The Pensacola journal., 1917-07-10
Enters General Denial of
Many Things Witnesses
Swore to Against Him.
DEFENSE PLEADS
FOR A MISTRIAL
Alleges That Two Members
of Jury Had Expressed
Themselves.
By Thomas Ewing Dabney.

Crestview, Fla. July eff Sheriff
Sutton and Detective Moore were
bribed to let Will Blackwell escape,
why did they, as he claimed, give
him the handcuff key eight hours be-
fore he gave them the money and
slipped out of the automobile at De-
Funiak? Why give him the kew at all?
II Sheriff Sutton could slow down
the automobile as Will claims. could
not the detective unlock the handcuff
when the money was handed him ?
Would not the officers have been
afraid that VIII would carry the key
with him, to be saved for corrobora-
tive evidence of the bribe and the
political motive back of it in case
he were recaptured? Would they have
risked going to DeFuniak without the
key to u=lock the handcuff from
Bob's wrist, for it was the only one
they had?
How did Bob's Woodman of the
World membership card get between
the cardboard backing and the picture
of the lady with the horse, and why
did he suddenly take a notion shortly
after the crime to hand that identical
picture in Mrs. Atwell's room when
he had been satisfied to look at tho
atrocious chrome for so many months
On his own wall Why, when Mrs.
Atwell brought it back to his room
did he again hand it in hers and tell
her not to move it. And why does
he not remember if he put the card
there or not?
If Will Blackwell's automatic pis-
tol, which various witnesses have de-
scribed as a Colts forty-five, was a
Luger, foreign gun, as different in
! appearance from the American weapon
as it is possible to make two similar
firearms. how does it happen that
Will Blackwell had the Luger with
him in Obie Adams automobile on
/ the sixth of March when he says he
traded it for a Colts thirty-eight dur
ing the spring festival celebration
which was held on the second and
third of March?
Again, if Blackwer's conscience
would not let him get out of Florida
after he had bribed his way to lib
erty, but kept dragging him back sc
! he could face down the outrageous
charges, why did he not go to some
authority, to some reputable citizen
| and say, I am innocent. My politi-
| cal enemies want me out of the way
they let me escape for a considera-
| ton, and l offer this handcuff key
as confederation of the bribe Instead
of doing this, why did he let himself
| be hunted down by his pursuers anc
| the man he claims turned him loose
for bribe.
These are the principal questions
that Will Blackwell's testimony dur.
ing the three and a half hours he
was on the witness stand this after
noon suggest themselves.
| Added to the Sophronia Holmes
| Identification, Bob's arrest under ar
| alias, in Alabama. his denial that he
had been in Florida, added to Bob's
| suspicious journey to Crestview tho
night before the murder and Will's
! confession, as testified bv Mrs. Eliza
| Atwell, the above constitute a chair
! of evidence that seems unbrenkable
But for the above discrepancies and
doubts, Will Blackwell's promised
sensation might not have fallen sc
flat. AS it is, his denunciation OF
/ Sheriff Sutton, who he says seeks tc
send him to the gallows to wreak a
! political revenge was not at all con.
| vincing.
The miraculous happened on this
the first day of the second week Of
! the famous trial. Even more people
were in the court room than before
The aisles were packed, the windows
were half filled by heads. The only
place sitonable in the entire building
that was not occupied by human
form was the stove occupied the first
! day of the trial by boy who made
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