Evening star., 1909-03-14

Next we find the editorial of October
%. which attacks the machine and 1t does
not mention Col. Cooper's name. But he
got mad
Then comes the editorial of November
8. Across the Muddy Chasm'-the recon-
ciliation of Cox and Patterson. Gentle
men. at the instant Carmack was falling
dead Gov. Cox and Gov. Patterson were
in intimate conversation not 500 feet
aWay And this fact shows that the edi-
torial was true and that Cooper knew 1t
was so.
I'VE have heard a good deal Of talk
about the failure to send the note. When
a man says If you do a certain thing one
of you must die. and you do 1t, you do not
need to wait for a note, do you?
There has been contention here that
Carmack DETAINED Cooper. Why. gentle
men. Carmack knew that Cooper de-
faulted and embezzled as master in chan
Gerry years before. If he had wanted to
defame Cooper. why could he not have
printed these facts?
Referring to the states failure to put
Mrs. Burch on the stand, McCarn said
the state had proved what it wanted to
by Mrs Burch'S maid. He added:
But promise you that if she had gone
on | would never have referred to her
story as a cock and bull story Yet my
Mrs Eastman if she shot any one that
day. And he prates Of southern chivalry!
Cooper Able to Shoot.
Counsel has described how crippled
the old colonel was and how he couldn't
shoot. But the colonel did not say he
couldn't shoot. He didn't tell Robin he
couldn't shoot. He pulled gun and
said: I have this to defend me-
as a matter of fact. gentlemen, he
could shoot Look. here is his pistol.
turn my two fingers under as his We're.
and see how easily and rapidly I can
shoot with the thumb and first and sec
ond fingers
Gen. McCarn launched into an eloquent
defense of Miss Lee.
'"They say they took Col. Cooper down
to Bradfords office to cool off. Why, gen.
tlemen, you might as well talk of turn
ing Vesuvius upside down in hell to cool
off. They took him to Bradfords office
to cool off! The Office Of the man who
said he could have killed Carmack with
as little remorse' as he would kill rat
tlesnake.
said this. and they attack Miss Lee. And
she sacrificed her home. her position. her
mothers living to tell the truth He de-
Tended the little newsboy. Johnny Tin
dali, and claimed the boy was corrob-
Grated in his statement that he heard Col.
Cooper say: We will get him. by Col.
Cooper himself.
"Of course, they did not want to meet
Carmack on Church street; there would
have been fifty witnesses there and they
only needed one. So they decided to so
up Union street to 1th avenue.
"They say 1t was cruel oeE<ecution to
have John Sharp indicted. DO you think
1t is pleasant for me to stand here and
ask you to convict Of murder in the first
degree the brother of the clerk of this
court, who has been my friend for years?
John Sharp's Culpability.
T,I,, toll oil a
purpose-to witness that killing. And he
self in a position where he couldn't see
it,
'Why. / know John Sharp we'll enough
to know that if he had been there hon
estly or accidentally he would have done
what you would do or l would do. He
would have run back, not walk. to where
Carmack was lying. Why, his friend had
been shot and his other friend was in
trouble.
But he was confused by his guilt.
When Miss Skeffhgton suddenly con-
fronted him and asked what it was. he
blurted out the truth: 1T is Dune Cooper
shooting Carmack.
He refused to tell any one what he
knew. refused to describe the tragedy. Is
that the act Of an innocent man? No. it
is the act Of defendant after he has
been instructed by clever attorney.
"These facts here show beyond rea-
sonable doubt that Sharp was an acces-
sorry before the fact
Tragedy L. Enacted.
Gen. McCarn placed two rolls of wire
fence on the floor to represent the tele-
phone poles and demonstrated to the jury
how the defendants say the shooting took
place. This story, he claimed, was con-
tradicted absolutely by the physical facts.
He called Garner over to assume the
position that Robin says Carmack took.
He showed that the two wounds through
the heart were downward. The defense
claims they were inflicted first. McCarn
argued that they could not have been,
that they were inflicted when Carmack
was falling, as they ranged so directly
downward. Then he had Garner turn his
head to demonstrate that third shot
fired by Robin after the two bullets near
the heart could not have passed into the
back Of Carmacks neck through the
spinal cord.
Robin Cooper never came west of these
posts" said McCarn. He came In from
the rear while, his father attracted Car
macks attention. If he had come in as
he says he did Mrs. Eastman would have
seen him. for he would have passed di-
rectly in her line of vision.
IL do not know how 1t was done. but l
believe this twenty-seven-year-o r-old boy. a
graduate of law. nine years in the office
of the biggest lawyer in the state. with
beautiful sisters and tender foster
mother and thousand years of blue
blood and breeding. with ancestor
standing in front of him. deliberately
shot man in the back OF the neck and
shot him again as he fell That is what
breeding does for a man.
McCarn then used Garner I'm a demon
stration OF what the state claims would
have happened had the bullet struck
Carmack in the back Of tho neck as ne
| fell. The bullets course, lie said would
| be through the head and not straight
through the neck and out under the
tongue. the course the bullet took. The
| position of Carmack's body after he fell
McCarn argued precluded the theory
| that he turned around SO as to be shot
| in the manner claimed by the defense.
Pistol Put in Overcoat.
and We know of that scabbard. too.
| for we went up twice and searched for
| 1t, but we could not find It, and we did
not find it until it was drawn out on the
stand. Somebody else knew about it, the
Coopers and John Sharp knew of 1t. Why
shouldn't they? They are not ordinary
prisoners. They do not have to stay in
cells. They talk to their friends at any
time without an officers presence, con-
| trary to the laws of Tennessee.
THE scabbard, We think. was left in
Carmacks' hip pocket I'm his trousers. But
Binning put the revolver in Carmacks s
overcoat pocket, gentlemen
Gen. McCarn described how Col. Cooper
had called his daughter. Mrs. Burch, and
| said:
It's all over. Robin has killed Car
mack"