The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-03

known. but it is . believed 1t will be done the early part of next week Whether counsel for Coleman will
 undertake to appeal the case to the Supreme Court was unanswered yes-
 terday afternoon by Ray Rushton, one gro.
 T don't know yet what we shall do.
 It all depends on developments" said Mir. RAshton. The attorney intima- ted that he felt certain there were others in the murder and, if later de- velopments tended to shed any light on Coleman's case. there might be an appeal. It will he recalled that. throughout the trial of the negro, his counsel entered only three exceptions. Intensely significant in the. conclu- sion of Coleman's trial in the City Court yesterday was the fact that the defense failed to put single witness on the stand. The defendant himself, did not even take the stand for an ex- planation of the train of circumstan- ces pointing to him as the murderer of Finley. Where the State rested in | the case at 6:30 o'clock Friday even- l ing, the evidence was concluded yes- | terday morning. As soon as court | convened at 9.30 o'clock, counsel for | Coleman announced the defense would rest, whereupon after a few minutes intermission the speeches of attorneys
 began.
 | Letcher Begins Argument. | J. T. Letcher, employed by the l Knights of Pythias to assist in the | prosecution, opened the argument for I the State, in a brief address in which he reviewed the most damaging pha- l ses of the evidence. He described the | finding of the horribly mutilated body | of John A. Finley in the southwestern | aY.f af 10 ri fy n lad | jury to revenge the atrocious crime | that shocked this county from one end | to the other.
 The morbid curiosity and specula- ton of the immense crowd as to what | line of argument would be put for ward for the murderer was then satis- | fled, when Armistead Brown, one of the courts appointed attorneys for the negro, appeared before the jury. He admitted the murder of MT. Finley was | one of the most horrifying in the his- | tory of the county, but he could not | see the State had fastened the guilt on Coleman beyond a reasonable doubt. He promulgated the theory of others
 bein.s implicated in the slaughter, and
 he pictured the horrors of convicting l an innocent man on circumstantial evil
 dence. In conclusion he read the jury | several cases from a book in which I inocent men had been executed on cir
 cumstantial evidence for crimes they l did not commit.
 | Ray Rushton then followed the de- fense From the beginning of his ar- | gument. it could be- seen he meant to
 exert every effort to evolve a convinc- | ing argument from his slender thread I of defense. He first evolved the theory that Finley was killed and taken to the | lonely spot where he was found. and | then he asked who knew whether l friend or foe carried the body there.
 He dissected the evidence. bit by bit. | and concluded that no one could know who lew MT. Finley.
 | Others Are Indicated. The theory of others having commit
 ted the murder, the fact that John Reese and Jerry Ross are now in jail,
 formed a great part of his argument
 Could the jury take the life of the negro, he asked, on circumstantia1 evil
 dence. Would they be willing to have 1 the blood of Coleman on their hands l? | Like his pl @ecessor, Mir Rushton al-
 luded to the horrors of the miscarriage l or Justice on circumstantial evidence,
 and he believed the State of Alabama 1 would be stirred from one to the oth- 1 CT If an innocent man were executed.
 He closed with brief statement that
 he had performed his utmost duty in | the case.
 Solicitor s. 1T. Dent, who closed the
 arguments, declared the train of cir
 cumstantial evidence against Coleman
 to be the most remarkable he had ever
 experienced in his practice. With the 1 exception of two minor details which
 he said, could be left out entirely and still leave manifold evidence for convic-
 tion, the train of evidence was un-
 broken.
 Before proceeding further Mfr. Dent paid high tribute to the work of
 counsel for the defense in theii( sdher-
 ence to duty. He regarded it as a
 tribute to the legal profession of Ala
 bama that two attorneys, without one | cent of pay, should abandon lucrative practice and devote their best efforts
 in defense of the negro.
 l Step. by step Mir. Dent took up the
 chain of evidence, and, as he proceeded | deeper and deeper into the testimony
 his argument steadily increased in
 strength. He began with the finding of the mutilated corpse, then the bloody
 clothes of Coleman, then the finding of
 the watch, the key and the key ring | of the murdered man. To this he har-
 messed the fact of Coleman having been
 the last person seen with Finley in Fishers saloon. Then he vividly par
 trayed how Coleman had changed his
 bloody garments for clean ones. Blood in the Evidence. He told of Coleman's having been
 seen twice Sunday morning with the 1 bloody dollar bill and with his clothes
 smeared in blood. He enlarged on i Coleman's three lies, one that the blood
 on his garments had been caused by
 killing a hog, the other that he had
 cut his finger, and the last that his
 nose had been bleeding.
 l Closing, MT. Dent insisted there was
 no midle ground. Coleman must either l be turned loose on society, he must be acquitted, or his neck must be broken.
 The majesty of the law would not be satisfied unless he were hung. 1 MT. Dent concluded at 1855 o'clock and Judge Thomas occupied about fff-
 teen minutes time in charging the jury.
 After the trial Coleman Was return
 ed to his original cell In the rear part
 of the jail.
 | FOR FANCY CARNATIONS.