St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1914-05-23
JUDGE PAVY REFUSES
WALTERS NEW TRIAL
Tinker's Last Hope Rests With the Supreme Court-=
Motion for New Trial Overruled by
Trial Judge.

William G.. Walters will now
have to turn his hopes towards
the Supreme Court of Louisiana.
The motion for new trial filed
by Hon. E. B. Dubuisson, was
overruled by Judge B. Fl. Pavy
on Tuesday morning, after lis
tening to the testimony pro.
duced why Walters should be
given new trial, on Monday
morning, and after hearing the
arguments of Mr.. Dubuisson.
It was apparent from the be.
ginning that the Judge would
not grant the new trial to the
accused. From his own testi
mony, when he was placed or
the stand by the defense, it was
evident that he was not in favor
Of allowing the tinker another
trial. However he was ready to
receive any new and sensational
testimony which might be strong
enough to allow Walters a new
trial, and would have gladly no
doubt sustained the motion.
Court convened on Monday
morning for the purpose of try
ing the motion which had been
filed on May 9th. Mr.. Dubuis-
son offered a supplemental to
the original motion, as well as
two affidavits from R. Davis,
and William Cunningham, both of
Mississippi. The prosecuting
attorneys, however, objected to
the filing Of the afidavits with
the supplemental, but after al
lowing the attorneys to argue
the point for quite a while the
Judge overruled the objection
and Mr.. Dubuisson was permit
ted to file the affidavits with his
original motion.
Eddie Durio, clerk at the La
Combe hotel, was the first wit
ness to appear in the trial for a
re-hearing. He described the
general condition of the hotel,
where the jurors boarded dur
ing the trial. He testified that
oftentimes when the jurors were
being brought to their rooms the
lobby Of the hotel was crowded
and the deputy sheriff in the
lead would have to make a path
way for the jurors to pass. He
gave a general description of the
rooms occupied by the jurors,
showing that only two were con-
neeted, whilst the other five
were separated from one anoth-
er. He stated that it would be
hard matter for any one TO
communicate with the jurors.
Mr.. Alex Robertson, secretary
for Hon. E. B. Dubuisson. testi-
fed that on the rendition of the
verdict he heard a suppressed
cheer inside of the courtroom, at
the same time hearing a loud
cheer from the outside which
seemed to come from several
lips. He stated that all during
the first week, until Friday even
ing the courtroom was SO packed
that there was scarcely room for
one more, especially on the day
when the Judge ordered court
adjourned until the crowd would
be in the control of the sheriff.
This witness claimed that the
jurors were allowed to sit on the
courthouse square whilst there
were crowds all around them,
during the trial, and the topic of
conversation was the Walters
trial, solely; he also claimed that
the jury was at times four to six
feet from spectators.
Hon. B. Fl. Pavy, the trial
Judge, was placed on the wit
ness stand without being sworn.
Judge Pavy admitted that the
crowds in the courtroom during
the first week of the trial were
very large; he remembered of
hearing an attempted applause,
which was quickly suppressed by
the sheriff. He testified that
the crowds, though large, We're
always orderly and that every
time he raped for silence quiet
would generally prevail through
out the courtroom.
Judge Pavy said that he was
compelled to have the jurors
lodged at the LaCombe hotel as it
was rather dangerous for the
jury to remain in the courtroom
for one or two weeks atthe time.
with no sleeping aecommoda-
tions. He gave as his reasons
for petitioning the pol c e
jury to permit him to pro-
vide better accommodations as
being afraid of the jurors con-
tracting pneumonia by sleeping
on quilts in the courtroom.
Mr.. U. H. Johns, a prominent
planter of Cheneyville, sprung a
little surprise on Monday even
ing when he testified that he saw
a juror speaking to an outsider
one morning during the second
week of the trial at the LaC Combe
hotel barbershop. He, however,
could not identify any of the