The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-19
CLOSES CASE
 IN GILBERT TRIAL Dr. Vim Says All Men Are
 Partially Insane MRS. SARGENT TALKS Court Room Crowded By Spectators Eager To Hear Evidence in Shoot ing of Pretty Willie Graham.
 Employees Strike


 of Willie Graham, pretty young shop girl, last August, in this city.
 The case of Gilbert Is the first in which the insanity plea has been attempted to any great extent in this city, and in this instance 1t Is the main reliance of the at- torncys for the defense, who claim that Gilbert suffered insanity as a result of protracted intoxication and breeding over the alleged infldelity of his sweetheart. while he Is further subject to insanity by reason of heredity and impairment of mental and physical condition by the rav ages of venereal disease.
 To sustain these allegations, four med ical experts had been placed on the stand
 up to the time of noon today. pr. A. N.
 Steele testified yesterday. and pr. W. Y. White was placed on the stand yesterday evening. This morning Dr. T. J. Brothers and Dr. L. M. Vim were examined and | cross-examined on the stand in regard to
 hereditary insanity the effect of intoxi- cants and venereal diseases on insanity. | The star witness was pr. Vim, who | declared that all men are partially in- sane, though he admitted under a rigid cross ss-examination by Solicitor W. c. Tun- stall that he has seen a sane man, and when he was apparently embarrassed | under the solicitors fire he frequently asked permission from the court to ex- 1 plain his statements He further stated
 that 20 per cent of all cases of insanity
 are due to venereal diseases.
 | To substantiate the allegation of heredi- | tary insanity the mother of the defend
 ant, Mrs Sargent, was placed on the stand this morning. She admitted that
 she had been in the asylum that a sis
 ter has also been adjudged insane, and
 that niece died of idiocy. She further
 told of injuries received by her son in
 early youth and stated that he has been
 addicted to drink since he was 14 years
 of age.
 | Lee Graham, over whose shoulder Gil-
 bert fired the shot that killed his sweet
 heart while the two girls fought with him
 and plead for mercy, was placed on the stand again and closely questioned in re- gard to the relations existing between
 the defendant and Willie Graham The
 witness claimed that Gilbert had fre-
 quently mistreated her sister. though she professed ignorance as to the details of
 their relationship.
 Andrew Haley, another witness, assist
 ant street overseer of the city, stated | that he had heard Gilbert remark that he
 was going to do something to Willie | Graham that the people did not believe | he was game enough to do.
 Gilbert has undergone a virtual trans l figuration in his facial expression. When
 he was imprisoned the first time his face | I& pxI t1,N ,Q \. | countenance plainly showing marks of | dissipation. Now he has grown neat l beard, his face has paled, excepting a | slight flush on the checks and his gen. | eral expression is almost apostolic. He
 sits in court with an air of innate non | chalance.
 Sitting near Gilbert is his aged mother | her face frequently bathed in tears and
 her eyes seldom removed from her son. Lee Graham, sister of the dead girl, is also an interesting parsonage to the | spectators as she sits calmly in her chair listening eagerly to every word that is | spoken by the witnesses. She has almost completely recovered from the effects of l the wound she received in the fight I against Gilbert to save her sisters life, | but she is still pale from the effects l of her long confinement, and she pre- sents a pitiable picture in the court room.
 | Judge Coleman Is prolonging the court sessions into the evening beyond the reg | ular hours of recess in an effort to rush the case to the jury and take up the other murder cases that are on the | docket for this session of the court. The courtroom continues crowded every hour during the day.
 The case will probably be given to the | jury by noon tomorrow, and Gilberts fate will likely be known before night | fall. After the defense completed their
 case this afternoon, the state made a brief examination of few witnesses in | the effort to show that the staying of | Willie Graham was an act of calm, pre-
 meditated murder. They also offered tes- | timony in rebuttal of the evidence given | in behalf of the plea of insanity by ex- | perts who were put on the stand by the defense Solicitor Tunstall made his ar- gument this afternoon, declaring the act | of Gilbert constituted "a brutal, indefen- | sible murder" and that "he should hang | by the neck until dead' Attorney P. F. | Whorton made masterly defense, argu- | ing that Gilbert was an insane man when | he committed the deed with which he was charged, and therefore not respon- sible for his act. This he said was the effect of disease and heredity, due di-
 restly to protracted intoxication. Employees on Strike | The Employees of the Lehman Manufac- | turing company, one of the diversified | industries of Anniston, engaged in the l manufacture of wooden materials, walked out of the plant in a body yesterday.
 The cause of their action was change | in the policy of the company in insuring against the injury of it's workmen, charging each individual s1 per month regardless of salary, and providing for only half pay while injured.
 Davenport Missing Russell Davenport, a groom of less than a year, has mysteriously disap- peared, nothing having been heard from
 him since last Friday. when 1t Is said he came to oxford and sold some cotton and
 young heifer. It is feared that he has been fatally injured somewhere. Daven- port was a member of one of three Dav- enport brothers who a few months ago