ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 19,1878
DEFENSE BEGAN TESTIMONY
IN LAWRENCE CASE THURSDAY
Defendant with Slashed throat
Grimly Sits Throough Ses
sions—Eight Days Gone—
End Not Yet In Sight—Mo
tion for Dismissal Denied, j
STATE’S CASE STRONG
BUT EVIDENCE ALL
CIRCUMSTANTIAL
Defense Attempting Alibi—!
Presence in Durham Easily!
Accounted for Till 9:20 P.|
M. Evening of Murder
Pittsboro has gone through possi
bly the most thrilling ter. days of
its long history. Expectation of
crowds and thrills has been raised,
but the reality has exceeded the ex
pected. The attempt of the defend- j
ant to kili himself right in the midst j
of the trial introduced a thrill that |
has had few precedents.
The progress has been slow but.
steady, despite several long delays j
on the part of the state. The first
appeared right in the beginning,
when an important witness could not
be reached, and the last when an- i
other was kept away by illness. The j
defense in the latter case woud not j
consent, it is understood, to proceed j
with its case till ail the state's evi- j
denee was in, as it would seek a dis-;
missal of the case on account of in
sufficiency of evidence.
Thousands have attended the trial
from this and other counties. Dur
ham has furnished the greatest num-;
ber. but they come from considera- i
bly more distant points. For a week;
the court house has been densely j
crowded. Thursday was the first ;
day when there were empty seats. !
The ladies of Pittsboro take un- j
usual interest in the case, and pro- j
bably f<ar the first time in years j
have been regular attendants of;
court. There is little tension. The ,
trial has beer, fair and has gone i
smoothly along, when going at all. 1
The speeches are the next big things
on docket. With" eight big lawyers j
in the case and with the attempted;
suicide to add pathos to a tragedy;
already full of interest, the big guns j
will have ammunition enough for a!
deluge of oratory.
It is not yet known whether the;
defendant will go on the stand. If he j
does not, then the defense will have !
the last speech, a considerable ad- j
vantage. The state is represented l
by Solicitor Williams, who has stead-1
fastly worked his wav along, piling j
up a mass of very difficult and in- j
criminating -evidence, assisted by V\ . J
P. Horton and Robert Gannt. The j
defense has James Pou. Jones Fuller.;
Percy Reade, Elmer Long, Daniel j
Bell. Here are big batteries, and the j
days of the speeches will be the j
most thrilling, possibly, of them all. j
It seems at time of going to press j
that the evidence should be all in on J
Friday and the speeches begin that;
day. j
The Trial in Detail
The case had been set to be called
on Monday, May lb. However,
nothing was done about it that day
except the drawing of a venire of
160 men. The officers set to work
Tuesday morning, summoning them.
Wednesday morning the venire was
present and the court was set to be
gin the selection of the jury. But
an important state’s witness seemed |
to be out of touch and the solicitor
insisted upon a delay, being unwill
ing to start the machinery of prose
cution till this witness was within
reach. Thus the morning hours pass
ed away; but at Ix3o the case actu
ally got a start, with the call of the
regular panel of jurymen for the
week, from which three were select
ed.
After the exhaustion of the regu
lar panel, the call of the venire be
gan, and the selection of the jury
made such progress that the twelve
were chosen well before sunset. The
jury is composed of the following
citizens: A. E. Cole, Glen Hancock,
Charles A. Wilkes, M. W. Duncan, J.
A. Williams, J. D. Rogefrs, J. E.
Holt, Joe Spoon, W. Huston Fox. W.
C. Stroud, J. H. Gaines. They were
empaneled immediately and put in
the care of an officer and have had
to remain apart from the people and
without newspapers during- the seeth
ing of the crowds and the excitement
attending the attempt at suicide.
Solicitor Williams pursued his ac
customed deliberate and unhurried i
course. First the children of the j
dead woman were put upon the
stand and told of the events leading
up to their mother’s departure on
the evening of her murder. Her
dress wag. described, and casuaily the
solicitor asked about her gloves. The
hat. found after the murder, was
identified by the daughter as her
mother’s. Cross examination had to
do with the action .of Mrs. handle,
the daughter, in phoning to Char
lotte and with her first swearing out
a warrant for another man.
