The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, March 17, 1909, Image 1
m SCMTKR WATCHMAN,
Conaolldftted Auf. S, 1881
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TBE COOPER TRIAL.
ATTORNEY GENERAL McCARN
PAR ALONG WITH HIS SPEECH.
Clash Between the Sheriff
And the Chief Attorney for State
Narrowly Averted on Account of
Charge* That the Coopers and
Sharp Have Enjoyed Special Priv
Itagcn aa Prisoners.
Naahville. Tenn.. March IS.?A per?
sonal clash between Attorney General
McCarn and Sheriff Sam Bur urn was
narrowly averted, after court ad?
journed this afternoon in the Coop?
er-Sharp trial for the murder of Sen?
stor Carmaek.
In his argument to the Jury this
afternoon. McCarn charged that the
Coopers and sharp had never occu?
pied cells, that they enjoyed special
privileges and that In granting these
privileges the law was violated. Some
one told Sheriff Borum of the charges,
and when McCarn started to leave the
building he was confronted by the big
sheriff.
"I understand. General," the latter
began. ' that you say I have accorded
to the Coopers and Sharp privileges I
do not extend to other decent white
prisoners. If you said that you told
a falsehood."
There was no mistaking Borum's
aasantag. Ha was angry, and he is
known as one of the gamest men In
the State. McCarn. too, while small
lit statue, has proven his courage in
several inrtances. Before he became
a lawyer, he was a cowboy. He step?
ped up pretty close to the sheriff and
aild coolly. "Be a little careful what'
you say Sam. I said you had violated
the law of Tennessee in permitting
prisoners to confer together without
an officer being present."
A friend of McCarn's whispered to
him
* Remember. General, the sheriff Is
armed. ' *
McCarn's friends hustled him away.
Borum said he tret ted the Coopers as
he si way n "treated gen^emen who
are unfortunate enough to be com?
mitted to my custody."
Borum aald he had told Sharp he
must n&t go to Col. Cooper's room,
and that he relied on Sharp as an ex
sheriff and a gentleman not to do so.
Borum said he did not keep Robin
? separate from the others. The boy
was Just recovering from a wound
and the old father had begged him
"don't take my boy away from me.
So he put them together.
He said McCarn is under Indict?
ment now for carrying a revolver.
Gen. McCarn Ave years ago was the
head irf the secret committee of one
hundred, which closed up dives and
gambling houses and forced the sa?
loons to shut their doors on Uund</.
The liquor mm secured his Indict?
ment for gun "toting." but tue case
was never pressed.
It was expected that the arguments
would be concluded by tonight, but
Gen. McCarn declared ne was ex?
hausted about & p. m.. and asked an
ad ournment until Monday at 9 a.
m. This was granted. McCarn will
conclude then and the case should
each the Jury by nightfall Monday.
Judge Andenton resumed his argu?
ment today, saying:
' I left the Coopers and Carmack at
i if telephone posts yesterday. The
State contends that Col. Cooper had
no right to turn around and go over
here to see Senator Carmack. I have
shown you that he had a right. And
tola Intent was peaceful, for he went
with hand extended. The State says:
'Why did not yoj say your mission
S'as peaceful?' tecauae he did not
nave to. There U no law to compel
you when you i.pproach a man on
ths street to yell oUt that your mis?
sion Is a pacific one.
"Again comes the state inquiry:
Then why did Senator Carmack open
fire almost Instantly after he saw Col.
Cooper?' The stite says It was be?
cause Mrs. Burch, ths colonel's
daughter, ssnt aord that 'Papa Is
srmed and threatening to kill Car
aiack on sight,' und that this state*
?lent was communicated to Carmack.
5
April, ISM.
?Be Just sad Fear nos-*?Let all the ends Thon Alms't at be thy Country's, Thy God's and Truth's."
8UMTER. S. 0.. WEDNESDAY. MARCH 17. 1909.
K3K
Our Premiums.
o
N another page will be found our Premium List for agents who solicit subscript
tious for the Twice-a-Week Watchman & Southron.
Every article in the list is useful and the best of the kind and price to be
had. In the matter of premiums we are practicing what we have been preaching
for years?patronizing home industry by purchasing the premiums from Sumter mer ?
chants.
