Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-09-27
anti-prohibition forces in that town.
Change in Public Sentiment.

/
Seldom has the tickleness of pub
lie sentiment been better illustrated
than in its application to the present
case, as the pendulum seems to. be
very clearly swinging from one side to
the other. At the first hearing SEN
tlment was so strong against Childers
that it seemed practically unanimous.
Monday, however, it could be more
clearly seen that people who reason
are more likely to sympathize with
ChilderS than Kennedy.
The sentiment in behalf of Kennedy
seems to have been intuitional rather
than rational. 1t has been character
lied by an hysterical touch rather than
by the calmer, more deliberate courses
of thought and reasoning. Instead Of
taking into consideration the argu-
ment advanced against the likelihood of
Childers being guilty many people have
been swept off their feet by the wave
of popular sentiment that sprang up
at the time of the murder of Mrs.
Childers and which grew so strongly
for some time after it had been under
investigation.
AS was naturally to be expected N
this case, unless the guilt could have
been fixed definitely upon Childers and
could have been removed from all 9TH
ers, the reaction is setting in with
regard to the sentiment against Chill
ders. Whether one believes either or
neither of the prisoners now held 10
be guilty or not. it can hardly be es-
capped that public sentiment is Being
rapidly modified, whether it stays so
permanently or not. At an yrate, it
can hardly become as strongly pro-
nounced for ChildeTs under the cir
as it was against him, as
the lines have now become more clear
ly drawn than in the beginning, so
that there is hardly any one of mature
age in that section of Lee county who
does not entertain some pronounced
views concerning the case.
The Sentiment of the Richardson Fam
lily Toward Childers.
One of the strongest points brought
out by the defense was the fact that
every member of the Richardson FAM
lily holds the highest opinion of Chill
lers now and has always regarded him
with the kindliest feeling.
There was not single member OF
the family introduced as witness who
did not testify that Mr.. and Mrs. Chill
ders were thoroughly happy as man
and wife and that Childers had al
ways and still enjoyed the highest as
TEEN of each member of the family.
One witness alone by the name Of
L L. Richardson, an un-
Gle of Mrs. Childers, and, therefore,
not a member of the immediate fam
lily, was opposed to Childers, as he ad-
mitted on the stand. He admitted that
he had contributed $40 to the fund pc
ing raised to pay the detective to get
up evidence against Childers and toi
hire an attorney to prosecute ChildaxA
as he admitted finally that all who
had contributed to the fund gave more
after Childers had been arrested.
The sentiment of this particular
member of the Richardson family has
been explained as arising from a fam
lily quarrel, whereby L. L. Richardson
was estranged from his father The
testimony of this witness was subject
ed, as was that of several others, 10
The most rigid cross-eXamination by
the defense, so that the witness left
the stand rather badly befuddled and
practically refusing to answer any
questions at all. Under these circum-
stances it would seem that the senu-
ment of the immediate members of
the Richardson family who testified, as
well as the others who appeared as
witnesses, was most favorable to Chill
ders.
Presence of John Kennedy.
The unusual prominence of John
Kennedy, who swore out the warrant
for Childers, in staying for period OF
as much as an hour within two feet OF
the chair in which the witnesses sat
attracted the attention of the attorneys
for Childers, who finally called the at
tention of Judge Grassland to this fact
and asked that Kennedy be requested
to move his seat further away from
the witness stand.
Judge Grassland promptly observed
the pertinence of the objection made