The Sentinel=record., 1910-02-04
MEMPHIAN APPEALS TO SUPREME COURT IN BEHALF OF THE
 cooPERs FOR RETRIAL
Eloquence and Force of Argument That Startles Counsel for tho State-Case Is Now with
 the Courts.

| Colonel Duncan B. and Robin Cooper must serve twenty years for the slay- | ing of former United States Senator F. w. Carmack and whether they will get new trial, now rests with the l five stately and dignified justices of the supreme court of the state of Tennessee
 The arguments in the motion for a rehearing were concluded today and the question rests with the courts. After that there is but one hope for l the Coopers, in case of adverse de- cision-Governor M. R. Patterson, who
 is their close friend.
 General Luke E. Wright closed the case with an argument for the de fense. which in brilliancy, daring and eloquence has seldom been equalled
 T am not here in the capacity of a paid attorney" he said with much feeling as he concluded.
 T am here because I have known, ! loved and respected the ma nwho has been made the principal in this caso and because I loved his son. am here because this man and this boy | have been wrongly pointed out the | world as cold-blooded assassins am here because believe in my heart that most cruel injustice has been done Colonel Cooper and his son Rob
 in.
 | 'I am here not to denounee Sena l tor Carmack l admired him as q | great statesman and a great editor
 believe in the old adage, 6Speak only ] good of the dead God knows there
 is so much of fault and error in all
 of us that it should be permitted to f sleep with our ashes.
 But we owe duty to the living too. I believe your honors, in all charity, that the talented Carmack de- liberately set in motion the chain of | events which ended in his own un- timely death. And I believe that even his own legion of friends no more re gret his tragic end than do the two men l represent
 And 1 will go further probably l, or even your honors. might under sim 1 liar circumstances have readily imag- ined that We were in the same deadly danger as Senator Carmack imagined threatened him on that fatal Novem- Der afternon and yet, conceding all tLis. and with the gentlest charity and sorrow for the dead l submit the | case on the record of the testimony, | believing that it shows that the whole
 ragic affair was the result of tragic
 Misunderstanding.
 General Wright today startled even
 the states attorney by frank admis- sions
 He said that Colonel Cooper lies; his head, used imprudent language
 and said things he should not have said But he argued that garmack | forced the issue. He derided the idea
 advanced by the state that if Cooper
 threatened If my name appears in l the Tennesseean again, one or the other of us must die.n there was no alternative for Carmacl1 except to print it again.
 I They say that CarmaclS was a Ten. 1 Eesseean,n said Wright, and that nc | Tennesseean could live in the state after submitting to such threat
 There's d lot of idiotic drivel releas- ed in such cases. They talk of Ten nesseeans and southern men Well what are they? They are American | citizens and American citizens arc pretty much the same wherever they
 are found.
 l But Carmack was a disappointed
 and embittered man. What does ht 1 say when he gets this message Does he try to avoid the issue? No your honors, he shouts: Then ther,
 is nothing for me to do but to us
 his name tomorrow
 Not next week or next month. bu
 tonserrow. And he did use it the nex
 day, hurling defiance at an dread angered, and justly angered man. H forced the issue and brought on tn difficulty that ended in his death"
 The states theory of consplrac
 was next considered by Genera 1 Wright
 General Wright finally took tn
 proposition of law, saying that eve
 if the preponderance of evidence di
 not justify a reversal. the errors i
 the charge surely would. And her
 the general furnished another surpris
 Fo the state. In excepting to tn
 chage to the jury, he said:
 "The trial judge limited the rigf
 of self-defense He told the jury
 the CoOpers went acroec fhe ctra.