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Plea of Self Defense is Effective and Doss Is Found Not Guilty of the Murder of Otto Huitt.

PETHETIC STORY BY DOSS IMPRESSES THE JURY

Said That it was a Case of Kill or Be Killed and That He Had Been Dodging Huitt for Years.

The trial of the State vs. Sam Doss, charged with the murder of Otto Huitt, ended at one o'clock Saturday when the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty. The jury received the case on Friday night about ten o'clock, and was out nearly fourteen hours. It is said that for many hours the jury stood evenly divided, six for conviction and six for acquital. The final verdict was unamimous.

Sam Doss shot Otto Huitt to death on the fourth of July last, at a picnic in Desloge. Testimony for the defense was to the effect that when Doss shot Huitt, the latter was approaching Doss with a knife.

The State endeavored to show that Doss fired several shots into Huitt after he was killed and relied upon this fact to secure a conviction.

When Doss was put on the stand, he said that he was certain that both he and Huitt could not live, for if Huitt did not die he would be sure to kill Doss. He further said that he had dodged Huitt for years and on several occasions had walked out of barber shops to avoid the inevitable conflict.

Doss was defended by Marbury, Coffer and Benham.

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