The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-23
The State Presents Its
 Case. DOCTORS SAY SHOT
 CAME FROM THE REAR Ex-Policeman's Bloody Clothes Sub mitted as Evidence. It is Shown That Bad Blood Had Ex- htea Between Two Men, as the Result of Previous
 Quarrel.

Marked by squabbles and displays of temper. between the attorneys of de- fense and prosecution. the case of Ell Parker. who Is charged with the mur- der of T. J. Swearingen in the West End. on Dec. 2S. is being tried in the City Court. before Judge Brown.
 The case was called early Monday morning. and work in selecting the jury was begun. One hundred venire- men had been summoned. and the list was more than half exhausted, when the twelve men had been finally select ed. Twenty-eight of the veniremen disqualified themselves by pleading fixed opinion," or disbelief in capital punishment, or in the infallibility of circumstantial evidence Six were challenged by the State. and eleven by the defense.
 The jury as selected is:
 John R. Ryan, John J. Flowers, W. T. Webster. w. H. Myers. Montrose Hyatt. M. F. Flynn. L. J. Chambliss. L. W. Pierce, Joe Livingston. A. J. Hudgins. Temple Bowling. and R. A. Belser. The twelve men make up prob- ably the youngest jury which ever sat upon an important capital case in Montgomery County.
 The evidence was taken up after the noon recess, at 3:30 o'clock. Mrs. Swearingen, the widow of the dead man, was the first on the stand, a slender woman. neatly attired in black. Her evidence was merely that of the death of her husband.
 Mrs. Swearingen. with her little son In her lap, sat in the court room duff ing the days scissor. Across the room sat Parker. the prisoner. with his wife and four of his children, by his side. There was no emotion dis played by any Of the relations during the trial of the first day.
 The clothes worn by Swearingen on the day of his death, from overcoat to underclothes. were offered in evidence by the prosecution. The clothes were blood-stained, those which lay nearest the body being caked with the dark, dried blood,
 The pistol and scabbard of Swearin- gen, with the leather of the latter per- forated with shots, were also offered in evidence. as was carefully drawn diagram of the scene of the accident, which had been prepared by the inves- tigating attorneys.
 The contention of the prosecution is that Swearingen was shot in the back. to thwart the self-defense theory, which will be propounded by the de-. fendant's attorneys. ..--
 Shot from the Rear. Two physicians, Dr. Wilkinson and pr. Blue. who conducted a post-mortem examination of the body, testified that much of the shot from the gun of Parker entered apparently from be- hind, penetrating upward and forward. There were two charges of the gun to strike the dead man. both being of B. B. shot. Twenty-six of the shots entered his side, and thirty perfora- tions were found in his neck and shoul- ders, according to the physicians.
 J. A. Duke, a policemen of Mont eofnery and brother-in-law of Swearingen. was on the stand. identi- flying the clothes of his dead kins- man. Mrs. Cannon. an eyewitness to the shooting; Mrs. c. E. Thomas of Prattville, who also saw the occur renee as she and her husband drove along Bell Street, and J. B. Clements, a constable, were other witnesses ex- emined.
 During the examination of MT. Clem- ents, an occurrence ensued which en- livened the court room for awhile. The attorney for the defense piled the wit ness with close questions. To one of the queries, which Clements took as a reflection upon the truth of his state- ments, he flared up.
 You are putting your questions too far" he retorted. hotly
 Judge Brown interceded for the or der and etiquette of the court room.
 b6IWeeu LlG dlbohhCy ACA tAc PAoSC~ tion and the attorney for the defense, frequent verbal conflicts occurred dur ing the examination of the witnesses, and the intercession and admonition of Judge Brown was necessary more than once.
 Recess was taken at o'clock until this morning, when the case will again be taken up. It will probably go to the jury this afternoon, though late.
 The death of Swearingen has become local history. On the early morning of December 28, he was shot and killed by Parker, after a previous quarrel between the two on Christmas Eve. Ill-feeling had resulted. it was said. from Parkers testimony. derogatory to Swearingen. from the witness stand in a case in which the latter was charged with manslaughter.
 The defendants attorneys entered a plea of self-defense, claiming that Parker was threatened by Swearingen before he shot.
 Swearingen was well-known in Montgomery. having at one time, and not long before his death. been a po- NcAman of the city.