The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-03-24

the grl6t- striker husband lay wakeIul
in another room Think you, il she
was the disgIaced, degraded sn de-
spised thing they would have you be
lieve that w. W Stanley wonld have
allowed her therel And the next day
we find that she and MI. Rountree.
with one or two other ladies'. reyeIent-
IL laid the corpse in the casket. But
even 10 that sacred nlace do the sleuth
hounds of the state follow them. There
is no sanctuary too sacred for these
men with their foul suspicious to Gu
ter. Into the very chamber of death F;
into the home of mourning; where sol
row sits upon every face and the
crepe hangs from the door, even there
they go listening for a whisper, looking
tor a smIle-anything TO start SANDER
to drag this man and this woman
down.
They would have you believe that
even when he quit his work in the
broad day time to go over to his neigh
hor's to borrow a clevis that there and
then he conspil ed with good woman to
murder her husband.
Mr.. Hughes then took up the coat
theory and revised the evidence at
length insisting that the pIepondeIance
of testimony was in favor of the dark
coat and that at least the State had
failed to prove beyond reasonable
doubt that defendant wore the light
coat.
Coming uown 10 the night Of the
murder, the speaker drew contrasting
pictures OF the conduct of defepdan
and the conduct of murderer. Sup
pose he had sunk that weapon twice
into the skull of his friend, do you
think" the speaker asked" he could
20 home and in his mothers rom.
calm and undisturbed, and ask to
take that innocent little girl to nestle
on his arm through the night, as she
was won't to do? Oh. no. Suppose he
had forgotten his life's training; sup
pose his conscience had been stilled,
and he had cut the throat of his frieud,
and walked away and left the blood to
be sucked up by the earth as the blood
of Abel was sucked up; l believe that
blood you'd have cried out as the blood
of Abel did. And now ne stands by his
murdered friend, and the moon, hanging
low in the heaven. looks down and
sinks beneath the horison, trying TO
hide its face; and the night is dark and
still and memory rnshes back, and he
recalls their friendship. and the minis
tratious of his murdered friends wife
and their children playing together
Think you he could walk away from that
scene and the commission of such
crime and go undisturbed to bed and to
sleep? No, the very sounds Of the night
would accuse him and the shadows OF
the night would haunt him. AS he went
into his old mothers room and stood
over his sleeping child, his shadow would
have appeared as the form of his muir
dered friend; and once in the room
would have drawn the curtains and
pulled the cover over his head to shut out
the accusing noises of fhe night But
he did no such thing. We do not have to
speculate as to what no did, the record
tells US. He went home, calm and I'M
disturbed, and We find him in the
morning jovial and happy"
Mr.. Hughes commented at some
length upon the action of the Sheriff
when he made the arrest, and the inn
of Mr. VOORHEES, being al
lowed TO be present. He thought it
unfair, and wholly unnec
essaIy to have gone in the stiffness of
the night and dragged the defendant
away, without any chance for bail or
notice to friends, leaving his old par
ents and little children alone and I'M
protected. But passing over much of
the evidence, we come to the closing
periods of the speech.
"Now gentlemen of the jury, what
will you do with him? Will you return
hi m to his home free man, with your
of not guilty, or will you
write infdmy upon his brow? Will you
say to him, go back home and preserve
the good character you have always |
he good citizen and a
good son and good father as you |
nave always been ;oI will you send him
20 a felon s cell? Will you return him |
10 his innocent children, ana may he |
again take that little girl to nestle on
MS arm at night, as he has always |
lone since the sad affection to her |
mother, or will you tear MIN away |
ron them and rob them of fathers |
love and CAFE? Will you
rive him back to the old father? |
b. gentlemeu, think can hear the |
Jobs of that old man as they dragged his
,uly boy away that black night to lock
him in the jail Shall he weep always and
u ydib I1bA OhOtO yOb ohOVAOi ~
must not forget. The poor old mother;
stricken with age and lnfirmity. When
went out thee to view the premises l
Jaw her. Heavy sorrow was written 10
very line of her sweet old face, and she
vas bowed down with grief; for this is
Ter only son. And when | went to leave
he took my hand 10 both of hers, and
With anguish in her face and voice, said
end me back my boy Aud | told her,
in my heart of hearts that her
10Y was innocent of this crime, with
Gods help 1 would do all in my
,ower to send her back her boy.
Will you send him back to her
looded and shrouded, the victim of the
langman s moose, or will you not send
Tim back to her that she may take him
n her old aims again as she did when
little boy, that she may have him
here to love and to comfort her? I
'elieve gentlemen you will send her
10Y back to her free and indicated
nan. | believe that you will decree
his case under the law and the facts
Il the case, according to your oaths.
nd | believe that the law and tho
acts and your oaths will lead you to
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