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


the gate to tell him of the murder
! instead of rushing into the hOusl
and proclaiming 1t aloud. The reason
is obvious Mrs. Tucker was In
delicate condition, ana he was thous hit
! full enough not to wish to alarm her
| And counsel ask with great eneIg,
why it was that she did not discover
Johnnie IS" absence sooner In tn,
night, or earlier IN the morning. AnC
the reason foI that is just as OBVIOUS.
You will remember, gentlemen, thu
Mrs. Reaves sat up all the night before
with a dead FRIEND and when she
went to bed and asleen that night, she
slept soundly AMI without waking.
Anything strange in that? And every
clrcu Instance in this record can be
explained, and has been explained jus.
as satisfac torlly to every unprecedented,
fair minded man.
Speaking Of the theories advanced as
to how the killing was dcne, Mr.
Hatcher SAID he did not agree with
any theory he had heard advanced
and would not advance one of his own
but would say that he thought the
blood tail theory advanced by DR..
Cox and Boyd Mcknight. was absolute
nonsense; and that the defendant S
theory was quite as reasonable as any
he had heard advanced.
The States whole theory, he said,
rested upon the alleged improper Iela-
tions between Mis-. Reaves and the
defendant; anu there was absolutely
no proof, even 10 a suspicious mind,
that any such relations did exist.
Certainly her husband never sus-
picioned any such relations, said Mr..
Hatcher; for l take it that no self
respecting man would live for day
with woman he believed to be I'M
faithful to him. Mrs. Reaves, ON her
return from that Nashville trip, re
lated it all TO her husband. You must
believe this, or else you must write
her honored old parents down as liars
and falsitieIs. And he made no com
plant at all: and that should silence
the tongue of SANDER. All, my friends,
if we could silence the tongues of the
slandereIs, it would rid society of its
most dangerous foe. They who take
up every little circumstance, and
magnify it into guilt; eliminate them
and you would save society and the
home and the State many a heart
breaking tragedy.
mir. Alb SpaIkman, he said, had
made ooe statement to this jury, and
by bis own confession had made a
different statement to Lum Mckee.
If man confesses that he has inten
tionally mlsstated fact, can you
believe him when he states contrary
fact? AS to that smiling episode, it
was unnatural and unbelievable. Even
if Mrs. Reaves was the degraded
creature the State would make her out,
she would not at such a time do SO
foolish and brazen thing as that. =
But the State, - he said, had gone.
to any and every extreme, to drag this
man and this woman down. They had
even seized upon the insane jealousy
of an insane mind, to prove that the
defendants wife was jealous of his
cousin and his sister. Shame shame;
shame Miss Ragsdale' character
was unimpeached, un1mpeachable, and
her testimony was unshaken. MI.
VOORHEES, had given her rigid and
severe cIoss-examInation and by mis-
leading question had somewhat con-
fused her for the time being; but her
at that time, when she knew
that the testimony she was then giving
was huItful and evel dangerous to her
cousin even then, her sincerity and
truth Was most apparent; and when
Mr. Hughes asked her the proper ques-
tion then the whole truth came out
and made her testi mony stronger thar
before. No man on that jury could
DOUBT Miss Ragsdale S testimony; and
the finding of that letter she had
written the night of the killing, just
when and how she did, was nothing
mole nor less than divine providence,
the direction of God to establish the
innocence of this defendant. Miss
Ragsdale' testimony made it Impossi
BILE for the defendant to have worn the
alleged bloody coat that night; and
not only Miss Ragsdale's testimony,
but the pIeponderance of testimony of
the other witnesses was all In favor of
the dark coat.
Mr.. Hughes, MI. Hatcher SAID, had
been accused by counsel on the other |
side of mlsquoting from the Bible
and he would read the !
Mr. Hughes quoted. And he
read of the woman being taken to the
Master, caught in adultery. When he
al lead that, Mr.. Hatcher turned |
10 the jury with his closing remarks. |
There may be among you gentlemen, |
ind there doubtless is, men VINO have |
never been guilty of this sin; but will
you be the first to cast stone at this
defendant for his weakness and SIN.
When IN the last day we all come to
De judged, will it be for every little
lin and weakness Or will it be ac
,ordlng to the general tenor and pur.
pose of our lives? You know the spirit
If the Master. Will you judge your
elbow man by the spirit of forbeaI-
lnce, mercy and forgiveness? Gentle
men, leave the life of my client in
your hands.
1t was a solemn moment when
Mr. Hatcher closed. He ha0
spoken nearly five hours, He had
sked the testimony as with a fine
Doth comb. He had quoted the Bible,
and the poets and he had
irawn upon his own well stored vo-
for words of eloquence, in