The daughter had not seen the
bridge until after the discovery of
her mother’s body, but had been in
the community three times before.
Nothing- unknown to the public was
discovered from the children’s tes
timony. Orren Holmes, a Durham
tailor, saw Mrs. Terry that evening
about 7:30 or 8 o’clock, but was not
The Chatham Record
allowed tto say whether she said
. where she was going. Dr. Charles L.
! Scott, of Saniord, testified that in
j his opinion Mrs. Terry came to her
, death by drowning. He said there
j was a bruise on the right upper lip,
one on the nose and cheek bone, and
I a considerable bruise .on the right
ear. There was no cut.
Robert Dixon, Durham carpenter,
who works mostly in Greensboro,
testified that he say Lawrence drive
j by in Durham the night of the mur-
I der in a two-passenger car with
! some one in it, whom he could not or
1 did not recognize. Solicitor asked if
lit was a woman, but the question
i was ruled out, as the witness had
already testified that he could not
see who it was. D. M. Osborne and
Guy R. Tingen told of hearing the
screams on the bridge and the wom
an's plunge into the river; also the
cries of ‘‘Help, help.” that came from
! the water. They related that the
! car came from the Chatham side,
! stopped on the bridge, and then
j came the splash and the cries. The
I car crossed to the Lee county side
i and returned. Twice they started
toward the bridge, which was three
or four hundred yards from them,
but when the car would come back
j upon the bridge, as it did two or
! three times, they would run away
i from the fire into the darkness.
| Without going to the crying woman’s
! aid, they went away to ffhd a deputy
i sheriff, and returned at midnight
j with Deputy Henry Harrington.
Mr. Harrington told how he fol
lowed the vanishing voice when he
had secured the fsihermen's boat; he j
thought he got within a hundred
‘ yards or so of the woman, who was'
: still said to be crying- for help when
|he arrived at the bridge. But after
! staying in the water an hour without
, discovering her, he returned and
aiarmed the neighborhood, and the
; search began.
Deputy Harrington stated that the
water at the bridge was 18 or 20
feet deep, and that the defendant’s
| father formerly owned the land ad
i jacent to the bridge, thus indicating
the defendant’s familiarity with the
i location, being raised right there. He
j had heard that the defendant drank
a good deal. C. S. Harrington testi
tied to about the same facts as did
Henry Harrington, describing the
i noise made by the woman after she
: had been in the w'ater an hour or
! more.
j Mr. and Mrs. Charles Goodwin are
! the people who saw the car on the
• biidge. They had been to Sanford
i and passed the car on the bridge as
they returned. It was 11:11 when
I they arrived at home, thus making
j the time of seeing the car a little be
| fore eleven, it is presumed. The
I car was facing the Lee county side,
i The lights were out. The lights were
| turned on after they passed. Mrs.
i Goodwin said that the occupant was
j a large, square-faced man and re
! sembled the defendant. She had
I never seen Mr. Lawrence till court
week, but had told her husband what
kind of looking man it was. That
| gentleman testified that she had de
scribed th*e man that night as
He testified 'that
the car was similar to the Lawrence
car, but it was brought out that he
had stated earlier that he thought
the car was a roadster, while the
Lawrence car is a coupe.
L. F. Warlick, Durham undertak
er, described the condition of the
; body. He could not say whether W.
H. Lawrence sent flowers to the
home. And thus ended Thursday’s
proceedings, with little yet brought
out to connect the defendant with
the crime.
Friday
The state opened its Friday’s evi
dence with the testimony of H. E.
Holland, w 4 ho stated thafc he left
Oxford at 11:45 on the night of
March 24th, and that about a mile
below Apex he found a woman’s hat
in the road. This he took to his
mother’s, and it is the hat which has
been identified as the one worn by
Mrs. Tern,'. He saw*, be said, a
touring car and a coupe in the road,
the latter trying to pass the former.
