Lower coast gazette., 1909-07-10
NIGHT RIDERS
GIVEN new TRIAL
JUSTICES SHIELDS AND Meal
ISTER DISSENT.
Majority Of Supreme Court Holds
That Judge Jones Erred in
Drawing Grand Jury.

o~S"oSp ASAH' ouPANhAS Jul
Saturday received the verdict of the
eight Obion county night riders and re.
manded the case to the circuit court Of
Obion county Tor a rehearing. Six OF TIT:
prisoners wer, sentenced to be hangcc.
and two to twenty years in the State
p%enitentiary.
Judges Beard, Bell and Craft agreed on
the opinion, and Judges Shields and Nc.
Alester dissented.
i moment before court opened Ger.
Caldwell, who prosecuted the night rid.
ers, talked of the consequences of a re-
versal.
There was nothing complex in the case,
he said, and he thought the verdict
would be affirmed.
With thirty-two night riders in jail
awaiting the next term of court and
twenty others out on bail, the opinion
was fraught with more consequences
than the saving of six necks.
What he would do in case of a re-
versal was a mystery. All his plans had
been made on the strength of the convic'
ton, land don't know any more what
will do than you," he said.
At that moment the prisoners ap.
peared at the door, leading from the con-
,.1%,%., r,,,> xrh:on >,,oe ,,,o1 tn,n,so rs
the congested condition of the other pas.
sage.
Few people scanning them as a whole
noted the absence of one, but the quick
eye of Caldwell observed it in an instant.
and he said:
arthur Cloar is sick and not there.
They are going to reverse this case, and
if they do it's all over. | don't believe
we can ever get another jury to try
them. This case means more to me than
to any living man."
And to the observer he was more in
tent on the verdict being affirmed than
the prisoners were on securing a reversal
Just at this moment the aged mother
and youthful wife of Sam Applewhite,
who were seated near the prisoners dock,
saw him, and the good old mother folded
her son to her arms and wept awhile on
his shoulder. Finally she was composed
and led away, and then the wife ~re-enact'
ed the scene with as much feeling.
All through the trial the mother gave
no expression of hope, and when Gen,
Caldwell put his head on his hands she
bowed signs Of elation.
The opinion was read through a still
! ness in which the clear voice Of Judge
Craft was heard distinctly in every part
of the room. Hundreds bent forward to
catch every syllable, and the atmosphere
was tense with suppressed excitement
The defendants people, with the excep'
ton of Applewhite's, were not present
but the curious crowd appeared in sym
pathy with the convicted men.
When Judge Craft had finished it wat
necessary to suspend court until the ex
element could subside.
The confusion was in the crowd, TO,
| the prisoners gave no outward sign Of
the inward joy they must have felt.
The mother at least was expected tt
make some demonstration, but she fol
lowed the prisoners to the consultation
room, sad and silently, and ten minutes
later she summoned courage to ask your
correspondent: "Well, what did they
doW When told she uttered "ThanE
God" devoutly several times, and fol
lowed the procession to the Jail.
On the outside of the room the mer
were cheerful, and protested that they
knew it all the time, and all reports from
the Jail affirm their statement.
They have never lost hope, and while
the scene was trying in the extreme
never a muscle of their faces quivered.
There is small reason to doubt thai
| they would have received an adverse de
| cision in the same manner.
Only once they spoke. Garret johnson
and Burton passed a word, but without
any display of feeling.
The men have changed. The prison pal
or is on them, and they have dwindled il
flesh. Confinement has itself been a ter
rible punishment for men who lived close
to nature and are now shut off from thu
sunlight.