The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-23
THE PRISONER AT THE BAR,
 THE SLAYER OF HIS BROTHER

| and chin. A cheap cape was around
 her bowed and sunken shoulders, an | inadequatc protection from the biting cold. Her dress was If calico, dark and somher, tied round with plaid apron. The whole bespoke her poN
 erty. but her poverty was the Highest
 of her burdens.
 | The court was not in a formal seS
 sion. All was waiting upon the jury | Court officers and some few men of Luverene came now and then into the
 court room, gloved end with oyercoat collars turned up They gathered here | and there in knots in the court room
 and talked in subdued tones. But the
 mother sat unheedng. her face in her | hand gazing into the darkness with
 unseeing eyes.
 l Sudden and sharp came the knock ing from inside the jury room. A
 verdict had been reached. With inter-
 locked fingers mother and son anx-
 iously watched the jurymcn file in and
 take their seats. The verdict was l read. The crime was that of man
 slaughter and Tom McCartha was to | spend ten years In the prnitentiary. '"rhe prisoner will stand up. Have you anything to say why the sentence
 of the court should not he pronounced 1 upon you?"
 The voice Of Judge Richardson was 1 firm but kindly
 | Tom McCartha wet his parched lips
 and with manifest effort he framed and
 uttered the words that were in his
 mind.
 Nothing. Nothing. Judge. except to | ask you to he merciful,' he said in low l and unsteady tones.
 The jury has been merciful to you, Mir McCartha, said the Judge. with a note of pity in his voice. "The jury l has been as merciful to you as it could have been under the law. The testi- ! mony in your case plainly showed that your crime was murder in the first de- gree But the jury was mercifNl to you. It has brought in a verdict of 1 manslaughter in the first degree, and given you a sentence of ten yeais-the lowest penalty.
 Tt Is the sentenre of the court that you be imprisoned in the penitentiary of Alabama for term of ten years. If you are an obedient prisoner you will have part of that sentence remitted. And let this be a warning 10 you. And this came of that night in June which began so joyously and ended SD tel ribiy. There was a gathering of tho yorng people that night from the hills and valleys of Crenshaw County. They | were meeting at the home of Farmer Zach Petty, ten miles to the north west of Luvernc.
 Tn the gathering came Tom McCar- tha. He was inhamed with whiskey, sober enough to know his way, but too drunk to behave himself In the parl1r where the guests were assembled the drunken boys misbeha- vior called down upon him the wrath of young Zach Petty, who ordered him ] 4. IL T he had received an unbearable insult .. In the yard he challenged young Petty
 to come and fight it out. But in his bedroom old man Petty had heard the disturbance. He arose ain in hls nightclothes rushed out to stope the disturbance at his front door Tom McCartha cursed and detied him. The old man slapped him lightly in the face.
 Mccarthy snatched a pistol from his | pocket. Whiskey and pistol. what ! world of woe and sorrow the two have brought into the world.
 McCartha's pistol flashed in the
 night and old man. Petty felt a slight
 sting of pain along his side. The bullet had grazed him barely
 enough to leave a mark.
 But hehnd him man staggered
 and fell forward on his face. The bull let had found mark. In the darkneSS some enc called to Tom McCartha,
 You have killed your brother" Tom McCartha lay upon the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead. He
 had come to the gathering unknown to
 his brother. He had come up as the difficulty started And hearing the
 voice of his brother, he was coming
 forward to his aid when he fell a vic tim of his brothers pistol
 But the law is written that when one
 kills a man in the attempt to kill an
 other. he is as much a murder as
 though he had killed the man on whom
 he made the attempt But the jury
 was merciful.
 But what mercy was there to as
 suage the grief of the heart broken
 mother? Her tears flowed down her
 furrowed cheeks when she heard the words of the judge. A few of her
 friends gathered about and tried awk- wardly to comfort her
 At last her pent up grief fofurZ vent
 in words. Hurriedly and brokcnly she sobhed out;
 You've done all you can, You've done all you can. We couldn't do any more But. oh God, what am I to do? one boy dead, and ono in the peniten- tiary. Both of them gone from me. My poor boys. How can l go back Oh God! What shall I do? What shall I do? My poor boys
 At last her sobs ceased: Her face damp with tears, she walkeI swiftly out If the court house-walked out into the darkness and the cold-alone.