By pursuing this policy we are keeping our money in circulation at home
and at the same time guaranteeing that our premiums are first-class articles. 3y
sending out of town to some mail order house we might get these articles cheaper,
but vre do not believe in that way of doing business. We want to know what we are
getting and who we are getting it from, but the principle is
the most important consideration after all. We believe in preaching and practicing
the doctrine of patronizing home enterprises, and thereby helping those who help us.
If every man, woman and child will do the same thing, South Carolina will be a
better State, Sumter will be a bigger and better town, with better and more pros?
perous merchants, better and more prosperous workshops and factories and bigger and
better newspapers and printing offices, in the latter of which we are most directly
interested.
This is the point of the whole sermon. Take the hint and get to work as an
agent for the Twice-a Week Watchman & Southron. By so doing you will help
yourself while helping us. You will also be helping your neighbors by inducing them
to subscribe to the best county paper in the State.
Osteen Publishing Company
4U
Mrs. Burch's deductions, however,
honestly made, have nothing to do
with these defendants and they are
not responsible for them."
Anderson declared again that Car?
mack has no right to anticipate any
trouble until Cooper's note actually
had been received by him, and that
the note had not been sent. There?
fore he said Senator Carmack had no
reason to draw a gun when the Coop?
ers approached.
Judge Anderson claimed that Mrs.
Burch, the colonel's daughter, was a
State witness, and that the State
should have used her if she knew
anything pertinent about the case.
"And now, gentlemen, I am going
to quit. The responsibility which has
rested on me is passing to you. You
know how handicapped we have been
by the failure of the State to offer any
theory at all. But there is one fact
in this case, which cannot be contro?
verted. And that is that Senator Car
maclt drew a revolver first and fired
first. It cannot be disputed that Rob?
in fired only when he had to. I feel
safe In the result, gentlemen, I leave
it to you."
Attorney General McCarn began
bis closing argument at once. He re?
marked in opening that he was not
"arguing the case of Robert Love
Taylor against E. W. Carmack," or
"the case of M. R. Patterson against
E. W. Carmack."
He eulogised the jury and then
said:
"Washington talked so much about
bee martins and sparrows that Joe
Garner actually went to roost on a
tree last night, and this morning he
did not know whether to go to peck?
ing at eagles or fiy from limb to limb,
so we clipped his wings and brought
him here.
"They say the State has no theory
When your old dad took you out to
lick you, did you ever know what his
theory war? and did he ever ask for
yours? No, he Just decided from the
proof tn&t you were guilty and lit i.tto
you. We have no theory, we just
have proof."
"They prate of the blue blood and
ancestry of these defendants. It always
amuses me the way these fellows wl.'i
blue blooo and ancestors always think
of those ancestors when they are
brought fac^ to face with the law. Yet
Judge Anderson made a great speech,
the only real law speech In this suit.
He took what testimony he liked from
the State and what he liked from the
defense, and he asked you to acquit
on that argument."
Gen. McCarn then took the first ed?
itorial to which Cooper objected from
the News-Scimitar. "That editorial
was not written by Carmack and they
knew It. They Introduced it for one
purpose, and that was because It at?
tacked Governor Patterson, and they
hoped to reach you men on the jury
who are and were supporters of the
governor.
"Gen. Weeks said 'don't sue a man
for libel because all you can get will
be a Judgment not worth a chew of
I tobacco.' That Is funny advice for
I a lawyer t3 give. A Judgment against
I a poor men, which he cannot satisfy,
I is more humiliating to him than all
I the things he could say about you."
"And then comes the editorial of
I October 21. This editorial refers to
I the trading of Bryan for Patterson
I and mentions Cooper's name with
I others. It had a right to do It. What
1 If one of them were a d've keeper, wo
I know he was In politics. Cooper says
I he was in politics."
Tgsn Gen. McCarn got after the
I A.Atrlcan, which, he said, W89 the
I Ceoper organ.
I "There Is one so-called high class
I Journal here," he said, "which duilv
I wnles editorials tearing to plecer men
who go upon the stand and tell the
truth. Young women are not secure
I from these attacks, neither are mere
children. That is alright, but we
I must not criticise Col. Dune Cooper,
I he's a spark from the expiring embers
I of the old Southern chivalry. We will
I attack whom we please, but no one
I must attack Dune Cooper.' Now isn't
I that a nice theory for a high-class
I newspaper?
I "Next v?c find the editorial of Octo
I ber ||, which attacks the machine,
I and it does not mention Col. Cooper's
I name. But he got mad.