The occupant of the coupe looked
like the defendant. He said that he
was moved to notice the cars partic-
because of the money he had
in his pocket. Mr. W. B. Cheek tes
tified that Lawrence had confided
to him some months ago that he
would be married in June. Mr. G.
A. Allison, of Mocksville, who is
telegrapher at Cooleemee, identified
three telegrams which passed
through his hands. The first was
from Mrs. Terrv in Atlanta and was
dated June 26, ‘ 1927, in which she
asked “Herbert” to send her S2OO.
Then followed a wire from the de
fendant saying he could send one
1 but not two. The third telegram
from “Annie” stated that one hun
dred w'ouid do. As the affiance of
the defendant lived, it is reported,
at Cooleemee, the presumption is
that he W'as visiting her wben this
embarrassing- call for money came
from his paramour. The witness
testified that he had delivered the
reqauesfc for money for her to
Lawrence, and that Lawrence had
written and sent the one signed
“Herbert.” This and other testi
mony was adduced to show the in
timate relations of the defendant
with the murdered woman.
Sheriff Blair Star Witnes*
PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTY, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1928.
Sheriff Blair came to the stand at
10:25 Friday morning and was quiz
zed and cross-questioned for a full
two houis. He cold the story of the
events leading- up to the arrest of
Lawience but did not tell what first
led him to turn his attention to
Lawrence. He was open and direct
in his testimony, and impressed all
as simply seeking to bring out the
truth of the matter. After review
ing the evidence as discovered by
him and other s and his seeking for
some man for whom he had a war
rant, he su|id the warrant wasn’t
served. A Mr. Haskins returned
with him to Pittsboro and Durham
from Atlanta. It had been mooted
during’ the month since this occur
rence that the man Haskins was he
who first turned the attention of
the sheriff to Lawrence, but nothing
said confirmed This rumor. •
The most interesting- parts of the
sheriff’s testimony had to do with
the conversation with the defendant
before his arrest. This conversation
occurred in Durham on the after
noon of April 11 in police headquar
ters in the presence of Chief Doby
of Durham. At first, the sheriff
testified, Lawrence said he knew
Mrs. Terry slightly and did not know
any one who had anything against
her. The defendant declared that the
woman had never been in his car.
He declared that he had never given
her any money. Then the sherifl
let Lawrence know that he had know
ledge of the money sent by telegram
to Mrs. Terry in Atlanta and of
certain night trips in his car, and the
J defendant finally admitted that he
had done both. Sheriff Blair had
notes of the conversation with the
defendant and read what he had
written on the spot. This notebook
showed that Lawience had accounted
for himself that night as follows:
He was with a friend before the
Trust building between 8 and 8:30
o'clock. He then went to his office
and wrote a letter. He next went
to the post office and to the Sport
Shop across the street. At 9:30 he
was at Griggs’ filling- station, where
he had the alcohol drawn from his
car. Then he went to his .home,
locked his car and left it in the alley.
He saw no one at the apartment
house where he made his home, as
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Parish who lived
with him were gone to Henderson.
Lawrence, when quizzed by the
sheriff had admitted that he had
been told by Mrs. Terry once that
she “liked him,” and that was the
only talk they had ever had about
marriage, that he would not marry a
woman with a lot of children. “Law
rence appeai*ed nervous during the
conversation,” stated the sheriff.
Lawrence also told Sheriff Blair that
when he went to hi s place near
Avent’s Ferry, or Bridge, he went by
highway 10 to Cary and then down
highway 50. This corresponded with
Holland’s testimony to the effect
that he had met some one like him
on highway 50 near Apex, and at
about the time . Lawrence, if the
guilty man, might have been return
ing- home after lingering about the
scene of the tragedy.
Apart from the sheriff, Coroner
Geo. H. Brooks was the most im
portant witness Friday. He told ol
the glove found in the car and of
numerous blood stains on the car.
