The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-04
HOUSTON COUNTY BOY
 FACES JURY FOR HIS LIFE

court and a reproach to the State He declared that he did not understand how men who had so failed in their duty could walk abroad and face the honest yeomanry of Houston county. As long as such verdicts of that kind crime and muder continue in Houston county. He concluded by saying While yo were deliberating. gentle men, another bloody murder was doW in Houston county. You are dt charged" Hs 2 A member of that jury was Wa {
 Yelverton. Before he could step a tho jury box Sheriff Butler hurried over and said to him, The Henderson's killed your brother. Lonnie, last night"
 The news had come several hours before but 1t was kept away from the brother on the jury. It was left Tor him to hear 1t as his jury duty closed and to learn how quickly and unex- pectedly violence and lawlessness could be brought home to the jury man who failed in his duty,
 Boys Trial Comes First. The attorneys for the Hendersons demanded severance of the indict- ment so that the father and son might be tried separately.
 Judge Pearce listened to the motion and the argument which supported 1t. He granted the motion and Willis Hen derson. the pale face lad who held the gun and pulled the trigger, was put up for trial. The granting of his motion was victory gained of great straget- ical value. Mrs. Henderson. wife and mother. took part in the general fight. She could not. under the law. testify for her husband. but there Is, nothing in the law to precenr the mother from testifying for her son.
 As the jury was drawn the pale young defendant sat next to his father. The father is a man under forty, low in stature with a shock of thick hair. closely cut. His face Is bony. with a strong curved chin. A curly mustache reaches from high cheek bone to high cheek bono. He shows that he is a man of the field. well acquainted with hard work He appeared in the court room without a coat. in a dark home made shirt. Over this shirt. big. broad suspenders were drawn. At his feet sat two of the younger children of the family, eight and ten years of age. They sat on the thick carpet of the court room their thick. white hair showing against the dark clothes of the jurymen. They too, wore the family made shirts with the big pearl buttons at the throat.
 Behind Solicitor Hill and his assist ant at he other side of the table. sat the three Yelverton boys. brothers or the dead man. One was Walter Yelver- ton. who sat on the jury last Novem- Der and acquitted a man whom the pre- siding judge said should have been con- victed He was a member of that jury which the presiding judge said failed to render that justice which Walter fei- verton is demanding and hoping for to- day.
 Quick Selection of Jury. With the dispatch and auiekness | which characterizes Judge Pearce's court. the fury in this capital case was selected an less than two hours. and then fine trial of the case went rapidly on.
 Buster Booth, young white man. a friend and associate of Lonnie Yelver- ton. described the difficulty from US beginning, until Lonnie Yeiverton 1eii backward with q load of shot In his throat The witness and feivertoh were driving past the Henderson cane natcb on inc afternoon of the tragedy. Henderson's dog ran over in the cane watch The dog was chased out by Will lie Henderson who ran down the neld Iaughing and shouting. Yelverton call cd to the boy: "The next time you run my dog it won't be so funny The boy stuck his bare toes between the renee rails and said to the man in in the road:
  put inc man made no reply. Again the how aske dthe question boldly. and the man said "Yes. you did" Whereupon inc hoy called out loudly: You are d-d liar" ,a
 Over in the field the witness could see Ben Henderson unoreech ms gun and slip in one shell. At the same time Yelyerton put his foot on the fence as if he would climb over. but changed his mind and stepped back, and inc Hendersons, father. mother ana son. all climbed over the fence to the road and with Yelverton engaged Tn general row. Yelverton grabbed the gun and with the Hendersons strug- gled for It's possession. Yelverton 6nalIv said. "If I turn the gun loose, will YOU go on away?" Ben Tender son replied that they would. As Yel- verton started back to the wagon Ben Henderson said something in a low voice. Yelverton stopped and said. DO you mean to call me a -" With that. the two men went to nghtlng again. with Mrs. Henderson and Willis Henderson taking a part A second time they separated and Ben Tender son. with the gun In his hand, started down the road with his wife and son.
 Father Gave Son Gun.
 The witness swore Henderson said something to his son and handed him ,ba gun The boy turned and took aim at Isonnie Yelverton. As the boy pull ed inc trigger, Yelverton fell back ward with a bloody hole in his throat The witness swore he heard the boy call out. II got one and if had an other shell, I would have gotten an other"
 Ben Remington and Alex Deas fol- lowed Booth to the stand. They were some yards away, but they saw tho greater part of the general row and they corroborated the evidence of Booth. With these eye witnesses hay ing described the difficulty in the same way. the State closed its case.
 In developing its case, the defense brought forward testimony as to the blood and bruises on the face and head of Ben Henderson and his wife imme- diately after the fight. The evidence was to show that the two were hurt and came out of the fight with bloody cuts and bruises. Witnesses who saw Ben Henderson and his wife on the night of the killing were John Holland and Marion Kirkland. They saw bruise, cut and blood on the face of Mrs Henderson. They testified. too. that they saw Alex Deas, one of the witnesses for the State, and he told them that he was In the neighborhood of the fight but did not see anything of 1t.
 Testimony of the same character was | given by Burkhead Whitehead and | Black Kirkland. One of the witnesses testified that the boy said he shot Tel verton himself. He said later that he shot him because Yelv1rton was trying 1 to cut his mothers throat. But he only said thls after his father had first said .E Al,