The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-06-27
LOVING ON TRIAL.
Man Who Avenged Dishonor Of His
Daughter Arraigned in Virginia
Court on Murder Charge.

The trial of former Judge w. c. Low
ing for the murder of young Theodore
Estes. the seauel of buggy ride
which Estes took with Loving's daugh-
ter moved rapidly at Houston, Va,
Monday, and when court adjourned in
the afternoon the prosecution had
rested and the defense had begun its
case. The progress of the trial was
remarkable. Before adjournment OF
the morning session, jury had been
secured, mostly middie-aged men and
all but three of them married; eleven
of them being farmers, the lone ex-
ception being a merchant. The taking
of testimony began upon the recon
vening of court, and late in the after
noon the commonwealth rested its
case, and Judge Loving, whose de-
fense is the unwritetn law, had taken
the witness stand in his own behalf.
The widespread interest in the case
was manifest. A large crowd was
present, but perfect order was OBJ
served.
The trial eclipses in interest and
sensation the McCue and the Strother-
Bywaters case in Culpeper. Judge Low
ing, armed with double-barreled
shotgun. Instantly killed young Estes,
while he was unloading car Of fer.
,;lzer in Oakridge, on April q, follow
ing a buggy ride on the evening be-
core of Estes and Miss Elizabeth Low
ing, the nineteen-year-old daughter OF
Judge Loving. The girl, when brought
home, had been drinking, and it is al.
legged that her escort had maltreated
her. Acting under the impulse tha! his
daughter had been drugged and as
saulted, Judge Loving Immediately
went in search Of Estes. After the
shooting he said: ''I shot to kill. Ev.
cry drop of blood in my body called
for vengeance. I would have gene a
hundred miles to kill him."
The trial is one of the most inter-
es:ing in the annals of criminology
in Virginia. Judge Loving, politician
a man of wide prominence, former
jurist, had the unique distinction OF
standing at the bar on trial for his
life in the same court over which he
himself presided for a number OF
years, when an indictment Of murder
in the first. degree was returned
against him last month at Lovingston.
On that occasion change Of venue
was granted on account of the bitter
feeling existing in Nelson county,
Judge William H. Barksdale of Hall
,fex county, who had been designated
by Governor Swanson to try the case
in the place Of Judge Bennett T. Cor
don, who declined to sit On account
of personal feelings existing between
himself and Judge Loving, transfer
red the case to Houston, the county
seat of Halifax.
The history of the case itself is in
teresting because of the obscurity that
surrounds the main points at issue
whether or net Judge Loving was JUS
titled in taking the life of the young
man whom he believed to be guilty
Of a grave crime against his young
daughter.
On this point, as on the ultimate
outcome of the trial itself, Nelson
county Is split in twain. The social
prominence of the two families involv-
ed conduces greatly to the strain up
on the feelings Of the rival factions,
the political aspects OF the case bend
ing the minds of the populace as one
side or the other gains the ascend
ency.