St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-03

| laws that tail to protect that woman.
| You have no laws upon that subject.
| Every one in this state would commit to
your hands to form a tribunal where
| this woman can get redress, II you
| should say what should be done to a
| black dog that enters into your heart
| and turns you into a mad, frenZled
| being; if you could make the law you
| could say what should have. been done
| with that wretch who let that vulgar
| lust run riot through his brain, you
! would have said: He should have
| been shot down at once; he should have
been shot as he lay tortured on the burn
ing bosom of the prince of hell. Law is a
rule of conduct prescribed by the. SUI
preme court. If you can say that from
the sworn testimony that you believe
Bertha Hegener knew what she was
doing; if you can say her mind was
calm and unbroken; if you can say that
she deliberately and in the calm, orderly
action of her mind, came down here and
shot Murphy, in malice instead OF
frenzy, then of course Bertha Hegener
is guilty. / do not believe that you
twelve gentlemen are ever going to send
this woman to the penitentiary by
declaration unsupported by evidence.
The state threw it's dirty water over
every womanly witness in this trial, land
only by defamation.
"All over this state, true to human nat
ure; all over the union, spreading IT.
self to distant lands, has been heard the
story of this unfortunate woman. and
millions have prayed the Lord to pre-
serve
THE JURY AND THIS WOMAN.
1--WE will obey the law, but the law
must do justice, for it was for justice
that the law was formed. There is but
one question in this case. This is no
time to bring i'll books and learned doc
tors to cant on insanity, and in the con-
sumption of time perpleX us. The court
will tell you that you must decide this
case on the evidence brought before
you. When Gen. Dan SickleS was tried
for shooting down the man who had de-
filed his marriage bed, Edwin Stanton
and the learned jurists introduced no
expert testimony, but set a precedent
for all the world by trusting a jury OF
their own cOuntrymen. Doctors can
only give opinions on insanity, and
opinions are not binding to jury.
What man present but does not know
the delicate organization of woman,
and know that the mind of virtuOuS
woman would be lost by circumstances
that harassed and perpleXed Bertha
Hegener. If you have wife, bring
her here in your minds eye,
put her back to this woman's age and
visit on her head the terrible things Wis
tied Oh this wOman'S head. You can
take her in your arms and say you do
not believe word of it, but it will not
soothe her. Tell her that you believe
her accuser and make him your consort.
You leave her with the crying servants,
Nxyhit
with her accuser. Will her mind stand
it all? Did God ballast her frail vessel
to stand that storm? You take her to
YOUR arms and find her trembling. That
means the blood has settled at her vitalS;
| she is weak and the frame begins to
dissolve. How can frail woman shoot
down man; how does she get the
strength to do it in that time? How can
| YOU tell she knew right from wrong?
| Pick out any face here and tell me what
the person is thinking of. Go
with me to an insane asylum
and tell me whether they can
| distinguish right from wrong.
Oh, but says the State, they dress, walk,
talk, etc. So do they in the insane
asylum. She has delusiOn that her
| father lives and writes him a letter.
They have such deluSions as that in the
| in all this case but shows this woman
was insane. Ii is simply limited at by
| the state and no proof has been offered
| to show she was not insane. Was she
only angry and actuated by revenge?
| That was not the testimony and you,
| gentlemen, try cases OH testimony.
| They saw her do things she had never
| done before and acted in manner that
would have moved the heart of stone.
| can hear again the cry of the populace
| in the coliseum when they tear the
Christians down. Turn the battery of
the law on that little group there and
| send this poor woman to your dun
geons over yonder. She goes to her
children, kisses them pasSionately and
! tells them that man is going to Sepa-
rate them. She wrote letter to her
dead father. Was that the calm, orderly
workings of good mind? Could her
| father answer her? Was not her brain
a mass of frenzy and fire? When told,
Why, your father is far away she
laughed insanely, and, jumping up, puts
Oh her clothes and says she is going to
Chicago. You are trying this case on
testimony. We have proved all this,
| and by witnesses that can not and have
not been ilnpeached. She has the re-
volver in her pocket and talks to this
| revolver as though it were q living
thing. Weak. broken, strange, palled,
unconscious where she was. She meets
Murphy and mutters the thought that
has been paramount in her mind for a
number OF days. That one wild cry is
TAKE BACK, TAKE BACK,
what you have said of me? Where are
the men who talked to her? Why have
they notbeen Oh the stand? Where are
those who attended her for the next five
days, and why has not question been
asked about her actions? Where are
the police officer, the honorable sheriff
and his deputies, who know what her
actions were? Not one single word has
been brought forward by the state in
evidence. She acted insane through
out. and it does seem that the God AL
| mighty did himself take hold of this
| case and took possession of her frame to
execute the vengeance that was His
own. You have here the uncontra-
dicted testimony of delusion and every
thing that proves insanity. You have
the testimony of nine witnesses, and it
is met by nothing except perhaps posi-
bic sophistry and possible defamation.
This woman is entitled to your sympa-
thy: she ought to have it, and have no
doubt but that she has your sympathy.
| commit my client most willingly to
your hands"
Mr.. Erwin spoke one hour exactly. Ii
was fine effort.
THE CHARGE TO THE JURY.
Then Judge Kelly Immediately
charged the jury. He first read the in
dictment and circumstances of the case.
He defined the various grades of man
slaughter and proceeded substantially
as follows:
Il charge you that although you may
believe from the evidence that John
Murphy did falsely accuse Bertha Hege-
ncr, that he afterwards retracted and
afterwards again repeated the charges,
both orally and in writing, yet, how
ever grlevous the wrong this defendant
may have suffered thereby, it affords no