The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-03
SORSBY MURDER
 CASE ON TRIAL Courtroom At Jackson Is Crowded With Spectators INSANITY PLEA TO BE MADE Able Attorneys Have Been Employed By Both State ard Defense4 and the Case Will Be Bit ;. terly Fought. LaJ
INSANITY PLEA TO BE MADE

Jackson Miss, April 2.-(specialD-Th trial of Will Sorsby for the sensational murder of Charles Fitzgerald, 20 years postoffice inspector and one of the most popular government employees In the south, was begun today, but when Judge Potter adjourned court tonight, not a single juryman had been accepted by state or defense.
 Several times Sheriff Harding filled the panel, but the majority of those called failed to qualify and were excused by the court.
 The panel was rendered the state by 8 o'clock and was taken in hand by Dis trict Attorney McNeill who put each member through as severe a course of questioning as was ever heard in any court room.
 At the conclusion MT. McNeill and the other attorneys for the state retired for consultation to decide on who and how many to challenge, and court adjourned before their return. Sorsby, the defend- ant, sat inside the railing, his wife on one side, his mother on the other.
 In front of the Sorsby party sat the daughter of Charles Fitzgerald accom- panied by her uncle. E. A. Fitzgerald of  the Vicksburg Herald.
 As evidence of the great interest that is manifested in the case, the large court room was crowded to suffocation. Two hundred, or thereabouts, of those pres ent were members of the special venire summoned since Monday night. These 200 mn come from all over the county. and some of them are from the fartherest
 41.. at..x l,o1o ofx rod that Judge Potter will succeed in se- curing jury from this venire, in which case another will be summoned.
 Because of the prominence of the prn- cipals to this killing, as we'll as the ab- sence of any motive save spite or revenge against Fitzgerald, who had checked Sors- by up several hundred dollars short in his accounts with the government, and his refusal to agree to make no report of the shortage to the postoffice department, interest is intense. and hundreds of the leading citizens of Clinton, the little col lege town where the killing occurred, as well as of the city of Jackson, the home of Fitzgerald and family, were on hand this morning to catch every word of the proceedings, though they have been pure- ly of preliminary character.
 It Is generally understood that the de- fense will be insanity, inherited by the defendant from his mothers side of the house, and experts on such brain weak nesses have been employed for the de- fense to testify in the case.
 Able attorneys have been employed for the defense as well for the state, and every inch of ground will be fought to minute finish. The attorneys for Sorsby are Williamson & Wells, Watkins & Watkins and Lamar Eastering, all of fl.n foremost criminal lawyers of the state The state is represented by District Attor> ney McNeill R. N. Miller of Hazelhurst, and Jack Thompson of this city MT. Miller arrived in the city yesterday and announced himself as ready for the fray. He has more criminal victories to his credit than any lawyer in the state, per haps, and for several years has been on one side or the other of every important trial that has come up fin this section. It is understood that the United States gov ernment has assisted in the employment of MT. Miller, but that is not known for certain. 1t is known, however, that the government Is taking a very great interest in the case, Mir Fitzgerald having been one of the oldest and most competent men in the employ of the postoffice depart ment
 But Sorsby is by no means friendless. His family is one of the most prominent fin the county of Hinds, and Is large one, having relatives of greater or lesser degree in every neighborhood. Around the town of Clinton the majority of the people are said to be friends and sympa- thfzers of Sorsby. This is largely on ac- count of his young wife, barely more than a girl, and the daughter of Mrs. Judge Cabaniss, the widow of man who was for many years a tower of strength In his community. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Cabaniss has been post master of the town, and for some years Sorsby has been her deputy. and in charge of the office most of the time. He is a young man of perhaps 2S years of age. the friend of all the younger e1e- ment of his town and of the surrounding country. His popularity was shown in his success in lodging the scores of sleuths of the law who hunted and hound-