Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-18
COART IS GUILTY;
GETS LIFE SENTENCE
Continued from Page y

conscious that ne was In OylnS
condition. He charged that dying
declarations" should be considered
| as evidence only with great caution.
Two or three special charges were
submitted by the states attorney
in the case, but only one of the num-
Der was charged except as embraced
| in the general charge.
Every point in the aolse has been
as closely contested as every move
| has been carefully scrutiniZed.
Judy Gets Nights Sleep
Immediately after the case was
night they were sent to supper in
charge of bailiffs and taken there
after back to their room at the
courthouse where they began ballot
ting. Several ballots were taken
prior to II o'clock, it is understood,
but no announcement came from the
| twelve men who were visibly tired
and worn, and Judge Munro direct
ed Sheriff Watkins to permit them
to retire for the night and court
was recessed until $3.50 o'clock Fri
day morning.
Tired and worn, though apparent
Iy confidently hopeful of the free
dom of the defendant, many of his
| friends, including two sisters, broth
er-in-law and brother and other rela-
tives waited with him at the court
house until the jury was ordered to
retire and the defenda- sent back
to the little Jail about two blocks
away. On leaving the courthouse,
Major Coart expressed himself as
being in the best of spirits and as
confident of his justification of his
action in the shooting of McN1ece
as he was on the 18th of last October
as a consequence OF which ne dItd
at hospital in Atlanta on the 18th
of the same month.
perhaps there never was a MUIR
der case tried in this section so re-
markable in many respects as this
one.'' is the substance of hundreds
of expressions that may be heard
here, with reference to its various
angles of tragedy and sorrow, ana
| the strife it has caused among prom
| inent families.
Unrevealed Mystery
While the trial has brought out
several theories as to the actual
| cause of the killing of A. b. Nc
| Niece, who less than a year ago was
regarded by the people here as one
| of the staunchest friends of the man
now the central character in the
case, there is apparently a great
deal of unrevealed mystery. Some
of this, it has been intimated, will
| be brought out probably in a di-
vorce petition that is understood to
| be in preparation to be filed by Mrs
Coart against her husband and child
hood sweetheart in Columbus. The,
| petition probably will allege the eK-
| travagant expending of some $1Q,-
1000 or $11 900 of the money of Mrs.
| Rosa Coart, whose first marriage
was to Mr.. Frederick, who is said TO
| have left he rand her sixteen-year-
| old son, Holmes, some 100000 at his
death some seven years ago. She was
married to Major Coart about six
years ago.
| The divorce petition, which is un-
| derstood to be in process of draft
| ing, according to general talk here
| among relatives and friends of Mrs.
fCoart, probably also will contain
some rather sensational allegations
with reference to the social life of
the former army officer, who, not
longer than year ago, together
with his wife, Mr.. and Mrs. Nc
Niece and Mr.. j. o. Pinkston, were
said to have been intimately friend
ly in their associations dancing to-
gether, enjoying outing parties at
| Juniper and Warm Springs togeth
er, visiting each other in the homes
of first one and then the other, and
in church life. The bereaved wild
ow, Mrs. McNiece, was Miss Celeste
Dunbar, accomplished daughter of
a widely-known Georgia conference
| CiCf icfo ,od
Personal Encounter
The tense feeling that has charac-
teriZed the atmosphere surrounding
the Coart murder trial here this week
found expression in a personal diff
ficulty on one of the most prominent
street corners here this morning
when A. Jones Perryman, Talbot
county representative in the legisla-
ture, and the first attorney to speak
for the defense, was struck several
blows by J. H. McGehee, local law
yer and brother-in-law Of Mrs.
! Coart.
Shortly before 8 o'clock Mr.. Nc
Gehee was standing on, the corner
talking to Judge Munro, when Mr..
Perryman came along. Mr.. Niece
hee called to him, it is said. and eX-
pressed his resentment at what Mr..
Perryman had said in his speech
with reference to the dying state
ment of A. 3. McNiece, which had
been the subject of so much wran-
Cling throughout the trial.
Characterizing Mr.. Perryman's as
sertion that this statement was
connected" by Mr.. McGehee and
Mrs McNiece as a. ID lie, the
angry lawyer struck Mr.. Perryman
blow, at the same time stating
that he had no weapon. Mr.. Perry
man did not strike back.-it is said,
although he held up his hand as if
to deliver a blow. DR.. H. M. Niece
hee, son, who is here from Atlanta
attending the trial, and John H, Jr.,
| another son, came up about this
time, and they. with bystanders who
had gathered, separated the two
men. No one was hurt in the en-
| counter.
I Mrs. Coarti Summoned
Another sensation was expert
| enced by the crowd Thursday eve
ming when it was learned that So
licitor General Mclaughlin had
summoned Mrs. Coart to his offices,
where she remained for more than
an hour, the first time she had been
to the courthouse since the trial be-
gan. The solicitor refused to say why
she had been summoned, but it is
generally understood that it was de.
sired to show, if need be, that she
did not stay away from the trial
becaus~ of any inability to attend