The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-23

about train schedules on political trips"
 At the time of the shooting. did you know where he lived or boarded?"
 No sir"
 Didn't know where he passed daily?"
 ''No sir"
 Did you aid, abet, counsel, command or procure either of the defendants to kill Senator Carmack?'
 No sir"
 Did you even in thought consent to the killing of the senator?'
 ''I did not, and on the other hand l regretted it very much"
 At this stage court adjourned for lunch con.
 Afternoon Session.
 After the noon recess the direct exam ination of John D. Sharp was resumed. The witness denied specifically ever hav- ing said that Carmack should have been dead and in hell for 20 years" He said he had always opposed Carmack political ly and probably said some hard things about the senator's political methods. He declared that he was able to tell Miss Skeffington what had happened because he had seen it. Whether Miss Skeffington thought he had not seen it, he did not know.
 "Take the witness" said General Meeks" Cross-examination was by General Gar her of Maury county, Carmack's home county. The first questions elicited that Sharp and the Coopers were close friends. The witness declared he never saw the ! revolver Robin Cooper used until the boy was shooting it and had no knowledge of Robin Cooper or Robin Jones want | ing to borrow gun The states theory is that the automatic revolver 4s John Sharp's and three times it has had the number on the gun entered into the record. Sharp said he went out on the cam paign for Governor Patterson and did a great deal of work for him. He said he never had any private conversation with Carmack and never heard him dis cuss the Coopers.
 Why Sharp Turned. Hard fighting forced the witness to say | that when he turned around just as the shooting commenced, he feared there might be serious trouble-rjust how se- rions he did not form an opinion.
 You felt klndier feeling for the l Coopers that afternoon than you did for Senator Carmack, did you not?" "Well, yes"
 Would you have feared any trouble if Colonel Cooper had oot turned back that ! day?"
 That did not occur to me-
 'Then it was the fact that the Coopers | cldnSeQ tnelr course Wnlcn aroused Tn you the fear of troube?" Well. not. that alone.' 'If the Coopers and you had kept on north there would have been no killing at the telephone pole? Not at the pole; no, sir
 You felt so apprehensive of trouble that you broke your promise to go with Colonel Cooper to the governors man. sion and started home. 1 Well, yes."
 Questions Repeated.
 The defendant fought off these ques- tions, but General Garner pounded them and repeated them half dozen times.
 Finally Sharp exclaimed: Well, my impression of trouble was strong enough to make me want to go home thought | first it would be verbal"
 But when you thought it was going to be serious trouble, very serious trouble, you wanted to turn around and see it?" l "No. I did not" | General Garner pressed the witness hard all along the lines of his description of the tragedy forcing some contradictions | because the witness was visibly annoyed and angry
 Those shots were fired very rapidly, were they not?"
 Yes; very rapidly; like this-bang. l bang, bang" l | at once before he fell?" sr
 "No; after the first shot, Carmack ! turned his head around and began to | fall"
 He turned his head around so that Robin could put that ball into the back of his neck on straight line?'
 "No, sir; he just turned little and | began to fall"
 Did Carmack turn his body?' ] tNO. sir. he only turned his head and then fell"
 So he fell with his back to the south east?'
 Somewhat
 Went on Home.
 You saw it all. You saw Carmack | dead and the son of your best friend 1 shot and you went on home?''~> | T started home. l intended to tell my wife what had happened and return l to the scene.'
 But you could not tell your wife, could you for you were too far away i to know exactly?" ! T could tell her there had been | shooting"
 Ut was a cloudy afternoon. was it not?"
 Tt was cloudy at times, but not ex- i tremely cloudy"
 Here is Senator Carmacks revolver, | the one found near the Dody. II IS a dark pistol, yet you say on that cloudy day you saw this pistol at that distance?" T did'
 And you saw Robins pistol, also a i dark one?' "I did
 Closely Pressed. The witness was closely pressed too. about his conversation with Miss Skiffing- ton. He denied very emphatically that he had used the language attributed to him by her, that is that Is Dune. Coop CT shooting Carmack." He said he told her that was shooting between Coop CT and Carmack." He insisted that he had not used the plural, "Coopers" as the stenographer's notes caught it. He admitted that he had not turned back to the scene of the killing until he had met Miss Skeffington who was the only living witness to prove he was not act ually at the scene of the shooting the moment it occurred He next went around down town and stopped at num- Der of places. He denied that he did this to establish an alib
 "You told Frank Davis that you did not know anything about the shoot ing?"
 "No, sir; said I saw it, but that was not talking just then" --- "Why did you, you hadn't been arrest ed or accused, had you?'
 "No slf but I didn't want my tes- tlmony perverted" "You didn't expect to be arrested?"
 It was decided that as the cross-ex- amina tion was to be taken up on differ ent line and it was late, court would