St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-02
IT IS NOT RECORDED
On the Tablets Of Mrs.
Hegener's Memory That
She Shot Murphy.
For She Says That Awful
Afternoon to Her Is But
a Blank.
The Fair Defendant Tells the
Long, Sad Story Of
Her Woes.
Evidence in the Sensational
Trial All in--The Sum-

|
! ing rapidly toward the end, and the case
/ win &c 20 the jIf- some time to-day.
| The interest yesterday was greater, if
anything, and the idlers had the de-
| lightful opportunity of hearing Mrs.
Hegener talk. Court opened at 10
o'clock, and Mrs. Hegener, the accused,
as placed on the stand. She related
the history of her life, when and where
| she was born, ETC., and told the story of
| Murphy'S actions and the different de-
tails up until the day before the shoot
| ing.
son that day." she said, my hus-
band again accused me of being I'M
faithful and we quarreled. From that
time on | remember nothing that oc-
Cured. | do not recOllect getting on
| the train, and my mind only returned
when | found myself in the hack with
the policeman.
II do not remember what house | was
| in when Thompson took the revolver
| from me-" she said on crOsS-eXamina-
| ton. 'All that / remember occurred
| before my husband and self had trouble
at Mrs. WettWer's. / had been in a
| delicate condition for about two months
| before the shooting"
Mrs. Hegener went to tell of Murphy'S
relations with her husband and what he
had said about him. The state objected
on the ground that the evidence was in
| admissible. Mr.. Erwin said:
TO use the cOmmOneSt possible lang
guage, we propose to show that by rea
son of these stories and the perpleXity,
doubt, worry, etc, that attended Mrs.
Hegener, she temporarily lost the con-
troll of her mind. / claim that this was
the beginning, not the extreme provoca-
ton. | claim that he broke up the very
foundation of her mind. All her peace,
HAPPINESS AND WOMANHOOD
were gone. At the time when this I'M
fortunate Murphy had poured into Heg
ener'S ear his black stories, he believed
him, and all the circumstances had a
tendency to break down her mind. We
do not ask for justification, but we do
want to present before this jury all the
evidence we have to show how she was
harraSSed, worried, eXaSperated and
wrought up to such apitch as to do such
a thing"
Judge Egan-Any error by the state,
your honor, will yitiate the YER
dict. When the learned counsel
goes into those 1owery strains of
elOQuence. high on the mountain top,
how will the poor jury get into the val
ley, when he speaks of moral insanity.
etc? If | go home and my boy tells me
his marbles have been stolen, cannot
90 and whip the other boy. If a man
calls me a vile epithet behind my back,
and some one tells me of it, can't 90
on that hearsay and avenge the insult.
l am entirely in the hands of the court;
when the court is in doubt on any point,
it usually decides in favor of the de-
fense."
IF your honor please" said Mr..
Erwin, "every writer on moral insanity
for the last fifty years has made his own
terms"
''lf you will stop talking" said Judge
Egan, ''yOu can go OH with your story"
''I'll do it," said Mr.. Erwin, and sat
down.
Mrs. Heneger told the story of the
troubles with Murphy as printed yes
terday in the GLOBE.
DR.. j. w. Bell testified that he had
been Mrs. Hegener's family physician
about four years and knew her to have
a temperament largely nervous. On
April & Mrs. Hegener was in a delicate
condition, which rendered her more
susceptible to nervous proStratiOn.
Mrs. Fannie Wettwer testified as fol-
lows: II am Otto Wettwer's wife. In
April last l resided in Minneapolis.
corner of Seventh avenue and Washing
ton. | am Slster-in-law of Bertha
Hegener. Two weeks before the shoot
ing there lived with me Tony DurOch,
my sister. / remember that one day
Mrs. Hegener came and took Tony to
the dime museum, and Lizzie Hegcner
was there at the time. Jack Murphy
came there that afternoon and stayed
about an hour. | made no appointment
with him and never had. never had
any intimacy with Murphy. l did not
know the object of his visit. We all
met Jack Murphy at Bertha Wettwer's
house after that, | think On Friday or
Saturday. At that time Hegener re-
fused to listen to any stories about
Murphy.
IN THE AFTERNOON.
Mrs. Fannie Wettwer resumed her
testimony: When Mrs. Hegener ar
rived at my house she was excited. Heg-
ener asked Wettwer if he had ever had
anything to do with his wife, and he
said no. Murphy said that l had told
him and called him liar. Mrs. Heg-
ener'S eyes were CLASSY. | heard piS-
tol shot in the house that night. Heg-
ener had fired it into the floor to show
that the revolver was loaded. think it
was the 4th of April. saw Mrs. Heg-
ener on April 8. about 8 p. m, at my
house. She came there alone. She cried
and tore her hair, walked the floor and
said that her husband believed all the
stories against her. / said we should 90
and see my husband in st. Paul, so we
boarded the train. On the way down TO
the depot Mrs. Hegener stopped at her
husbands shop. On the train Mrs.
Hegener kept her left hand in her
pocket, and acted SO queer that L was
suspicious. She laughed and talked in
coherently. On arriving in st. Panl we
went to the Winona house and straight |
into the bar-rOOm. Mrs. Hegener caught |
sight Of Murphy hiding behind tie
stove. He knew he was discovered and |
came forward, asking what Mrs. |
Hegener wanted. She said she |
wanted him. Mrs. Hegener asked him |
to take back what he had said, |
but did not hear his answer. At that |
time Mrs. Hegener was white as SNOW, |
and greatly excited. She would wiring |
her hands occasionally, and her eyes |
looked as though they would |
drop out of her head. My hus- |
band wanted the revolver. |
asked my husband to take me up
stairs to the dressing room, as | was
scared. We started upstairs, but be-
fore we were clear up, we heard the
shot. | do not believe Mrs. llcgener
knew what she was doing on the night
of April 4, when at my house. She
cried great deal every day. | came
down to st. Paul ON April 6, to see my
husband, because | was n trouble my
self and wanted 10 talk to him.
Cross EXamined-I remember that it