He took the car to Raleigh to have
the supposed blood stains analyzed
and photograph of finger prints
made. His testimony was exceed
ingly suggestive, in that it forecast
the identification of the glove as
one of Mrs. Terry’s worn on the
night of the tragedy, and the -intro
duction of the chemist’s report of
the blood test and the finger print
report. The evidence • forecast by
Mr. Brooks was of immensely more
importance than the mere testimony
given by himself. And it was Mr.
Brooks’ evidence that is said to have
first made the sweat break out upon
the face of the defendant, and it was
that, presumably, which gave him sc
great unease that night and led tc
that state of mind which resulted in
the attempt to slay himself. If
guilty, he foresaw his conviction; if
innocent and the victim of a set of
fortuitous circumstances and the
“framing” by the guilty party, he
saw himself .being caught in a net
of evidence that was intolerable to
mind as no means of escape, for
mind asw .no means of escape, for
getting, as he said he had, that there
was another side to the case.
Attempted Suicide
Confined in the dirty jail cell, Fri
day night was a dreadful one to the
defendant. The evidence of Friday
was planned, intentionally, or unin
tentionally, to harass the prisoner in
an inconceivable degree. If guilty,
there was, apparently, the assurance
lhat the dead woman’s glove w’as to
be identified as found in his car and
a chemist’s report that the stains de
-1 scribed by the coroner were blood
stains. A* night in the Chatham jail
with its filth and discomforts is it
self an harassing matter. But that
plus a guilty man’s conscience and
the assurance that all was on the
point of being revealed, or of an in
nocent man’s humiliatioon and
shame at what had already been re
vealed of personal immorality and of
downright terror at what seemed
imminent as evidence that he could
not account for or perhaps conter
balance, made it a night of torture
to the man. At four o’clock the next
morning, he was awake and talked
to a fellow prisoner. A little later
the despondent man undertook self
destruction with an instrument
which required determination and
disregard of the flow of his own
blood and the constant thought of
his immediate death to enable him
to dig a trench a n inch and a hail
deep in his fleshy neck, several inch
es long, and to broaden the gash
with his fingers which held the safe
ty razor blade as he strove to go
through the fatty tissue to the vital
vein. There was no fear of death
there, but a fierce and persistent de
termination to die and leave a world
that had become altogether distaste
ful to him.
He was still conscious when Jailer
Burns discovered him that morning,
lying in a pool of blood, and .wanted
a pistol to finish the job. Dr. Chapin,
called immediately, states that the
blood flow had almost ceased when
he reached the man. He had been
bled almost white.
Excitement 'Rules
Never before has Pittsboro, with
all its exciting events of a long his
tory, ever seen greater commotion.
The crowds began to pour early into
town. The rain of the previous
night had released the farmers from
their plows. From Durham, San
ford, and other towns throongs were
coming. The word had fldwn to
Durham and created consternation
in the minds of the prisoner’s family
and attorneys. An ambulance was
making its way from Watts hospital.
Judge Nunn and the Solicitor were
at their wits end. The physicians,
Drs. Chanin and Thomas, had de
clared that the man’s wounds were
not necessarily dangerous, and that
he might be able to return to court
Monday.
The attorneys, all here now, eon
tations are held and the Judge gives
order for the wounded man to be.
taken to the hospital and for court
to take a recess till Monday. By now
the streets and courtyard were
swarming with neopole, ail talking
of the sensational occurrence and
drawing* their inferences from it. At
first glance, it looked absolutely like
confession. But there followed con
sideration of the note which the man
had written before deliberately set
ting out to end his life. It is under
stood, that he declared himself in
nocent, and it is certain that he so
declared himself to those who talk
ed with him after his discovery. He
had said that he was being framed
and that he was an innocent man
and could not longer stand being lied
upon. No one considered that any
of the witnesses, especially the more
imporotant ones, was framing him.
