The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-04
Willis Henderson on Trial for Murder. HE FIRED GUN THAT
 KILLED YELVERT0N Pale-Faced Youth Says He Shot ts
 Save Mother. Indicted Jointly With His Father But q Severance of Cases ts Granted. [ Mother Calls Him ---,
 sBaby.o
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

BY WILL T. STEPHAN.
 Dothan, May 3.-(SpeciaL)-A slight pale faced lad, looking to be twelVe years of age, but acknowledging four- teen, sat in the court room of Houston county today and heard the crime of murder fastened upon him. Willis Henderson. a boy slender and of a yellowish paleness heard eye wit nesses swear that with nerves or steel and steady fingers he raised gun and deliberately fired a heavy load of shot into the throat of Lonnte Yelverton. They swore that this country boy calm ly unbreached his gun and took out the single shell saying T got one; IT l had another shell would have gotten another"
 Opposed to this is the testimony or the boys mother who swore the lad shot to save her life when Lonnie Yel- verton had out his knife and was threatening to. cut her throat. So, too, the father swore. He had. he said. been knocked into a fence corner un- conscious by Yelverton, who then struck down the wife and mother, say ing sIll cut your throat" This, too, was the story of the country boy as he sat in the witness chair in home spun shirt and white suspenders. Ills pallor is of that class of poor Wnltes who are loosely called dirt eaters. A county official said of him the poor little dirt eating devil" He was the most pitiful sight I ever saw when they brought him here six months ago, all thin and pale but since he has been in jail where he got three meals a day he has fattened up"
 Boy Has Strong will
 But the boy is mentally alert. Tn court he was cheerful and well poised. He showed a stronger mind and a bet father. charged with him with murder. From his mother, a witness in this case, he inherited a force of will to which his father Is a stranger. But for this trag- edy he would have been In lew years the head of the family and directing its affairs. if he was not ooing IL Whsn Lonnie Yelverton fell at his hands. When the mother sat in the court room and wept softly and continually if was he and not the father who com forted her. When Lonnie 4elverton and the Henderson family were enga- ged in a deadly fight in the road near Cottonwood, the gun was handed him to fire the shot of death. He nred, ne said, but he fired to save his mother. That is his hope and his defense.
 He was standing over mama" said the how in court He was saying I'll cut your throat" Then l shot him."
 But there are three witnesses who tell a far different story. They saw the fight. They say they saw no such in cident as the boy described. They swore they saw Ben Henderson give the boy his gun and whisper to him. Then the boy cooly sighted the gun, ran his eye along the barrel pulled the trigger. Lonnie Yelverton fell backwards and his life blood srshed out Unless the jury refuse l. believe these witnesses the boys prospects are dark and gloomy.
 Like the Smith case, the case of this boy is being tried with remarkable dis patch It was called for trial at 80 o'clock this afternoon. By 6:S0 o'clock the jury had been drawn, every witness had been examined and three of the attorneys had spoken. It will be given toshe jury early tomorrow morning ar fer two lawyers nave spoken and the judge has charged the Jury.
 Quarreled Over a Dog.
 The three principals of this Novem- her tragedy were farmers living near Cottonwood and not far from the Florida line. There had been consid- erable unpleasantness and pickering between the Hendersons and the Yel- yertons. The Ill will was especially strong between them and Lonnie Yel- yerton. The final quarrel, which was the prelude to the roadside tragedy was on a trivial matter affecting dog.
 Yelyerton was hauling logs down the road and the Henderson's were over an A cane field bedding cane. The old, foolish quarrel about the dog sprang m suddenly as Yelverton rode by with his log team The "d-n lie" was pass ed back and forth over the fence. In half a minute the Hendersons father and son, clambered over the renee and attacked Yelverton in the road. He
 
 derson's had a gun. but Yelverton was a strong and active young man and he prasped the gun before they could use it. He held it fast, notwithstand- ing the struggle of the two Hender- sons to get 1t away from him.
 Now, the State is attempting to nroye that old man Henderson told YeIverton if he would release the gun they would stop the fight and go on away. The case of the State, as 1t has so far developed, is that the Hen dersons walked on down the road few yards from Yelverton. The elder Henderson, according to the State, spoke to the son In a low tone ana handed him the gun, the state IS at tempting to prove. The boy without hesitation lifted the gun to his shoul- der and took aim. The heavy load struck Yelverton in the throat and his neck was broken.
 RetributiOn for Juror.
 At the very moment of this difficult ty in the Circuit Court of Houston uounty Ed Cowing was on trial for the murder of Curtis Rogers. The jury deliberated on the case all the night of the murder. Tn the morn ing a verdict of acqulttal was brought in. The verdict was in direct con- hict with the evidence and Judge "while you were deliberating, gentle gave the jury one of the most scath- ing reprimands jury ever received in Alabama. It's oaustic strength was talked over by the community for many days and 1t drew attention from all over the State.
 He told the jury that the verdict was brought in in the face of damning & evidence of guilt. He characterized N the prisoner as being guilty as any man that ever walked into a court hnraa He daclarad thai avarv man