Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-02
FREED At TRIAL.
HU[|NCS RESUME
OFFICIAL DUTIES
Muscogee Chief of Police
Found Not Guilty in Killing
]. 0. Clements at Columbus
Several Months Ago y

BUENA VISTA, Ga, Dec. l.
Chief J. M. Huling and his son, Had
ley Huling, both of the Muscogee
county police force, acquitted last
night of the murder of Bailiff J. o.
Clements, with the din of applause
still ringing in their ears, were to re-
| turn to Columbus this morning for
conference with county commits
sioners.
Chief Huling, who was on trial for
four days, the state having elected
to sever the cases, was acquitted by
the jury last night after one ballot.
The jury was out only thirty min
utes. Solicitor General Mclaughlin,
chief counsel for the state, moved
that the verdict of mot guilty" be
amended to include Hadley Huling,
| which was done.
The courtroom was filled to ca
pacity when the verdict was read
| by the solicitor, and a wave of ap-
plause swept the room. Immediate.
ly upon the adjournment of court,
Chief Huling and his son were the
center Of an informal reception, in
which scores of persons joined
in showering congratulations upon
| them.
Restored to their former status OF
chief of the Muscogee county police
and officer, the Hulings will again
assume their duties. Chairman Wool
folk, Of the Muscogee county board
of commissioners, who was present
when the verdict was read, an
! nounced that the finding of the jury
automatically, restored the Rulings
to- their former sta titus.
All evidence, including rebuttal
testimony by the state, was ended
shortly after o'clock Wednesday
evening. The purpose of the rebuff
tals~testimonYs was to carry out the
contention of the state that Huling
deliberately and without provocation
killed Bailiff Clements.
Both counsel for the state and de
! Tense made special efforts to obtain
| CAdCI lSoIlLAlOlJ dS W VI
shots fired. The defense contended
that there was not in excess of six
| while the state attempted to show
| there were more than seven, and
one or more of the shots came from
! the revolver Of Hadley Huling, who
was Jointly indicted for the murder
| of Clements with his father.
! The shot, which is alleged to have
| been fired by Clements. came after
/ Clements had fallen in the lobby of
a local theater and the two Hulings
were leaving the scene of the trag-
! edy. No eviden, re has been intro
! duced to show that this shot was
| fired by the bailiff, the inference be-
ing that 1t was the result of an ac-
cidental discharge of the weapon.
! The Importance of this point was
] to determine whether Clements was
/ armed at the time he was killed. A
| witness for the defense testified late
I yesterday that he saw a man pick
! IN a,revolver near the body of Glenn
/ ents soon after the shooting, which
i was the only testimony to this eff
; feet. The pistol has not been placed
in evidence, nor has there been any
| direct testimony regarding it.
/ The defendant in his statement
; made the unequivocal assertion that
! his son had absolutely nothing to do
! with the shooting. One of the physi-
clans examining the body of the
| slain man testified that in his best
! judgment there were seven points of
! entrance made by bullets and an
| other testified that in his opinion
| there were six. ,..l
t With conclusion Of evidence We'd
nesday the Huling trial has been, one
OF the most bitterly fought cases in
the history of the Marion county
court. With a. brilliant array @ legal
talent pitted against each other, both