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PRINCIPAL FIGURES DURING SESSION BEFORE JUDGE ROAN
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NO. 5 INDICATES HUGH DORSEY, COUNTY SOLICITOR. B. H. PINSON, AN ELK BROTHER OF GRACE, IS IN FRONT OF MR. DORSEY. NO. 6 IS T. J. FISHER, AN-
OTHER ELK; AND NO. 7 IS J. G. TURNER, JR., ALSO AN ELK, WHO HELPED BRING GRACE TO ATLANTA ON A
SHOT HIMSELF.
GRACE DEFENSE
attorneys for Wife Spring
9T\
Sensational Theory and Ev
* idence.
Continued From Second Page.
She was shown a piece of oilcloth and
asked to identify it. She said Daisy
had kept it on her little boy’s bed and
on her own, to protect the mattress.
That was all the defense asked.
Mr. Dorsey wanted to know what
marks were on the cloth which made
, witness able to identify it as the one
% used in Philadelphia.
f Mr. Opie, Daisy's first husband, had
died. Then Daisy married Grace, said
the witness, on cross-examination.
Mr. Dorsey tried to bring out the
fact that Daisy's first marriage to
Grace, the false ceremony, was soon
after Opie’s death. Opie died, she said,
on February 22. Daisy married Grace
on March 8.
| Doctor Gives
Expert Testimony.
Dr. J. N. Ellis, a physician and sur
geon. was next.
‘Tf a person is shot in the chest with
a a ,32-caliber pistol and a pressure
caused on the spinal cord, would that
(cause immediate paralysis?” he was
asked.
& “Not necessarily," said the witness.
G “Such a wound would not necessarily
be a painful wound."
Mr. orsey cross-examined. He asked
about the character of shock at. the
time the wound was inflicted. Witness
said It would be rather severe shock.
“How long would It hav ean effect
on body and mind?”
Witness couldn’t say. Shocks were
very variable. Might have been a very
profound shock. Probably It was."
* Grace to Confront
Wife as She Testifies.
f When Mrs. Grace goes upon the wit
ness stand in her own defense, site will
be confronted by the accusing face of
her wounded husband, who will lie fac
ing her upon a litter less than ten
feet away. Grace was carried to the
court room today for that purpose. His
friends say that the plan of confront
ing her is Grace’s own, and that it
grew out of his belief that if he faces
the woman who he says shot him, when
I she begins to tell her version of the
case, the sight of him there and the si
lent accusation of his presence will
break her nerve and confuse her testi
mony so much that her own words will
damage instead of help her.
It was for that reason that the six
friends of Grace, who have stayed al
i most literally at his side since he came
Ik to Atlanta from Newnan for the trial,
were told to be early at the sanita
' rlum this morning to await Instruc
tions from the court room to bring him
there to face his wife. The same idea
had been in the mind of the prosecu
-1 tion yesterday when Grace was carried
from the hospital to the clerk’s room in
the court house, and lay there for hours
• within quick call of his lawyers. He
was not taken into the court room yes.
terday because the long wrangle over
the admission of certain letters delayed
I the closing of the prosecution's case
and because the whole spirit of the plan
, v.ar to have him confront his wife foi
1.; the first time again as she should be
a mtalnr the oath. Then, when the dav's
session ended without the opening of
the defense, Grace was carried back to
the sanitarium by his friends.
The wounded man is said to have im
plicit confidence in his ability to stare
his wife into confusion upon the stand.
Friends said that he was absolutely de
termined to confront her, and labored
under tremendous excitement until his
attorneys and the doctors consented to
his plan.
Since his collapse on the first night
of the trial here he has recovered suf
ficiently so that his condition now is
said to be no worse than when he left
Newnan for Atlanta. At first, however,
the doctors demurred. They pointed out
out that he is so weak that the tre
mendous excitement of the dramatic
confrontation in the court room might
cause a fatal reaction or even his death
upon the spot. But the lawyers say
that Grace had conceived a splendid
plan, and, after several explanations,
the physicians admitted that he would
probably be none the worse for carry
ing out the plan upon which he was so
determined.
The Witnesses
For the Defense.
John W Moore called the following
witnesses for defense:
E. F. Mfeckle.
E. E. Lawrence, partner of Grace.
S. D. Beauchamp.
Dr. Chunn.
