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OUND GUILTYMANSLAUGHTwhen he va« drinking. I didn’t thathim ‘boxing.’”when hia lather-ln-lawer sister, Mary Alberta- a aur prise witneaa Tuesday ter State, had testified that the nightthe(Continued from PagsTOns)(member when he (George) I her father ime back from the ham.” Still Pottle’s step-nephew mother quoted rgpiy by Mar-1 boxingbefore the shooting she had seen and take him _____ and Forrest Willey, II see what Irom the ham. ’ Still ] Pottle’s sU ar quofirle at that time was? My fa-1 groupler was sitting in the chair same group’hen I woke up, when I heard ing room at the time of the fa* ie shot.” I tality, ae “all friendly.”George Gage, the respondent, I “Were you very friendlytg.Her young* I reached for it he, George, strug-,r^ pulled the triggers George | deputy^h£riir At testUled. I tried to pick him up stared in nis round-to a doctor. Then the black fobed figure__arrest Willey, 11 see what t done. I went out tice Merrill, then watched the fooling, I door but there was nobody Jury. Frequently ha tappedaround and I went back.” the fingers of hia left hand onMarjorie Pottle Gage testified!the ratting^ by his aide.3% is rsur sr'isfiL igis olaced. directly In front Of fi ISoyd . Vmtertilnf m the.M*r she testifies she wastimes,-•IPi£,” and had referred to the at the Pottle home, ‘ the ;roup that was in the liv-th.t JfcthV;rooti;;: toe a.pssb jm: ifw.grabbed me and said. Tf I hadn’t old wife, sat on a front bench «*»«*«|| *°me of Hlr sUteSnettUi shot him, he’d have shot me.’ ” 12 or 18 feet behind the re- |n court. J1**’day**_*]“' shoot-Marjorle said that when he fa- spondent M— lnB he iaid he aouldnt ihe I Official group “Odea.” Partiseep it Ifvewaice all the time.” Continu-he Said, on Jah. •, George Mar-1 Wage said, ‘I remember I stood at the door and fired.’ Gage hasHer face was exfin. Shapard’s transcript of „graphic notes made during the Marjorie, and she answered, pected to see George 'on the uestioning period the day of the | “Yea, in a way, and then went | floor.” Harry Gage said that he- 6 Fof the shooting? Farris asked I covered her head, “because I ex- hidden.he couldn’t explainlid at one time, according to | with your father up to the time|ther reached for the shotgun she I preasionleas. Her thoughts were I How he did it, but yesterday, ont transcript of ste i made during t!aing peturder, “When I came back|on to quote her father as once ]didn’t sec his brother shoot Pot-cvert-olcState s argumentstand, he remething. He has changid^tis whostory to a Self-defense lt;proposition.The state claiims that rge Gage did not kill Albertrom the barn I don’t know if he saying that, “if I ran away from tie. Testifying that the blast of Was George Ira Gage, the 3#* P®™®8-*3®*® “Id Pottle) was dozing. Something home with George, the second he the gun awakened him as he year-old Richmond farmhand, |Pottle in tne neat orrent wrong. I dfd it. Gage | found us, we wouldn’t be living | slept* in a chair across the room | a cowardly murderer/’ as At-1 his fathcr-in-;kr,y me omcers uiaiiuuz irouoie/* saici cawara w.iwia mm me saw ner nusoana, i murder, or did the tall, Mguiar nmniee ana kui unefternoon in Richmond wai an- Bridgham of Bath, appointed I “put my father's feet over the I Vermont native ahoot in aeH-de-|bOtn of you, m and roftcned twonawered another Question, sc-1 any longer.0 Marjorie testified | from nyhere Pottle was sitting, |torney General RalphwRnto the witness, with, that she had her parents’ consent | Harry remember picking the to marry George.urnun up. Still another question! Liquor la the beginningAlbert PoftV I was too hysterl-1 in the closing hours of Gage’s |possiool tflv onvihlno M MarlnvU frlnl iinHpp an in^iptmFnt for I that.rderer, as talph W. F)mey uenerai itaipn n.. * arris e said, When I saw I branded him Thursday afternoonpassion but %w’s deathguilty of murder.1 want to show you how im-io,* If* saysble his storyut to him by the officers that this trouble, said Edward W. said that she saw her husband, murder, or did the