The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-22
"Plain, Simple Justice Is All We Want" Declares
 Attorney
JURY WILL TAKE
 CASE EARLY TODAY
Whitman Sums Up Prosecution in Forceful Argument-"Crimc q Defiance of American Insti-
 tutions," He Declares

New York. May 2-The jury which will determine whether Charles Becker conceived the plot thar resulted in the murder of Herman Rosenthal Will have the case in it's hands before noon tomor- row. The last testimony was taken this morning and this afternoon Martin T. Manton, BeclSer's chief counsel delivered his address to the jury Late tonight Dis trict Attorney Whitman completed the presentation of his arguments, favoring the conviction of the former chief of the strong arm" squad of murder in the first degree.
 Justice Seabury will charge the jury to- morrow morning.
 District Attorney Whitman early in his address attacked the motive presented by the defense for the staying of Rosenthai -that the gambler died in a war among gamblers.
 Il was not a gambler who died, but states witness. said the prosecutor, and no testimony had been presented to in- dicate anything else than that Rosen- thai was killed because he was about to be such a witness. If Becker was not the murderer, declared Mir. Whitman, then he tthe prosecutorl could not see what motive there could he behind the Killing.
 More Than Murder Tho crime itself Mr. Whitman charac- terized as more than murder-"a defiance to our American institutions. challenge to our very civilization itself.' MT. Whitman described how he had pounded and pounded and pounded Rose and Webber and Nallon, knowing, he said. that they knew the truth and were trying to protec, Becker, The de- fense. he asserted. had not presented one essential denial of their testimony which he declared the state had corroborated. l Defending the charge that he had en- | tered into an agreement with the under world to ''get Becker. the prosecutor l said he believed Rose and Webber and | Nallon were implicated in the murder. but he hnG no evidences aralnst them.s> He alluded to tho words of an attorneH--ie the case that the three had something
 to sell that Whitman wanted to bny.'
 True in Way That Is true." said Mr. Whitman. "1hey did have something to sell to the people 1t was priceless, worth far more than anything l could give; worth far | more than [ could offer. would have paid far more had it been necessary to get what they had and 1t was my duty to get 1t at any cost" The prosecutor pointed out that had the information of Rose. Webber and Nallon proved false they would then have been liable to prosecution hence they had compelling motive for telling the truth. The crowd that clamored for admission to the courtroom in the afternoon to hear the address of Attorney Martin r. Man ton in Beekers defens- was the largest. attendants said. that has appeared in re- | cent years,
 | II wish to say Mir. Manton said la his address. that there will be no ami mated argument The man really guilty 1 is not the man at the bar. 1 I've don't dispute that Becker worked himself up in the police department. We admit four men, now dead, killed Her man Rosenthal But Becker didn't have anything to do with it. | "Who are the men between Becker and l the men who did the murder? Rose. Web Der and Vallon confessed murderers, | thieves and degenerates Why did they confess? Because they were remorseful? Not they. They sent to the district at torney and got promises that If they would connect Becker they would go free.
 Not Even a Good Liar Rose isn't even a good liar. Rose was inaccurate and uncertain. He gave no dates. Why? Because the defendant was an officer of the law and could prove where he was at certain times.' l Mr. Manton said eight honest men had l testified that Becker was not at the 1 'sHarlem conference and asked the jury to believe It.
 He then went into Roses testimony, re-
 ferring to the first talk he had with Beck
 CT with regard to investing money in Ro- senthals gambling house. He then point ed out discrepancies between Roses tes- timony regarding the gambling house run 1 by Rosenthal and the affidavit he caused to be published in a morning newspa- per.
 l Manton discussed at length the affidavit made by Rose the day after the murder --~~~>~~~~~~~-~~~-~~ 1 (COntinued on Page Ninep