Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-10

Aoi dlS rest the lord advocate had an
easy task in showing that Slater was
worthless fellow, that he lived w1lu and
possibly on woman of easy virtue. that
ne had several times changed his name,
and that generally he was an unsatisfac-
tory Bohemian. No actual criminal rec
! ord was shown against him.
Early in his speech, the lord-advocate
remarked that he would show later how
| Slater may have come to know that Miss
! GlIchrist owned the Jewels No further
reference appears to have been made to
the matter, and his promise was there
! fore never fulfilled. though it is clearly
OF the utmost Importance.
Later ne stated, that from the appear
ance OF the wounds, they must have been
done by a small hammer. There is no
/ must in the matter, for it is clear that
! MANY other weapons, q burglars jimmy
for example, would have produced the
same effect.
lie then makes the good point that the
| prisoner dealt in precious stones and
| could therefore dispose of the proceeds
OF such robbery. The criminal he
added. was clearly some one who had
| no acquaintance with the inside of the
/ house, and did not know where the Jew
els were kept. THAT answers TO the
prisoner" 1t also, of course. answers to
| practically every man in Scotland. The
! lord-advocate then gave a summary of
the evidence as to the man seen by va
rious witnesses in the street Gentle
/ men, If that was the prisoner, how do
I you account for his presence there"
OF course, the whole point lies in the
above phrase.
/ There was, IT must be admitted, q con-
! sensus of opinion among the witnesses
| that the prisoner was the man. But
what was it compared to the consensus of
opinion which wrongfully condemned
| Beck to penal servitude?
The counsel laid considerable stress
upon the fact that Mrs Linden Zone Of
the Adams family had seen man few
minutes before the murder, lettering in
| the street. and identified him as Slater
The dress of the man seen in the street
! was very different from that given as
/ the murderers. He had a heavy tweed
mixture coat of a brownish hue, and
brown peaked cap.
The original Identification by Mrs. Lid
dell was conveyed in the words "One
slightly" when she was asked if any of
a group at the police station resembIed
the man she had seen. Afterward, like
| every other female witness, she became
more positive. She declared that she
| had the clearest recollection of the mans
! face, and yet refused to commit herself
as to whether he was shaven or mus
tached
! We have then the recognitions of Lam
! bic, Adams and Barrowman. with their
limitations and developments, which
i have been already discussed Then comes
the question of the so-called flight" and
the change Of name upon the steamer
Had the prisoner been q man who had
never before changed his name, this in
cident would be more striking But the
short glimpse we obtain of his previous
| life shows several changes of name, and
it has not been suggested that each of
them was the consequence of a crime
He seems to have been in debt in Glas-
gov, and he also appears to have had
reasons for getting away from the pur
suit of an ill-used wife. The lord advo-
cate said that the change of name could
not be explained consistently with limo
! cence." That may be true enough, but
| the change can surely be explained on
| some cause less grave than murder.
A GREAT LIAR.
Finally, after showing very truly that
Slater was great liar, and that not a
word he said need be believed unless
there were confederation. the lord advo-
cate wound up with the words:
My submission to you is that this
/ guilt has been brought fairly home to him;
that no shadow Of doubt exists; that there
is no reasonable doubt that he was the
perpetrator of this foul murder"
The verdict showed that the jury, UNI
der the spell Of the lord advocates elo-
quence. shared this view, but, viewing it
in colder blood, il is difficult to see upon
what grounds he made SO confident an
/ assertion.
! Mr. Mcclure, who conducted the de-
Tense. spoke truly when. in opening his
speech, he declared that he had to fight
a most unfair fight against public preju
dice. reused with a fury l do not remem-
Der to have seen in any other case"
SUN he fought this fight bravely and
with scrupulous moderation. His appeals
were all to reason and never to emotion
He showed how clearly the prisoner had
expressed his intention of going to Amer
lea weeks before the murder and how
every preparation had been made on
the day after the murder he had told
witnesses that he was going to America,
and had discussed the advantages of
various lines finally telling one of them
the particular boat in which he did even
tualiy travel curious proceedings for
fugitive from justice.
Mr.. Mcclure described the movements
of the prisoner on the night Of the muir
der after the crime had been committed
showing that he was wearing the very
clothes in which the theory of the pros
coution made him do the deed, as if
such deed could be done without leav-
ing its traces, He showed incidentally lit
is small point but human one) that
one of the last actions Of Slater in Glas-
gov was to take great trouble to get an
/ English G5 note in order to send it as
a Christmas gift to his parents in Ger
many. a man who could do this was
| not all rad
Continued in Next Issue.