Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-06-03
PRELLER'S SLAYER.

| A Palpable Change In His Demeanor Since
| His Ordeal On the Witness Stand and the
Demolition of the Structure of His De-
fense-His Nemesis Close at His Heels.
ST. LOUIS, May 2S.-The manner of the
| defendant in the Preller case has under
gone a change since the cross-examina-
| ton by Circuit Attorney Glover. His
| clipper fiippancy has given place to seri-
| business. His easy assurance is fast van.
| ishing under the load of self confessed
weakness and disgrace, and even his in
ordinate vanity has been reached by the
merciless probe.
The ordeal must have been a terrible
| one which could touch the prisoners
vanity, and it was.
The weak points in his record and in
his story of the killing were dragged out
to light and were flrted in his face, until
| in sheer desperation he collapsed and fell
| on the handiest refuge-a treacherous
memory.
| vigorous Imagination.
His own attorneys had led him over a
| waste of quicksand, where he plunged
and fioundered helplessly and pitiably.
The last support was knocked from under
his feet, and he was overwhelmed by the
corruption of his own wretched past.
There never was finer illustration of
what Il record is worth.
The furieS of fraud and falSehood faced
the man in the crisis of his life, and have
dashed and bounded him to the verge of
| the scaffold. When the dramatic close of
the cross-examiner was reached, there
was not a soul in the courtroom who
did not look upon the prisoner as q
doomed mainland justly doomed. The
faces of the jury seemed to wear the eX-
preston of men who have practically
made up their minds and who have an
unpleasant duty to perform.
1t was his vanity that led him to change
his name: his vanity that betrayed him
into the affectation of learning; vanity
that led him to add titles to his false
name; vanity that led him to make 9TH
ers believe him disappointed in great
expectations; vanity and villiany that
| made him murderer; vanity that forced
| him in displaying his blood-stained
money; vanity that put up guide-posts
from the Mississippi to the Pacific coast.
Weak vanity led to petty thievery, petty
| thievery to deception, deception to lying,
lying to fraud; lust and fraud and lying
and vanity led to murder, and murder
will lead to the gallows.
The Nemesis of the accused man was
created by himself.
Yesterday the chief witness for the de-
Tense was the defendants sure condemn
| alton. To-day the expert witness for the
defense failed to strengthen his case.
Granting the truth of the accident theory,
it proved him a fool, whose folly was
great enough to almost deserve hanging.
Again the hypodermic syringe was
brought into court indirectly. Strive as
| the defense may, they can not get away
| from the syringe. By their own wit
nesses it was proved that the effect OF
| chloroform and morphine on the lungs
| and heart are practically the same.
Every little adjunct of q murder rises
| to meet the murderer on his trial.
The trial thus far has come to this:
Every thing points to murder and rob.
| berry. Granting the truth of the theory
| of the defense, the cruelty, lack of feel
| ing and utter want of decency and
| moral principle displayed by the prisoner
| under the circumstances brands him as
| an object of contempt and disgust-the
nearest thing to murderer.
The body of PrelIer has been exhumed
| since the beginning of this trial and an
examination made of the parts claimed
| by the defense to have been diseased and
| to have been under treatment by tho
| prisoner when his administration of
| chloroform killed his patient.
The exhumation was made last Satur-
| day, and the suggestion for it, not the
| absolute necessity for such move-was
| first given in the confession of Maxwell,
which has already appeared in these dis
| patches.
The body when taken up was found to
| be in remarkable state of preservation.
| There were present at the time, besides
| Circuit Attorney Glover, John F. Ryan,
superintendent of the morgue, and a few
casual visitors to the cemetery, Doctors
Brokaw, Jr., Prewitt, dean and
| Missouri Medical College, and
! Coroner Nidelet. These last three
| professional gentlemen made an amputa-
| ton of the parts alleged to have been af-
| fected and brought them to the city with
them. On the same day in the morgue
they made an Investigation of the parts,
which were cut open and thoroughly ex.
| anined.
They were in good state of preser.
walton and gave very little evidence of
| decomposition. Upon dissection the in-
| ner portions were in good color and abb
soluteIy perfect. No signs or indica-
lions of structure, which Maxwell has
| testified existed, were found. These
three gentlemen will take the stand in re-
| buttaI and give the above facts. The
parts will also be shown to the jury.
| For the defense DIR. Bauer testified to
the difficulty of determining the presence
| of structure by post-mortem examina-
ton after decomposition has been at work
| for five or six days. A restoration by
arsenic, carbolc acid or embalming fluid
would mummify the parts and destroy
| the evidences sought for.
|
| Accused of Firing His Own Store.