but the possibility that the material
evidence had been created to be dis
covered and directed toward the de
fendant, looked possible to some in
view of his assumeaiy dying protes
tation of innocence. Within a short
time the Durham Sun had an extra
on the streets blaring forth the at
tempt at suicide. Every daily in the
state carried flaring headlines that
evening or the next morning. Pic
tures of court and jail scenes flared
forth in the larger papers, and pro
bably the Pittsboro date line was
carried in every daily in the United
States.-
In the Hospital
The wounded man was successful
ly conveyed to Watts hospital and
soon had an infusion of blood from
his nephew’s veins. The wound ivas
carefully attended, following the
earlier care here, and in a few hours
the man was talking- freely and re
gretting his rash act. He said that
he forgot that there were two sides
to the case and that he would have
his turn, and that he must have been
unbalanced for the time. He ex
pressed a perfect willingness to have
the trial continued.
Back on the Scene
Accordingly, Monday morning saw
the defendant back on the scene,
with neck and wrist swathed (for he
had ciit his wrist also to help in the
drainage of blood), with counten
ance ashy white. He was taken into
the court room in a wheel chair and
sat stoically through the long hour 3
of Monday as the unflustered and
persistent solicitor still pursued his
painstaking weaving of an inextric
able net of testimony, a net that
can scarcely be unwound, but could
be cut to smithereens by an effective
alibi.
A Puzzled Jury
If ever was a bunch of twelve men
who were in a condition of wonder
and were utterly bepuzzied, it must
have been that jury, from whom
supposedly the story of the attempt
ed suicide had been kept. Abruptly
Saturday morning they had been se
questered with an officer; all the
morning they must have been aware
of an unusual excitement; all day
Sunday they were still sequestered,
and on Monday morning g's infto
court to find the man whose fate
they were to decree sitting a wan
image of the man they last saw, in
an invalid’s chair, with neck muffled
or swathed. It is too early for any
newspaper to get an inkling from the
men as to what they thought and
guessed, but that should make an in
teresting paragranh next week.
The Trial Renewed
The renewed rains had again re
leased the farmers from their fields
so badly needing the plow and the
l planter, and a greater throng than
! any day last week crowded into the
■ courthouse.. It became necessary
l for Judge Nunn to have the crowded
■ aisle cleared. Word came from be
: low that plaster was falling and
l there was a commotion down stairs
l j for fear the floor would crash, bring
-1 ing a mass of timber and struggling
i! humanity down upon the occupants.
; A request and even an order for the
- hail to be cleared of its crowding
throng- was unheeded, but when the
■ Judge quietly announced that the
• floor was in danger of giving way,
1 there was an eagerness to match the
; earlier laggardness in leaving the
room. Mr. O. Z. Barber, having ex
; amined the structure, assured the
court that there was no danger if
■ the aisle was kept free, as that was
■ the dangerous section, as there were
■ no supports under the floor which
is directly over the lower hallw'ay.
■ ft was estimated that over a thous-j
and peopie were in the room which
normally seats 600, and a large pro
poition of them had been standing
as close as they couid stick on the
aisle floor. Two officers stood at
the door later to keep back those
who persisted in seeking entrance.
The Mysterious Haskins
Unexpectedly the mysterious Has
kins, of Greenville, S. C., came to
the witness stand, with only the ef
fect of making it clear that he was
in Atlanta the night of the murder
and that he knew Mrs. Terry and
had been on a few jaunts with her.
Still his relation to the turning of
the sleuths upon the track of Law
rence was not revealed. Deputy Mc-
Cauley, of Lee county, had preceded
him and corroborated former evid
ence.
The main feature of the day was
the introduction of witneses to show’
the intimacy of the defendant with
the dead woman. Hotel clerks from
Winston, Salisbury, and possibly
other points, presented pages from
their registers to show that the two
had been at times registered at the
hotels at the same time. Then came
Mrs. Yandle, the daughter of the
dead woman, to the stand again to
indentify a bunch of letters as those
found among her mother’s posses- j
sions. The telegraph agent at Cool- \
eemee and the hotel clerks proved}
the handwriting of the letters to be i
that of the defendant. The letters j
were all signed “Rover,” and were I
written, two from Duke, two from!
