By the Associated Press
Cumberland Court House, Va., July 28—This little village, nestling in the heart of a prosperous tobacco area, and a center of interest the past week during the preliminary skirmishes in the murder trial of Robert and Larkin Garrett, charged with slaying Edward Sylvester Pierce, pastor of five Baptist churches, was practically deserted today and tonight, a large portion of the population were in Farmville, 18 miles away, attending a circus.
All the legendary quiet of the county village prevailed today where yesterday the first decisive legal battle of the trial was fought. The quaint little courthouse was deserted except for the occasional visit of a few newspaper men and court attaches, who remained here for the resumption of the trial Monday.
Only two of the principal actors in the drama of Cumberland were seen during the day. They were Robert Garrett, one of the defendants, and Milton P. Bonifant, the special prosecutor. Their meeting in the court room was a bit dramatic.
Mr. Bonifant had visited the court room in search of a paper he had lost yesterday, and Mr. Garrett, who is clerk of the court, joined him in the search. No words passed between the prosecutor and the man whose life he is seeking on behalf of the Commonwealth for the death of the minister.
Outstanding developments in the case today were the announcement that the state had issued subpoenas for 18 witnesses, whose names were not revealed, that Judge B.D. White presiding at the trial, had required Adjutant General Sale to make provisions for the return of the special officers from Lynchburg, Petersburg and Portsmouth, when the trial is resumed, and Mr. Bounifant’s statement that he believed the trial would be completed next week.
Judge B.D. White’s decision denying the prosecution a change of venue for the trial of R.C. and L.C. Garrett, alleged slayers of the Rev. E.S. Pierce, Baptist minister, having disposed of that troublesome stumbling block, interest in the case turned today to the possibility of getting a jury and the line the defense will take.
Judge White after entering his order denying the change of venue, and in which he stated the state had not convinced him that a fair and impartial trial of the Garretts could not be had in Cumberland county, adjourned court yesterday until Monday morning and today the court house was as deserted as the village itself.
The jury venire has been summoned for Monday but few believe that many, if any jurors can be obtained from the first panel of 24 as the manner in which their names were drawn for service was one of the chief points of attack by the prosecution in trying to convince the court that the state could not get a fair deal here. Efforts were made so show that most of the jurors who had been called to service in the last two or three years were friends or partisans of the Garrets and were handpicked. However, with this contention evidently in mind, Judge White stated after his order had been issued that if the regular venire does not result in a jury being selected he will himself draw a venire and have them summoned by the sheriff.
Some observers here have claimed that it is not possible to get a jury out of the entire county though there are 859 white men in the county qualified for jury service, but they say it will be hard to find any one who has not discussed the Pierce shooting or expressed an opinion.
From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, July 29, 1923
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Cumberland Passed Quiet Sabbath and Little Village Waits with Serenity for Great Murder Trial. . . Ruled by the Presiding Judge that Case Will be Tried at Home Accepted. . . Little Discussion. . . People Seem to be Anticipating Hot Disturbance in Collection with Trial of Alleged Murderers
Cumberland Court House, Va., July 29—Cumberland slumbered serenely through a bright, sultry sabbath today, and tonight there was nothing to indicate that on tomorrow a murder case which has developed into one of the most talked of criminal cases in the history of Virginia will come to trial.
After a week of intense excitement which reached its height late Friday when Judge B.D. White, sitting in the county circuit court, held that Robert O. and Larkin C. Garrett, both county officers, and leading business men of the community were entitled to trial in their home county for the allege murder of Rev. Edward S. Pierce, Baptist minister, and therewith denied the state a change of venue, the little village today, as yesterday, was back to its normal quiet, waiting sensation to come.
What little discussion of the Garrett case there was today centered around the possibilities of getting a jury form the venire of 120 men already summoned—and possibly from more, that will have to be summoned. The regular venire of 24 was summoned several weeks ago and it is considered unlikely that few of any of them will be acceptable as jurors because of the attack by the state on the manner of their selection.
All preparations for the trial were complete tonight, in fact most of them had been for several days. The prospective jurors will report at 10 a.m. tomorrow and the witnesses at the same hour Tuesday, thus indicating that the court hopes to be able to obtain a jury in one day.
Judge White before he left Cumberland Friday arranged with state authorities for the return tomorrow morning of the special guard of police officers from Petersburg, Portsmouth and Lynchburg and the trial will be conducted under the same rules that applied when the two days hearings of the change of venue motion was being heard.
All persons will be searched for arms before they are admitted to the court room and only those who can be seated will be permitted to enter. As before the guards or a regular county deputy sheriff will be stationed a few feet apart in the court room and other guards and deputies will be on duty outside to keep the overflow crowd from assembling on the courthouse green.
The only principals in the drama that will open in the old courthouse tomorrow in evidence today were Larkin Garrett and W.M. Justice Jr., one of the defense counsel, who paid a brief visit in the morning to the local hotel. Robert Garrett spent the day at home, where he had Dr. Justis as his guest, the latter having returned from Richmond last night. Saturday and today were the two quietest days the Garrett brothers have experienced since the fateful morning of June 5, when they became the central figures in a tragedy that has rendered the whole county into two bitter factions and attracted wide interest both within and without the state.
The shooting of Mr. Pierce, pastor of five Baptist churches in the county, was the culmination of a political and business feud, according to evidence adduced at various court actions since the arrest of the Garretts.
It was in connection with statements concerning the feud the minister is alleged to have made from the pulpit that the Garrett brothers went to is home on the day of the shooting. A fist fight and shooting affray resulted in which Mr. Pierce was killed and Robert Garrett wounded. The Garretts claim self-defense and say they were in the act of leaving, after Pierce and Larkin Garrett had fought with their fists, when the preacher ran not the house and returned with a shot gun and pistol.
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Cumberland Court House, Va., July 29—Principal actors in the Garrett trial, which will begin tomorrow, are:
Judge B.D. White of Princess Anne county, who was specially assigned by Governor E. Lee Trinkle to this term of the Cumberland county circuit court, and who will preside.
Robert O. Garrett, clerk of county court, merchant, flour mill owner and active in politics, defendant.
Larkin C. Garret, county commissioner in chancery, and partner with his brother in many business activities, also a defendant.
Mrs. Edward Sylvester Pierce, widow of the minister, with whose murder the Garretts are charged, an eye witness of the shooting, witness for the prosecution.
Allen M. Chandler, farm implement salesman for a Richmond firm, who was shot and seriously wounded on the county road at night last May 3, allegedly in mistake for Larkin Garrett, a witness for the defense.
J.A. Tillman Jr. of Powhatan county, named to act as clerk of court in place of Robert Garrett.
King Adams, 80-year-old sheriff, charged with the duties of summoning of jurors and witnesses.
From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Monday, July 30, 1923
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