The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-02-24
The First Witness Took the Stand
tuesday Morning.
TELLS OF SHOOTING
Mrs. Eastman, the Woman Eye-Wit-
ness of the Shooting, Describes 1t
Vividly, and the Prosecution Then
Showed How Coopers Threatened.
State Has a Strong Case.

Nashville, Feb. 19.-After
month of haggling over Jury, the
trial of Col. Duncan B. Cooper, his
son, Robin, and John y. Sharp, for
the murder of ex-senator Edward
W. Carmack, on Nov. 8, last, has
finally been started. The jury was
completed last Saturday, after 5000
talesmen had ben examined, and all
but the IL chosen ones had been
rejected. The court took rest
on Sunday and Monday, but on Tues
day the trial proper began. 1t will
probably be completed in about three
weeks, unless the lawyers for the de-
talesmen had been examined, and all
the witness box with "brainstorm"
experts.
The opening address Of the States
lawyers were very brief, and by 10
O'Clock Tuesday morning the first
witness, Mrs. Carmack, the widow Of
the slain man, was on the stand.
She answered but few questions
and was succeeded by her ten-year- 5
old son. The child, fercely grip
ping his mothers hand, was On the
stand for about ten minutes, and,
while his testimony was unimpor
tant, the dramatic effect was great,
the little boy, between answers, .
growering at the defendants with
hate written on every line Of his
features.
The rest Of the day moved swift
~, each minute bearing sensation,
reach lour standing forth with a sur
prise in the form of evidence which
the State had concealed from every
eye except its own. There was a
stenographer undreamed of as wit
ness, who told Of seeing Col. Cooper
and Robin Cooper start forth from
the law Office Of J. c. Crawford, nus
band Of sister Of the colonel, on
the afternoon Of November 9, to
go to the corner where blood was to
run half an hour later. There was
a newsboy who swore to the fact
that he heard Col. Cooper say to
Robin half a block away from Brad
ford's Office, well get him. or
.fyyya,J1 ootcb him s-s15-5
There was an optician, who, testi-
fed that he saw the two Coopers
with John Sharp between them going
in direction which would ha. 9 TAX
en- them to the scene Of the tragedy,
and by this testimony Sharp was
connected for the first time publicly
with the action Of his co-defepd-
ants fellow-conspirators. There was
a brother of former Gov. Joseph
Folk, Of Missouri, who told the story
of meeting Col. Cooper within few
steps Of where Carmack was killed
a few minutes afterward, and of see
ing Robin Cooper and John Sharp
talking together at Seventh avenue
and Union street. And it was Folk
who swore that he heard Robin
Cooper say to his father, care you
going up this way?" and the colonel
answered, mo, I'll wait awhile
yet"
There was Edward 3. Craig, for
mer State treasurer Of Tennessee,
who told how Col. Cooper, on Nov
ember Z, declared to him in the
Tulane hotel in this city that if Sen
ator Carmack did not refrain from
using the name of Duncan B.. Copper
in his writings in the Tennessean,
that either he, Cooper or Carmack
would have to die.
Behind all this evidence loomed
the background furnished by the
testimony of Mrs. Charles H. East
man, to which Senator Carmack,
with hat lifted, was about to open
conversation when the Coopers
came upon them. She swore that
she did not believe that Senator Car
mack fired the shot.
She said she saw his pistol catch
as he sought to draw it from his
hip pocket; that the voice Of an old
man-a voice she believed was Col.
Cooper's-was al assault in itself,
when it approached her from behind
and said substantially, well, here
YOU are now" or 81 have the drop
on you." Then she told how Col.
Cooper fred one shot and Robin
two, and of the accusation she made
against them as the slain man lay
in the gutter in his own blood