Dr. Samuel H. Green, county physi
cian.
John Suttles, jailer.
Scott Todd, druggist.
M. O. Ja'ckson.
S. H. Morgan.
Russell Bridges, of Alkahest Lyceum.
Sylvester Kenney,
Mrs. Mary Bohnefield, matron at the
police station.
Mrs. Martha Ulrich, mother of Mrs.
Grace.
Mrs. Louise Wilson, trained nurse to
Mrs Grace.
Thirteen witnesses were on the list
called. It was evident from the calling
of the list that the defense would go
into the case today to establish its own
case and not rest on the state’s case.
“We rest, your honor,” Solicitor Dor
sey had announced. "Our witnesses
have been examined.”
There~was a scurrying to telephones
by the newspaper men, a buzz of sur
prise over the audience. Judge Roan
turned to the lawyers for the defense.
"What will you do, gentlemen?” he
asked.
The crowd hung breathless upon the
answer. Perhaps the theory of the de
fense would be at last suggested. Per
haps Mrs. Grace might take the stand.
"We want to take a rest and get back
into solid form,” growled Luther Ros
ser. “We’re almost melted and run
ning down the stairs.”
The answer broke the tension. A
laugh swept over the room and was cut
short by the angry bailiffs, worn to the
breaking point with three days hand
ling of an unreasonable throng. The
■case closed for the day without the
slightest hint of the plans of the de
fense.
Dorsey Will Forge
The Links Together.
But the state had submitted Its case
to the jury, all but the masterful sum
ming up by the solicitor, the eloquent
arguments by the several lawyers for
the state. That summing up of evi
dence will be the great work of the
state's counsel. The solicitor must take
each separate link of the testimony ex
tracted from the numerous witnesses
and weave them into a chain so strong
that it can not break at any point, a
chain which will stand the assaults of
the shrewd counsel for the defense
without a strain. If there is a link
missing in this chain, the case Is lost,
for the Jury must find the defendant
eiilltv "without a reasonable doubt."
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 1.1912.
“Prosecution Can’t
Question Mrs. Grace”
“Mrs. Daisy Grace will take the wit
ness stand and make a statement,” said
Attorney James A. Branch this after
noon.
“I do not think she will reach the
stand this afternoon, as we have a
number of witnesses to examine, and it
is customary for the defendant to make
her statement the last of all. It is more
probable she will be heard tomorrow.
"Mrs. Grace can not be put under
oath, and she can not be cross-exam
ined or harrassed by the state. She can
make her own statement, just as she
pleases, can talk as long as she likes,
can stop when she pleases.
“Mrs. Grace will tell the story of
Grace's continual demands for money,
of his desire to sell her Philadelphia
home, of their quarrel on the morning
of March 5 about 11 o'clock, of the
struggle with the pistol in his hand, of
the accidental shooting. She will tell
of the promise she made Grace and how
faithfully she has kept it.
“We have already broken down the
evidence of the state and we shall do
more than that. We shall prove that
Mrs. Grace is absolutely innocent.”
and the court must so instruct them in
his final charge.
Here are the links of scattered testi
mony which Solicitor Dorsey must
forge into the chain which will bind
Mrs. Daisy Grace in prison, the items
of circumstance which are the state's
only dependene. For, it must be re
membered, nobody saw Eugene Grace
shot; he has never been able to state
with positiveness that Daisy shot him,
and.,so far as the jury is concerned, he
does not exist, for the law forbids his
testifying. There is nothing but cir
cumstance to prove the case of the
state.
The-Complete Case
Against Mrs. Grace.
The state has proven, or contends
that it has proven:
That Mrs. Grace and Eugene
spent the night together at their
home. That Grace was groaning
next morning when the servant
built the fire. That Daisy spoke to
him and said he was “sleepy” and
he replied: "That’s not what’s the
matter with me.” That Mrs. Grace
locked the doors, or told the serv
ants she would lock them; that she
ordered the servants to remain
away from the upstairs rooms until
her return; that she left the house
about 11 o’clock; that Grace was
‘found wounded in his room about 2
o'clock.