"Then comes the editorial of No
I veinber 8, 'Across the Muddy Chasm*
I ?the reconciliation of Cox and Pat
I terson. Gentlemen, at the Instant
I Carmack was falling dead, Governor
I Cox and Governor Patterson were In
I Intimate conversation not five hun
I dred feet away. And this fact shows
I that the editorial was true and that
I Cooper knew It was so.
I "We have heard a good deal of talk
I about the failure to send the note.
I When a man says If you do a certain
thing one of you must die, and you
do It, you do not need to wait for a
I note, do you?
"There has been a contention here
that Carmack defamed Cooper. Why,
gentlemen, Carmack knew that Coop?
er defaulted and jembezxled as Mas
;tr in Chancery years before. If he
had wanted to defame Cooper, why
could he not have printed these
facts?"
Referring to the State's failure to
put Mrs. Burch on the stand, McCarn
said the State had proved' what it
warned to by Mrs. Burch's maid, ano
he added:
"But I promise you that if she had
r>e on I would never have referred
her story as a 'cock and bull story.'
Yet my distinguished friend, Wash
gton, asked Mrs. Eastman if she
hot any one that day. And he pratos
f Southern chivalry.
"Counsel has described how crip?
pled the old Colonel was and how he |
could not shoot. But the Colonel did I
ot say he could not shoot. He did
ot tell Robin he could not shoot. He
pulled a gun and said: "I have this to
efend me.' As a matter of fact, gen- 1
lernen, he could shoot. Look, here is ,
his pistol. I turn my two fingers un- j
der as his were and ,.see how easily
and rapidly I can shoot with the
thumb and first and second fingers."
Gen. McCarn launched into an elo?
quent defense of Miss Lee. i
"They say they took Col. Cooper
down to Bradford's office to cool off.
Why, gentlemen, you might as well
talk of turning Vesuvius up side down
n hell to cool off. They took him to
Bradford's office to cool off?the office 1
of the man who said he could have
killed Carmack with as little remorse
as he would kill a rattlesnake. But
they say only Miss Lee claims he said
this, and they attack Miss Lee. And
she sacrificed her home, her position,
her mother's living to tell the truth.'
He defended the little newsboy,
Johnnie Tyndall and claimed the boy
was corroborated in his statement
that he heard Col. Cooper say: "We
will get him," by Col. Cooper himself.
"Of course, they did net want to meet
Carmack on Church street, there
would have been fifty witnesses there,
end they only needed one. So they
decided to go up Union street to 7?h
avenue.
"They say It was cruel persecution
to have John Sharp indicted. Do you
think it is pleasant for me to stand
here and ask you to convict of mur?
der in the first degree the brother of
the clerk of this court, who has been
my friend for years."
"John Sharp was taken along for a
purpose?to witness that killing, and
he filled his purpose. They say he
put himself In a position where he
could not see It.
"Why. I know John Sharp well
enough to know that if he had been
there honestly or accidentally he
would have done what you would do
or I would do, he would have run
back, not walk, to where Carmack
was lying. Why, his friend had been
shot, and his other friend was in
trouble. But he was confused by his
guilt, and when Miss Skefnington sud?
denly confronted him and asked what
it was, he blurted out the truth?'it is
Dune Cooper shooting Carmack.' He
refused to tell any one what he knew,
refused to describe the tragedy. Is
that the act of an innocent man? No,
it is the act o^ a defendant after he
has been Instructed by a clever attor?
ney. These facts here show beyond
a reasonable doubt that Sharp was an
accessory before the fact."
Gen. McCarn placed two rolls of
wire fence upon the floor to represent
the telephone poles and demonstrated
to the jury how the defendants say the
shooting took place. This soi y, he
claimed, was contradicted absolutely
by the physical facts. He called Gar- 1
ner over to assume the position that
Robin says Carmack took,
f He showed that two wounds i
through the heart were downward. |
The defense claims they were inflicted
first. McCarn argued that they could j
not have been, that they were inflict?
ed when Carmack was falling, as they
ranged so directly downward. Then
he had C arner turn his head to dem?
onstrate that a third shot fired by
Robin after the two bullets near the
heart could not have passed into the
back of Carmack's neck through the
spinal cord.
"Robin Cooper never came west of
these posts," said McCarn. "He came
in from the rear, while his father at?
tracted Carmack's attention. If he
had come In, as he says he did, Mrs.
Eastman would have seen him, for he
would have passed directly in her line
of vision."
