Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-04-20
The Lena Leins Outrage Ca =.

TRIAL OF TOM sMOTHERs.
In the Criminal Court, Judge Jar "a .na trio,
Of the case Of Thomas Smothe q ,nd,ctad for
rape and attempt at rape on M serson NJ uiss
Lena LENS On the night tanrna-v o7tb Iast
IN the northeastern p IT OF the city. was re, |
PerrT for St the cover Corkhiu and
port and Clage.o 70, ,signed1 for the prisoner, |
1 mere was = lar ar ,enaance OF spectators, in
Guiding seven or q ,ght ladies'
~, hRGuAE'.iT FOR TIE PROSECUTION.
MT; rerfy. at 1O:1e O'Clock, commenced his
argument II the prosecution. remarking that
%lthin se' en- miles OF this place such crime as
tniS 10 y -ldom or ever tried in the courts the
offeD'ce demaTding Immediate execution. In
ms opinion this was unjust. for often o. tie
I'D crest suspicion punishment is meted out. He
SaS glad inst such is not the case here and the
prisoner cosld congratulate himself that his Of
renee was not followed as It would have
been In Maryland. This crime was COM
United en- the evening OF February 27th last,
and the people Were excited and held indigna,
tloh meetings, as they had a right to do but
tne excitement had quoted down, and the peo-
PIE generally became convinced that 1t was best
10 await the result OF the trial. The prisoner,
therefore, was on trial. according TO the terms
OF the law, ana his counsel had Zealously
ma managed the case. Mr.. Perry then defended
ions that there had been corruption OF wit
nesses. MI. Perry commented In severe terms
on the testimony OF Captain Lyons as to
9 TSe a sRfaA II the Gt defepee w ss
taken up, and reading an authority on
the subject, Nj. Perry said the testimony Oh
it could be true in all other particulars and Vet
the prisoner commit the offence He then re-
ferTed to the Inconsistencies and the testimony
as TO the alibi. They had attempted to show
that Smothers was peaceable man. Such men
were sometimes bad after women, and it had
been shown that Smothers had three wives
They could not tell where SmotherS was before
no oft
show sy the vfrtuous Daphne--the woman who
was so particular in taking the Oil that she
waited for the clock to strike S, and 10 to take
lt-that he was in her room till az O'Clock
This woman. it will be remembered undreSSed
and got into bed while Tom the peaceabIe man
out who had three wives and was bad after wo-
men, undreSSed and went to bed-On the floor.
suppose he was there then, where was he be.
fore? Some OF the witnesses say that he was
In the shoe shop at six o'clock, but the inter
Yen1Dg time is not accounted for satisfactorily
lie noticed the fact that SmotherS' wife-hjs
lawful one-had not been placed ON the stand
but In her place this concubne, Daphne came
on the stand and testified that Tom employed
his time in singing or humming hymns. Why. 1t
was enough to make one voHat.. He then read
the testimony, and asked If that as to the alibi
met this case? Why had net those who knew
Smothers best-his associates-been placed on
the stand TO prove his good Character? 1t was
shown that he was a good-natured man. but
that did not disproye the rape. Good-natured
men are not above temptation. Government had
shown his cbaracter-gOOd natured when sOber:
dangerous when drunk. Mr. Perry then claimed
that the testimony of Miss LENS was positive as
TO SmOthers, and that Miss GROSS, Mrs Often
Stien and others corrOb0rated her, and that It
had been shown that he was in the neighbour
hood and that the truth was that SIn0thers was
then On the hunt for victim. He then de-
Scribed the Infamous crime. Talk Of murder
why tn S man badCObDed his victim Of more than
life itself. My God! My God! it would have been
better for her that life had never returned
1t would have been happier for her if
she had been consigned to the grave just
think OF 1t. Here is young girl going deyoutly
to church, a virgin, pure and undefIed and in
brief time she loses her virtue at the hands or
this brute. lie did not think that lie was nece5-
sary TO argue that this was the man who COM
United the deed. II it was then 1t would require
al argument to prove that two and two made
four. He then spoke of Miss LENS having been
10 Jail and recognized the voice which she would
neverf forget Remarking that it seemed strange
that nature could make such brute Srcl a
demon, he asked the jury ''Are you going to
TURN hlm loose? Are you going to turn him
loose? That Is what the community wish to
know" Mr.. Perry closed at 1855 o'clock and
recess was taken.
ARGUMENT FOR DEFENCE
On reassembling at 1910 O'clock Mr. Howard
Clagett Qhe Junior counsel for defendanD com
me nced his argument. He first remarked that
Mr.. Perry had seen fit to state that they had
charged the prosecution with falsehood. He
denied that they had done so, but said that
they had In attempting to show that the wit
ness Almond was not new witness stated
that he had been summoned before the govern
ment closed its case and had pTo1uoe1
which Mr.. Begin was deputized to serve
by the marshal. He did not propose
to dwell ON any other alibi than that
OF the defendant Tor the government had
proved this party TO be in different places az
the same time, and his colleague would take up
that allol. He then referred to the testimony
OF Green as showing that Smothers was al
Woods shop at O'Clock; that John Bell and
Tillman showed that he was in Tillman's house
at 6:25, and incidentally he mentioned that one
at this time. Referring to Sam GilIam's testI-
mony he said he should be in the peni-
tent1ary FOR perjury or should be con-
signed to the tender mereies OF a commissioners
OF lunacy; he was either liar or insane. He
would lot say, nor did he believe il, that the
District Attorneys Office had anything to do
with trumping up this witness. He would not
say that 1t was the party who had brought the
witness Almond On TIE stand yesterday bat it
looked peculiar for man who claims to have
spoken OF seeing SmOtherS On the day of his
Is arrest not to be summoned as a witness
until the case had been nearly concluded. Gil
lam would never had been heard OF
had not the bottom OF the case appeared
TO be falling out. and then it was rernenlb erpd
that he had made certain statements on Satur-
day last and he was brought in. Had the DIS
llct Attorney been as Jealous In regard TO GIL
lam as they Were IN regard TO recognizing wit.
nesses to appear before the grand jury in regard
TO the conduct OF the policeman Simpson, Gillian
would now be in custody. Mr.. Clagett then re-
Ierred 10 The testimony of the bootolacd
SpT1ggS. VINO saw SmotherS at ~ o'clock that
night and he had not been contradicted in a
single point. He then referred especially to the
aged witnesses as having told the truth and
spoke OF Sergeant BrOsnan as having with the
officers, directed this case. The poor shoe
maker, John Green, was entitled to the same
credence as Sergeant BroSnan, and as to some
statements made by the latter he believed chat
he lied 1t was perfectly natural that
these people should remember the night
AmuscmentS, &c.