tall,ollcl to toy anything. Marjorie (trial utotor . in inaiyttoent ! I JS »tdTU°km (SIwered with, Mr* When I fired, I wa* ight by the door. Iappointed put my father'a feet over the Vermont native shoot in seU-de-1 ooin ox you, ana rcecnea xwo the court, arm of the chair. Harry said fenae on the morning of Sunday, on® one-half feet to got tpe gun.s. Shepard read, counsel for Gage by the ...... . , . .... „ „ndingjas he opened for the defense!of Willey, the only other one in|Jan. 6, when, the rosoIBthe Wednesday morning.1un to Forrest (Willey) and told | to the Journeyim to take me to the police. _ ________________Forrest L. Willey, one of those!by Pottle, Forrest Willey, and resent when Pottle was killed,Referring | the.sawto a Brunswick beer parlorundirig (page testified that he grabbed in took the gun away from Pottle amifired:' No one ever saw the gun near Pottle. (Bridgham later8om at the time, that he crash of a 12-gauge ahotgunilley get up off the couch the life of Albert M. Pottle, 39,near Pottle, rubbing his eyes.” the father of the girl Gage saidWilley, Harry said, was, “still he loved from tne day I first aa_______ T ______ age's brother, Harry, from I pretty well drunk. Questioned saw her,” and married only four gj*n dldnt wa/as the first witness recalled to which the trio returned to the by the Attorney General on Wll- days before the tragedy? At*|at once this g He stand as the State opened its Pottle farm about 2 a.m. Sun- ley’s condition at this time, Har- tomey Edward W. Bridgham, When Pottle waa shot. Gageebuttal today, Willey was day, Jan. fi, a few hours before ry added, “Well, I wouldn’t call Gage’s court-appointed counsel, I say* he was about two feet fromiked if he heard defense wit- the tragedy, Bridgham said that, him sober.” emphasized point after point in the chair in which'Pottle hadleases testify that, Pottle and Willey seemed to According to Harry, “it was his argument Thursday after- been sitting. You see the lengthYou were so drunk I have a consuming passion for not quiet, before he went to I noon in an effort to convince the | of this gun? If the durtancewasone thing was certain, theilk over there.) All At- Ipt once this gun appeared there.hey had to assist you to the|beer. They both, he said, con-1sleepin the chair. He said that|Jury that whatever happoiied, |bnly two feet, Pottle couldn’ti! that was true re-1 declaring that he thought the I kill George and MarJorilt;-------, ^ .No. 1 walked unassistr record would show that Pottle scried that his brother’s father-1 of tall George Gage-add that, | how far o way you would nave toouch. He said he had, phen askedlied,and sumed,considerable liquor, I Pottle was st|U threatening to end whatever might“ orge and Marlorle' and as- there was no mallOe ill the heartopen, I have been shot in the head and heart that wound inflicted. Figure outApo*d. Asked if he had “seen the I had a dozen glasses and that Wil-1 in-law, did it practically all therefore, there was no murdeir, be with this gun to make that[un near the windpw before yoq ley was a close second. Harry night long. for, as he put it, without malice wound as described by Dr.i^ent to sleep. Willey answered A Gage, he told the Jury of six men! When Attorney General Far-1 there can be no murder. _ Fol- (Sagadahoc aounty medi-‘No. six women, had but 1When the State first tried to although«ter the photo in which Pottle’s should. ---- — — — —----- ^mr 4U . , . ...ody, in the chair, appeared, their return from Brunswick the a picture of your father reachipg on retired. to.reQW*in in seclu-land tissue onIridgham objected with, That three men brought more beer ^or the gun?, she answered, aton. analyzing cviftencc, the state exnilMt,four. Takeilcture rebutts nothing. When home* All was quiet in the Pot- 4#H’s true. character of the many that into considerq^A.