The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-03-05
BROWN AND BRADFORD TELL
STORY OF GARMAGK MURDER
,c,au.sasd from FIRST Page

+ pavement he heard two shots AMI turn
ed his head He saw Senator Car
mack in the position described, turned
+ his head and walked away down the
path fast. He heard two or three
more shots just after he started walk
ing.
/ Really Ludierous.
! That Was his story, as told on d.
rect examination. On cross-examina-
ton his ignorance was profound. and
his efforts 10 escape the searching
questions of Mr. Garner were ludi-
lcrous,
He was asked as 10 what kind OF a
pistol it ives that Senator Carmack
/ showed him. whether it was bright or
dark. He first thought it was bright.
Later he opined that il was dark.
! Then he said it was. the color OF iron
or polished steel" He was asked as
/ TO the color of polished steel, and dis
closed the fact that he had never seen
ANY that he remembered. He was
asked why it was that he had said the
pistol was the color of polished steel,
and when pressed for an answer, adj
mitted that it was because he sup
posed it was polished and was steel.
/ After seeing the pistol he crossed
the street He never saw anybody
else on the street, in spite OF the fact
that the actors in the tragedy were
conyerging to the spot of the murder,
crossing the street directly above him.
/ but he did see a negro man standing
at the end of the path running from
! Seventh avenue to Union street across
the vacant lot. He never saw any
body else of all those who were on the
street round about him, but he saw
the negro man, and his vision Of this
man caused him much trouble. He
! located him first near Union street.
Later he located him third of the
way from Vine street to Union. Final
| ", when Gen. Garner carelessly drew
the pointer across the chart and
showed him that he could not have
seen the man at that point on account
of the corner of a dwelling he moved
him again to point six or eight
isteps from Vine street.
! Most Remarkable.
! But taking it all in all, the most
remarkable feature of his testimony
was what he saw when he heard the
two shots and looked across at Sen
ator Carmack. On cross-eXamination,
after stating the position of Senator
Carmack just as he had on direct ex-
animation. he added that he had his
] left hand up on the post Further
questioning along this line revealed
the fact that he supposed it was his
, left hand A little more questioning
showed that he didn't know whose
hand it was. He had. at first, stated
that Senator Carmack's right side was
towards him. Later he didn't know
where his right hand was, nor what
he was doing with it.
Being. pressed closely to find out
whether or not he saw anyone else he
admitted that there were several par
ties moving around promiscuous' on
the other side of the posts from Sena-
tor Carmack, including lady who was
jumping to the south. 1t was m
possible to induce him to-. locate the
others more definitely, beyond stating
that they were on the north, east, west.
and south and were 'promiscuous.'
In fact he wasn't positive where they
were. He didn't see anything but
Senator Carmack and the woman and
the "promiscuous' parties.
He explained this indefiniteness of
vision by stating that he heard the
shots and Immediately, with merely a
glance, he turned and walked on, and
never looked around even when he
heard the other shots. He continued
to walk on and met the movable color
ed man, who asked him what was the
matter. The witness answered, Sen
ator Carmack is in some kind Of a
woman trouble" basing his statement
on the sight of the woman there. The
negro asked who Senator Carmack
was, and he told him that he used to
be senator from this state.
No Curiosity.
His curiosity was not powerful
enought to cause him to pause and find
out what had happened to United
States Senator, and he kept going. He
went home that night and told his
family that Senator Carmack had been
in shooting, and 1t was not till next
that he learned from his
daughter that Senator Carmack had
been killed. And at that time he ex-
pressed surprise at his death.