The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-12
BUNCH OF LETTERS
 PUT IN EVIDENCE
Handwriting Expert Testifies
 in Majors Trial
LONG ARGUMENTS MADE
duciog Matter About Decatur S Wreck and Also to Intro-
 duction of Letters

claims were written by William Nabors, the Louisville and Nashville fireman ac- cused of murder and train wrecking, were submitted in evidence yesterday by the prosecuting attorneys in the trial
 now in progress in the first division of the criminal court. A board with a
 threatening note attached, found near the scene of the wreck near Decatur on
 August of this year, was also submit ted in evidence.
 l Tn an effort to furnish proof that the letters and the warning on the board
 were written by Majors, numerous wit
 nesses familiar with Nabors' handwriting
 have been called upon to identify them
 as being written in the freman's hand
 writing. Other letters actually signed by
 Nabors, checks signed by him and papers
 written by Majors for a f1reman's exam
 nation have also been submitted in evil
 dence. and a, handwriting expert, John M.
 Caldwell of this city, has testified that all the papers submitted were written | by the same person.
 A hard fight was put up by the defense
 to prevent the letters being offered In
 evidence, but they were allowed by the court. | Only three states witnesses were put
 on the stand yesterday, J. M. Brown | ing, conductor of the Louisville and
 Nashville freight, wrecked at Decatur
 during August; James Wilkerson of Flint,
 Ala, and John M. Caldwell, the hand-
 writing expert.
 l The entire morning session was taken up with arguments of the attorneys as to
 the legality of admitting in evidence tes- | timony regarding the wreck at Decatur
 during August of this year. The defense argued that the testimony was irrelevant | in the present trial since the Decatur
 wreck does not figure in the Cunningham
 wreck, complicity in which is the specific
 charge against Majors in this. trial. The prosecuting attorneys argued that they intended to show that the wrecks were
 caused by the same person, that a warn
 ing. written in Nabors' handwriting, was Hound near the scene of the Decatur wreck, and that the testimony offered | tended to show a continuance of motive on the part of the defendant and i'll will against the Louisville and Nashville rail
 road
 Testimony Allowed
 Court was adjourned at 80 o'clock
 and Judge Fort took the matter under
 advisement When the afternoon session
 began at 2 o'clock the court announced
 that the evidence would be allowed, and Conductor Browning was placed on the stand.
 | Browning testified that he was conduc- 1 tor on the northbound freight wrecked at | an open switch near Decatur on August
 3 of this year. The freight ran through an open switch into a string of cars In
 the siding, according to Browning's tes-
 timony. He stated that the northbound l passenger would have been wrecked in-
 stead of the freight were 1t not for the | fact that the passenger was an hour late.
 The conductor testified to finding a
 board near the switch at Decatur after
 the wreck. It bore a card in one corner with the inscription to the effect that such wrecks would be continued if the Louisville and Nashville railroad con
 tinued to employ negro firemen, or a threat to that effect. The switch lock
 was gone, Browning testified. and the
 switch lamp was lying on the ground ex- | tinguished, though still warm. Assumed Name Alleged
 James Wilkerson of Flint, Ala, tes-
 tifed that he had had business with Majors when the latter gave his name as | Arthur Howard He stated that Majors
 had come to his home and asked to buy
 a dog owned by Wilkerson, and testified | that he told the fireman he did not wish | to sel lthe animal He later visited Nab | ors when he was on his engine at De-
 catur, Wilkerson declared and Majors.
 in answer to his question, said his name was Arthur Howard.
 | Nabors Creates Sensation | At this point in the examination of Wilkerson, Majors created a sensation | by rising and declaring to the court that Wilkerson was not telling the truth. | s- 4a1Is | clared the defendant. 'I never saw him
 before in my life."
 l Jere c. King, one of Nabors' attorneys, 1 immediately told Majors to sit down and
 be quiet and no further excitement was | caused
 Wilkerson further testified that he had
 filed complaint with the railroad com
 pany against Majors.
 | John M. Caldwell of Birmingham, a
 handwriting expert, was the last witness
 placed on the stand yesterday. He was asked to examine the various letters, | papers and checks claimed to have been
 written by Majors, including the threat ening letter to Superintendent Brooks signed "A. H." and to state. whether in
 his opinion they were all written by tho | same person. Caldwell testified that in
 his opinion they were.
 Letters Submitted in Evidence | The states attorneys then moved to | submit all the letters and papers in evi- | dence, and after considerable argument | by the counsel for the defense in objec-
 ton, they were allowed by Judge Fort. The letters were read to the jury by Att | torney Hugh Morrow for the state. | Among them is communication ad- dressed to Superintendent T. B. Brooks of the Louisville and Nashville signed "A. | H." The letter contains declaration | that "the man you-all have in jail is as | innocent of the Calera and Cunningham | wrecks as an unborn babe. I wrecked l both trains myself" It states further I that the writer of the letter could prove | his assertion by calling attention to a
 lock which might be found within 30 or
 70 feet of the Cunningham switch. T
 threw the switch lock there myself the letter reads.
 l Another communication, signed ''O.. R.. | IT. assures the railroad company that l all wrecks will cease if prosecutions in regard to the former wrecks cease. | third letter, signed by William Nab | ors and bearing the date of September. | 1910, addressed to Superintendent Brooks,
 Is included among the lot. The writer l in this communication assures MT. 1 Brooks that he Is innocent of the Gun ningham wreck, and says he was shocked l when arrested on the charge. The letter | contains a statement that two we'll l known lawyers offered to defend the writer free of charge if he would give | them half of the damages he received in suing the railroad company after acquit- | tai.
 | Affar tbe readino a nd submission in ey-