The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Prosecution Has Advantage

until a case is called, a pit into which many jurymen and even judges often have fallen.
 Prosecution Has Advantage
 With all due respect to the gentle man who opened the case for the com- monwealth, we do not yet, know the theory of the prosecution. He who closes for the commonwealth, therefore, has a distinct advantage in weaving together theories from facts we have not known.
 What can have been the purpose of MT. Sydnors testimony that he saw a
 young man alone on the Midlothian turn
 pike early on the evening of the tragedy? :? It must be that they think the accused
 went to the stump they have talked about
 and placed the gun there few hours before the crime.
 But here Is a man of intelligence who
 on the witness stand must have impressed you a man of kind disposition, and yet | they want you to believe that he pre- pared in this blundering fashion for the crime, than which one more hellish and
 brutish has seldom been heard of MT. Smith dwelt at length on the ques- ton of reasonable doubt regarding the instructions to the jury this point. "Gentlemen. there Is more than one hu-
 man life at stake-not only the life of this young man, but that gray-hared father, the future of the brother and the good name of sister. They all appeal to
 you, clarion-tongued, to give them the benefit of the doubt. I want to say here what 1 am glad to say of an old friend. that I would be glad to rest this case on the testimony of Tom Owen. uncle of the dead woman, who was the fairest
 man I ever saw on the witness stand.
 Tom Owen was the first person to 'whom
 this boy opened his lips when he brought
 in his dead wife. Gentlemen. if there
 were any discrepancies in his story, they would have appeared then, and l offer to rest your judgment with that testi- mony alone.
 "Our mall has been flooded" said MT. Smith, with newspaper clippings and let
 ters of people from all over the United States telling of the dangers of circum- stsntial evidence.
 q don't think you should have mem toned that" interjected MT. Wendenburg. Well, if it was wrong I hope his honor will rule it out. for I want to secure a verdict only by fair and rightful means' MT Smiths argument was close re- view of the evidence with particular stress on the reluctantly given testimony of Kestleberg as a spectre of circumstantial evidence.
 q don't ask you," said MT. Smith,
 ito believe all the testimony of Kestle- berg; I don't ask you to believe that
 
 he didn't know the woman that he was with that night. He said that to save | trouble in two homes, but what you must believe Is that it was his car and not Henry Beattie's which, the boys saw"
 Characterizing Paul Beattie "as a moral wreck" the lawyer held up the | stimony of the cousin as influenced l by stronger minded detectives. Paul Not Guilty We do not believe that Paul Beattie | was guilty of this crime. The ques- | ton has probably occurred to you as to | what our theory is But the instruc- | tions distinctly point out that it is
 not necessary for us to locate the crim- i nal agent; it is not our duty to do it. 1 Suppose Paul Beattie did buy that gun | to use on Mayos bridge. Suppose Neb- | lit Is telling the truth and Paul Beat | tie did have a gun in the cement house
 on Sunday morning; suppose that gun | was stolen by some tramp and the tramp killed Mrs. Beattie, and suppose Paul Beattie was afraid to tell that