Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1909-03-10
UNWR|TTEN
LAW IS
INVOKED
PLEA OF GENERAL MEEKs IN
DEFENSE OF CooPERs AND
sHARP-ELOQUENT PLEA FOR
OLD VETERAN OF THE GRAY
GENERAL GARNER SPEAKING
FOR THE STATE THIS AFTER.
NOON.

| Nashville. Tenn, March 1O.--Per-
haps the largest crowd since the
| trial begun was In attendance thus
mornlns I. near General Job Gar
ner speak for the state In the trial
OF the Coopers aud Sharp FOR the
murder of former Senator Carmack
The crowd was SO great that 1t was
exceedlnginly difficult for the ball
AM TO get General Garner through
the crowd and into the court room.
Nothing of interest happened this
morning. Garner via start his
speech this afternoon.
The unwrtten law was extended
yesterday to cover editors who ATTACK
private or public men, by General
Meeks Of council for the defense In
the Cooper-Sharp trial for the muir
der of United States Senator e. w.
Carmack.
The sensation was sprung during
General Meeks speech to the jury
Previously he had expressly dig
CLAIMED the belief that any editorial
attack Justified killing the writer
But when warmed up 10 his subject,
with burst OF eioquence he said:
THE ONLY RECOURSE
You talk of the liberty of the
press. Why, gentlemen. no man
lives who believes more 2rnly In
the liberty Of the press than / do.
But when a man In an editorial po-
sition turns the liberty of the press
into license, and undertakes to de-
fame and dehle you and your family
what are you going to do? The pros
ecution Will tell you you have your
recourse In the courts. Yes, and
you get Judgment for $l25,O 600
against a man not worth the price o!
plug OF tobacco. Is that satisfac.
tionR ooh, gentlemen, ] tel YOU
that the streets OF this, our city
have run red before with the blood
of men who Improperly used other
mems names I'm public prints"
General Meeks devoted FIVE hours
to the speech. He painted the de-
Gendants as the finest types of
southern aristocracy and breeding
declared no crime had been commit
ted when Senator Carnack was shot
to death and c'osed with a dnamat-
ic appeal to the jury to turn loose
this gallant oil soldier" Colonel
Cooper.
General Meeks began by saying
that Colonel Cooper was shameful
~ treated by Captain Fitzhugh.
lie accused him." said Meeks, "of
not paying hl5 debts. They tried to
make you believe that he embezzled
funds as clerk and master OF chan
Gerry. What has that got to do with
the killing OF Carmack?"
THE state has charged" said
General Meeks, that the defendants
knew the route that Senator Car.
mack daily followed, and the time
that he left for his apartments. Now.
how could the defendants know this
time or route? Senator Carr1ack'g
own stenographer sadd she did not
know where Senator Carmack lived.
AS to the Carmack Editorials. Gen
eral Meeks said:
When man sits as Carmack did |
behi1d the editorial counter of
paper and write. day after day, ed
borials that ATTACK and assault
man who is not himself I'm an edfto
rial position, he becomes Insulting
and there IS no greater insult pos f.
BILE"
The attorneys next went into tn
incident Of the pistol scabbard found
IN Senator Carmacks overcoat peck
ct, and denounced the states attor-
ueys for insinuating that the coun-
el for the defense planted" the
scabbard there. He said the state
knew hat Major Ve1.rees loaned
Senator Carmack the revolver with
the scabbard on Il.
I'VE have proven" he went on
that the meeting Of the parties wa
purely and undoubtedly an acciden-
tai encounter. We hold that the
guilt or innocence of these defend
ants must RESI- upon the state OF
mind they were in at the time the
meeting took place"
That note was TO be the dccia-
ration Of war, and until that note
was sent by Cooper and received by
Senator Carmack, Cooper understood
and Carmack understood, that there
was to be no trouble, and that note
was never sent"
you are not trying common
tnieve5 or murderers now, gentle
men. You are trying men who came