Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1882-12-21
THE STURLA TRIAL.
Remarkable Speeches for the PrOsecu-
ton and Defense.
One Of the Jury Applauds at the
Close Of Trudes Speech.

ferred 10 the question of self-defense, in con-
nection with which he apprehended the court
would instruct the jury that the previous
quarrels of the defendant and Charles Stiles
were to be considered as tending to prove the
claim made by the defense that on the morn
ing of the homicide she had cause for fear Of
Charles Stiles, as for more than five wears his
treatment had been one unbroken series Of
kickings, assaults, and all kinds of brutality.
She had lived in habitual fear and alarm Of
Charles Stiles That she continued to live with
him, aud give him money, could not be ex-
planned, except as it was explained by DR..
Schmidt, that her mind was diseased Mr..
Trude proceeded to review the evidence as to
Stiles's brutality, passing over the testimony
Of each witness in the order it was given.
What agency drove her to the Palmer house
on the morning of July 10 no one knew, but
that he choked her and committed the first
overt act no reasonable man could doubt
And when there was an absence of motive for
such deed, there was always likely to be dis
ease of the mind-morbid insanity, as one Of
the doctors termed Nor was tn, 9 any mo-
tive impelling her to live with Charles Stiles,
except an idiotic, dog like love, clinging as she
did around a man who had nothing for her but
words of unkindness and acts of brutality-a
morbid love that was evidence of diseased
mind. Continuing his recital, Mr.. Trude re-
counted the acts of brutality testified to by
Officer Demars, Lieut. Hayes, and William
Pinkerton, and, looking toward Mrs Stiles, he
continued: LET me right here remark that it
were better for parents to teach their children
morals and cultivate their hearts rather than
their brains in this present generation. We
would then have fewer ibertines and more viz
tuous women"
aThis man waged his warfare all the time on
this woman. The more I thump her, the
more she likes me'-those were his very
Words" continued Mr.. Trude, who proceeded
to compare him to Sir Walter SCOTS picture
of Buckingham, in sPeveril of the Peak" who,
by the way, was not member of the Owl
club. He knew she had heart alive to hu-
man feeling, and all the way through her
story asked her for names, dates and cir
cumstances, so that if she was not telling the
truth, the Danites Of prosecution could so out
and hunt it up. But it was true-too true to
be contradicted Was her act of taking lit
tie boy from the streets and sending him to
school the act of cyprian?" and looking to-
ward Mrs. Stiles, as if to compare the purpose
OF Der presence with the charitable act of the
defendant, Mr.. Trude described her as @wo-
man who sits here with malice on her face and
forgets the divine words: Vengeance is mine;
| will repay"
Holding mp one of Charles Stiless letters, he
said that it was peculiar thing that not sin
gle member of the Stiles family could identify
his hand writing. These letters were enough
to sink in their infamy, i'll their degradation,
dozen men; and these (holding up another
bunch) are too filthy to be introduced in
court of justice The letters are the living
witness Of his infamy. If justice had been
done he ought to have been slain three years
ago, and the great public would have said
amop. There Was indeed something sacred in
human life, but there were times when the
law justified its forfeit He would not read
all these letters, but no oratorical tuberoses of
the states attorney can change them SHe
has a Lord's-prayer and ten -commandments
expression about his face that have not got"
continued Mr.. Trude, "but l am giving you
facts" and he proceeded to read several letters
in which Stiles had asked for money. The
story of Mrs Robinson that Theresa had S.
wv vi i,ONp vi SutIltS SbllS ulOucy, was dD-
surd, and it was unsupported
Mr.. Trude then returned to the period when
Charles Stiles had taken the defendant to Car
RE WatsOn's, where he was not only making
merchandise of his own honor, but was willing
to make money of the want of honor on her
part Her compensation was all passed over
to him. Sand what were her surroundings"
asked Mr.. Trude, as he proceeded to portray
the relations which Gene, "Chinny," Robinson,
and the other members of the Stiles family
with the defendant, and to tell how they had
been supported by the money she earned
HAnd where in the name of justice, are all
these persons? and why does the states attor-
The fact is that the whole family had fat
tened on the earnings of this woman, and
not one of them dared to come to the court
room and deny it The truth must be told in
the interest of his client and he could not help
the presence of the mother, who was there for
vengeance, not for justice. She belongs to
another age and shonld stand on the steps of
the Roman capital where Tarquin reigned
She knows full we'll what this woman has
suffered, and yet no tears fall from her eyes
He proceeded to arraigu the mother in violent
language as the representative of malice,
hatred and ill-will, and the son as libertine
and pimp-a blot upon the face Of the earth
The parents he held responsible for the end to
which the son had come He deplored the
mothers malice, standing, as she did, on the
edge of two graves, those of her husband and
her son, and he sympathized with her bereave-
ment He did not feel that he had said any
thing about her that was not justified by the
facts
He characterized the testimony of Mrs. Rob-
inson, the sister of Mrs. Stiles, as story man
ifestiy manufactured, and too inconsistent to
be worthy of any weight Charles Stiles, he
said, referring to his letters, speaks from the
grave, and tells her, not that she is mistaken.
thaf 81 n 70 hrico tod hnr ofN T1o fnct,
mony of Baldis Ryerson, the telegraph boy,
was put in his mouth by one of the Danites of
the prosecution, he said, and was so contra
dicted by other witnesses that it had 10 basis
upon which to stand
Mr.. Trude reviewed the evidence Of the
medical experts at length, and argued that
while five eminent physicians had given con-
sistent testimony that the defendant was in
sane, the experts for the protecution had not
only disagreed with each other but contra
dicted themselves. Under these circumstances
he asked could any man fail to havea reason
able doubt as to the mental condition of the
accused when she fred the fatal shot on the
morning Of July 10?
In closing he referred to the tremendous
power which the law gave the states attorney
in his right to make the closing address to the
Jury, and he cautioned the jurors to remember
that the true test of their duty was to remem-
Der all the evidence, and not allow themselves
to be swayed by the arguments of counsel He
did not ask for their sympathy He asked, if
they chose, for iron-handed justice It was in
the province Of the jury to find the def ,ndant
guilty, and it was in their province to say that
shewas not guilty, ON the groundof self-defense.
In that case they We're to consider the strength
Of the man and the frailty of the woman Or
they could say that she was insane when she
fired the shot, and insane now or, again. that
she WAS insane then and sane now With the
knowledge he had of this girl, he begged them to
do this 1t was the most solemn utterance
of his life, defending, as he was woman
whose frailty and whose agony of suffering he
had seen again and again, and the inner work
ings of whose mind he knew. If they found
her guilty he asked them to find her guilty of
the murder in the first degree, with the death
penalty. He did not hesitate to make this re-
quest, aud he asked for no pity But on the
other hand, if they thought that this frail piece
OF humanity has suffered enough mas en-
dured enough, he asked them to iii 4 her not
guilty. They knew her qualities of heart and
her vlrtnes-for chastity was not the only viz
tue-and that her tendencies when let alone
1 were In the pathway of right aud kindness.
They would know, then, what her future life
would be- aided, as she would be, by kind
friends He asked the jury not to hasten to
verdlcf, but to deliberate and to render such
an one that they could look their mothers.
'heF sisters, their sweeihearts in their faces
such verdict that as they sat by their fire
SIDES they would not see the agonized face of
this unfortunate girl
= Tie last word of Mr. Trude had scarcaI,,