The Portland daily press., 1886-01-02
HoDcDoN's CRIME.
Second Day of the Bath Murder
Trial.
The Government Rests Its Case and
the Defense Begins.

the Defense Begins.
BATH, Jan. 1.-The second day of the tria
of James F. Hodgdon for the murder of hi:
mother opened this morning at 9 o'clock
| The court room was croWed with spectators
VIM. E. HARTMAN,
police officer, testified that he was called tC
| Hodgdon's house on the 7th of May last. Saw
Mrs. Hodgdon as l approached crossing the
yard. She was in her night clothes. She en-
| tered the house and went into the bedroom
| which had been occupied by her
Saw blood on the bedding and kitchen floor.
Went to the prisoners room on the second
floor The sprisoner was standing in the
doorway of his room with pistol in his
hand. Said to him, ''Hallo, Hodgdon, what
are you doing here?" He replied, sTm tax
ing something. Shortly after he said, Il
don't know as it is any of your business
can protect myself" | afterwards assisted
in making the arrest.
ORRIN A. KITTRIDGE,
police officer, testified: Went to Hodgdon's
house to arrest him; found him in his room
saw revolver on the table, and grabbed it
by the barrel, Hodgdon grasping it by the
butt; wrenched it from his grasp found a
pocket knife and bottle partly filed with
liquor on the table. He offered no resistance
to the arrest but wanted to know why the
arrest was made; asked what the crowd were
doing about the house; also asked how the
blood came on the kitchen floor He walked as
straight as any sober man to the police sta
tion.e The revolver that [ took from the pri-
soner is five shooter, 80 calibTe, of the ''Red
Jacket pattern. All the bullets were dis
charged, but the shells were in the cham
bers.
IRA HoDGDoN,
father Of the prisoner, testified Was build
ing fire in the kitchen when my son passed
me and went to my wife's bedroom. Shortly
after heard him say, Mother, how do you
feel this morning?" She answered, mot
very well this morning; I passed bad
night" My son then said, s'I'll make you
all right" The next heard was two pistol
shots. stepped to the bedroom doorway.
NY wife was trying, to get up in bed; saw
blood running down her face to her bosom.
Fearing would be shot | rushed into the
street and gave the alarm. Did not notice
anything strange about my son that morn
ing. He had complained 1or several months
OF severe pains in the head. As far as | know
my wife and son were on the best of terms,
very affectionate.
DRs. FULLER AND wEscoTT,
who attended Mrs. Hodgdon, testified that
the wound in the head was about in the
centre of the forehead near the medium line
The bullet penetrated the outer table of the
skull to the inner table. We extracted the
bullet IN two pieces. Death was from sec
0ndary causes arising from the wound in the
head. The fingers of the left hand were
wounded by two pistol bullets.
Court adjourned at / o'clock till 230 this
afternoon
Afternoon Session.
At the afternoon session of the court
DIR. E. N. FULLER
was recalled. He testified to trepanning the
skull of Mrs. Hodgdon seven days after the
shooting. The chances were that at her adj
vanced age no good results would follow,
The wound in the head was in favorable
position for trepanning.
The government here rested its case.
GEO. E. HUGHES
opened for the defense. He said: The
prisoner at the bar stands indicted of a crime
of a very solemn occurrence-that of a son
killing his mother. The father of the pri-
soner has testified that the feeling between
mother and son was very affectionate''
Counsel claimed that the prisoner, when the
crime was committed, was Of unsound mind.
Ihe question is whether the prisoner could
qlStlnguish between right and wrong
Where there is no will power there is no
We will endeayor to prove
that this deed was committed when the pri-
soner was insape. The evening before the
shooting the father and mother, together
with the prisoner, visited a daughter, and
the best of feeling prevailed. The eircum-
stances of the Sh0ntnQ tnad4 4ta-s sA-N-----
DIR. EDWARD p. ROCHE
testified that he attended the prisoner in
June, 1884. He complained of feeling bad
about the head, and with both hands ne
would press the sides of his head, which he
said had troubled him for some time / came
to the conclusion that the prisoner was suf-
fering from a rush of blood to the brain, and
the effect would be arrangement of the
functions of the brain.
On cross-examination the doctor said that
the symptoms of the prisoner when visited
by him had no connection with insanity.
The prisoner told me that he had been to
Boston and had good time.
MRS. ABBTE E. BROWN,
sister of prisoner, testified that the evening
prior to the murder the prisoner was at her
house. He appeared nervous and restless;
said he had felt bad, and he was constantly
running his fingers through his hair. Did
not notice any intoXication. He told me that
he had been drinking. He said some months
before the shooting that his head felt badly
and that he would become crazy. One time
he grasped my hand and said, I'm as crazy
as hell That remark was made some
months previous to the committal OF the
murder He is very reserved and has been
addicted to drink. He had been drinking
two or three days before the shooting.
SETH PATTERSON,
keeper of Wiscasset jail, where the prisoner
was confined about three months, testified;
observed some peculiarities about him the
first two weeks at the Jail. asked him once
to whitewash his room, and he said he could
not do it, giving as reason that he could
not fix his mind on it, and he would stare
wildly at the walls. This continued about
for three weeks. After that he appeared
better and wanted to talk
Cross -ecdn1iRdti01l-He answered my ques--
tions intelligently. The whitewashing OF
his cellwas done by him three days after l
first asked him. When he was taken from
Jail his appearance was much better than
when he first came there.
The court at this point 6 p. m.) adjourned
to 8 o'clock tomorrow morning.
a FoREMAN's cooLNEss.