The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-03-24
WAS VOLUMNOUS,
WAS BRILLIANT.
BATTLE OF TEN

! friend on those premises The blood
marks on the barn door showed that b.
: had opened that. And his purpose wa
} to hide his guilt by burning the BARI
and the body. But he first wanted t,
let the mules out, for the sake of tn,
widow. Jail birds would not hav cared
about that. Jail birds would not have
turned his pocket out ana left part o.
the money. No, the motive was moi
robbery, and the murderers were moi
jail birds. The motive was to get full
possession OF another man wife.
1T is never the tough or the thug who
plays the role of the sedHcer; it is never
the occasional visitor at the home; but
it is the pleasing one; and the one on
intimate terms that he may come and &c
at will without exciting any special
comment, criticism or suspicion it is he
who seduces the wife or the daughter
and forever destroys the peace and hap
piness of the home. Aud this man
seems to have been crazy about that
woman"
Mr.. Figuers reviewed at length the
trip OF Mr.. Rountree and Mrs. Reaves to
Nashville together, and theorized at
length about it He ridiculed the idea
of their trying to find her father by
gong seven miles in the country to a
pleasure park, instead Of looking among
the old veterans her father had gone
there to meet and mingle With. He
secuted the idea of their expecting to
meet him at the Vondome theatre. And
as for their trip to see his poor, unfor
tunate wife, he did not believe they ever
/ nj hn ootA khn
mony of Mr.. Bratton showed that they
we're at his store at nine O'Clock, and at
the transfer station again at eleven, and
they could not have driven IS miles in
that time and made visit worth men
tioninR. The place for him to have
been was with his wife, but instead he
found more congenial company in the
wife of another. The trip to Nashville,
the speaker said, was deliberately plan
ned, and planned for the purpose of hav-
ing good time together, and they had
it.
Mr.. Figuers then took up the coat
theory and discussed that at length. He
INDUCED in some good natured humor
at Mr.. Hatcher's expense, how be HAT
cher) got hold of the witness DR.. LeRoy,
and could not turn him loose Discuss
luR uuc lcsJiHuOuy VI LIT. L6IOOy anu
Prof. Malett, he said that because one
did not discover traces of blood was no
evidence it was not there. That either
might have found it and the other not.
He would not make any attack upon the
testimony or character of Miss Ragsdale.
She had proven a good character, and he
would not, il he could detract there
from. But che had made mistakes, and
the record showed it. She had stated
before the coroner's jury that Buddy
wore check, hight colored vest, and
coat to match. She NAV have forgotten
that she said that, but unimpeachable
witnesses. friends of hers and friends of
the defendant, who had no possible in
terest 10 disPutlng her or doing any IN
justice to the defendant, had heard
her, and had sworn before this jury that
that was what che said, and she must
have it. And there were other witness
es to sustain Der in the truth of that
statement. Mary Jordan, Henry Thomp.
son and others.
''The very unreasonabeness of the de-
tendant's theory. is very suspicious
circumstance; and when DR.. Cox sug-
gested that be go and look at the CHASTITY
wound in bis friends neck, made there
by the keen, cruel knife If the assassin,
do not wonder that he exclaimed, "Oh,
my God. do not want t. see 1t. .
Charlie Blair, said the speaker, had
been tempered with, and then VT have
the effort made to discredit the testi-
mony of DR.. Leroy;-a man whose rep
utation for learning and as an expert in
bis line extends beyond the bounds of
the State; man whose high character
is attested by many witnesses before this
jury Yet these men take the blood of
an opossum and arrange to send it to +
DR.. Leroy; they say to test him, but ] |
say to destroy, IL possible, his evidence. |
DR.. Leroy found blood on three Of the !
six pieces of cloth submitted to him;
yet this defense. with all their effort and |
volume of testimony, have never been
able to chow how that blood got on Lee
Roun:ree clothing.
"Gentlemen, this is an intricate case,
and it is not possible for one man to
cover all the important points The I
gentlemen for the State who follow !
after me will bring out many points
more clearly than | have done. No
feeling of luminosity exists in my heart |
toward the defendant sitting there. | I
deeply sympathize with his aged father
and mother, and his little children
in their trouble; yet gentlemen, there
is another scene which deserves your
sympathy; it is that of an aged mother
and father who sit disconsolate, mourn
ing their murdered son. 1t is of five
orrhan children deprived of fathers
love and council anc support. A man
sleeps 10 his grave who should be we'll
and about his .ffairs today. The mother
of these little orphans IS tainted in the
same condemnation as the defendant
b, fore the bar. )