The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-02-27

today. perhaps more interest being mani
tested in the trial today than there has
been on any other day since the trial
begun.
Clements aged father sat in the court
room with his son today, But Clements
wife and his seven children We're not
present
His sister, Mrs. Rufus Luker whom It
is said will testify against her brother,
is still said to be sick at her home near
Woodland Mills and 1t is not known now
whether she will be at the trial or not.
1t is claimed that Clements confessed
to her, telling her the same story as her
husband and son swore yesterday that
Bob Clements told them.
The first witness for the defense was
VIII Clements. who said he was a half
nephew of the defendant. He testified
that Bob Clements was a man of good
character. that he had known Clements
practically all his life, and that he lived
a mile from him. The witness said he
was at Clements house the morning after
the fire and saw no blood about the
place. Three weeks later he was there
again and saw blood. How the blood
came there the witness did not know.
Three days after the fire l assisted Bob
to move and was all around the place
and saw no blood there then" said the
witness. TON Edmondson was a simple
minded man, but he was not easy to get
mad. l saw him a little mad one time.
Tom Edmondsons wife was a free dealer,
she had control of the property. She
objected to Tom making any business
deals without her consent"
On cross-examination this witness said:
'When | went to Bob Clements three
days after the fire I didn't go there to
find any blood I went there to help Bob
move. [ didn't make an examination for
blood on the door facing and other places.
/ didn't see any ashes or pieces of cloth.
l heard that some cloth with blood and
Nuggets on it had been found at Bob's
house, but [ didn't find any and didn't see
any. Tom Edmondson was Il good farm
er, but I don't know whether he knew
how to transact business or not. He was
rather simple. I never heard of any fuss
between Tom Edmondson and his wife
shortly before the killing and the burn
ing
Tom Roden on Stand.
Tom Roden of Valhermoosa Springs was
the next witness. Valhermoosa is not
far from woodland Mills. He testified:
81 was at Bob Clements twice after
the fire. The first time 1 was there all
the blood ] saw was on the front porch.
IlllS lbDhta llhS llOB OlpOh " AiAC. DpO
said he had cut up hog there. About
two weeks later myself and four other
men went to Bob's and found blood on
the outside of the house on the ground
and found something that looked to me
like walnut stains the door casing.
l saw ashes in the fire place at Bob
and we raked them out on the floor and
found a little white looking lime in me
ashes. We found no bloody cloth in the
ashes.
On cross-examination this witness said
he made no examination for blood the
first time he went to Bob Clements. I'VE
found a piece of CLOTH said the witness,
with something on it that looked like
tar to me, but not like blood The state
showed him piece of blood-stained cloth
which had been offered in evidence and
asked him if that was the piece of cloth
he had found or If he had ever seen this
piece of cloth before. He said it was
not the piece of cloth found by him, and
that he had never seen this piece before.
Turney Testifies.
I. B. Turney testified that he lives
about a half mile from the Tom Edmond
son place, and that he was at the fire. He
said before reaching the fire he heard
man and a woman yell and heard a
bell ring in the direction of Tom Edmond
sons house. Said the witness: II helped
Bob Clements to move three days after
the fire and l was all around his place
that day. I saw blood on the front
porch on that day, but saw no blood at
any other place. 1 was told this was
hog blood on the porch, where Bob had
cut up a hog. I saw something on the
door facing, but didn't know what 1t was.
1t didn't look like blood to me. Since
that day / have seen blood or what was
said to be blood, several places around
Bob Clements house; that is where he
lived at the time of the fire. On cross
examination this witness said he didn't
see any blood at the place where Nettie
Clements is said to have been killed, but
he stated that he had made no especial
examination of the place. He said the
place was not far from a road, that he
had been along the road, that tall sedge
grass grew between the road and the
place and around the place where Nettie
is said to have been killed, and that the
spot was not in plain view of the road
He said he saw the fire from distance
when it started and that there was Just
a few seconds between the starting of the
fire in the house and the starting of the
fire in the barn. The house could not
have caught from the barn or vice versa.
There was chicken house between the
house and the barn that was not burned
"The roof of the house was falling in
when | got there" he said. Witness tes-
titled that he was three-quarters of mile
away when he saw the fires start and
that he ran rapidly all the way to the fire.
When he reached there he says John
Dunn, Bob Clements, John Helm and sew
eral others were there.
Blood Stains.
The defendant introduced DIR. M. w.
Murray of New Decatur as an expert
witness on blood stains and the coagula-
ton of blood. DR.. Murray was asked
Doctor, if a girl 10 years old were
stabbed in the chest and neck in the
morning and died from these wounds and
the body left lying on the ground all day
and bled there and soaked in the ground;
and II the body that night was placed in
la building and the building burned and
the body then taken out would there be
enough blood left in the body to soak into
a bed?" He answered. There would not"
On cross-examinaton DR.. Murray testi-
fed that the blood of the human body was
about thirteenth of the weight of the
body. If a girl weighed Go pounds there
would be about five pounds of blood in
her body. He testified that blood exposed
to the air will coagulate in a few minutes
He said body would not bleed after get
ting hot.
The defense also introduced DIR. Will W.
Dinsmore of Decatur for the same pur-
pose and his testimony was practically
the same as that of DIR. Murray
This expert testimony in a measure con-
tradictS the states evidence of tba blood