was called for trial Wednesday and con-
tinued to Thursday owing to absent wit
nesses for the defendants, and after
some legal delays the following named
citizens were empanelled and sworn to
try the case: w. \. Farmer, B. H.
Roach. c. w. Lunnnus, E. c. Hear11e,
B. H Norton, Jack Mccain, John E.
Murray. 0. P. Ogilvie, W. P. Nicholson,
Charles Win1bish, L. P Harrison and
c. w. Cory. District Attorney Land rep
resented the State, assisted by J. H.
Shepherd and NJ c. Elstner, and the de-
PENDANTS by J. NJ. Foster of Thigpen &
Foster. Fl. ?. Wells of Wells & Wells,
and Naples & Mcdonald. 1t is in order
to state as matter of fact that Mr.. Elst
ncr 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
attempting 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. DR.. 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,
endeavored to encourage them and as
sure them that all would be we'll in the
end s..- ~
The testimony was in substance as al
ready detailed in newspaper reports. Had
DR. Crawford left his pistol at home he
would rot have killed a 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 # any effect on some men
who do moi. consider it safe to go about
sin a civilized community unless they
go armed, and being armed with aeon
cealed weapon are ready to kill and mur-
der on the first opportunity.
The State presentation was clear and
forcefu,
On behalf u the defendants it was in
evidence that Vickers held an opened
knife in his hand as he came from be-
hind the bar to meet DIR. c. c. Crawford
WHO had abused him outrageously, but
this witness was challenged by other wit
nesses. One strong feature of the de-
fendants was their effort to show that
Vickers after being ''cussed out by DR..
&C. c. Crawford, had tried to. get into a
drawer where it was customary to leave
a pistol, but the prosecution demonstrat-
ed that when Nickers was shot he was
unarmed nor was there a 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
that in defense OF his son Or his family
DIR. Crawford could shoot the aggressir.
This was the question over which the
jttry Wrestled.
After hearing the exhaustive charge on
the points of law and the verdict which
it could render, guilty, guilty without
capital punishment, or not guilty, the
jury retired to consult over their verdict
which was G. G. Crawford not guilty.
The Jury then retired to consider their
conclusion as. to DIR. G. B. Crawford.
RIVER AND WEATHER.
River: Arthur City I2o feey. a rise OF