Greensboro, and eleven from Cool- J
eemee, where Lawrence had a con-;
tract in progress last year. The Duke I
letters were dated in 1925, and the j
Greensboro ones in the spring of j
1926. The Cooleemee letters were J
ail written last year. Only one of l
them "bore the caution to “burn j
this.” That one suggested that a
meeting could be made ok on his ar
rival at Durham if his folk were
gone as he understood they would
be. The letters indicated that the
woman was persistently and aggra
vatingly jealous, while he insisted
that she had nothing to be jealous
of, that he scarcely ever looked at a
I woman. The worst word in the se
ries was “hell” which occurred a
few times, as for instance when he
characterized Cooleemee as a “hell
of a place.” They evidenced the
fact that she called upon him for
money often, and that he gave it
freely when he was not hard run.
But he complains that he is hard up
at Cooleemee, as he was not getting
j the pay as he expected. The letters
j were remarkably free from indecent
allusion, but showed nevertheless
that an intimacy long existed.
Deputy Cal. Desern also bore tes
timony on Monoday, but the evid
ence was chiefly corroboratory,
Late in the afternoon the Law
rence car was brought to the court
yard for inspection by the jury and
attorneys, and even the Judge took
a look. Coroner Brooks was pres
ent to point out the blood stains.
Those who expected to see it cov
ered with gore were disappointed.
It took the eagle-eyed Mr. Brooks
to uncover all the spots. And still
report of the test of those stains had
not been given in evidence, and
nothing has been said about the
glove and purse found in the car,
but the rumor has gone the round
that the glove was a man’s glove and
the purse belonged to a sister of
Lawrence. And the two revelations,
whose imminence must have tortured |
the defendant into his rash attempt !
seem to be vanishing. Truly, Black- j
i beard could not have devised a more i
successful scheme of torture than !
i that intentionally or casually fallen
upon by the state when it so casually
i mentioned the blood test and the
finding of the glove. No wonder
Lawrence thought someone w’as ly
ing on him if the impressionwas left
with him as with others, that the
j woman’s glove had been found in his
} car, and that a chemist’s examina
j tion was forthcoming which would;
! fix the various blood stains discov- j
I ered by Mr. Brooks as human blood. !
I It was cleverly done, or fiendishly, j
j if it was not an accident, the state ;
j supposing that the harassed man;
! knew whose glove it was.
Court takes adjournment from the ;
grove where the car has been in- j
spected.
Court Dawdles Away Tuesday
Tuesday was largely spent in 1
No one seemed to know j
very clearly why the costly time of j
the court should be spent in idleness- *
The larger part of the morning was j
a wasted while, it seems. Dr. Shore, j
the chemist who examined the blood
at the bridge and supposed blood,
; stains on the car, was aw’aited. He ;
: did not put in his appearance all day .
! and after noon the state turned its '
| attention to securing the privilege of
5 ! introducing testimony aboout Law
■ rence’s attempt at suicide. They won
i their point against a rather feeble
> protest on the part of the defense,
r who took exception. Jailer Burns
l told of finding the man lying in a
- pool of his own blood and of his re
l quest for a pistol. Dr. Cahpin told
s of his experience and the request on
- the part of the defendant that the
* doctor finish the job for him. Al
! together the impression was made
VOLUME 50, NUMBER 36.
I that Lawrence nad been determined
to kill himself and that it was no
pretense on.his part. The note writ
ten before the attempt to his frienda
was brought into evidence and read
to the jury, which stated he could no
longer stand the framing and lies
against him. Mr. A. T. Ward was
the first man to reach the wounded
man after the discovery of his
plight by Mr. Burns. He added
nothing- of importance. It seeras
that no one heard him say that he
was not guilty, nor did any one hear
a suggestion that guilt was the cause
of the attempt.
Mr. Jack Womble, who works a&
the Mann filling station at Merry
Oaks, was an important witness. He
saw a man and a woman in a car
similar to the Lawrence car about
10:15 the night of the murder. It
stopped at the filling station and the
couple got a drink. The man
like Lawrence, he swore, but he
would not state definitely that it
was Lawrence. The woman was no
girl, but a mature woman. He did
not talk with them.
