The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-01-01
The Trial.


Immediately after the finding of the
cOrOner's jury Judge Burton ordered a
special grand jury empanelled. The
jury after receiving the Judges inStruc-
tiOnS retired for consultation, and on
Thursday morning returned an indict-
ment against Fox for MURDER IN TIE
FIRST DEGREE.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS OF THE TRIAL
The trial began and was cODcluded
the following Wednesday, the court
room being crowded during the SEES
slons of the court The Nevada Demo
crat gave the fOilrwing report OF the
last day of the tri..l:
AS was to have been expected, the
court room was crowded when the case
of the state against William Fox, she
self-cOnfessed murderer of Thomas
Howard, was called. The revolving
particulars of the crime are given above
and il is not necessary, therefore, to
give the evidence rs II was deposed by
the witnesses. 1t differed i'm no mate
rial aspect from that gwen at the in
quest. The case was called at 10 10,
! though the court room had been dense
ly crowded by spectators for fully tive
hours before the culprit was formally
| arraigned to answer for his crime. Men
wedged themselves III wherever posi-
bic standing room was to be found, I'M
til the benches and aisles and even the
sacred precincts of the inner bar itself
were packed and damned. Fronting the
Judge were the attorneys in the case
ami one or two Representatives of the
the mother and wife of the prisoner, and
upon their left the prisoner himself
the most unconcerned, the least inter-
ested, apparently, Of all that vast sea of
upturned, anxious looking faces. The
mother of the prisoner, poor, tired
looking little woman, whose whole APP
pearance tongues Eiteous plant
against the sorrows Of lifetime, sat,
throughout the proceedings, with her
head bowed upon her hand, the picture
of detection and despair. The wife sat
by her calmly, looking neither TO the
right nor the left, but upon her eounten-
ance there were written the ineffaceable
characters that spoke of a life that had
known much Of sorrow. Near by sat
the prise ner, with an officer of the court
upon his right. His bearing through
out was that of man who was the least
interested of any present in the result
of the pending proceedings. A weeks
growth of beard upon his face gives him
Il more Sedate look, and this, supple
mented by his cleanly personal appear
ance, made him appear to much better
advantage than when he was first cap
tured. He listened TO the evidence,
however, with only an occasional dis
play of interest in what was being told.
Once, when the bullets cut from the
dead man were displayed, and again
when witness by the name of Smith
was compelled to admit that he had
formerly run bawdy house, the pris-
Oner's eyes lighted up, and a smile rip
pied across his face. Otherv Use his in
terest in the case was nil.
The instructions were heard by the
jury with profound attention, the nov
city of the plea being of itself sufficient
TO insure the earnest attention of every
ear within hearing distance.
The prosecution is ably assisted by H.
H. Blanton, while Col. ID. p. Stratton
skillfully conducts the examination tor
the defense.
the examination entered upon. The
testimony throughout was almost iden-
teal with that already given before the
coroner and tends to show beyond all
possible doubt the guilt of the prisoner.
The examination of witnesses eOntin-
ued all day "Wednesday and al night the
argument began. The crowd was fully
as great rs during the day. The
speeches were not unusually lengthy, p,
though all of them were able and eX-
haustive. H. III. Blanton opened for
the prosecution. He spoke for about
an hour. He began ut the first of the
evidence and Sifted it To the sod. His
arguments were cogent and powerful.
Every word had Its weight aud every
utterance made itself felt. He handled
several of the witnesses without gloves,
and the mastery manner in which he
presented every phase of the case was
the admiration of all present. Attorney
Kimball, was for the defense. His theory
was ingenious and plausible. He took
the ground that the testimony had not
developed all the facts in the case. He
admitted that his client was guilty of
the killing but maintained that if all the
facts were known it could be shown
that others we're implicated as accesso-
ries. That the prisoner ought to be
found guilty of murder, bat not in the
first degree as claimed by the prosecu-
ton. He honestly believed that all the
confessions made by the prisoner were
false and false for purpose, except
that made to Tom Archer, in which he
claimed that he killed Howard for beat
ing Mrs. Rose. Here, said the counsel,
was the secret of the whole matter. Fox
loved this woman, if SO sacred term
could be applied as between such de-
PRAYED beings, and knowing the hope
lessness of his own case, he made his
last confession, taking the entire burden
upon himself i'm order to exonerate her.