Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-12-25
NEW TRIAL MOTION !
IS BEING PREPARED
by FOX ATTORNEYS
Mrs. Margaret Weaver, Held
for Atlanta Police, to Fight
Extradition From Alabama.
Abb Is Claimed

BIRMINGHAM, Dec. 24.-Mrs.
Margaret Weaver, arrested in Bir.
mingham Saturday on an Indictment
charging her with being an Access
sorry before the fact in the Staying
of William S. Coburn, ku klux Khan
attorney, decides not to fight extra.
dition and goes to Atlanta where
she is detained at police headquar.
ters.
A representative from the office OF
Solicitor General John A. Boykin
left Saturday night for Birmingham,
where Mrs. Margaret Weaver, the
woman indicted as an accessory be-
fore the fact in the Philip E. Fox
murder case, is held for Atlanta au-
throities.
This deputy, it was announced
from the solicitors office, is
armed with requisition papers pro-
cured Saturday noon from Governor
Walker upon information from Bir-
mingham that the Weaver woman
will fight eXtradition to Georgia. If
the move to bring her back proves
successful, it was stated, the alleged
accessory in the Staying of Captain
w. S. Coburn will be placed on trial
early in January.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Fox late
Saturday had prepared a skeleton
motion for new trial for their client,
who was convicted Friday night OF
the murder of Captain Coburn and
sentenced to life Imprisonment. At
| LOT irlo
G.. HI. Howard, who presided at the
Fox trial. had not been seen by the
attorneys, and therefore, no date had
been set for hearing the new trial
move. 1t is expected the motion
will be filed Monday.
Accusations Denied
The arrest of Mrs. Weaver, who
has seen sought since her indict-
ment about two weeks ago, injected
new angle into the Fox case,
should new trial be granted, as
the state contends that Fox was in
company with her from the Satur-
day preceding the shooting until
shortly before he entered the office
Of Captain Coburn on November 5
and shot him to death.
This assertion was denied by Mrs.
Weaver, according to Birmingham
dispatches, which quoted her as stat
! ing that she left Atlanta prior to
the shooting, and that she proposed
to produce the records of a Chatta-
nooga hotel to show that she was
in that city on the day Fox killed
] Captain Coburn. She also was said
to be making efforts to engage an
attorney. +vt,-4
| LNoxy@yl;I al
upon what grounds the new trial
would be sought, but a statement
| from them reiterated the plea set
up during the trial that Fox is in
sane, and declared that every effort
was made in his behalf, in view of
the early trial. set for him.
The defense attorneys also paid
| tribute to the manner in which
Judge G.. Ii. Howar, handled the
trial and declared that never was a
case handled in more fair and i'm.
| partial vein. They also said tbs
| jury was highly attentive and as inn
partial a group as could have been
gotten together.
Spent Restless Night
I'm a sick man =. see my at
torneys D. I don't feel like talk
ing" the prisoner said to reporters
who called Saturday morning. His
cell mates said Fox had spent a
restless night and the twitching of
his features was still noticeable.
Filing of a skeleton motion is the
usual procedure in seeking a new
trial and this move allows counsel
the opportunity of amending their
petition later. The stenographer' e
record in the case will not be ready
for several weeks, as the evidence in
the Fox trial was probably the most
voluminous in the history Of Fulton
superior court since the celebrated
Frank case.
While the jurors in the case de-
clined to discuss how the balloting
had run during the deliberations,
which lasted nearly twenty hours, it
was stated unofficially at the court
house that the severity of the pun
ishment was the major factor which
delayed the finding of a verdict, some
holding out for the extreme penalty
and with others contending for tho
life Imprisonment.
1--WE, the jury, find the defendant
guilty of murder and recommend him
to the mercy of the court" was the
verdict, read to crowded courtroom
by Assistant Solicitor e. A. Stephens.
while Fox sat bowed at the defense
table and mumbled a barely audible
mo" when Judge C. H. Howard ask.
ed if he had any statement to make.
Sentence was pronounced immediate
| ly, and Fox was escorted from the
courtroom by a special detail of dep
uties who had stood around him
when the verdict was announced
MRS. MARGARET WEAVER
TO RESIST EXTRADITION
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Dec. o.
All possible processes of law will be
! invoked to stay the hand of authori-
| ties of Georgia and Alabama in at
| tempt to remove her to the former
state for trial, if Mrs. Margaret
| Weaver, arrested here today in con-
nection with the Staying of William
S. Coburn, in Atlanta on November
5, carries out her announced inten.
ton.
Mrs. Weaver told detectives that
she was in Chattanooga on the date
that Philip E. Fox, former publicity
director for the Ku KIux Khan. killed
Captain Coburn, a khan attorney, and
that she was not CERTAIN whether
she even knew either of the men,"
The woman said she proposed, il
necessary, to produce hotel records
to show that she was in the Ten
nessee city on the date Of the kill
ing. She made no effort to conceal
her identity when officers arrested
her, telling them, II am the woman
indicted in Atlanta"