The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-02
DEFENSE SPRINGS JOLT IN TRIAL. OF AX-SLAYER
Attorneys Change Plea Of Insanity To Not
 Guilty

The case of John Milton, on trial on a charge of killing eight-month-old NIaedron Collins and attempting to as sault the child's mother near Morris, Ala. four months ago, will go to the iury for deliberation before noon Tues day. Circuit Judge William ID. Fort an nounced when court was adjourned Monday afternoon.
 An unexpected development was snrnnp in the court room by Frank Rainbridge and T. A. Thorp, Milton's attorneys, Monday morning when the nlco of insanity was withdrawn and q plea of mot guilty" substituted. This was carried out when Milton took the stand as the only witness for the defense and repudiated the confessions, alleged to have been made to Chief Deputy Sheriff Henry S. Hill and Deputy Sher- ;ff Johnny Jones while being returned from Rayenna, Ohio, where he was captured.
 Cross Examined
 Finder cross examination of Sollcl- for Tim Davis, prosecuting the case, Milton declared that he did not talk with the officers during the entire trip. He also testified that he did not see Mrs Collins or her children on the dav tbe attack was made, but that he nurchased a pint of corn liquor while away from group of convicts in which he was a trustee, and after drink ing one-half of the pint, ran away because he was afraid of whipping. His story on the witness stand agreed in every detail, to the confessions which MT. Hill and Mir. Jones asserted Mil ion made to them, except in regard to the killing of the child and the assault on the mother.
 The first witness to testify against Milton was Mrs. Blaney Collins, mother of the murdered child, who took the stand shortly before noon. In her tes- timony. she related seeing Milton for the first time the day the murder was committed, when he came to her fathers home to get a pail of water. Dramatic Moments
 A dramatic moment in the trial that brought every spectator in the crowded court room to their feet came when Mrs. Collins positively identified Mil ton as the slayer of her child.
 "Yes, sir, he is the man who at tackled me and killed my baby as held her in arms," Mrs. Collins said in re- sponse to questions of Solicitor Davis.
 She testified that after leaving her fathers home, she started to go to her own home with four children about 8 80 o'clock in the afternoon in ques- tion. When about 100 yards from the road, Milton, she declared, stepped from the bushes and asked her to come with him. When she refused, her chill dren started to cry and Mrs. Collins yelled, when Milton swung an ax at her. breaking her right arm, cutting her head and killing the baby, which was being carried on the left arm.
 After regaining consciousness, she told of seeing Andrew Curl, a neigh bor. bending over her.
 "When he started running toward my children, hOllowed. Then he turned on me and struck my little baby that I was holding in my arms. Then he struck me. That is all remembered until I came to and saw Andrew Curl bending over me. My baby was in my arms. bleeding-and dying" was the way Mrs. Collins told of the brutal attack.
 Mother On Stand
 She was subjected to cross examina- tion of over an hour after the noon recess by Milton's lawyers, but in no instance, did she diverge from the orig inal story.
 Jack Hardin, the prison camp war den. from which Milton escaped, was the next witness, identified3 Milton as q member of his camp and testified that he was the only absentee from camp on the day the attack was com mitted. After Andrew Curl and other neighbors had corroborated Mrs. Col lins' testimony. Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hill was called to the witness stand.
 Upon reaching Ravenna, it was dis covered that Milton was being allowed considerable freedom in the jail. En route to Birmingham, this subject was mentioned. In the conversation which followed, Mir. Jones told of the calm manner ill which Milton gave him and Chief Deputy Sheriff Hill, all the details of the tragedy. telling them how he had eluded the officers and giving detailed description of his travels from the scene of the crime to Birming- ham, to Pratt City, where he took a train for Ohio. This confession was
  of mitigation of punishment being given, Mr. Jones testified.
 Officer Testifies
 The last for the witness prosecu- tion was Mir. Hill. whose testimony was identified with Mir. Jones' After a short recess, Milton took the stand in his own defense. He could not tell how long he had been in the prison camp and gave his fear of whipping as his reason for leaving the camp, as- serting that he made no confession or ''did not talk at all' with the officers en route to Birmingham. He denied having committed the crime.
 The high spot in his testimony came in the cross examination when MT. Davis asked.
 ''1s it not fact that you were ar- rested in Ohio because of an attack upon white woman:"
 Before Milton could answer. Mir. Bainbridge moved that the case be con- tinued on the grounds that the ques- tion was improper. Judge Fort over ruled this motion, but ordered the oues- tion stricken from the record, and eau tioned the jurors against giving any weight to the question.
 After brief consultation of attor- neys, Judge Fort announced that court would adjourn until Tesday morning 1 after Solicitor Davis made the open ing argument for the state. The argu- ment, which was very brief, consisted of complete resume of the testimony ot the case and attacked the plausibil- 1 ity of Milton's testimony.
 | The case will oDpn at q .2O o'clocl,