The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-06-21
THE END OF THE WATERMAN
TRIAL

oclock Saturday morning. Hon. Raw
mond B. Bullock, leading counsel for
Mr.. Louis Waterman, indicted for the
murder of A. NJ. Higgins, began the
concluding argument for the prisoner.
| Mr.. Bullock has been unflagging in
his conduct of the case. He has new
er used his talents and his energy
more industriously and determinedlv
lie is connected with the prisoner bv
ties OF blood and has made the SUI.
preme effort of his life to extricate
his kinsman from the perils which
fate seemed to have thrown around
him.
! Mr.. Bullock left no stone unturned
in the management Of the case that
would accrue to the benefit of his I'M
| fortunate client. He strengthened
the strong places, CLOSED over the
weak ones as best he could all during
the progress of the trial With all
the subtle energies of his mind he
made assaults on the weak points Of
the state. He impeached the char
acter of its important witnesses, and
said that it would be abhorrent to
take a human life upon evidence so
questionable and Improbable.
! Owing to circumstances we were
deprived of the pleasure of hearing
Mr.. Bullock's concluding speech,
which we were told was fawless in
its delivery and most telling and con-
vincing in it's effect upon the jury.
Mr.. Bullock spoke for one hour and
| fifty minutes.
He cannot be too highly commend
ed for the efforts he made in the lib
Grafton of his unfortunate kinsman.
Mr.. Edwin w. Davis, representing
the state, made the concluding argu-
ment in the case. He made no pre-
tense at oratory; he did not attempt
any aeroplane flights of eloquence.
We can imagine him saying: 81 am
no orator. as Brutus is; speak right
on
And that is what he did. He I'M
folded the chain of evidence before
the jury in language SO plain that a.
''wayfaring man, though a fool, could
understand"
In plain and unequiyocal language
he traced the movements of the de-
PENDANT on that fatal day with the
vividness of a moving picture.
! He traced him as leaving his home
that afternoon; traced him going in
the direction of the Higgins home
with a gun under his arm; he told OF
the time when the fatal shots were
fired: he traced the tracks of the de-
PENDANT when he ran against Ger.
tain stump and bruised both of his
legs; he told of the different stories
that he had manufactured to account
for the bruises; that he did not cross
the ferry when or where he said he
crossed it. that at the hour when the
fatal shots were fired he was not at
his home, because the house was In
darkness, and witnesses were there
who wanted to see him on business;
that he was not at the STILL where he
said he was. The picture of his me-
anderings was wildly drawn. There
was only one thing missing-there
was no human eye that beheld him
when the fatal deed was done-but
thta the immutable imprints that fol
lowed him in his perilous journey
were as tell-tale evidences OF his
crime as if he had been beheld by
cloud of witnesses.
The charge of Judge Wills was III
cid and impartial and covered all the
contingencies that the case involved
The jury retired at 1870 and at .
O'Clock returned a verdict OF acqult-
tai.
i Mr. Watermans troubles are not
over vet. He is now held for the muir
der of Mrs. Higgins. His bond is hX-
cd at $500. He will be retired at
the next term of the court, when all
the evidence will be gone over for the
third time.
What the outcome will be no one
can tell. as the verdict of petit Jurles
spring many surprises.