\e persisted with his objection, | tie farmhouse, Bridgham assert-1. George Gage testified that just end points of lajjr called to thw| Gage doesn tTemember any-Fustice Merrill ordered the Ju- ed, Until these men arrived, one before the tragedy he had gone attention todav by Justice Mer- thing after the shooting. Ho^raysors taken to their chambers I of them the father of these chil- to the barn to feed the cows, rill in a ischolarly, thorough he ♦jJnii chqrge. Tyey nH|| ypat W,WBplvl3^he objection. Bridgham cUimed Gage, his counsel said, was naind, he said, because he de- of three verdicts, murder, man- derer.’ Forrest ^lilev heardhat the picture might have been glad to fill the wood stove in the cidod that, “it wasn’t safe to slaughter, or not guilty. George him say, I m ijpmjrdc*rer. Tontered during direct testimony living room and bank the kitch- leave my wife with her father on oye^ ,,5a! * 6JR _______icture was one that Farris had Gage’s father-in-law left with struggle in the living room of the • Jtfnse, qigfl courtroom bv his legs overjthe arm of the chair ried to enter Tuesday, only to Willey and Harry Gage. Bridg- bleak, unpainted farmhouse on Arthur Williams, a Woolwich andGage told him Mmt he Gage,lave defense counsel object, ham described his client as, a the Park’s road* in Richmond, Pinter, aPRpintod foreman of waiHvith the result that the Attorney nice, tractable fellow doing his shortly after daylight on Sunday, the Jury by Justice Merrill after and loaded it, aflri Gage toldI Dr.Hit that it should not be entered I en stove with soft coal, as pot-1 account of he was so ugly. Jfe almost bewildered, *I^arahra.|Just ki!led a manH4 it this stage of the trial. The I tie had asked Him to do before I then gave his version of the fatal I the words that will be spoken in | Dr. Pratt found ^ofctte With T__________________Attorney _General, explaining that he re- share, and Pottle was mighty |Jan. 6. ^rved the right to offer it again, pleased that he was there vithdrew for the time bring. At I Bridgham went on to tell ofthe panel was completed Mon- Pratt whore he stood and fired day. i,jtf»9g. At I oriagnam went on 10 leu oil FRIDAY | Observers at the trialexpvctwbat Gageraid that ^wrning, or3rid(ham*s insistance, his obiec- the trouble that followed Pot- The Gage murder case went to he jury to be-out a considerable I what he sa.d on the stand? The .ions were read Into the record, (tie’s discovery that the Ares had|the jury Friday at 11.45 a. m. [length of^ tiipe. ^ttorn^| state claims thatAlbert Pottlea charge by Justice I General Farris said during his 1 was gfijto jmro fie was killed, er Bath Iron Works employe as I Edward F Merrill that hegan at argument Thursday, “you Jurors,TGeorgo Gage had been humill-enraged, angry, ugly, abusive. » «0. Only the 12 regular mem-1 who are officers of thh court. |ated, by having t9 build the firefie criticised the photograph as,L«one out, and described the for-1 following a charge by Justice I General Frfrris said during•not . fair r.pre.enUtion ot th,fS. -.....regular mctn-1 wt,° on,con, o. ttm court, jateo. njr navrng toand threatening, declaring thatlbers of the panel retired. The I have a solemn duty to perform.]and then by Pottle making himhe blamed George because Mar- two alternates, Mrs. Ethel Tour- « will be hard after four days] sit down in a chair for a long Jorle was about to become a tllotte of Bath and Edward listening to testimony, ari|it- time. He was mad. When the mother and threatened to shoot I of Phippsburg, remained at the |mcnts. and objections, but you j respondent came back from thelortunity toow and see He knewrepresentation situation. For one thing, he In-listed, a chair said to have been ccupied by Marjorie Pottle 3age had been^moved before theid out that *after the footing them bothT‘‘if it’s the last thTng | courthouse but did not accom- | “n.there Had been at least an hour in which no officer was in the room. That was when Capt.Shepard, after ' sizing up the scene in the living room, had giv-en priority to the care of the s«v-mi younger Pottle children, Who arere at the time, he testified, In the room with their father’s body and all crying.Justice Merrill left it up to the Attorney General to lay the proper foundation for admissiondren.Just