The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-04-11

the jury naQ <Decn ont fOrty-hVe
minutes yesterday when. a YER
dict in the case;pf the state VS. Mar
| shall Lacy, who has been on trial for
several days on the charge. of kill
ing Arthur, Mason was rendered. AS
| the twelve men hled into the court
room through the crowd, every one
became quiet and as the Verdict OF
Not guilty" was pronounced by the
foreman there was a sound that re-
sembled sigh OF relief passing
through the court room. - - u !
From. the Jurors all eyes turned
TO Marshall Lacy, as he stood at the
side Of Clerk Shirley. For q minute
ne seemed too overcome to make a
sound, but as5one of his DAUGHTERS
who had sat by his side grabbed him
| around the neck he seemed to rea-
LIE that he, had been cleared Of the
gravest crime that could face a man
and he Immediately went to. the jur-
ors and shook hands with each. His
family followed and as one impulse
the big, crowd IN, 1.-The court room
Surged forward to shake the hand Of
In the Lacy trial for killing of, Ar.
thur Mason, coloTed, the evidence
was all in yesterday and the argu-
| ment was begun last night and CON
t1nued this mofnilig. Five minutes
after twelve. O'clock Capt. Avis clos
ed for the state; and court adjourn.
ed. On reassemHing at two O'Clock
the case was. gtYeh"to the Jury. : =
Following are fhe proceedings Of
yesterday afternoon and night:
The close, Of the, case came rather
unexpectedly,,, aftar. the defense had
placed a number. dt witnesses on the
stand who itestiff4 to the good char
acter OF Lacy and after, the defend
ant himself had told the story
OF the crtmeT77the9 story that may
| mean htsenbeEty.1 Sitting in the wit
ness chaiE:@ Lacy ,tGlta1 the? turynen in
his own manner .+hefaMful events OF
that night In .Ju!yrWhen the loaded
missile from, his ptatal carried death
TO Arthur Ma&un. {, Ibe was nervous
| and, frequently twisted himself in the
chair as he told. Of dhe happenings Of
that night and probab1y realized that
he had made a mistake when he con-
cealed~ the, body in&the weeds, that
grow along the banks or the Elk riv-
CT. Yet he chung closely to the de-
tails Of the story under a grueling
cross examination by prosecuting At
| torney Avis. - -
The prosecution closed it's case at
the, morning sessions and Immediately
after court reConyened the defense
summoned. its witnesses and had
them sworn. The first witness call
ed was Judge John S. Mcdonald,
| member Of the county court, who
stated that-he had known the defend
ant for IL or IS years and in answer
to question put BY Attorney Little
| page Of the counsel for the defend
| ant, stated that his character had al
] ways been good as. long as he had
known him and as ,far~as he knew.
| Judge Mottisherd,S also member
OF. the county court, stated that he
had known the defendant for twenty
years and said hts character was
! good as far as he knew. Willard
Dawson, chief sheriff OF Kanawha
/ county, had known Lacy for twenty
years and his character was good as
| far as he knew. Allen P. Spradling,
who has lived in the; county for TO
years knew nothing Whatever against
the character Of the defendant. J.
| H., Burdette knew Lacy for twenty
years and considereds that his repu-
tation bad been fairly good. u. G..
Young, first cousin 0fathe defendant
and his bondsman stated Lacy's char
| acter was good. Judge Pleas Shir-
key had known Lacy ever since he
| was grown up and considered his
| character good. Z5<".
| Tom Cart, a former policeman was
! then put on the stand and testified
, that with Norris Smith, VINO was
| also a policeman atfthat time, they
went out to MOntaghe's drug store
on the night Of the shooting and
came back on the street car. Mason
| with his two companions Neal and
Jackson boarded the car at Donnally
street and had some kind Of must
| cal instrument. He considered the
trio drunk when the car stopped at
the corner Of Capitol and Virginia
streets, several Of them attempted to
pull Mason through q window. He
said that he and Smith were off
duty and made no attempts to arrest
the men, principally, because the
night lieutenant, Dan Montague, was
! os the car and he.gwas on duty at
that time. On Cross examination he
chung to- mis- story that the men were
| drihkink and that Mason swore when
the others attempted to pull him
through window. ~
William Ficldcr Of the firm Of
| Fielder and Turlcy testified that he
| had lived on the same street with
Lacy and thought his reputation was
| good. ~
Tucker PridcmorB knew Robert
Jackson and saw him on the morning
Of the shooting al. the corner OF
Court and Virginia Streets in the
News-Mail wagon and he was run
ming the horse. Asked to his condi-
| ton, the witness replied that Jack
son was drunk, but Proecuting Attor-
] ney Avis objected t6Ahn. nflsstinn AID