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Show DEFENSE STATES CASE Gen. Meeks Eloquently Defends His Friend, Col. Cooper Nashville, March 9 A record-break lng crowd was present today when General Meeks began tho opening argument ar-gument for the defense in tho Coop-er-Sharpe murder trial. General Meeks has been ill and at the outset of his remarks, he was scarcely able to stand and spoke almost inaudibly. As ho warmed up, ho said: - "The state has appealed to you to enforce tho law. And the stale's Idea of enforcing the law seems to be to convict someone Innocent or guilty. I want to say to you. gentlemen, that never in my life and In a broad practice, prac-tice, have I soen witnesses so shamefully shame-fully treated, as was CoL Cooper by Captain Fitzhugh. The prosecutor seemed careless as to whether he acquitted or convicted Col. Cooper of the murder of Senator Cannack, but be did seem determined to besmirch, tho witness character. Ho accused him of not paying his debts. What has that to do with the killing or Carmack? They tried to make you believe that .he embezzled funds as clerk and master in chancery. What has that to do with the killing of Car-mack? Car-mack? The whole scheme of tho statel was not to convict Col. Cooper of murder, mur-der, but to disgrace him publicly on his record." General Meeks denounced the of-fort of-fort of the state to involve the liberty of the press, but declared that where the liberty of the press was abusod by a man who used It to defame a private pri-vate citizen, it .degenerated Into license. li-cense. Counsel next read the three editorials editor-ials Introduced by the defense, phrase by phrase, and asked the jurors if they could Imagine anything more Insulting In-sulting or degrading than these editorials edi-torials and continued: "The state will say, go Into tho courts. Yes. and get a Judgment for $25,000 against a man not worth a plug of tobacco. It is perfectly reasonable reas-onable to believe that Col. Cooper was angry, that he used violent language. And they tell you he is not an example ex-ample of the old school of chivalry; that he is not a type of the old southern south-ern gentleman. I say he is. I say he Is one of the grandest and bravest men I know." General Meeks then turned his attention at-tention to Robin Coopor and recited the efforts Robin made to prevent trouble, trou-ble, declaring that "he touchod every button possible." |