That Mrs. Grace took with her to
Newnan a black dress, planning to
wear it back as mourning when the
news that Eugene was dead should
reach her; that when the news that
he was wounded came, she won
dered how a man shot through the
lungs could live; that when she
reached the hospital she upbraided
Grace for accusing her when she
had been given no opportunity to
learn of his accusation. (The de
fense claims that she HAD been
given this news in the hospital
waiting room, and proved that she
had had the opportunity.)
That Mrs. Grace had given Eu
gene overdoses of narcotic pafent
medicines; that he was drowsy
when he found himself wounded;
that the blood was dried on his
night gown and lie had evidently
been shot several hours before.
That he accused his wife of shoot
ing him; that he repeated this in
spite of her denials.
That two life Insurance policies,
for SIO.OOO and $15,000, were taken
out bv Grace in Daisy’s favor and
these constituted the motive for the
crime.
Charge She Planned
Crime Three Months.
That Daisy had planned to kill
her husband as far back as Jan
uary-, three months before the
crime: that she had used a type
writer In the North Boulevard
home, where the Graces lived then,
to write the noted “down-and-out
• friend letter” purporting to come
from Eugene to Daisy, and had
kept this until she had shot Eu
gene. That she had mailed this,
and a penciled note of the same
general tenor, to herself at Newnan
after shooting Grace; that these
were designed to constitute an alibi
for herself and to fix suspicion of
the crime upon this fictitious friend
of Eugene’s who had "spent the
night with him.”
(The defense maintains that no
proof has been shown that Grace
did not write these letters; no proof
that Mrs. Grace had any knowledge
of them; it contends that Mrs.
Grace could not have mailed them
at the hour of their postmarks; that
it is not the burden of the defense
to prove who wrote them. The ab
sence of proof of authorship of the
letters is the weakest point in the
state’s chain.)
Following the introduction and ad
mission yesterday afternoon of the two
letters which were received in Newnan
the day of the shooting—Detective Bul
lard was placed on the stand. He tes
tified to having seen Mrs. Grace first
at the Terminal station the evening of
the shooting. He followed her to St.
Josephs hospital and heard her hus
band accuse her of having shot him.
He put her under arrest there. A sub
sequent conversation was held between
him and Mrs. Grace at the police sta
tion.
W. H. Kiser testified to having leased
the Eleventh street house to the Graces.
The lease itself was ruled out as evi
dence. The state summoned a Mrs.
Stallings, but the officer returned and
said that Mrs. Stallings had pleaded
sickness. His statement to this effect
was put in the record. The state then
rested its case.
SOLDIERS TO PARADE
STREETS OF ANNISTON
AFTER SHAM BATTLE
ANNISTON, ALA., Aug. I.—Follow
ing the sham battle to be fought to
morrow and Saturday morning at Blue
mountain pass, the troops at Camp
Pettus, under command of Colonel J. T.
VanOrsdale. will parade through the
principal streets of the city as they re
turn to camp from the battlefield, thus
affording the citizens of the city an op
portunity to see the 3,500 to 4,000 men
at the camp in action. This will be
the closing maneuver of the season, as
the camp will be vacated Sunday by
the National Guard.
The procession will be about one and
a half miles in length. The soldiers
will be accompanies t>y six military
bands
The parade will be composed of the
two battalions of the Seventeenth in
fantry, three troops of the Eleventh
cavalry, under command of Major E
N. Jones; the First, Second and Third
regiment of Kentucky, under com
mand, respectively, of Colonel William
A Colston. Colonel J. E. Allen and
Colonel Jouett Henry; the Second
South Carolina regiment, under com
mand of Colonel Charles T. Lipscomb,
and the First Alabama, commanded by
Colonel G. J. Hubbard.
MADISON BELL ENTERS
RACE FOR SOLICITOR
Madison Bell today formally entered
the niee for county solicitor, when he
paid the assessment of SBSO to become
a candidate. Bell Is preparing a per
sonal canvass of the county.
ALEXANDEFIISIN
GOVERNOR RACE
Dry Leader Enters at the Last
Minute—Declines to Discuss
His Plans Now.
Continued From Page One.
should be thrashed out. I believe in the
initiative, referendum and the recall
All of these are big propositions, and
rank in dignity- with prohibition, the
so-called Tippins bill, and other prob
lems.
