SENSATIONAL TRIAL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 119, 18 May 1909, Page 3

SENSATIONAL TRIAL.

One of the most remarkable murder trials ever conducted in America was brought to a conclusion' when at Nashville, Tennessee, on 6th, Colonel Duncan B. Coopeir afid his s6n, Robin Cooper, were found "Guilty' of -.the murder of ex-Senator Cormack, editor of the Nashville Tennessean, on November 9th last year;. The. shooting, which took place in the open,' street, was the outcome of a; p^oliticaL feud. The '.'jury, returned a verdict of murder in the second'degree; and. the accused were sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment each. It is, announced that the verdict will be appealed against .on the ground of > the nature of the Judge's ruling. Thus ends one of the most notable trials ever held in America. In November last, after an exciting political fight, in which the prohibition of liquor-selling was largely /introduced,Cooper, a well-known hgure in local politics;' and- his son,' Robin, on meeting their chief Prohibitionist opponent, the former senator, Mr E. W. Cormack,: drew their: revolvers. Robin Cooper fired repeatedly at Mr, Cormack, killing, him on the spot, though he was accompanied by ..two. lady friends from New York. The father and son were arrested, and a little later an ex-Sheriff, John T>. Sharpe, was also arrested, 'on the ground that the murder was carried out as the result of a plot of which he was cognisant. On March 6th, after eight weeks of court proceed-/ ings, in which six lawyers were engaged, Sharpe was acquitted. The jury at first failed to agree as to the guilt of Colonel Cooper and his son, and were sent back with/instructions to try again to come to an agreement. The entire locality had taken sides, and the most yiolent scenes ever witnessed in.a court of justice have been , enacted during the past few. weeks. As am instance of the strain of the trial, it may be mentioned that the jury, on learning that the evidence was all before them, and they could now consider their, verdict, burst into loud cheei-s of relief. The feeling in Nashville over the Cooper verdict is such, that now the result is known further bloodshed is feared. Both sides paraded the town fully armed. ' I