The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-09-16
R. lee MOORE AND JUDGE SAFFOLD
STIRRED COURT ROOM, ONE In BITTER
ATTACK. AND OTHER in DEEP PATHOS

bees death-deallng instrument.
'She says she was going down
town on business, but she had con-
Icealed ,seapon in her handbag 1t is
1.-The carrying of concealed WEAPONS
that the judges and newspapers and
| all who are trying to benefit the
country preach against, and yet we
find this woman with this pistol hid
den in her bag. What was she doing
with it?'
Solicitor Moore declared that the
public is too sympathetic, and that S
what is the trouble with modern JUS
tice. He told the jury that if they
returned a verdict Of guilty without
recommendation to mercy they would
be setting no precedent in Georgia
for condemning a woman to death,
and referred to the condemnation of
Mrs. Noble in Twiggs county.
This woman is not above the
law" cried the solicitor, 'and when
YOU go into the jury room ! ask you
to remember Florence Boyer" Con-
GLIDING. the solicitor drew a word
picture of the graves of Judge God
bee and his young wife at Waynes-
boro-the tragic end of a honeymoon
hardly four months old.
Some one tainted in the rear of
the crowded court room as the sOlic
itor concluded.
Mrs. Godbee Wept.
Judge Frank SaffoId of Swainsboro
closed the arguments for the defense.
As he enlarged upon Mrs. Goddess
life story he tore at the heartstrings
Of both the woman on trial for high
crime and her daughter. For the first
time since the ordeal began Mrs.
Goddess calm composure was bro
ken. She wept Behind her Miss
Sarah Godbee suppressed her sobs,
which shook her frail body, and half
a hundred women in the court room,
including Mrs. Goddess sisters and
her daughters-in-law, were in tears.
Judge Saffold claimed that the
prosecution had deliberately brought
up first the case of the State VS.. Mrs.
Godbee on the Indictment for the
murder of Mrs. Florence Boyer God
bee. thus cutting off the relevancy Of
everything except the immediate
transaction" in the Millen postofftce.
Law of God-and the Child.
The law of the land could give
Walter Godhee a divorce and enable
him to marry again" declared Judge
SafTold, but the law of God had Civ
en- the child to the mother, and the
law of the land could not make Sarah
the daughter of the new Mrs. God
bee"
Counsel for the state had fore
warned the jury that when Judge
Saffold spoke to them he would play
on their sympathies; but, whether it
could be called that or not Mrs. God
bees leading counse! set up an i'm
passioned plea for the life and free
dom of the mother and grandmother.
Il stand before YOU" he cried,
asking no appeal for mercy, but on
ly that Gods justice be done"
Judge Saffold declared that ''if
Walter Godbee had had the proper
respect for his children he would
never have brought his third wife to
Millen while his divorced wife and
the mother of his children lived
here"
The Weight of Goddess Hand.
He said that after Walter Godbee
had beaten the mother of his chill
dren, bounded and abused her; after
she had felt the weight of his hand
and the clutch of his fingers at her
throat; after he had reduced her to
poverty and tainted her with insult,
Godbee then tried to buy the affec-
lions of her daughter"
Little Sarah, he called her, and
he gloried that she had spurned his
offers of money and ease and luxury
and an automobile if she would leave
her mothers humble home and re-
nounce the mother who gave her
birth and go live with him and his
tnew wife"
Walter Godbee had driven his
former wife away from her grand
children continued Judge Saffold,
and if he had accomplished his
threat to kill Mrs. Edna Godbee he
would have accomplished at the same
time whSt his money wouldn't buy
his daughter would have been forced
to find a home with him
Judge Saffold contended that af-