“If the people will hear me —if I can
get the ear of the people—l shall de
liver them a message that will inter
est them and set them to thinking, it
it does not elect me governor.”
While Mr. Alexander evades and
smiles away- the suggestion that Gov
ernor Brown’s veto of the Tippins bill
was the real cause of his candidacy,
the impression is firm In the minds of a
great many people today that it un
questionably was.
Mr. Alexander is, and always haa
been, opposed to the Brown element in
Georgia politics. He was one of Gov
ernor Hoke Smith’s stoutest-hearted
lieutenants in the days of Mr. Smith's
most vigorous activity in Georgia af
fairs. and much of the strength he
hopes to assemble in the forthcoming
fight will be drawm from that quarter,
if he gets it.
To Seek Nor
Give Any Quarter.
Mr. Alexander pointedly refused to
permit a referendum clause attached to
the Tippins bill, and plainly said he
would seek and give no quarter on the
matter.
It has been charged, indeed, that Mr.
Alexander designedly declined to coun
tenance anything byway of compro
mise on the Tippins bill, with the view
of putting the governor "in a hole" on
that question. The governor’s veto,
therefore, has been accepted, so some
of Mr. Alexander’s friends say, as an
acceptance of the Alexander challenge,
and that Alexander's candidacy became
inevitable upon its appearance.
The fact, that they say that today,
and declined to say it yesterday, is
taken by observers to mean that Mr.
Alexander's candidacy, although pre
sented w’ith suddeness today, was, nev
ertheless, carefully considered and has
much more behind it than some people
at first blush may think.
That Mr. Alexander must have re
ceived assurances of support from in
fluential and powerful quarters is gen
erally accepted. Otherwise, politicians
ean not figure how’ he hopes to win.
Wright Probably
Will Aid Him.
Mr. Alexander himself is as mum as
an oyster on that point, and in reply to
inquiry said he had a lot of friends
among the old Hoke Smith faction in
Georgia, and that he thought many of
them would support him, but that he
"would not be a Smith factional 'candi
date.”
There is an Interesting rumor abroad
to the effect that Seaborn Wright, of
Rome, In a personal interview, has as
sured Mr. Alexander of his cordial co
operation in his fight. Mr. Wright Is
the most prominent prohibition leader
In Georgia, and has always been a
strong Hoke Smith man.
The '‘Diabolical Plot' of Mrs. Grace
WEIRD GRIPPING STORY
By DUDLEY GLASS.
Here is the story of "Daisy Grace’s
diabolical plot to murder her husband,”
as Solicitor Dorsey termed it in open
court—-the state's theory of the plot and
the crime, as the counsel will sum it
up. The truth or falsity of the state
ments must be decided by the jury. It
is, of course, completely denied by the
defense:
Daisy Opie Grace, widow of Webster
Opie and wife of young Eugene Grace,
had been away from the lobster palaces
of the East for nearly a year, and was
tiring of her boy husband and the quiet
life of Atlanta. They were living in the
Clements house on North Boulevard
when she persuaded Grace to take out
two life Insurance policies in her favor,
amounting to $25,000, a sum far in ex
cess of his means. She Intended to
realize on these policies far sooner than
Eugene or the Insurance companies had
dreamed, and at once began her plans
to that end.
Using a Smith Premier typewriter
which had been left in the Clements
home when they leased it, she wrote a
letter, addressed to "Dear Wife Daisy"
and signed "Gene," the signature being
made on the machine. This was a clev
erly worded document which should at
once provide an alibi for Daisy and fix
the suspicion of crime upon another—
for Daisy had even then planned to
murder Eugene for his Insurance money.
The "Down and Out Friend."
The letter said that Gene had found a
"down and out” friend who was going
home to spend the night with him, and
that Gene would not leave for Philadel
phia that day, as he had expected. The
letter was not dated, for Daisy could not
know just when it must be used.
Then they moved to the home at 29
West Eleventh street, and In March
Eugene made plans for a trip to Phila
delphia, probably at Daisy's Instigation.
She planned going to his mother’s home
at Newnan on the same day.
