The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-30
JUDGE LOVING IS NOT GUILTY Jury Was Out Only Thirty Minutes. NOTED MURDER TRIAL ENDS Eloquent Plea for Sanctity of the
 Home.
 -S Court Room Was Crowded and Every Available seat was Occupied
 --aKiss Loving Was Not Present.
NOTED MURDER TRIAL ENDS

noon returned a verdict or not guilty in the case of former Judge Wm. C.. Loving. of Nelson. manager of the Virginia estate of Thomas F. Ryan, who was placed on trial here Monday for thesmurder of Theodore Estes. son of sherif M. K. Estes. of Nelson County.
 The jury retired at 4:55 and from that time until the verdict was rem dered. the defendant remained in the same seat he had occupied since the trial began. surrounded by the mem bers of his immediate family with the exception of his daughter.
 At 5:25 o'clock a knock was heard from the jury room and Judge Barks- dale ordered the sheriff to preserve or der. The verdict was read by Fore man B. s. McGraw. Judge Barksdale thanked the jury and declared that he believed that the verdict was in ao- cordance with their conscientious views.
 After the jury had been discharged Judge Loving, his wife and other rela- . lives shook hands and thanked each juror for the verdict. Tears streamed fro mthe eyes of both the defendant and his wife. Judge Loving was con- gratulated by many of his friends, though In accordance with the warn Ing of Judge Barksdale. there was no aemonstratton.
 Foreman McGraw said that when she jurors entered the room one of lhem did not exactly understand all Sf the instructions of the court which were read to him. Mir. McGraw said lhat when he called for the vote he requested all who favored acuuittal b hold up their right hand. Every aand promptly went up. When asked what the basis of the verdict was, he said: '
 .Iasanity."
 At the opening of court today the arguments of attorneys began yesteR- day were continued. When former Senator Barksdaie arose to speak for the defense every available seat in the court room was occupied. Miss Eliza beth Loving has not been in the court room since she appeared on the wit ness stand.
 Mr. BarksdaIe Opens.
 Mir. Barksdale said in part:
 T know there is a suspicion about the plea of insanity but the court had directed you not to look at 1t with that view.
 Under the evidence in this case, the defendant was on a continuous drunk for eight years and his brain had been so impaired that it suddenly gave way under great stress.
 'No wonder the light of reason fled from His mind. We are not appealing to you on the 'unwritten law but the law that is written on your hearts and on the hearts of your forefathers."
 The plea of Mir. Barksdale was based almost entirely on the preservation of the sanctity of the home. He was fol- lowed by Attorney Moore of the de- fense.
 MT. Moore said:
 When we consider the pitiful story told the defendant on the morning of April 22, we may all pray to God that we may be spared from such an or deal. It is a surprise to me that the defect in the strings of his mind did not break when he first heard the story of his daughter being brought home drunk and unconscious from his broth- ter-in-law. Harry Sneed's. home. But he did restrain himself and waited for his daughter. The majority of men would not have waited but would have lost their control at once.
 We have the preponderance of proof that the defendant was insane at the time of the killing?
 You would not raise the moral standard or elevate the womanhood of Virginia by convicting. Don't put the badge of dishonor on him by sending him to the penitentiary. Don't let 1t go out to the world that jury of Vir- ginia gentlemen put the felon's stripes on a Virginia gentleman"
 Mir. Moore was followed by MT. John l.. Lee of Lynchburg. for the de- fense.
 Mir. Lee appealed strongly to the sympathies of the jury with both words and tears. He said:
 sweep from Virginia the chaste homes of the citizens, and what remains of the state? The purity and dignity of our homes is the sweetest thing in life to Virginia. It is the gift of God. When any one invades our homes they strike society and the body poli- tic the deadliest blow. You all know how love for your wife and how the smile of a daughter can bring out from your nature the best there is in It."
 At the conclusion of MT. Lees ad- dress court took a recess until 8 o'clock, when Attorney Wood Bouldin of Halifax closed for the prosecution.
 When court convened at o'clock the crowd was even larger than at the morning session. For the first time during the trial women relatives oi Estes were in the court room. Com monwealth Attorney Bouldin, of Hali- fax county in the closing arguments ridiculed the insanity plea ealing at LGnLlOn lO JuuBS 4ONahe D before and at the time of the tragedy He declared the evidence showed that the murder was committed after Judge Loving had ample time to reflect and realize fully the consequences.
 'Tn this case and all others" he de- clared in conclusion, "the guilty and the innocent suffer alike. but courts cannot measure their verdicts by sym pathy. Judge Loving's is not the only stricken household"
 Judge Barksdale then placed in his instructions, a section which had been objected to by the defense and was not included in the instructions yes terday. This contained the statment:
 ''The unwritten law has no recogni- tion in this court"
 The defense had contended that this was unnecessary.
 Judge Loving and his wife will re- main here several days. Most of his relatives and the relatives of young Estes who haXa attended the trial. will