The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-26
CLEMENTS NEPHEW ON WITNESS STAND Swears That Uncle Admitted EdmOndSOn Murder MOST DAMAGING STORY He Says His Uncle Paid Him 20 Gents to Say Nothing About the Killing.
 Other Witnesses Put on
 the Stand.
MOST DAMAGING STORY
By WILL w. NELSON.

By WILL w. NELSON.
 Decatur, February 25-(Special. )-"Uncle Bob Clements told me that he had killed all of the Edmondsons and had put them In the house and would set fire to the house that night and burn them up, and he gave me 70 cents not to tell This was the uncontradicted evidence of Gill bert Luker, 13-year-old son of Rufus Luker, and the son of Bob Clements sis ter
 The defendants attorneys placed the boy under a hot fire of questions on cross examination, but they failed to shake his evidence.
 Uncle Bob told me the whole Edmond son family got after him. and he had to kill them or they would have killed him, and then his children would stare to death. He said Edmondson had knife and the rest of the family had sticks and harrow teeth after him.
 ''I asked Uncle Bob where Nettie was, and he said she was then lying in the field dead. He said she was high strung and that she liked to have gotten away from him, on the night of the fire." said the boy T told mama, father and sister what Uncle Bob had told me-
 Rufus Luker, father of Gilbert Luker, testified practically to the facts, as did his son. He had been accused of an in tention to claim the reward offered for y, but on the witness stand this afternoon he denied telling any one he would claim the reward, and said he would not claim it. The defendant made a strong attempt to break down the witness but it was a failure, and thus far the evidence of these two witnesses Is before the jury unim- peached.
 Dr. T. J. Russell testified to examining the bodies found and to seeing blood near the graveyard. He identified knife as that of Tom Edmondsons which was found at the place of the crime.
 J. L. Guier testified he got to the fire early and Bob Clements was there when he arrived. The defense announced that it's theory is that Tom Edmondson com- mitted the crime himself and had fled and was still at large.
 a The State Rests.
 The state rested tonight at 9:2O o'clock The defendants witnesses will go on the stand at S:45 tomorrow morning. EVi- dence of a sensational nature is expected to be offered in rebuttal by the state later.
 Among the lawyers it is the general opinion tonight that the state has made out strong case. The evidence of Rufus Luker and his son thus far stands uncon- tradicted, and is the most damaging evil dence offered against the defendant
 The first witness examined at the ses- sion tonight was John F. Lenox, who tes- tif1ed that he. and others went to Clem- ents house and found ashes on the floor and some thrown out of the window Among these ashes pieces of burnt cloth were found. Flies had blown the cloth Blood was also found on the cloth locket was found near the place where Nettie Edmondson Is supposed to have been killed. The locket was identified by Miss Nola Edmondson as belonging to Nettie Edmondson. her cousin.
 John Dunn testified to the pieceg of bloody cloth, blood stains about Clem- ents' house and testified to finding a bloody thumb print on Bob Clements front door. J. W. Bell testified to the identity of Nettie Edmondsons body; that day before the night of the murder Tom Edmondson and Bob Clements stopped at his home; that Edmondson wanted to borrow a harrow, and said he would call TOT It next morning, but he never came. ana he had never seen Edmondson since.
 Crowd Is Large.
 Perhaps the largest crowd that ever as- sembled in the Morgan county court house was the one in attendance today
 BOD Clements sat in the court room today cool and collected He wore A new suit of black store" clothes Around him sat his wife and their seven small children, the oldest a girl. about lO years of age. His aged father was also with him and held 2-vear-oId child on his lap. The child slept quiet ly all morning. The mother held a babe or but a few weeks old. The mother seems to be confident that her husband will be acquitted; her face speaks as much. An older child, a boy. sat for some hours today on his fathers lap.
 When Judge Thomas ". Vert opened court this morning promptly at $40 o'clock the defendant again offered sey eral pleas in abatement touching on the irregularity of the manner in which the grand jury was organized. These pleas were overruled and the trial of the case was commenced by the introduction of evidence by the state.
 First Witness.
 The first witness was Edward J Ed mondson, a brother of Tom Edmondson. He testified that Nettie Edmondson daughter of Tom Edmondson. was about F years of age and that she came to her death on the night of November 2b, 1905 He saw her dead body on the morning of November 26, the day after the killing and the fire The body was lying on chicken house, where some- one had placed it. Before this he had not seen her for a few days. when she was alive. There was a knife wound in the right side of the body and a knife cut on the lower part of the neck One leg and all of the right arm and a portion of the left arm was missing. A portion of the head and the right side of the face was gone. q could rec ognize her by her face, teeth and chin. Ghe had two broad upper teeth and tbev sat twisting, said the witness Her clothing was all gone when I saw her" On cross-examination he testified that he lived about a mile from his brother | Toms house. that he was at home the | night of the fire aHd saw the fire from his house, but could not tell whether it l was his brother Toms house or a house | that belonged to the witness that was l on fire He did not go to the fire !!