The Semi-weekly leader., 1922-11-08
NAT FOSTER UNDER
BOND AFTER TRIAL

hrs. Dumont. HE said the girl had
sun after'hisn. This girl knew where
Bob was ana she knew. he was mar
ried. for I. myself, wrote to her and
offered to take the baby to raise.
She wrote many letters to Bob, three
Of which have with me. She want
ed money, but she wanted too much;
more than we could give"
The state put in evidence three Of
the letters sent by Dumont by mail,
and a note found on him after his
death. Miss Emma Foster admitted
the genuineness OF the letters Al
paragraph In one Of the letters was
dwelt on at length by Judge p. 2.
Jones. appearing for the state. It.
read; 81 have saved your life two or
three times" Judge Jones contend
ed that 1t showed the mans life had
been In danger ever since his affair
with Miss Foster.
The state put on many witnesses1
to testify regarding the size of the
shot, the position of the body and
the location Of the marks made on
trees. and limbs from the shot. 1t
was the contention Of the state that
Dumont was shot from behind as he
sat on slab. ]. M. May had two
or three shot picked from limb. He
said the shot were what Is known
as number one shot; said all that he
saw were the same size. On cross
Mr.. May stated that
squirrel shot ranged from 8, 4, 8
and s.; said he thought the shot
found in the limbs were too large for
squirrel. w. ]. Butler said he had
found a part of the gun wadding;
that on one piece, which he pro-
duced, were the letters "B. B." The
wad was Placed on evidence.
The defense placed several char
-acter witnesses on the stand to prove
the good character of Foster and the
bad character Of Dumont. After some
eight or ten of these character wit
nesses had testified, the defense
put Miss Emma Foster on the stand.
Miss Foster stated that she was 81
years Of age; that she first met Bob
Dumont some six years ago; that
they went together for a while and
then became engaged; that Dumont
persuaded her to surrender herself
to him under promise Of an early
marriage; that he refused to live up
to his promise. She told of the pleas
made to him to marry her, and of
the birth Of the little girl in June,
1919.
Miss Foster told of a letter from
Dumont in which he begged her to
let him see the baby; said she arrang-
ed to meet him in the woods beyond
the spring on three different occa-
sions; said her reasons for meeting
him were that she wanted to talk
with him and plead with him to
marry her and thus save the little
child from future Of shame and
disgrace. She said that Dumont had
declared that he had not married in
Louisiana and that he told her he
would marry her and the three of
'them-she, the baby and himself
would go to some other part of the
world and start over again. She
said that the last time she met Du-
mont by appointment was the last
week in July; said the meeting oc-
tober Gath, the day Dumont was kill
ed, was entirely accidental on her
part; said she had gone to the spring
to make preparations for the NOR
rows washing, and that while drag
ging up slabs to the wash place she
heard Dumont call to her; said she
went out to where he was to see
what he wanted; said she again ask
ed him to do right by her. She said
Dumont wanted her to come in the
bushes with him, and that when she
refused he grabbed her by the arms;
said she was struggling with him
when all at once he let loose Of her;
said she turned to run and just then
a gun fred.
Attorney Yawn made a powerful
plea for Foster. He pictured the
shadow which has hung over the
Foster home for more than three
years; he painted scene of love-
making, seduction, neglect, and the
final shame. He told of how these
boys. after valiant service in the
cause Of their country, came home to
find the sanctity Of the home de-
bauched. He told of the will power
and Tolerance that had kept these
boys from killing the man RESPONSE
BILE for their sisters shame, and how,
at last, on the oath day of October.
young Nat, while out hunting, had
heard the piteous cry Of his sister
and had rushed UP to find her again
in the clutches of the man. There
could have been no other ending, de-
clared Attorney Yawn.
Attorney Maui pointed out that
no man had ever been over-powered
or over-persuaded by q woman; that
the advances had always come from
the man. He declared that Bob Du-
mont deserved to be killed, that any
man within the sound Of his voice.
il they were the men he took them
to be. would have done. under the
circumstances. the same thing Nat
Foster did.
Attorney Jones, In a cool, unper-
turhed manner. quoted passages Of
scripture. showing that women had
been known to take the initiative In
affairs Of the kind In question. He
recalled briefly the circumstances Of
the shooting. the passage in Miss
FOSTERS letter to Dumons telling him
she had saved his life on two or
three occasions, the size Of the shot
with which the man was killed, and
the marks on the trees and bushes
two and three feet from the ground
where the shot had struck.
Thnro xvnrn fs,arnandnfe audfan cae