The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1919-06-25

deliberately and premeditatedly and
not scintilla of evidence showing
any reason for the killing, except to
get farm. The court had charged
the jury specifically that if there was
reasonable doubt that the killing
was without premeditation, there
could be no conviction of first degree
murder. There was absolutely no
insinuation from the evidence, stated
the court, that any reason existed
that would reduce the penalty from a
death sentence to life Imprisonment
in the penitentiary, if Greer came to
his death at the hands of White pre-
meditatedly to get Greer's farm, or
to cover up fraudulent transactions
he had perpetrated on him in its
purchase.
The jury evidently did not believe
the rabbit story, that they were hunt
ing for rabbit under the old hog
pen, and did not believe the gun was
fired accidentally. If the mitigating
cifcu STANCES found by the jury had
reAsS tsr tE,IF6kscrasie doubt Of bis
trsif&a me tnfolld fhave been acquittss,
saidNuge Brown, but the jury on the
CONTRARY had found that the defend
ant killed Greer wilfully, maliciously,
deliberately and premeditatedly, and
no mitigating circumstances whatever
were brought out in the evidence.
The court overruled the motion for
a new trial and found the trying
ordeal that confronted him, saying
that there was nothing left to do but
be obedient to the supreme majesty
of the law.
While the defendant stood, Judge
Brown said:
at is the judgment of the law that
the defendant be taken by the sheriff
of Blount county to the state peni-
tentiary at Nashville, and that on
Friday, August %, 1919, in the death
chamber of the penitentiary, as pro-
vided by law, the warden of the peni-
tentiary will cause the body of the
defendant to be shocked by a suffi-
cient current of electricity until he is
dead, and may the Lord have mercy
on his soul"
An appeal will be made to the
supreme court, by the defendants
attorneys.
White Unmoved
1t was a tragic moment in the
circuit court room when this sentence
was given. No man present could
remember when a life sentence had
been given in this county. The
room was silent as a death chamber,
save only the voice of the judge who
read the verdict White stood at the
bar, beside his gray haired mother.
His face wore that INEXPENSIVE and
look which has charac-
terized him from the time he slew
Greer. He stood motionless and
gazed at the judge. When the ver-
dict had been rendered and the
sheriff instructed to take charge of
White, White stood motionless for a
moment, then spat mouthful of to-
bacco juice into a nearby cuspidore,
leaning forward to make sure of his
target, then sat down in his chair be-
side his gray haired mother, whose
face was buried in her hands. The
mother fell onto the shoulder of the
son whom she had loved from child
hood, but who has heaped sorrows
upon her life which seemed to be un-
bearable. Then she fell onto the
lap of her boy, and White reached
over for a fan and famed her.
Otherwise there was no evidence of
concern on his face. His deep sunken
eyes gazed about him and occasional
ly he looked down upon the face of
that one who had given him birth,
led him through the days of child
hood and youth. and who was then
praying for the soul of that boy
whose life must be forfeited because
he had taken the life of another.
White was soon informed he must