Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-09


the rial which may be enumerated here
They have TO be lightly touched upon
within the limits of such an argument as
this, Dat those who Gesire a fuller sum-
mary VIII gtnd ii in on account of the
trial published by Hodge of Edinburgh
and ably cdited by William RouEhead,
W. :.
HIS ACTIONS.
ON this book and on the verbatim pre-
coSnitions an atorthlnd account of the
American proceedings, base my own ey.
animation OF the case. First. as to Sla-
ter $ movements upon the day of the
81 Inc. He began the day, according to
tho eccg4.t of himself ard the women. 10y
the receipt of the two letters already re-
feired TO. which caused him 10 hasten
h.; joaraey to America. The whole day
seems To awe be.l yccup.ad by prepare
tons 10" lis impending departure. He
save lis aetv;,t s. ~al& notice as from
reEt Saturday, Before five CaS was
shown Oy the postmar6 upon the en-
velopel, he wrote to d postofiice III Lon
don where he had SEINE money on de-
post At 6:12 telegram was sent in his
name and presumably by him from thc
Central station to Dent. London, for his
watch, which was being repaired. Ac-
ne was seen in a billiard room at $40.
The murder, it will be remembered, was
done at seven. He remained about ten
minutes in the billiard room, and left
some iiEle between $50 ana G:ta.
RathmDu. one of these witnesses, de-
posed that he had az the time a mas
tache about quarter OF an inch long
which was so noticeable that no on"
could take him for a clean shayen man.
Antoine, his mistress, and Schmulz. the
servant. both deposed that Slater dineG
at home at : o'clock The evidence of the
girl is no doubt questionable but there
was no possible reason why the dismissed
servant Schmalz should perjure herself
for the sake OF her eX-employer.
The distance between Slater's Hat and
that of Miss Gilchrist is about a quarter
Of "a mile From the billiard room to
Skaters fiat is about a mile He had to
go for the hammer and bring it back.
unless ne had ii jutting out of his pocket
all day But unless the evidence Of the
two women is entirely set aside. enough
has been said to show that there was no
time for the commission by him OF such
a crime and the hiding Of the traces
which Il would leave behind IL
At @:45 that night, Slater was engaged
in his usual occupation Of trying to raise
the wind al some small gambling club.
The club master saw no discomposure
about his dress (Which was the same as,
according to the crown. he bad done this
bloody crime i'm and swore that he was
then wearing a short nustache, like
stubble" thus Corroborating Rathman. 1t
viii be remembered that Lambe and Bar
rowman both swore that the murderer
was clean shaVen.
On December "a. three days after the
murder, Slater was down at Cooks office,
bargaining for a berth in the Lusitania
for his so-called wife and himself. He
made no secret that he was going by
that ship, but gave his real name and
address and declared finally that he would
take his berth in Liverpool, which he did.
Among other confidants as to the ship
was a barber, the last person one would
think to whom secrets would be con-
fided. Certainly, if this were a flight, it
is hard to say what an open departure
would be
In Liverpool he took his passage I'M
der the assumed name of Otto Sando
This he did, according to his own ac-
count, because he had reason to fear pur-
suit from his real wife, and wished to
cover his traces. This may or may not
be the truth, but it is undoubtedly the
fact that Slater, who was a diSreputa
BILE rolling stone of a man. had already
assumed several aliases in the course of
his career 1t is to be noted that there
was nothing at all secret about HIS de-
parture from Glasgow and that he car
red off all his luggage with him In 4
perfectly open manner.
The reader is now i'll possession Of the
main facts, save those which are either
unessential or redundant 1t will be OBJ
served that save for the identifications,
the value of which can be estimated, there
is really no single point of connection be-
tween the crime and the alleged criminal.
1t may be argued that the existence
of the hammer is such a point but
what household in the land is devoid Of
a hammer? 1t is TO be remembered that
if Slater committed the murder with this
hammer, he must have taken it with
him in order to commit the crime, since
il could be of no use to him in forcing
an entrance But what man In his senses,
planning deliberate murder. would take
with him weapon which was light frail
and So long that it must project from
any pocket? The nearest lump of stone
upon the road would serve his purpose
better than that.
Again. it must in its blood soaked con-
dition. have been in his pocket when he
came away from the crime The crown
never attempted to prove either blood
stains in a pocket or the fact that any
clothes had been burned If Slater de-
stroyed the clothes, he would naturally
have destroyed the hammer, TOO. Even
one of the two medical witnesses Of the
prosecution was driven to say that he
should not have expected such weapon
to cause such wounds.
FACTS ON ONE SIDE.
II may well be remembered in this
summary Of the evidence l may seem to
have stated the case entirely from the
point of view of the defense In reply, J
would only ask the reader to take the
trouble to read the extended evidence, #
he win do so, he will realize that without
a conscious mental effort toward special
pleading there is no other way in which
/ the story can he told The facts are on
one side. The cOnjectures, the unsatis-
factory identifcations, the damaging flaws
and the very strong prejudices upon the
| other.