The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-17
Guilty of Murder in the
Second Degree.
THE JUDGES CHARGE.
Deliberations Of a Fatigued
Jury.
NIGHT SCENES IN COU RI
TBY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD

Norwich. Conn.,. Jan. IL. 1879.
The contrast in the Cobb trial between to-day and
Yesterday was marked it is possible for con-
trast TO be- While States Attorney Waller was max
ing his argument to the jury the Court room was
crowded to suocaton. and the space inside the bar
was mostly occupied by women who had come to
hear the worst things that could be said against
woman. When he finished they broke like flock Of
sheep. and the spirit of the lot was ex
pressed by vigorous old lady whom I met
pushing her way out "Ive heard Waller" she
said triumphantly. 'and that's the best part of it,
This morning comparatively few women were on
hand aud even these disappeared in the long. weary
hours of waiting for the verdict. But. notwihstand-
ing the jury out and there prospect of an
agreement, the male part OF the crowd chung tena-
ciously to their places. more quiet and orderly
crowd it is impossible to imagine Indeed, it might
be called nstless patient and logged
was it hour after hour. Six seven. eight.
nine, ten O'Clock came, and the patient null
ttude sat immovablc as it had sat all day.
Katie Cobb not present. Nobody offered to sing
song make speech. and the only relief to the
supreme dulness of the evening influenza
chorus, which was kept up without cessation.
SINGULAR PRACTICE IN CONNECTICUT.
At ten o'clock it was understood that the jury would
be called into court and strange to say. dismissed
for the night The practice in this respect is very
loose in this State. and the lawyers are loudly COM
planning of the axity of the Court The Importance
of the Cobb and the liability of the jurors
to be influenced by outside parties after
the charge OF the Court urged counsel to make o
strong effort to induce the judges to keep the jury
together night il they failed to agree, but no
promise could be obtained that effect further than
order for supper for the jury 1t felt that the
jury would not agree during the evening if they had
he Sill btasfa Of hain al from,
the Court House. and States Attorney Waller
anxious they should know that they must find
verdict. He made an appeal to the judges few
minutes before ten o'clock, when it understood
the jury would be called into court whether they
had agreed or not but nobody knew what the result
would be. When the jury came in they seemed
happy in the expected release for another night and
announced that they had not agreed with
. great deal of nonchalance. Judge Culver
was alone the BENCH and in exceed
ingly quiet tone, he said, .'Gentemen of the
jury this is very important case. and if you will
remain shall You will remain" more chap
fallen set of jurymen was before and the
twelve good men and true walked back to their
looking like twelve condemned culprits. They were
desperately disappointed, but it is still uncertain
whether they will be kept the night through if they
fail to agree. The runor then was that they stood
six to six
JURY
After the retirement of the jury following this
buff the hands of the clock turned slowly, but still
the multitude sat in their places in undiminished
numbers. If there was anything to be tonight
the crowd determined to be hand to see it.
Midnight had nearly come, but still no jury.
At last within a few minutes of twelve o'clock.
there a stir among the court officers, and it was
said the jury coming into court. "They have
agreed upon verdict" whispered the
room, and then the crowd became not only expectant,
but eager speculation rife to the character
of the verdict that had been found. at
is either murder in the second degree
acquittal." was the general voice. But
which? Nobody expected Kate Cobb's conviction
for the capital offence but the hope that she had
been found guilty of the minor crime the Of
such expectation. At this time the accused not
in the court room, and how anxiously she wait
ing the event which to decide her fate could
know. Twelve o'clock came but still no jury and
the crowd began to grow uneasy.
1t was known that they had agreed and there was
anxious inquiry into the cause OF the delay Finally
it was ascertaned tn at it owing to the absence
of Chief Justice Park. At last the jury filed into
court at seven minutes past twelve and
the Judges took their places on the
bench. Just then the tall figure seen entering
the room by the opposite door, leaning the arm Of
the Sheriff. Slowly and solemnly she walked to her
place
VERDICT
Extreme quiet reigned and the jury announced that
they had agreed. The prisoner told to stand up
and she arose as slowly and solemny she had en-
tered Behind her sat lady friends aud her
aged mother. They showed by their faces
that they confidently expected her acquit-
tai. II they had looked at the jury with
scrutini zing eyes they might have anticipated diff
ferent fate for the poor woman who stood before
them in the presence of the Court. The foreinan's
voice trembled as he announced that the jury had
found the prisoner guilty of murder in the second
degree"
CONTINUATION Mr.. WATTS SPEECH.
Colonel Wait during the morning proceeded to
further confuse the minds of the jury on the
question whether Cobb or was not poisoned
with arsenic administered for criminal purpose.
He noted all the nostrums and patent connections
which the deceased had been in the habit of dosing
himself with and intimatei that the cause of death
might be found In some one of these things all of
which denounced by respectable physicians as
hurtful Then again, if the jury chose to believe
that Cobb did die Of arsenic, IL was essential that
they consider whether or not he had taken
the arsenic for medicinal purposes. TO gain more
flesh and avoid for the future the ridcule of jokers
who called him skinny" The falling out of Cobb's
tcle on his limbs, both of which may result from
arsenic eating should. he claimed he considered and
that this arsenic purchased for Cobb by Bishop
secretly was not surprising. for he had been drug
clerk was intimate friend and is usual for those
who indulge in arsenic. opium morphine to con-
duct the practice secretly. Bishop was sharply crti-
csed the character of his CONCESSIONS coming into
Court with his blue temperance badge pretending to
be rcgcnoratcd and ready to tell everything and tell
ing story after another. conflicting unreliable
and improbable
PERTINENT QUESTION.
Why didn't the wife tell the doctors. after Cobb's
DEATH that her husband had been eating arsenic asked
Colonel Watt and then he offered the remarkable ex
PLANTATION that she had not done so because she did
not believe that death had resulted from poison the
doctors not having suspected it, and she having been
led to believe that arsenic in medicinal doses. as
tAken by him with her knnwlednc. Was wholly harm-