The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-03


 Decatur, May 2.-(Staff Correspond ence.)--At 5:20 o'clock this afternoon Judge D. W. Speake finished his lucid and impartial charge to the jury which is trying Harvey Smith for as savage and barbarous a crime as ever dis- graced the criminal history of any country or any State. At 5:20 o'clock Harvey Smith unclasped the hands that for hour after hour had been clenched about his knees and gazed furtively and fearfuIly after the twelve men as they disappeared behind a door to decide whether he should live or die. as re- suit of the accusation that he killed Miss Belle Bloodworth.
 This oil mill negro has not the stoicism or the fataIism that charac- terizes so many of the black race. Harvey Smith knows that his feet are at the edge of an abyss and he suffers as Q white man would suffer. With wide staring eyes shining from above his sunlxen checks he watched every every word of the trial He all but shuddered when Solicitor AImon des- cribed the dastardly crime that had transferred refined and beautiful girl into a maimed and gashed cropse. He trembled as the solicitor unwrapped the ugly stick of stovewood that had been used to beat in the head of the young and attractive girl. and through the hours the jury were using to decide whether the evidence was strong enough to hang him, this negro stood with his fingers interlocked among the bars of his cell staring wide-eyed out into the night.
 Seemed Above SOrdid Tragedy
 In today's evidence there was on the tiful young woman with the trial of this man for a brutish and inhuman crime. Her name was hardly men tioned in the legal weaving of a chain of circumstanstial evidence. For bet ter or worse, for good or evil, the memory of the young woman who had died so terribly seemed above and be- yond the sordid tragedy being played out in the court house. a game whose stake was the life or death of the open eyed and frightened negro.
 There was but little to remind the crowded court room that the military of the State was protecting the prison CTS. of It's civil power. of the assurance given of their safety. if such assur- ance was needed; but now and then the clear. rattling notes of the bugle
 l l. f.- speeches or the judges charge, musical reminders of the presence of blue clad soldiers in the court yard, marching back and forth in the sunshine.
 Reports sent out from Decatur have placed the military and the city ol Decatur in an unpleasant light. IT the first place the people of Decatur have not boycotted the soldiers. They have not refused them supplies or food They have not jeered or reviled them Of this latter a few drinking youth. have been guilty, but they did not fl the least represent Decatur.
 And last and most important of al no mob has attempted to break tn, lines and mob the prisoners, press re ports to the contrary notwithstanding Certain of the bibulous youths alluded to above went to camp McKleroy anC annoyed the sentinels. When tn, patience of the sentinels had reached the limits the officers went out and ar rested three or four of the noisy youths. Tn the struggle Privat, Zuber had a small bone in his wris broken.
 Troops Make Fine Impression.
 Captain Gregory holds his men fl E admirably. He and his troops art alike self contained, civil and dutiful They are making a fine impression.
 Captain Gregory was grieved that re ports were sent out intimating friction between the soldiers and the citizens He said T assure you that never sine, have been in the National Guard hay, I ever received finer or more cordia treatment than right here. and the re ports are very wrong"
 It was a perfect May day. A Iarg crowd pressed up to the court house {, be near the scene of the sensationa - trial. The shady streets that lead t. inc court house of Morgan County ar nrnamented with many beautiful homes, whose front porches this morn ing often bore one or two ladies o the family. who watched with interes Ihe crowd that eddied in the cour house. or glanced curiously down tn street to the grass covered lawn at tn rare sight of a line of blue clad sen tinels marching backward and fortl with KraR rifles on their shoulders Ruff not one woman of Decatur wa In or near the court house during tn trial.
 The unostentatious camp of the pro visionaI company from Birmingham Il spread on the lawn west of the cour house These soldiers are housed santhe dwarfed little shelters called aal