beforethejurorg-shooting, I lo his charge, Justice Merrillimportance of thfr ease And to ahtikinyour most importanted Pottle. George Gage duty. | did not kill Pottle in the heat of. Thisrelated, Pottle with a I said that, “a verdict means a Probnbly never again will you passion. This man is a murderer clous oath reached for the true thing said ” P* called upc*i to perform this 1 and a coward.”rith He told the six men and six duty ln so serious a case. It isshotgun, George struggled with He told the six men and six ouiy ,n so serious a caae. u is his father-in-law, “and it went women, in part, that their first *tone to say where theoff, causing the death of Pottle.” duty was determine what the tn£tp u.es- .. .“George Gage, concluded | facta are This, he said, “is' Th« met that a man was arid your’sDEFENSE ARGUMENT“The state,” said Bridgham inBridgham. “was afraid for his I your duty and your’s alone. My|resledis not a consideration, | uing terthe defense. ‘Throughof the photograph and before the I life and Majorle’s. He never had | duty is to decide what legal IBndgbam said, nor tho fact that I its detectives, its experts, sher-noon adjournment it had been *hy feeling against Albert Pot- principles are Involved in this he was indicted. An indict- iffs, the attorney general, and added to the other State exhibits tie. ' case and to instruct you as tolment- counsel ?*id’ , | the county attorney, come 16No. 1, the shotgun; No. 2, two I During his testimony, Harry | what the law is so thatfyou may | one-sided. _ The respondent has | rourf to stress that soon after theshells; and No. ~3, an exterior IW. Gage, said of LaForrest Wil-1 apply it to the facts. The” facts!0 to appear before the I death of Pottle, George Cagephotograph of the Pottle farm- hey °ne ot his and Pottle’s com- are for you, and the law is for Grand Jury. Gjrerge Gage comes madecertain statements. Capt.house.panions on the nocturn visit to a the court. Youwill accept the into this court with , the pre*Willey testified, replying to a | Brunswick beer parlor. “He was | law unhesitatingly.”......-UJlILU Ga^e was hl'sterlcal, in-question, that the disputed pho-1 feeling mighty good,” and this! The jurors were told by the |provfd °ihewi*e J-|®yond • rea- coherent, wid that his speech was tograph was, “a fair represents -1 reply aroused the spectators to I presiding justice to, “brush aside Isonable doubt. ’Die court will disconnected. Bridgham sura-tion of what I saw when I got on I sudlble amusement. Justice | bias, passion, sympathy and all I Imarized this as a nervousmy feet and after George-Gage Merrill immediately warned other considerations in their n tH16 c . j*e,,afi9 Gag*, w^eek. and wanted to know,had dropped the gun.” spectators that he would not tol- analysis of the evidence, and ad- Bridgham said a man has a is. it any wonder that after Pot-When Farris finally said again erate a repetition, declaring that, vised the jury, “Let not your de- 40 P himself and fiU ties .death. Georges and Mar-“I now offer this picture as Ex- this is not a Roman circus, a cision be influenced by fear of de.ar onos M a. mon._ firunk or Jorle 8 statements were a littlehibit 4, Bridgham was on his I showroom, or a holiday. It is a I public disapproval or hope of s°ber. at.t*}T|Pts ,to y°u’ y°“ different from the statements feet to object declaring,^^“He’s very serious matter. Of their public acclaim. I haYe a r,ght to de^nd yourself. |they made a UtUe later? Whatiaid no foundation for the intro- beer consumption in Brunswick, In his lengthy charge, Justice... , . . . . , .. . . . ^ ,lA ,duction of that exhibit. Justice Harry testified that, I had six Merrill defined legal evidence as the four-day trial that liquor learned that you had committedMerrill said, “I will admit it ” Bosses, Willey must have had 10 including every known means of 13 *hf ‘;ao8e. ® ^ trouble, involuntary manriaughter byand Bridgham immediately took or more, and Pottle had more obtaining the truth in any ques- ordic'zed the state for getting mistaking a man for a deer Inan exception. I than