And this was the extent of the
work of Tuesday. But Lee and
Chatham are rich and, to
Dr. Gage, the Carolina Coal Mine?
chemist, are to omuch richer, and
they can foot the bill for a sum
mer’s session of court and let Ben
Dixon Mac Neill have a chance to
make the watermelon patch he con
templated when he, as correspond
ent of the News and Observer, saw
the trial stretch out into weeks.
Another Day Dawdled Away
Wednesday was largely dawdled
away in the case and the expense
kept piling up. In this case, thus
far the delays have almost altogeth
er due to the state and not the de
fense. Dr. Shore, whose illness had
| kept him Iway the day before with
l the loss of much time to the court,
j made a late arrival Wednesday
i morning and gave his testimony
i about the blood in the blood-stained
i car. He testified that the blood on
! the inside of the car was that of a
| mammal, but that he ; could not de
; termine whether it was the blood of
i a human. Thus the state was little
I further than it was before the ar
j rival of the doctor. It may as eas
j ily be a rabbit’s blood as that of
; Mrs. Terry.
Robert Terry came back to the
stand and told of watching his mo
ther on a former occasion similar
to that of the tragic evening, and
that she entered a car similar to that
of the Lawrence car. He could nofc
tell who was driving the car. He
could not be shaken in the assertion
that the car was of the Lawrence
car type. His mother got in the car
about four blocks from the Law
rence apartment.
Mrs. Yandle returns to the stand
and states that she did not know
pf any communication from Law
rence to the fami’y after the death
of her mother. Co ui'L then recess
ed till two, when Messrs. Fuller and
Pou argues a motion to dismiss
the case on tne ground of lack_of,.
sufficient evidence to send the
case to the jury. It was a strong
presentaion made by Mr. Pou, in
which many cases dealing with cir
cumstantial evidence were recited.
Judge Nunn, however, dismissed the
motion, and that mount that he acL
judged the evidence if not rebutted
strong enough to need the jury’s de
cision, and as there is little ques
tion of the validity of what evidence
there is, the defense must win the
jury where they could not win the
Judge or must offset the evidence
with an alibi.
The Defense Begins Evidence
After the dismissal of the motion
to dismiss the case Wedesday even
ing, the court adjourned till 9:3ft
Thursday, when the defense began
its testimony, depending chiefly up
on an alibi. As the Record, which
has been delayed two days in order
to secure at least the defense’s side
!of the case, had to go to presa
j Thursday night, it is impossible for
j it to give the full case’ of the state,
j And here a correction may be made
iof testimony produced as to the
i glove in the Lawrence car. The gen
eral impression and the impression
of the correspondents of at least
two of the state’s papers, was that
the witness* Mr. Brooks, did not
state the kind of glove found, but
the Record is now inforomed that
the witness did state that it was a
man’s glove, though it is not known
whether the defendant got that point
ior missed it, as did the newspaper
| men and others.
The defense began with the cail
i ing- of an impressive list of about
i seventy witnesses, including Dr.
j Manning, mayor of Durham, and
! many other gentlemen of more or
less prominence from Durham and
| practically the mature male popuia
! tion of the Avent’s bridge commun
i ity, where the defendant was reared.
1 A number of these men were call
!ed and gave favorable character
! testimony. Then began the evidence
l of an alibi. Jesse Kennedy fir.-it
| swore that he saw Lawrence the
! evening of the tragedy between 8
| and 9 o’clock. J. W. Long, a eon
i tractor, saw him at the Trust build
i ing near nine o’clock. He also rode
I oijjt to Duke University the ne:r; - ;
j morning with him and other gentle
men. The defendant appeared in
! usual condition on the morning af
ter the murder. He was questioned
by the Solicitor as to the fixing of
; the date. His wife had declared
i that that was not the Saturday
night he had seen Lawrence. He had
told her he could check it up, as it
was at the time of the railroad
wreck at Haw river, as he went out
there after going to the University
o
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