The Washington times., 1917-05-07
TRIAL FORGOTTEN FOR A DAY
Sunday In christIansbura One Of
churehaoina and Nickel Tossing
nnnr,nr. a
, ROBERT b. hermann.

CHRISTIANSBURG. Va. May T.
After being keyed up over the Vawter
trial for a week, Christiansburg
seemed to forget all about It yester-
day. The town, for the most part,
divided its time between the various
churches. and the fascinating occupa
ton OF pitching nickels at the
crack" on the main street.
As for the principals in the case,
most of them were conspicuous by
their absence from the services In
any of the churches.
Special Prosecutor Lee. Common
wealth's Attorney Roop, Lieutenant
Heth, and Court Reporter johnson
went over to Radford for the day,
being entertained by Special Prose
cutor Hal Tyler and his father for,
mer Governor Tyler, hrst cousin and
uncle. respectively, Of Stockton Heth.
Attorneys Colhoun, Hairless and Jor-
dan, for the defense, were busy pre-
pairing their summing-up addresses.
Vawter and his wife spent a quiet
day at home with their children, in
terrupted only when newspaper men
called up.
Jurors Locked Up.
Judge Moffet spent the day at his
home in Salem, preparing his instruc-
lions to the jury. The Jurors spent an
unhappy day locked up In the clerks
office.
As the case progresses It becomes
more and more uncertain as to what the
verdict will be, and when It will come
1t Is probable that the testimony will
come to an end today. and that the
lawyers will sum up tomorrow. This
is likely to take up the entire day. Lee
and Roop speaking for the prosecution
and all three Of Vawter's lawyers for
the defense. Hence, 1t may be We'd
nesday before the judge reads his In
structions to the jury. Then comes the
real problem-the jury may ind YER
dict in less than an hour, or II may
wrangie for days and never come TO an
agreement As the battling features OF
the case get farther and father away
from a solution. the possibility Of
hung" jury grows materially.
As to the possible verdict, there Is
only one thing certain-thAt 1t will
not be murder in the first degree. To
one who is admittedly only an inter
ested observer, It looks like one Of
two things-gulty or murder in the
second degree, which would call for q
sentence ranging up to twenty years
in the penitentiary, or not guilty be-
cause of the insanity at the time OF
the accident, but sane now, which
would be a virtual acquittal This
prediction. however. Is no more au-
thoritative than the ordinary news
paper readers opinion regarding the
war.
And, after all. there have been so
many sensations in the trial that one
cannot be blamed IL he expects a
bombshell at any moment, from either
side, which would upset all the
dope"
The only thing that can terminate
the case this week, would be a verdict
OF not guilty-and that does not in
clude not guilty because of insanity at
the time OF the act, and insane now,
under which Vawter would go to an
asylum Unless Vawter walks out q
free man he Is certain to appeal, and
then the trial would drag on for
weeks and possibly months.
The prosecution. however, has
shown from the start every indica-
ton OF a desire for a speedy verdict
This was apparent on the second day
OF the trial. when Special Prosecutor
Lee contented himself with merely
establishing the corpus deficit.