The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-15
EVANS WAS FREED
BY TRIAL JURY
FORMER JUROR TESTIFIED
AS WITNESS FOR STATE To EVANS
PURCHASING REVOLVER.

Witness Was Juror Who at Former
Trinl of Evans Unexpectedly Be-
came Witness-SwOre Evans Pur-
chased RevOIver-BeyOnd This
There Was no New Evidence In
Observation-Disclosures of Counsel
Brief, and Verdict Was Returned
in Seven Minutes.
After just seven minutes delibera-
ton the Superior Court jury trying
Nat 1. Evans for assault with intent
to murder returned a verdict of not
guilty yesterday.
Two ballots We're taken in reaching
a verdict. The first ballot stood 10
for acquittal and two for conviction
with a recommendation for punishment
as for a misdemeanor. On the sec
ond ballot all voted for acquittal.
The state was represented by Solici-
tor General w. w. Osborne and Judge
H. D. d. Twggs represented Evans.
There was practically no new evil
dence introduced, the feature of the
trial being the introduction by the
state of a former juror as a state wit
ness.
Evans was accused of shooting Ju-
Illus, alias DOC" Rosenthal during the
Christmas row in the Doss gambling
rooms. Rosenthal was the first wit
ness called by the state and he brief
ly outlined the details of the trouble,
accusing Evans of firing the shot that
wounded him.
Evans then took the stand in his own
behalf and made a plain, straight-for-
ward statement of the affair." denying
having fired the shot and also hav-
ing had a pistol on his person. One
witness was called who was present
at the time and he substantiated the
story of Evans to the effect that lie
was not in the room, when the shots
were fired.
The state then offered in evidence
| the 44-calibre revolver that had been
used by Doss, and a 38-calibre blue
steel Colts revolver which it claimed
was Evans. 1t was on proving the
| ownership of this last revolver that
the state put forth its greatest effort
at the former hearing of the case.
Former Juror a Witness.
A mild sensation was caused when
the state called Mr.. Harry Weed as
a witness. Mr.. Weed took the stand
| and testified that a clerk in his place
of business had sold the revolver in
question to Evans only a few weeks
before the shooting. He positively
identified the revolver as the one sold.
Mr.. Weed is the juror to whom Judge
Twiggs, at the former hearing, handed
| the revolver for examination as to
whether or not it had been fired. Con-
trary to all expectations he promptly
answered THAT revolver has been fired
twice."
When the jury retired at the former
| hearing Mr.. Weed, it was alleged,
voted for a conviction and refused to
| change. This caused a mistrial. When
| he was called as a witness yesterday
there was considerable surprise, and
| there were many who recalled the jury
| incident at the former trial.
Minutes to Reach Verdict.
Judge Twiggs argued for the defense,
| occupying only a little more than half
an hour. He was succeeded by Solic-
| itor Osborne. who briefly summarized
the position of the state and asked for
a conviction. Judge Cam then deliv-
cred his charge, and at 1:47 the case
was given to the jury.
At 2:05 o'clock the jurors returned to
their places and announced that they
| had agreed upon a verdict. The YER
| dict of not guilty was read by the
| clerk and Evans was discharged.
In selecting the jury twelve stood
aside for cause. the state used five of
it's challenges and the defense twenty,
and the jury was still incomplete.
Clerk Carr then selected the twelfth
| juror, Mr.. w. f. Higgins. The jury
which brought in the acquittal verdict
was composed of:
James G. Hardee, Nat B. Tilton, Au-
gustus Karsten, A. w. Masterson, Will
liam c. Lyon, Jr., William H. w.
Schley, John B. Beranc, Charles F.
Pritchard Max Ingram, Abram Buck
holz, Harmon ]. Meyer and w. F.
| Higgins.