Americus times-recorder., 1920-06-10

The case was hard fought ana lls-
tened to most intently by the court
room audience.
Attorneys engaged in the case were
G. w. Worrill and L. B. West, OF
Cuthbert. Ellis & Webb and julie Eel
ton. of Americus, for the state, and
G. Fl. Perry, Of Cuthbert and Zach
Childers. of Americus, for the de-
fendant.. nr.
The states star witness was Miss
MoIlie Buckley who testified she was
q witness to the wedding of Mccoy
and Miss Wood, then a Red Cross
nurse overseas, but now trained
nurse in Atlanta. During the prog
ress of the trial the second wife, Mrs.
Georgia Pitts Mccoy, an 18-year-old
Alabama girl, who was married to Nc
Gov while a student at Andrew col
lepe on October 13, 1919, was ex-
cl1ded from the courtroom, but while
counsel argued the case against her
husband after the taking of testimony
had been finished and she had been
readmitted to the room, she wept very
softly and dried her eyes frequently
with small handkerchief.
Mccoy Takes Stand
McCoy, a member of the famous
151st Machine Gun Battalion; who
served first at the Mexican border
and afterwards went to France as a
member of Capt. Julian Peacock's
Macon company, sat with his aged ia
ther and his counsel during the trial
and looked at neither of the women
each of whom claimed to be his law
full wife. On the stand he made a
clear, straightforward statement, as
serting that he went through cere-
mony in France with Miss Wood, but
that both recognized this as illegal at
the time, and asserted that afterward
they had met in Atlanta and there
agreed their wedding" in France was
without sanction in law, each agreeing
to recognize the staus of the other as
that of an unmarried person. With
this view embedded in his mind as
correct, and firm in the opinion that
he had a right to marry the woman of
his choice, Mccoy told the jury that
he had met and loved Miss Pitts, that
he had married her in this county and
that he still loved her, but that due to
the opposition of her parents he had
never entered into the marriage re-
laion with her, and had not been in
her company since three hours follow
ing their marriage, when she was TAX
en- from him under duress.
Came to Georgia for Divorce
Mrs. Orpha D. Wood Mccoy, al
legged first wife, who appears to be
several wears older than the defend
ant, sat unmoved throughout the
whole trial. She said to a newspaper
man that she had come to Georgia
for the purpose of getting a divorce
and refused to divulge her Atlanta
street address, saying she had been
promised that nothing about the trial
would be printed in the newspapers
when she consented to come to Amer
! cius to attend the hearing. She ex-
pressed herself not at all concerned
about the outcome of the trial but ev-
idenced satisfaction whenever coun-
sci for the state scored in contested
point against the defense.
Miss Mollie Buckley, who made an
excellent witness, gave the first oral
testimony introduced by the state.
She was on the stand more than an
hour, during which she answered the
many questions put to her by oppos-
ing counsel, with an equanimity that
impressed her upon all in the court
room as a splendid witness. She told
of having been in France in Red
Cross service with Miss Wood, and of
having met Mccoy there Together
with Miss Wood. she was stationed at
Chaumont Base Hospital, No. 101, she
told the jury. and Mccoy was brought
there suffering with a disease which
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