The Semi-weekly leader., 1919-09-03
CARMACK'S SLAYER
IS MURDERED
Continued from LIST page.l

empty poeket-book, however. was
found in the bottom Of the automo-
bile.
Governor Roberts has offered re-
ward Of $500 for the arrest and com
viction Of the murderers. This later
was supplemented by offers OF ST.
fmilar amount by the family.
/ The police admit that they have
|nothing on which to work In solving
1.-The mystery.
The Carmack tragedy, the most no.
table in the history Of Tennessee,
grew out OF the Carmack- Patterson
race for the gubernatorial nominal
tion in 1903, in which Colonel ID. b.
Cooper, father of Robin j. Cooper,
was one Of Patterson's closest ad-
visers.
In the fatal encounter which ec-
Cured ON an uptown street Of Nash
vile, November 0, 1908, the son
fred the shot which ended Carmack's IS
life. and in the shooting was himself
wounded.
Father and son were convicted Of
murder In the second degree in the
lower court, but on apepal OF the
case to the Supreme Court, the ver-
dict was reversed as to the son, the
judges standing 3 to 2. The verdict
as to Colonel Cooper was sustained,
to 2, but before leaving the capitol
the father was pardoned by Governor
Patterson. The case against Robin
j. Cooper, when it came up again
in the Davidson County Criminal
Court, was dropped.
BLACKMAIL THEORY SECUTED.
Nashville, Tenn. Sept. 1.-"Robin
]. Cooper. was killed by two or more
men and the murderers will soon be
apprehended." was the statement
made by Chief of Police A. j. Bar
thell this morning. The chief did
not reveal the theory upon which the
department was working. That it
was not blackmail was indicated by
his positive statement that no woman
was connected in any way with the
tragedy so far as the police know.
In pursuing suggestion that Mr..
Cooper might have been the victim
OF boot-leggers, all men suspected of
connection with that traffic have
been made to disclose to the satisfac-
tion of the police their movements
on Thursday night when Mr.. Cooper
was called from his home in Belle
Meade park to be seen no more by
the members of his household until
Saturday afternoon after his batter
ed body had been found in. Richland
creek. This investigation is said to
have exploded that theory.
. A house girl in the Cooper home,
Maude Perkins, says about 8 O'Clock
Thursday night, she heard someone
calling Cooper, Cooper" and went to
a window overlooking the front
porch. She saw only the shadow of
the man who stood in the yard. The
man did not come on the porch, but
Joined Mr.. Cooper in the yard and
went with him to the garage and left
with him in the automobile. From
this mysterious caller addressing Mr..
Cooper as Cooper, it is now con-
sidered certain that the caller was
some more or less intimate acquain-
tance. The identity of that caller
and the significance of Cooper's re-
mark made as the automobile left
the home, "if you had asked for more
you couud have had it," are believed
to be the all-important questions in
yolved in the extraordinary case.
Mrs. Cooper, who was visiting in
Evanston, ILL.,, reached Nashville yes
terday. accompanied by her father,
Milton H. Smith, of Louisville.
Mr.. Cooper's funeral was held to-
day at Christ Church, Bishop Thomas
F. Gailor officiating.