Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-09-19
NO DECISION in The
KENNEDY HEARING MONDAY

| h6lJn ana u. /. GeLIlll. lnOSe IOr the
defense are Messrs. w. F. McAfee, Mrs.
E. E. Chance, Miss Ruth Chance, Miss
Annie Moore, Mrs. L. d. Hays, Mrs. J.
R. Cobb, Mrs. w. L. Childers, Messrs.
c. A. Grant, W. 2. Youngblood R. E.
Price, o. L. Parrish, John Salter, w. A.
COwart, J. T. Foster B. F. Whelchel.
w E. Parrish, L. L. Richardson, Mack
Tracy and w. Lee Childers.
The opening of the case was marked
by legal sparring between the attor-
neys for the state and defense relative
to the presence of the public at the
hearing, and the legal eligibility Of
Judge Long to preside. Solicitor J. L.
i Williams, for the prosecution, objected
to the presence of all persons subject
i to jury duty in Lee county and asked
that they be excluded from the court
room. Attorney j. w. Walters for the
defense cited instances from the rec
ords of the court of appeals for support
of his claim that the trial should be
public.
Tracing his argument further, be-
fore asking for a ruling relative to
the first objection, Attorney Walters
objected to Judge Longs presiding in
1.-THE case on the ground that he was dis
qualified because of the fact that he
was indirectly related to Mrs. Child
ers, and that the warrant should not
have been made returnable to the city
court, but to a Justices court. In re-
ply to this argument Attorney J. 3.
Hudson, for the defense, claimed that
there was no legal objection why Judge
Long should not serve and that the
warrant having been legally made re-
turnable to the city court, the objee-
ton iR this particular was too late 70
be a valid one
In making his ruling with regard o
his own eligibility in serving as pre-
siding judge, Judge Long stated that
ii was not in accordance with his per-
sonal wishes that he was presiding,
but on account of the fact, as he saw
lit, that he could not escape presiding
on account of the obligations imposed
upon him as Judge. He ruled, also,
that all residents of Lee county subject
to jury duty should be excluded from
the court room.
Witnesses were then sworn for both
the prosecution and the defense, a
large number of ladies having been
summoned as witnesses. There were
nineteen witnesses summoned by the
defense and ten by the prosecution.
The first witness to appear was
Mrs. L. D. Hays, sister of Mrs. Maude
Childers, who was summoned as a wit
ness by the defense Mrs Hays testi-
fed that her sister was in the best If
general health on the day of her death
when she saw her early in the morn
ing. At that time, however, said Mrs.
Hays, her sister had been suffering
slightly from indigestion, for which
she was taking sal hepatica under a
physicians prescription. Mrs. Hays
also testified that her sister had said
that Childers remarked when he
left on the morning of the day of her
death that he was going to Leesburg
on business but that he would come
back on the midday train. He didn't
come back however until she was
dead.
In answer to questions concerning
her sisters age, Mrs. Hays said that
26 or q years was approximately It,
and that this was considerable older
than Kennedy Kennedy, according 20
Mrs. Hays, had not in her judgment,
visited her sister as an admirer al
lover, but just in the same manner rs
many other young men had. She said
further that there was such a marked
difference between the ages of the two
Kennedy being about six years young
er, that she had not regarded him as
suitor for her sisters hand.
Next on the stand was DR.. H. I.
Simpson, the family physician of Mrs.
Childers, who was present when she
died. DR.. Simpson testified that Mrs.
Childers died from convulsions, due,
he thought, from strychnine She had
been in APPARENTLY good health imme-
diately before her death. He denied
having prescribed sal hepatica for Mrs.
Childers, but said that he had prescrib-
ed a purgative, containing calomel
about month before she died. The
drug in the sal hepatica bottle had
been tasted, he said, by himself and
DR.. Clark, another local physician
both of whom had found it bitter and
both agreed it was in all likelihood