Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-11
SAYS COOPER
WOUNDED SON
STATE MAKES UNEXPECTED
PLEA AT NASHVILLE
ATTORNEY DECLARES cARMAck
FIRED WILDLY
Gen. Garner in Argument to Jury
Insists Former Senator Could
Not Have Shot
Youth
tBy Associated Press.l

[By Associated Press.
NASHVILLE, Tenn, March TO-
eve contend that Col. D. B. Cooper
fired the shot which wounded his son
and that Senator Carmack, if he fired
at ALL fired wildly"
Attorney General Garner made this
announcement today in the arguments
of the trial of the Coopers and Sharpe,
changed with having murdered e. w.
Carmack.
Gen. Garner declared that it would
have been a physical impossibllity Tor
Carmack to shoot Robin, as the Coop
ers swear he did. The reasonable so
luton of the problem, he said, was that
Col Cooper opened fire on Carmack,
as Mrs. Eastman believed he did, and
that a bullet from his pistol struck
the telephone post, was detected and
entered Robins shoulder He contend
ed that this theory was corroborated
by the course of the bullet, which peil-
etrated the flesh only an inch and
half and failed to strike a bone.
Mrs. Carmack Faints
The proceedings were interrupted by
the sudden fainting of Mrs. Carnack.
1t became evident from the argu-
ment of Gen. Washington of the de-
fense, who followed Gen. Garner, that
upon a plea of justification as well as
on the plea of self-defense.
So dense was the throng inside the
bar today that Judge Hart could not
reach the bench from his chambers
until two husky deputies pushed open
a narrow path. Attorney General Gar
ner began his argument for the, state
Immediately after court opened
He said:
Il say that NJ. H. Meeks falsihed
the records when he told you that
Senator Carmaok called Col Cooper
a dive keeper. 1t was a cruel and n
monstrous Misrepresentation.
"If you, gentlemen of the defense,
have not enough evidence to bring
verdict of acquittal then do not be
detected in the act of falsifying and
deceiving the jury.
Murder Not Justified
mo matter what Senator Carmack
said on the stump or wrote in the Ten
neeseean about Col. Cooper, there was
no justification for murder.
General Meeks says that murder
for the editorials is justifiable. He, a
lawyer, applies the 'unwritten law to
editors.
"They say that Senator Carmack ac-
cused Colonel Cooper of having recon-
ciled Governor Cox and Governor Pat
terson. And there was not word to
show that this reconciliation was i'm
proper or that it was degrading to have
effected it. Yet they consider it JUS
tification for murder.
"If so, what in the name of God
should be the punishment meted out
to John Sharpe and Robin Cooper for
the vile epithets to Senator Carmack?
Colonel Cooper's own son believed
his father was in a homicidal mood. He
went on the streets and searched for
him.
"All these men who have come here
to testify that they were hurrying
saulting Colonel Cooper tell you their
efforts were directed at soothing Colo
mel Cooper. Not a word to Carmack,
not an attempt to restrain him. Why?
Because they knew that the only man
who was the only one likely to cause
trouble was Colonel Cooper.
Evidence Shows Guilt
1.-THE evidence of the three defend
ants in this case, gentlemen, shows that
they are guilty just as completely and
as surely as does the evidence of Mrs.
Eastman"
Coming to the actual shooting, he
said
"They say now that Carmacl1 at once
drew a gun. Cooper says so; Robin
Cooper corroborates him. John Sharpe,
who sees it all, says that it is not true.
that Robin drew a pistol and that Car
mack did not draw his revolver until
he got to the poles.
But if Senator Carmack drew a gun.
why did he not shoot? What does a
man draw a gun for except to shoot?
Yet they would have you believe that
Carmack waited until Robin, who says
he was paralyZed for an instant,
jumped between Carmack and his ia
ther.
Senator Carmack was shot twice
the heart and once through
the spinal column, either one of which
would prove fatal
"Gentlemen, / see in the location of
these wounds the accusing finger of
God, making it impossible that justice
should miscarry or that the guilty
escape"