On March 4, the night before the
fateful day, Daisy persuaded Eugene
Grace to write, at her dictation, a lit
tle note addressed to her. The note
told of his love for her and said "My
friend Is with me at the house tonight.”
It was intended to corroborate the type
written letter referred to above. How
Daisy persuaded her boyish husband to
write this foolish missive can not eas
ily be explained’, but he told his law
yers several months ago that he. had
written it at her suggestion, as a joke,
The Shooting of Grace.
Daisy put these two missives in an
envelope she persuaded Gene to ad
dress to her at Newnan. Then she hid
them in her handbag.
Next morning, after giving Gene an
overdose of narcotic medicine, she took
his own blue steel revolver and shot
him in the left breast while he lay
asleep in the bed. She pulled the cov
ers over the wound and saw that he
was apparently dead. Then she called
the negro girl to come up and build a
fire. She wanted to prove to the serv
ant that Gene was "all right" then.
But Gene turned a little and groaned
aloud. What this must have meant tc
the wife is only known to herself, but
perhaps she believed his death could be
only a matter of time. She went on
with her plans, forbade the servants to
enter the upper rooms, hurried them
away from the house for their “day off."
locked Eugene into his room, and went
downstairs.
Then Daisy went downstairs and put
the revolver in a window sill in the
drawing room. The insurance policies
wii only a few months old. and the
companies will not pay the premiums
on a suicide within the first year. So
Daisy was careful to place the weapon
where nobody could believe that Eu
gene had shot himself. She was deter
mined to fix the crime upon this
"friend" who had spent the night—the
next night—with Gene (all this accord
ing to the state).
Locking the front doors, Daisy left
the house, her wounded husband lock
ed in the room outside. On the way tc
the station she mailed the letters ad
dressed to herself at Newnan and
boarded the train which left at 1
o’clock.
No one knows what she did with hei
time between leaving the house at 11
o'clock and taking the train two hours
later.
So Daisy had carried out her plans
and completed her alibi. That after
noon or next morning she would re
ceive the letters from Eugene and show
them to his mother, expressing regret
that he had missed his train, and calling
attention to the fact that the "friend'
was to spend the night with Gene.
Eugene Grace would die in that lock,
ed room and his body would lie then
until next Friday, when Daisy was tc
return, accompanied by Gene's mother,
Mrs. Hill. They would go into th«
house together, chatting merrily of a
tea they had planned. Daisy would un
lock the fatal room, would see her hus
band’s body lying there, and Mrs. Hill
would be a witness to her anguish. Then
the hunt for the mysterious “down and
out friend” would begin. And Daisy
would collect the insurance.
But that strange working of provi
dence which almost inevitably betrays a
criminal, no matter how carefully the
plot is laid, stepped tn and proved her
undoing (according to the state). There
were two unforeseen circumstances,
and by these the whole fabric of ths
plot broke through.
Eugene Grace did not die from his
wound. He gave the alarm and was
found in time to accuse his wife. And
the letters, so carefully drawn to es
tablish her Innocence, proved instead a
link in the chain to prove her guilty.
They went to the wrong address ip
Newnan, and when they were found
Mrs. Grace was locked up in the police
station. The finder, a Mrs. Cleveland
Orr, did not send them to Daisy, who
might have destroyed them, but to Mrs
Hill Instead. Then they passed into the
hands of the state, and constitute the
chief weapon to be used against the
woman.
This Is the story Solicitor Dorsey will
tell the jury in his summing up—it is
the "theory of the state.” Whether he
will be able to establish its truth, step
by step, link by link, remains to be
seen. And upon this hangs the fate of
the woman who sits day after day in
the court room, scanning the faces o!
the witnesses and the Jurors.
BOY TESTS NEW RIFLE
BY KILLING COMPANION
LAWRENCE. MASS., Aug. I.
Louis Dion, 11 years old, was shot dead
by Henry Talbot, 12. as the result of
a quarrel over a new rifle. Dion hac
given Talbot permission to shoot him
to test the rifle.
ducks in cafe’fountain
RID BIG HOTEL OF FLIES
CHICAGO, Aug. 1.--Ducks placed it
a large fountain Just for the novelt’
have grown fat on files, and the Black
stone Hotel has ben saved severa
thousand dollars in keeping the dinin
room rid of the pests.
3