Willey.” They brought tion of facts. “It will become I P™fit frP™ parlors where |the woods? For four hoursMrs. Shepard went on the wit- home six quart bottles from your duty,” heness stand following a confer- Brunswick, Harry said, then de- the evidence.”ence between State and defense claring that on the way Pottle, said, that the jurors would be,counsel with Justice Merrill in whose driving Harry didn’t “simply trying to evaluehis chamber during a recess think much of, stopped the car truth, and you do that with your,. ... , . . _ .. .g recess. vvhiie he, Pottle, and Willey |common sense Justice Merrill of the.evidence during would havesaid “to weigh fathers get drunk and get crazy. George Gage was there “withThat meant he Llquor causes homes to break Pottte and Willey threateningjmrs would’be up- H makes murderers. There him. If Gage wanted to murderthe are more heartaches in a quait I Pottle, would he have waitedof beer than in anything else.”EVIDENCE CLOSEDdrank one of the bottle’s. Harry | noted that the true test is not the !9agV ? tr*a*four hours? Do you think Gagestoodconcerned beer I four hours? That ten't’ the waythat abuse forsaid that when they got to the number of witnesses on one side »rinl9ng; day and night be- murderers kill.Last of the three defense wit-1Pottle *arm. Pottle drove head- or the other. fore the fatal shooting, by Potte, *The state must have beenw 1 «you arc at liberty, Justice I HMLv 59«ir^ wb° once lived in | hard up for a motive when theynesses, George Ira Gage, the 36- drst into a corner of the house.year old Richmond farmhand charged with of .his fatherchmond farmhand I After George came down from Merrill said, “to test the evi-11 m 10the shotgun slaying ihe second floor room to which I {Jence in the light of your experi- If/?, ^ LaForrest Willey, say that sometime last Summer-in-law told his be and his wUe had retired, Bar- j ence with mankind and your s , steP-nePhew whose Gage threatehed Pottle a life he--rv «td that Pottle vrahbed him dealing mith feiirtto, mother-in-law is Gage’s sister, cause he wanted the property.evi- Bath antl w°rked in the Bath bring little Robert Pottle in toproperty.^70.“ i.'Tutl o’. I *ried_ «o r.too„ with I Tert'tmony from «„ inured I ^1t ‘ “d 11“either murder or tooiiuVhteV. I ’««'• *•“* Po,tl- “ld. _. X?it wltnc“ ia not necostortly lt;al«e SihrSjlt'asha'i Jort'otoioceoBe’r':1'’’“‘Show* m?«r or not guilty. Gage testified ato t reasoning with me. 111 kill or untrustworthy. It Is for vou I. . u.,.a? v . P?gy, Show me ar ....Wednesday that his father-ln- th* b°Jh ot Y°u if it s toe last | to determine the weight of the| nn„g, ,_^J ^’ ^2 tol(ti- | part jf the respondent, if you-Show me any malice on thelaw threatened to shoot both the H*tog L aY,er ^°,. ,respondent and his wife, Mar-Jto** Pottle said also jorie Pottle Gage, reached for1 George was no good. MarjorieHarry said I testimony in your sound Judg-|Hfd’ tri?lt;* -*? p,ck a. ?ght. with |ran. The state claims that Georgehot I ^4 j iz il.____i j I tum.the shotgun, and that in the brief struggle that followed he, Gage, pulled the triggers. The • last words delivered from the stand by the tall, quiet farmhand who married the shooting victim’s oldest child four days before Pottle’s death, were, I didn’t mean to do it. God Almighty knows I didn’t.The two defense Vitnesaes who preceded Gage to the stand Wednesday were his wife and his brother, 34-year old Harry W. Gage of Richmond Corner, who told Attorney General Ralph W_ Farris, Yes, George and I generally stick together.According to Marjorie's .testimony, her husband, never any pay for working on my ther’s farm.0 She said that George had a job in the Bath Iron Works last November but, gave It up when my father asked him to take care of the kids so he, my father, could run around. : i ^Run around doing what? the Attorney General asked, and Marjorie replied, Drinking.Gage's 17-year old wife said, “My father was not very playfulwas no good, and he’d kill them witnessesboth.During histhat me and it thTE^IS him* Bridnham so bliJntly