River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-08-24
CIRCUMsTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
A Re mark able story from the Lips of
q. q. senator Dan voorhees,.

A Remark able story from the Lips of
a.. y. senator Dan voorhees,.
remember once defending, at Craw-
louisville, Ind, a man named Oven,
indicted for the murder of his wife by
poison. 1t was twenty odd years ago.
Owen was respectable farmer,i good
circumstances, and q constant church
member. He had been twice married.
He had several children by his first
wife: his second was childless, cir
cumstance which peculiarly affected
her mind and temper. She would not
permit his children to reside with her,
and compelled him TO find home for
them elsewhere. She had fancy, too,
that he was criminally intimate with
the wife of one of his tenants. She had
| frequently threatened suicide in conse
| quence of these troubles.
One night Owen was awakened from
his sleep to find her dying. He called
| in assistance and sent for physician,
but she was dead before anyone ar
rived. Her sudden demise excited sus-
picion, and three days after her burial
| this was communicated to MIN by a
friend, who further informed him that
arrangements had been made to disinter
the body and investigate it.
Owen was greatly agitated at this in
telegence. and, after short pause, re-
piled: "If this is done, and poison is
found in Kezia's stomach, This deceas-
ed wife's Christian Name), will be &C
cused CT her murder, convicted, and
hanged. But | am ar innocent of it as
that tree" pointing to one near by.
That night he transferred all his
property to son, disguised himself
and fled the country. The body of his
wife was exhumed and an autopsy had.
Enough strychnine was found in her
stomach to kill a mule. There was
universal expression of horror at the
discovery, and large reward was offer
ed for the arrest of the fugitive. After
some months he was found in Canada,
where he was living under an assumed
name. He was brought to Crawfords-
vile in irons, and 1t was with difficulty
that his execution by a mob could be
prevented.
Joe Mcdonald, (my former colleague
in the Senate Jim Wilson, once Rep.
resentative in Congress and subsequent
ly Minister to Venezuela, and myself,
defended him. There was formidable
prosecution, Lew Wallace, fudge Greg
DRY, and others appearing against
him.
1t was proven that a short time be-
fore Mrs. Ovens death her husband
had purchased strychnine at a drug
store in the neighborhood, telling the
druggist that he wanted it for poisoning
rats. But he asked that it should be
charged to him, fact upon which we
laid great stress in the argument, insist
ing that had he entertained criminal
design in buying the drug he would not
have put the damnable evidence of
the fact upon record. A daughter who
was visiting her fathers house when
the poison was brought home
testified that he handed it to
her step-mother in her presence,
cautioning her to he careful
with it. A brother of his wife, who was
greatly embittered against him, and
was a witness for the State, admitted
upon ross-examination that Ovens
treatment of his sister was invariably
considerate and kind. There was an en-
tire failure to establish the fact of his
having improper relations with other
| women.
This was all we had to base defense
on. The odds were fearful. There
was the remark of the marked agita-
ton of Owen when first informed of the
suspicious existing against him, his adj
mission that if q post-mortem examlna-
ton showed that poison was the cause
of his Wife's death he would be accused
of administering it and hanged; his
purchase of the poison; his transfer Of
property and fight; all combined, near
" irresistibly led to the conviction of
his guilt. "Mr Voorhees," he said to
me. "however darby things appear
against me, am not guilty" and | be-
lieved him. We fought the case like
tigers upon the reasonable doubt which
we deemed the evidence had not ex-
Guided, and won it. Such an uproar as
followed 1 never witnessed. Owen was
taxed to Wilson's private residence
pursued by q crowd crazed with disap-
pointment and thirsting for
/ his blood. Wilson, Mcdonald
and | stood at the front gate with pis-
tolls in our hands and checked the APP
proach of the mob until Owen could
escape from the rear of the house in a
conveyance that had been provided for
him. 1t is the only time in my life
that ever saw Mcdonald with a pis
toll. He showed an unmistakable pur-
pose to use it if necessary.
Owen went to Texas and died there,
I presume, as have never seen or
heard from him since. His wife had
com mitted suicide. He knew it, but
preferred TO keep the fact to himself
to avoide scandal and exposing her.
He was weak but honest man. For
safe deliverance he was indebted to a
capital jury, men who could neither
be bought or scared. The foreman
had served the country in the state
senate, others had held high office, and
all were persons of consideration and
| influence.