Albemarle July 19 (AP)—After introducing about a dozen witnesses this morning, all of whom told officers stories regarding cruelties on the part of N.C. Cranford, on trial here for the murder of two convicts on the 5th of August, 1918, the State rested its case at 2:55 o’clock this afternoon.
The defense at once went to the bat. The first witness was Ex-Sheriff G.D. Blalock of Norwood. The defense proposed to use the ex-sheriff as a character witness for Cranford. The State objected, and some time was taken up in argument as to the legality of evidence as to Cranford’s character, until he should be placed on the witness stand. Judge Finley ruled that since Cranford’s character had been attacked during the trial, in the manner in which it has, he should have a right to offer evidence directly in behalf of his character. Most of the witnesses, a dozen or more, offered by the defendant, were men who testified to the good character of the defendant. A large number of the leading men of the town and county went on the witness stand and testified that the character of the chain gang boss was good.
Among the last witnesses offered by the defendant this afternoon was Dr. C.I. Miller, an Albemarle dentist, who testified to the good character of Cranford and also testified that the teeth alleged to have been found in a lonely grave where a convict said that he and Cranford buried Quincy Leake, a convict, were, in his opinion, dog teeth. He stated that he was satisfied they were not human teeth, that he could determine, even though the teeth were in somewhat of a decayed condition.
From the front page of The Concord Daily Tribune, Tuesday, July 20, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-07-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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