as- Gage went fo the tam in jay.Jorie tion it is worth Someftmei sailcd dri,lkin« bY Pottle and UBht. made up his mind to kill,will flatly contradict willey In hU argument Thuru- and did when he looked throughr and vou will trvto dny that Attorney General Far- a window and saw Pottle asleep, r and you will try to ris dryl told the Jury »It vVYxmt a foolish proposition thatto me that Mr. Bridgham is try- is.definitions cTmu^er and mam ttlWffiyP3 Mr' W1Uey ^ ^slaughter, defined the phrase, * ‘‘g i \ ^beyond a reasonable doubt, as state and dcfense counsel boUi dr®n- ? what a wonderfulone another _____ .......long testimony, | reconcile the contradictions.He gave the jury the' legalcGeorge Gage told the jury that not longbefore the shootinghe and Marjorie accompanied vuu « *coouuau»c uvuib, an , . . ,------- T 7- —t - - ai 1__-a » ... _ - _ ix—Willey to the home of Georges applied to such opinions as *°ught to hammer home tp the father Albert Pottla^was, comingsister and her husband. Mr. and might be reached in the jury’s Jury their respective and nat- home drunk to his eight ehll-Mrs Ralph Crooker, and that he, deliberations, made plain the cpntradicting, interprcsta- dren Sunday morning. He triedhis father-in- rights of the respondent, and tio'}8 °* wha‘ toey te«anied as to heat Uie roul dealer in Bathlaw’s threats, told the Crookprs explained malice, expressed or e‘toer J^alcments or key ?,ut of,hi* ^ Pot'about them and said, “I want *ou Unplied, self defense ofo^eself ^D^TlfRiE tto we re teUiing about, thefath-to remember that, just in case or of another whom one may actions by the respondent. Said fr the eight children the at anything happens. He had this lawfully defend and other Farris, No man who shoots In torney general mentions so remark, he said, So that if Al- qualities of law with which the s^ctefento, says, ‘I’m a mur-bert Pottle did kill us, they jurors must be concerned before de**er • Countered Bridgham, You’ve got to hand It to would know and could tell. they reach a verdict. Murderers don’t give them- George.Declaring that after Pottle’s When you have completed Up—thgjr sneafc away. , , .death he was, Just about crazy, your important duty, Justice Farris told the jury that fhe to the Brunswick beer par-George skid that .upon his return Merrill said, you will have the defense witnesses told the same y*orge agreed to look afterttojriqs to a degree thatmorning he went over to where from a duty well performed. him of parrots ” and expressed www ** * qecem uma-Marjorie was sitting in the Pot- Justice Merrill read his charge the opinion that Gage, Marjorie Tne state had the audacity to sayjury was and Gage’s brother Horry ap- tniu Oforge and^ggarlone, after *yq? fiux aw IWIIU Ik (QGeorge. He wouldn’t go with PottlJ antf Willey and Harrytie living room and took her with great care. Thenee'* re-1 toey took Gilley to'Mre.'^r^**. anfweni j 5Y*f e*1^ 8WteIg|r t/ morning, shotgun, la small number of spectators In I recorded by Mrs. Leon P. Ehep- |didnt havp to go back to Pottle'shand and that Pottle, with an | attentive to eve oath, said, ‘Til shoot you both,and reached for theer Hery wora as tneipcarea \o oe in a tiV court, standing, heard by only garding questions andwhich the State has claimed was I the back of the room, took pains lard, official stenographer for | toose behind a door in a corner of the to present his charge clchrly and Infflcicials who questioned the three |bofbom away from Pottle. George I with careful enunciation.claimed that the gun was leaning | George I. Gage, the respond- [the day of the shooting, Countydefcnae witneaaes at Richmond!^ against the wall near Pottle, and lent, sat soberly in the court-1 Attorney Dale, Sheriff Charles!/ mlght i°rn thep with the children in It.and WlUay hadn’t been there wouldn’t have(Contlaued on Page Sevan)
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Bath Independent
Bath, Maine, US
Thu, Dec 05, 1946
Page 4
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ME, USA 21 Nov 2018
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