The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-16
Great Crowd Hears Clos-
 ing Speech. ARGUMENT OF McCARN
 A BRILLIANT EFFORT Judge Hart Takes Time to Prepare
 Change. Threats Made Against Tennessee At- torney General, Who Laughs At Them-He Is ConGratu.
 lated by Friends.

Nashville, Tenn, March 15-The gen. eral belief that the case would go to the jury today caused the largest crowd yet assembled to try to get in- to the court house for the final soenea of the trial of Colonel D. B. Cooper. Robin Cooper and John D. Sharp, for the murder of former United States Sen. akor k. W. Carmack.
 Some of the curious ones were on tha steps as early as o'clock. But there was another delay.
 After Attorney General McCarn had | closed for the State. Judge Harlan an- nounced that he had not completed the charge. but hoped to have 1t ready some time tomorrow.
 General McCarn spoke only a little | over an hour this morning. but closed | with a burst of eloQuence, a farewell l invocation to Carmack. "Stafesman, diplomat. Christian gentleman and | friend"
 General McCarn's argument is con- sidered to be a remarkably Able and strong one. This Is his first big case. almost the first case he has actually tried since he took the oath of office last September. and his friends were out in force to see how he acquitted himself. At the conclusion of the pro- ceedings. they crowded around him as he sat with his eyes filled with tears. and fairly overwhelmed him with con- Eratulations.
 Mrs. Carmack was in court again to- day, heavily yelled. as usual. When General McCarn reached his peroration. she leaned over and rested her head upon her sisters shoulder. Little Ned CaFmack. Ia N~a ra tr aaf nn hA n one Of the attorneys for the State and listened intentiy te every word that was spoken. When the court adjourned. a number of the Attorney Generals friends sur- l rounded hfsn and assorted him hosns- Some alleged threats that "thts is the day we viii get away with MeCArn. alarmed that officiars intimate friends. but he only laughed at the rumors.
 When Attorney General McCarn re- stunned has closing argument today in the Cooper Sharp trial he yeas in better voice than he was on Saturday. At the time of adjournment" he said. "I had gone over the immediate facts of the tragedy. I had shown you l by physical facts that Senator Carmack had been shot in the back. Don't for get that. He was shot in the back hs was shot from behind, from the back. They ask us for our theory. I | bullet which came out of Carmack's | mouth entered the back. And 1t is no more chivalrous to shoot dead man | in the back than to shoot a live one. That bullet Is the only one that ranged up. two bullets ranged downward. Now you shoot man as he is falling and | the shots do not range upward. No. gentlemen. these defendants are not only assassins of Carmack. but they are l cowardly assa assins of facts. Do not take the doctors word Take the facts. Doctors can tell you the range of pills. but they are not experts on the range of bullets. They tell you Carmaok couldn't do anything after he was shot in the back-do you know think that's why they shot him in the hack-that they had that in mind when they shot him from behind? Counsel tell you that you are not trying ordinary criminals, that these are men of distinguished ancestry. Well. when men in pairs hunt another man. approach him from beh ind and kill him, then it's time for some of the ] descendants. the tail Of the ancestors. to be cut off.
 Had Break of Meeks.
 They have pleaded justification. Yes. they have. e. Judge Anderson. in hia splendid speech the other day, tried to explain away General Meeks's state I apply. But If General Meeks didn't mean 1t. why dld he follow 1t with the significant statement, The streets of | our city have run red before with the blood of men who used other mems names unjustly In newspapersT Judge Anderson explained mighty cleverly. but the facts are against him.
 General McCarn briefly recounted the cireumstances of the meeting on Sev- enth Avenue and declared that the Coopers committed an overt act. He doubted if the edefendants told the truth. He asked If they could see Car mack 400 feet away and didn't see | Carey Folk ten feet away, what con- struction could be put upon 1t, except that they were looking for Carmack. He deplored the length of the trial and blamed the lawyers.
 You could have learned the truth of this case. gentlemen. in one day. But l when you get twenty of the cleverest lawyers in the South they can make blood look like snow. They muddy the | water and they search . for a doubt. l That's what they want, gentlemen, a doubt And they refer to politics and try to stir up prejudice in the hearts of those of you who were opposed to Carmack politically
 McCarn complimented the jury for
 
 clared they would not disgrace their names and their families by letting l prejudice come into the case.
 The law on reasonable doubt Is a good law. If you have a doubt of their guilt. tell you as the counsel on the 1 other side have. to turn these men loose But If you believe that 1t Is against the law of Tennessee to go up behind a man and kill him because he 1 wrote the bantering editorials, then ask you to say so by your verdict. But they say he didn't shoot Carmack-the | Colonel didn't. But he took his son along to do 1t and the son was a will ling tool. There hassbeen a lot of talk about the boy Why. gentlemen, he Is a lawyer. 27 years old. and has ! earned big fees. He Is no child He was raised in luxury and Is learned in the law. Three bullets in his body, gentle men One in the back. two through the side. not one from the front. They say these bullets stopped in Carmack's body. They pierced that poor widows