Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-05
HCUBBAGE is FREED
j AFTER 80 MINUTES Z
JURY DELlBERATION
Continued From First Page.)


Luray where Uncle Jake has successfully
raised two families consisting Of IL
sons and daughters 800 +. :,,.~ 4.
: The bent, little old man learned his
lessons long ago, he said,- and he never
learned them out of, books. The jurors
were able to see that Uncle Jake was
stopped with toll that his legs had
bowed from the long miles they had
borne him., tt i4.-s
such a man, the lawyers. defending
Uncle Jake pointed out, had learned to
keep out of trouble. Such a man, they
said, wouldn't kill another unless to
save himself.
Relied on Testimony.
The jurors who heard Uncle Jake give,
his version of how he shot and killed
his grandson month. ago today will
decide If the old man was defending
himself when he fred the fatal charge.
of bird shot, The defense relied
strongly upon the impression. which
Uncle Jakes own testimony would make.
Uncle Jake told. how he had always
tried to instruct his children and his
grandchildren in the ways of peace
and how, In spite Of 1t all: some Of the
While the sorrowful old man talked in
his low, trembling voice, his eldest
daughter, mother of the murdered
youth, sat so close she could have reach
ed across the railing and touched him.
A large, sad-faced woman, CARRIED In
stiff funeral black she sat and stared
hxedly at the bearded face OF her father.
She seemed as self-possessed and as
remote from the proceedings as her
husband, Sonny Boy" Cubbage, father
of the slain boy, whose long dropping
oaIa 10
bore look of habitual melancholy.
These two, Fred Cubbag's mother and
father, fastened on foot from their
home, in Cubbage Hollow, across
spur to Uncle Jake's cabin in an ad-
joining cove, where, they learned, Fred
Cubbage lay wounded.
Fell in Rye Patch.
Fred had fallen on his back in q rye
patch fringing his grandfather's yard,
a charge of biickshot from the latter's
old buckeye" squirrel gun in his left
thigh.
That happened in Cubbage Hollow, on
a Sabbath afternoon, In high and In
accessible region of the mountains Is
miles south of Luray. The man who
brought the parents tidings of the
tragedy ut their home in Lucas Hol-
low came also to get an automobile.
He was to drive the car around the
spur, = a matter. of eight miles by the
torturous road, to get Fred Cubbage
and take him to the nearest doctor Inf
Stanley Settlement, 10 miles below
Uncle Jake's cabin.
The father who took the stand just
before Uncle Jake was called, told how
and did what they could to stop the
Gow Of blood while they waited for
the automobile to arrive. They could
hear the laboring engine coming up
the mountain far below and 1t seemed
an age before 1t arrived.
But Fred was bleeding fast, his
father said. They did not know much
OF first-aid measures and Fred did not
survive the long jolting ride into STAN
ley He died, his father said, before
the lights of .&he little settlement be-
low; them came into view. almost three
hours after he had been wounded.
the court was told the wound which let
cut Freds life. blood might have proved
OF minor consequence.
Uncle Jake Takes Stand.
, When. Uncle Jake arose to take his
place on the stand, the impressive hill
folk who jammed every available space
in the court room, leaned forward in
their chairs. In their excitement they
quit tanning themselves with their
straw hats which had been going cease
lessly since the trial opened in the hot,
stuffy chamber
I'm going on 60" Uncle Jake began,
land my. eyes and ears amt what they
was. Fred was bigger than was and
he wouldn't listen when I told him to
get off my property and 60 on home.
I'D told him and told him to get
away and leave me alone II he wasn't
drinking he sure acted like it and /
didn't know what a Teller In that mind
would do.
When he come at me there in front
of my doorstep backed away and told
him to behave T. kept backin' and tellin'
him to behave. He kept comm on. I
backed all the way To my doorstep and
then had to raise my gun and let him
have 1t. can't see very good and 1t
looked like he had somethin' raised In
his left hand. knew he had q fruit jar
in his right hand. didn't know what
he'd do II he got his hands on me. I'm
too old and too crippled up to fight and
i can't see we'll enough hardly to shoot
a gun. ! aimed to hit Fred in the leg,
though, and never meant to kill him
I just wanted him to stop and leave
me be-"
Sought 10 Settle Dispute.