Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-08
JURY SUBMITS IT'S
VERDICT WITHOUT
Recommendation
Fathers Defense for Killing
Is Monomania Induced by
Trouton's Whipping His
Daughter

Daughter
NEWMAN, Ga, Sept. with
their father convicted of first de-
gree murder, Grady and Jeff Min
ter, and their brothers-in-law, Floyd
Weldon and Leon Goodrum, will be
quickly tried for their lives in
connection with the death of Mill
lard Trouton, another brother-in-
law.
The case against Grady Minter
closed Friday morning and argu-
ment began in the afternoon.
Trouton, weighed down with rocks
fastened about his body by plow
line, was thrown alive into shallow
creek near here a month ago. Ac-
cording to Sheriff S. p. Carpenter,
the father, J. w, Minter, made a
confession to him admitting he and
his sons adjusted the weights, threw
Trouton into the water and followed
the body as it moved slowly down
stream to make sure it did not
come to the surface"
Trouton was sentenced to death
by the Minter family, according to
evidence brought out at the trial
yesterday. The Winters charged
him with having whipped his wife,
Mrs. Mary Minter Trouton, so Sc
verely that it caused her much suf-
fering.
Mrs. Trouton left her husband
and returned to make her home
with her father. Later, Trouton
wrote her a letter in. an effort to
bring about a reconciliation. The
letter was produced at the trial yes.
terday In it, Trouton protested
his love for his wife and cautioned
Minter not to interfere with the
plans for reconciliation.
Minter, it was said, then called
his two sons and two sons-in-law
into council and the plans were laid
for Trouton's abduction. William
Feltman was secured to lure Trou-
ton from his home after which the
Minter clan kidnapped him and car
ried him to the woods where he was
/ given a speedy trial and put to
death, according to Minter's confess
sion to, the sheriff.
1t is said Minter's trial was one
of the shortest in the history OF
Georgia courts.
Judge c. e. Roop announced ar
the opening of court that he would
defer sentencing j. w. Minter until
the trials of the other defendants
had been concluded. He stated that
to sentence Minter now might be
inimical to the interests of the other
defendants. Since Minter was con.
Victed without recommendation, the
courts sentence can be hanging
only.
Attorneys for the defense have ail-
nounced that the case will be ap.
pealed 1t is understood that the
grounds will be that the burden OF
proving the sanity of the defendant
is on the state, when this issue ts
raised in the case. 1t is said that
a recent supreme court decision up
held this view.
Brief Trial
When the jury brought in the
verdict in the Minter case last
night at 6:15 o'clock, it marked the
end of one of the shortest trials in
record in Georgia in a similar case.
The case was called at s o'clock
Thursday morning, and the jury
of Grady Minter was expected to
follow about the same course to-
day, and the evidence will be large
ly the same.
Confessed, Sheriff Testifies
A crowded courtroom heard Shere
if S. p. Caruenter, of Coweta coun~-
ty, testify that J. w. Minter on three
occasions admitted to him he kill
ed Trouton. Twice, said the sheriff,
Minter declared that he shot Trouton.
The third time he said that he and
his sons and sons-in-law, indicted
also for the murder, tied Trouton
with rocks and threw him into Line
creek.
The sheriff's testimony was core
roborated by d. w. Dial, his deputy
who described how the body was
bound with rocks, and how he found
blood in Leon Goodrum's automobile,
which, Minter said, according to the
deputy, was used by the party in
carrying Trouton to the creek.
A doctor gave drowning as the im~
mediate cause Of Trouton's death. ,
Ben Freeman described the mane
ner in which Trouton was seized on
the night of August 10 and whisked
away in a car. He identified j. w.
Minter as leader of the band of men
who seized Trouton on the street.
Mrs. Mary Minter Trouton, widow
of the slain man, was the first witt
ness for the defense. From ques.
tions addressed to her by Attorney
Finch, it was evident that one phase
of the defense would be evidence that
Trouton repeatedly beat and abused
his wife, and threatened her and her
father; and that Minter, the de"
PENDANT, knowing of these things.
lost all distinction between right and
| wrong.
Mrs. Trouton identified a waist an
the one she was wearing in Alabama
when, as she alleged, Trouton so se~
verely heat her that the law inter-
| ferd and furnished him for it. She
| identified a portion of what scenes
| to be a bed Stat, broken across onA
end, as part of the stick he had useA
| to beat her with in Alabama over O
year ago. She said Trouton threat
ened her father every day she lived
with him, but that she never heard
her father. say anything against
Trouton. She identified a letter exc
hibited ~ Attorney Finch as one she
returned from Alabama. She did not
read it, she said, being herself UNI
able to read or write. Some one read
it for her, and told her it's contents
and she told her father. She said ii
nearly drove him crazy.
Faint Scar on Head
Answering in the affirmative to
the questions as to whether she had