The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-21
CORNWELL'S TRIAL
 CALLED YESTERDAY
Defense Scores First Point in
 Be88emer Banking Case
JUDGE JACKSON PRESIDING
Effort of Defendants Attorney to Have Fifteen Indictments Called immediately Was Sustained.
 An Interesting Case.
BY JOHN EVANS.


 Bessemer, December 0-(speeial.) .)-The trial of T. J. Cornwell. the erstwhile president of the Bessemer Savings bank, is in progress here before Judge William Jackson, judge of the city court of Besse- mer The jury has been organized and 1t was expected that the taking of tes- timony would commence today. Such was not the case, however, much to the sur prise of the number of spectators who attended the morning and afternoon ses- sions of the court
 The case is being contested in every sense of the word. The defendant has legal talent from Birmingham and from | Bessemer to look after his interest, while the state is represented by the solicitor of the court and his assistant
 After the roll call of witnesses this afternoon for the state the defense ob- jected to the solicitor reading the indict- ment to the jury, which was organized Monday. Attorney Smith argued that the | indictment which the solicitor was about to read to the Jury was not the one agreed l upon. After hearing the arguments the court sustained the motion of the defense
 The prosecution sought to try cornwell on the true bill charging him with misap propriating the sum of s25,0O0 from the bank. There are in all fifteen indictments against the defendant, and his attorneys are seeking to call the cases, they cleam, numerically
 Should the examination of witnesses commence tomorrow which Is probable. 1t means that the trial will last for a week or ten days.
 Court convened this morning at 9:25 o'clock. It was delayed to await the ar rival of Capt. Frank s. White, one of the attorneys fer the uetendant
 Comparatively few spectators were in the court room when Deputy Fountain rapped for order Among those in at tendance were: Mrs. T. J. CornWell and five small children; Miss Cockrell. a sis- ter-in-lawi Mrs. E. A. Little Mayor T. r. Huey, City Engineer Thomas Parker, and a number of other prominent citi- zens of Bessemer.
 Attorney Scott, for the prosecution, read and filed a deposition made by Dr. Frank F. Young of Abbeville Ga Be- fore reading the deposition the prosecut- ing attorney read the following reasons for a motion to disregard the deposition of the absent witness:
 Motion to Disregard.
 Comes the state by it's solicitor and moves the court to suppress the deposit ton of the witness Frank F. Young, which was not published until after en- tering the trial, and as grounds of mo- tion assign the following
 q, There is no certificate of the commissioner that the commission had personal knowledge of the witness, or had proof made to him of his personal knowledge of his personal identity and that commissioner is not of council or kin to any of the parties to the cause, or not interested in the result of the cause, and the answers were read to the defendant"
 "2. The answers to the depostions and answers of the witness are in no way responsive to the interrogations.
 "3. The witness is examined as an ex- pert witness, and his answers are based upon his personal knowledge or acquaint- ance of the defendant, and not upon hypothetical questions"
 The Deposition.
 The dispositions were then read by Att torney Scott The testimony of the ab- sent witness went to show that while at his infrmary at Abbeville s. C., Mir. CornWell was irrevelant at times and OtnefWlSe uefanBed, In the OplnlOn or the physician, according to his testimony offered in his deposition. the defendant had been a habltual user of morphine and other drugs. In his opinion the habit lasted for six or seven years. As the physician who examined him said: He has been using the drug for num- Der of years"
 The physician further stated In his deposition that the defendant sent number of telegrams to Birmingham. One of them was to the sheriff of Jef- ferson county, Ala. "Of course none Of these messages were sent" said the phy- sieian T knew very we'll that he was under the influence of opiates at the time, and I paid but little attention to It."
 As to Relevancy
 Your honor can readily conceive whether or not the testimony of the ab- sent witness is irrelevant said ,Attor- ney Scott in his conclusion. "The witness makes an answer in a suggestive man. her. He was not asked for an opinion from any technical book, but on the other hand he was asked for reply to his own knowledge, to his own belief.
 Tn my opinion the action of the court has only been in due process of the law. If 1t please the court I would like to say that only one thing has been done in this ease, and that is the organization of the testimony, and we see no reason for pryzxszsz .tsaKs