The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-15
YOUNG POTTER FREE
WILL BE RELEASED WHEN 81 900
BAIL Is SECURED.
ANOTHER TRIAL REFUSED.
COURT ovERRULED MOTION IN W.
j. POTTER's CASE.

Evidence merely
Not Think He Had Erred in His
Rulings or in His Charge-COunsel
For Potter Argued Nearly All Day.
Application For Rail For Swayne
Potter Was Quickly Granted-OnIy
a Question of Figures.
Judge Barrow, after hearing the ar
Igument of counsel for w. J. Potter.
who was at the last term Of court coE-
victed of the murder of Fred Taylor,
the negro servant of Gugie Bourquin.
overruled the motion for a new trial,
in the Superior Court last night. at
the conclusion of the rendering of the
courts decision an application for adj
mission to bail in behalf of Swayne
Potter was made. The court granted
the application, and fixed the amount
of bail at $1,000
As soon as Potter's counsel is able
t. secure a bondsman. the younger
Potter will be released from Jail. This,
St is thought. will be arranged this
week. Judge Barrow did not hesitate
to grant the application, and it was
not resisted by Solicitor General Os-
borne.
Amount of $1,000.
The amount of bail fixed by
the court was suggested by counsel
for defense. The solicitor general said
that he thought the question of its ad-
equacy was a matter entirely within
the discretion Of the court, and de-
clined to express any opinion. Judge
Barrow said that $1,000 seemed to him
TO meet the requirements in the case.
In his application for bail the son
submitted to the court that he had
been in Jail with his father for more
than five months, charged with the
murder of Gugie Bourquin; that on his
trial for the murder of Fred Taylor he
was declared not guilty; that the is
sues involved in the two cases are
identical, and that the testimony which
will necessarily be adduced at the trial
of the Bourquin case is the same as
that introduced at the last trial, and
that, therefore, he has already been
practically declared not guilty on the
other charge.
Wants to Return to Work.
He says that since his incarceration
his mother and sisters have had no one
to support them, and that they are
even now dependent on charity, where
fore he asked the court to release him
on bail that he might go out and work
and earn a livelihood for them. He
was, he represents, in the employ of the
Central Railroad prior to his arrest
and Imprisonment. His position is still
open to him, and he asks that he be
allowed to reclaim 1t, that he may be
able to earn a living for his family.
In commenting upon the application
Judge Barrow said that he thought
that it would be an abuse of his dis
erection to refuse to bail the prisoner.
He said that the fact which weighed
in his mind more than anything else
was that he had been declared inno-
cent at the last trial. Judge Twiggs,
his counsel, said after the bail had been
fixed that he thought that the young
man would be able to give the bond
required by the court.
The argument on the motion for the
new trial occupied the court through
out the day, and it was after 7 o'clock
when the decision was rendered. Judge
Twiggs and Mr.. W. w. Sheppard ap-
peared for the defense, the former con-
Quoting the argument. The argument
was confined mainly to the points
raised on the newly discovered evil
dence, and the alleged error of the
court in commencing a witness at the
trial of the case for his course in
changing his statement, when he be-
came convinced that his first state
ment was untrue. All of the grounds
for new trial were, however, exhaus-
lively discussed.
Without Hearing From Solicitor.
Judge Barrow delivered his opinion
at the conclusion of Judge Twlggs'
argument without hearing from the
solicitor general. He had, he said.
given the motion much careful study
since II was filed, and had not been
able to ascertain any instance where
in he had erred. The newly discov-
cred evidence was not considered by
the court more than cumulative. 1t
seemed to him case of newly discov-
ered witnesses, but not newly discov-
cred testimony.
Judge Barrow's ruling on the various
points raised by the motion will be in
teresting to all who have followed the
case. 1t was dictated to the court
stenographer Immediately at the con-
clusion of the argument, and is, in
full, as follows:
The Courts Opinion.
'As soon as the amendment to the
motion for a new trial in this case
was presented to me, l went into a
careful examination of the grounds
1t appeared to me that there
was evidence sufficient to authorize
the jury to have found the verdict
that they did find, and 1 directed my
examination to the consideration of the
alleged errors of law committed dur
ing the trial or in the charge of the
court. / have not been able to reach
the conclusion that there was any such
error as required me to set aside this
verdict.
The first ground of the amendment
TO the motion relates to the testimony
OF the witness, Willie Jones, as to
the fact that one Farrell had been
shot and killed The only testimony,
which was allowed to go to the jury,
was the fact of the homicide of Far
Fell some years before. I am unable
TO see how the admission or exclusion
of this testimony necessarily affects
The verdict Of the jury or could have
affected it.
To Elicit the Truth.
The second ground relates to what
was said by the court to the witness
Willie Rogers. The object, as / I'M
derstand it, of all judicial investigation
is to elicit the truth. What was said
to the witness was intended to i'm
press upon his mind, and that of all
others, that, if something which was
not the truth had been previously
stated, it was exactly right to abandon
the untrue statement and make that
which was the truth. Nothing more
was said and nothing more was in
tended.
The third ground of the motion re-
lates to the Introduction OF the record