The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-14

ly the evidence for the defense, dwell ing on the testimony that Lancaster was seen asleep on his cot at the Townley barracks at the hour Baird was being lynched He charged that Leslie Vests coat was placed under house as bait to look further and it's being there proved the uniforms found in the barracks ~,alls were not placed there by Lancaster and his companions or they would have put Vests coat with them. He referred to tho good character shown by the defendant.
 Mcqueen was followed by Ralph Quinn, who made the second argu- ment for the state. He spoke 30 minutes and was followed by Ernest B. Fit for the defense, who spoke 45 minutes.
 Closing Speech
 Senator A. H. Carmichael delivered the closing speech for the defense. He began to address the jury at 3:05 this afternoon and concluded at 4:30.
 This is the final end of the most momentous persecution and prosecu- tion l have ever seen,' he told the jury. Tn all the years that I have practiced law I have never been so interested in a case as l am in this. When I go to bed at night and see the face of that blue-eyed boy and that one-eyed father l cannot sleep,
 Cannot Forget Service
 And I cannot forget and l won't forget what these boys have done. When they left I thought of the 5000 miles before them and the hun gry Hun and I felt the trembling oi tre world and when they asked me to say a word to them l could only say God bless you and when you come back the world is yours This boy was ono of them, 1 cant ap- preciate the sneering at him as nothing but a taxi driver after he had surrendered the hope of his lie and gone for his country and came back with nothing but his character. It's worth a million to him. There arc three great questions in Alabama now and I'm on the right side of all of them-will-s Bill Brandon be elected governor, will Ford get Mus cle Shoals, will Marion county jury acquit Bob Lancaster-yes yes, yes. There are some high lights in this case. Lancaster, West and Wllkin- son are some of them. There has been too much pressure on this case for it to come square.
 Since the last trial of this case they have brought a lot of patch work witnesses who didn't testify before The case was moved here because the defendant couldn't get fair trial In Walker county and they have brought their prejudice with them"
 The attorney ridiculed as unreli- able the testimony of witnesses who claimed to have had heard the cars pass.
 New Witnesses RidicuIcd
 These new witnesses are nearly all union; that's what we came over here to get rid of They all lean against my client because they are intensely union.
 'I don't know who took Baird out of the jail. I don't mean to tell you don't sympathize with this widow and her child; I don't mean to tell you the men who took that poor naked body out and shot it to death are not murderers, but I do mean to tell you that Bob Lancaster didn't do 1t. under the evidence in the case.
 The poor boys like Bob Lancaster are the soldiers who have fought the wars, not feathered captains.
 InG nlRncSJ llEut III lniS ease Is Judge Wilkinson. There is the pow CT and the force of this prosecution. He is too arbitrary sometimes. tie wants to have his way, like when he threatened jail to some of these wit nesses while In Birmingham. Too much pressure in one man, too much power and force, gentlemen.
 "Without the testimony of Leslie West there would be no semblance of a case yet the state Is asking you 10 crush the life out of this man on his testimony. I want to know if this jury would convict any man on the testimony of man who admits that a dozen times he denied any knowl- edge of the thing he testified about. and that he lied. Whoever else took Baird out and shot him, he says in effect. I'm guilty He admits being an accomplice. The evidence shows he's not indicted. That means he has either told what he has under evidence to the effect that Lancas- ter was on his cot asleep through the threats or under promises of immun- ity."
 He then reviewed at length the hours during which Baird was lynched and asked the jury whether they would believe these witnesses or Leslie West. He was followed by Solicitor J. M. Pennington, who spoke for m hntYr and a half