"I do not know how it was done,
but I believe this 27-year-old boy a
graduate of law, nine years In the office
of the biggest lawyer In the State,
with beautiful sisters and a tender
fostermovher, with a thousand years
of blue-blood and breeding, with an
ancestor standing in front of him, de?
liberately shot a man In the back of
the neck, and shot him again as he
fell. That is what breeding doen for
a man."
McCarn then used Garner In a dem?
onstration of what the State claims
would have happened had the bullet
struck Carmack In the back of the
neck as he fell. The bullet's course,
B SOUTHRON, Established Jnne, ISM
ries?Toi. XXIX. *>? 7
he said, would be through the head?
and not straight through the neck?
and out under the tongue, the course?
the bullet took. - The position of Car?
mack's body, after he fell, McCarn
argued, precluded the story that he
turned around so as to be shot in the
manner claimed by the defense.
"And we know of that scabbardV
too, for we went up twice and search?
ed for it, but we could not find it, and
we did not find it until it was drawn*
out on the stand. Somebody else knew
about it, the Coopers and John Sharp>
knew of it. Why should not they?"
They are not ordinary prisoners. They
do not have to **ay in cells. They
talk to their friends at any time
without an officer's presence, contrary
to the laws of Tennessee. The scab?
bard, we think, was left in Carmack's
hip pocket in his trousers. But Bin?
ning put the revolver in Carmack's
overcoat pocket, gentlemen."
Gen. McCarn described how Col
Cooper had called h.s daughter, Mrs.
Burch, and said:
"It's all over. Robin has killed Car?
mack."
He argued that, this expression In?
dicated that the defendants knew
what they went out to do, and they
announced the consummation of the
deed with the expression "it is all
over."
After ridiculing Binning for a few
minutes, McCarn asked leave to finish*
on Monday, and his request was.
granted.
DANGER FOR MONTGOMERY.
Alabama's Rising Water May Cause
Serious Condition.
Montgomery, Ala., March 14.?The
Alabama rivers is still rising tonight
but no further damage was done in
Montgomery today. The stream I?
several miles wide here and thousands
of Sunday idlers viewed the murky
waters from the banks. At 7 o'clock
tonight the stage at Montgomery is
51 feet and rising at the rate of three
tenths of an inch an hour. Director
Chaffee thinks the river may go to
55 feet. This would mean a serious
condition !n Montgomery The 54
foot stage will overflow the gas works
and cause a suspension of newspaper
and other plants.
Stages of 31.5 feet in the Coosa at
Rome and 29 feet at Gadsden are re
ported by the government bureau.
Fifty-seven feet at Selma is predicted*
for tomorrow.
Lowlands of middle Alabama are
submerged for many miles and while
no loss of life is reported, a great
many head of live stock are believed
to have been drowned.
The Tallapoosa river, which emp?
ties into the Alabama rever nine miles
north of Montgomery, is a raging tor?
rent. This river sweeps around the
fine convict farm of the State which*
is under water. The most serious ef?
fect of the high river here is from
the hack waters which have submerg?
ed the negro section and are en?
croaching or. the manufacturing dis?
trict.
INSURANCE COMPANY RV LINGS.
Commissioner Mc-MaMcr Explain* ?
Regulations Governing Surit>v
*
Columbia, March 14.? In regard tit
the enactments of the legislaturc re
qurlng all insurance companies to de?
posit with the commissioner a bond or
security, in the discretion of the com?
missioner. Commissioner MeMaster
has made the following rulings:
Either the principal or the surety
must have on deposit securities to the
amount of the bond or must have fnr
South Carolina property liable to at?
tachment to the amount of the bond
This amount it $20.000 for ilfe insur?
ance companies and $10,000 for als
other companies.
A surety company must have on de?
posit securities to an amount equal to>
the amount of the largest single bond,
which it will give, but should it have*
one deposit it will be received on the
bond of other companies to leg times
the amount of the deposit it make*,
that is to say, that to give hortd far at
life insurance company a bond com?
pany must have on deposit |f*,eweV
and in this case would be received or*
a gross aggregate of bonds to the
amount of $200,000.
The commissioner for the present
will receive any good secu 'ities. Sot
he will expect the companies making?
deposits within a reasonable time to>
secure domestic investments, such see)
State bonds, county or municiexeJ
bonds, or real estate mortgages inv
South Carolina or some such domes
tic securities.
The things that would make a as
man happy look foolish to a man.
The best way to kill a falsehood asr
to 1st It Us. , .