Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-12-22
STRONG SPEECHES
BY COUNSEL MARK
CLOSE Of BIC TRIAL
Jury Gets Case Shortly Be-
fore II O'Clock Thursday
Night and Retires to Hotel
Under Heavy Guard

The fate of Philip e. Fox, head Of
the publicity department of the Ku
Klux Khan and slayer of Captain w.
S. Coburn, attorney for the Colonel
Simmons forces went into the hands
of a jury shortly before II o'clock
Thursday night.
Arguments in the case were com,
pleted at 10 o'clock when Solicitor
John A. Boykin finished d tlree-hour
appeal for FoXs conviction, carry.
irg with it the death penalty. Judge
G. II. Howard then delivered
lengthy charge, in which he stressed
the rules of the court on testimony
relating to the sanity or insanity OF
the defendant, and at 1924 o'clock
the case was placed in the hands Of
the twelve men who are to decide
the defendants fate.
Only Three Verdicts Possible
In charging the jurors Judge How
ard instructed them that under the
law they must return either a ver-
dict Of guilty, carrying with it the,
death penalty; a verdict of guilty
with recommendation for mercy,
which will mean life imprisonment,
or verdict of acquittal. The only
other possible outcome would be a
mistrial.
Judge Howard showed that al
though a man is presumed to be in.
nocent until proven guilty and the
burden of proving guilt is on the
state, a man is also presumed to be
sane until proven insane and the
burden Of proving insanity rests on
the defense. He instructed the jury
that it will act as judge as to the
credibility of witnesses and of the
evidence.
"A witness, not an expert, is per.
mitted to testify as to his opinion of
the sanity or insanity Of any defend
ant on trial, after giving his testi-
mony as to his reason therefor" he
said. "And in weighing such testi.
mony the jurors are authorized to
consider the opportunities Of the wit
nesses for knowing the facts about
which they testify"
Jury Under Guard
Under guard of several deputy
sheriffs the jurors went to their
quarters in the Ansley hotel and
retired for the night, Judge Howard
having recessed court until
o'clock Friday morning.
Preceding the argument of Solicit
Boykin, which was singing de-
nunciation of Fox, the closing argu-
ment for the defense was made by
Attorney Hugh M. Dorsey, former
governor, who made dramatic APP
peal for an acuqittal for Fox. He
followed Assistant Solicitor z. A.
Stephens, who demanded in behalf
of the state that Fox pay for his
crime with his life. The morning
was taken up by Attorney Robert B.
Allen, of Dallas, for the defendant.
Begs for Death Penalty
Solicitor Boykin, begging for a
verdict Of guilty without a recon-
mendation for mercy, declared:
Lets have the rope. Let's let
the rope mean something. am not
vindictive. 1 want a man to know
that when he kills man he must
answer to a jury for his deed and
be punished, and then he will hear
the voice of God that has sounded
down through the ages from Sinai,
"Thou shalt not kill, and not the
voice Of hell"
He declared that Fox did not hear
a. voice from heaven" but rather
zone from hell;'' that the motive for
the killing had been definitely es-
tablished, and that if the defendant
were freed his friends would take
him back to Texas and give him a
great banquet.
The defense closed it's case at $50
o'clock when Attorney Hugh Dor
sew concluded the final argument In
behalf Of Fox. In a fiery speech
the former governor declared that
the state had failed to break down
it's proof Of the defendants 1nsani-
ty and urged Fox's acquittal on the
ground that when he slew the law
YER he was not mentally responslbles
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