Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-06-07

Engle, Abrhnem br01togom, b. q. Beyfert L
Aaron Dissinger, ID. M. Bufienmyer, Frank |
q. Mellinger, John Charles, II. 8. Musser,
Monroe M. Phutz, 8. J. Beard, b. Frank
Saylor and II. l.. Musser.
On the jury are II. g. Musser and II. L. /
Musser, father and son. This In the hrst
time In the history OF the county where
father and son served on the same murder
trial
The opening speech for tho common
wealth was made BY VIM. N. Apple. After
referring 10 the case with which the jury Il
was selected indicating tbat It IL an ippor-
tant case, the speaker dwelt upon the enor'
nifty OF the crime Of murder. man may /
kill his enemy, one may slsy his friend 10 |
anger but when q son strikes down father |
there Is not Language strong enough TO ex-
press the horror one feels when hearing OF
such crime. In this case the defendant In all
the vigor Of young manhood, struck down
In cold blood his aged father who at the
most had but q short time TO live No one
witnessed tho fatal blow but he who is
charged with the crime The common
wealth has no direct testimony to offer 70
prove the ofiense charged but Q chain OF
circumstances will be proved that point to
the defendant as the slayer Of his aged
father.
HISTORY OF THE CASE.
The facts as the commonwe expect TO
prove them are these: On December 4,
1887, Christian Rudy upwards, OF 60 years
OF age, was an inmate OF the Lancaster
county almshouse. On the morning Of that
| day between aud 10 o'clock sChristian
| Rudy left the almshouse to visit his sister,
| who lives In the southern section OF the
city. He returned about noon and took
l dinner About o'clock In tho after-
| noon the defendant came down the
front walk OF the almshouse grounds
and asked for his father. His father
came out OF the building and had .
short conversation with him. The son left
and tho father went In to supper. Mr.. Ap-
| pie then describe the buildings then being
erected by Harry Croft on the Philadelphia
| turnpike, east of the city limits, where
| Christian Rudy was murdered, and on
| which buildings the defendant worked
| as a carpenter. On tho evening OF Sun.
| day, the 4th OF December, the prisoner
| was seon lettering on the Croft prem.
| ises by Mr.. Fralich, who occupied
| the house ad Joining Mr.. Croft and he YVES
! also heard In Groff's stable moving lum-
ber. On tho same evening the dog Of w. II.
| Inman, who also lives In the same neigh
/ borhood, was very restless and barked con-
l stantly. On the following morning when
/ Mr.. Croft went TO his house he saw Rudy
there. Shortly afterwards Wohlsen's
wagon delivered some lumber and Mr..
| Croft ordered ii 10 be put in the stable.
When the men reached the stable
Rudy was inside scraping the
floor with bit Croft asked him what he
was doing, and he said nothing. An ex-
animation made afterwards showed that
there was human blood on the ground
where Rudy was scratching. Groh's sus.
! piclons were aroused by Rudy's actions
| Croft sent Rudy to the house and went 10
the stable TO look around to see II he could
discover anything. While In the stable
| Rudy came In with a board In his
hand, and when he saw Mr.. Grof,
| there no asked him a trivial questi on.
| Rudy then left and Grofi kept on the look
out, and fiually saw Rudy drag something q
In field. Mr.. Fralicb, who was watching
Rudy also, saw him drag something In 9
field. What they saw him dragging, AZ tc
secrete II, was tho body OF Christian Rudy
Shortly afterwards Rudy came to tn,
house whore Groti was and sale
down there is my father he ha
!. | been murdered some of tbos
poor honse PEOPLE killed him for his to
D bacco and things he had. Grofi said +
. | him, "No one would harm your oil,
. / father" MIR. Groii and others went (,
, | where tho body was and found his Goa
, pulled over his head, near him stone ant
= pool OF blood and not far of bis cane and
hat MIR. Croft went for the coroner and
Rudy went TO the house. While there
Rudy saw that there was blood on hi
hand and clothes and with an oatl
oaiI ho a knn hnx.
there. Rudy was taken into custody soor
afterwards and lodged In Jail. The pos
y mortem examination showed that deatl
T resulted from severe blows on the back O
the head which fractured the skull.
At the conclusion OF Mr.. Apples speecl
counsel for the prisoner suggested that the
jury view the premises 30 that they would
! better understand the testimony. The
court adopted the suggestions and the jur,
) went to the ground and were shown th,
| points, which will bs referred to In the tea
timony by Martin N. Brubsker, surveyor
| who made the draft OF the same.
THE TESTIMONY.
When the jury returned TO the cour
room the examination Of witnesses was pro
, ceeded with. The first called was DIR. VIM
, | Compton and his testimony was / am
, resident ply sicisn OF Lancaster and hay
been since 1854 was summoned by tn
coroner on the morning OF December 8 4
hold the In nquost on Christian Rudy II wa
about ii o'clock when ! got to the Grcf
property found the body OF Christian
Rudy there he was lying in a field on hi
face; there was wound ON the back O
his head about 2H inches long, through
. the scalp. The bone was fractured a
, with sharp instrument the bone
! at the base OF the skull were crushed tn
i upper wound, WAS made with q sharp In
Q strument but the lower wound with blum
instrument the wounds could have bee,
made with an axe; his body wa
} cold it had rsined the night be
0 fore and part of the blood was washes
I from the wounds his death was caused b,
, conclusion OF the brain an inquest wa
held at the time and q post-mortem mad
b on the Wednesday following the body wa
carried from the fold to the stable, wher,
+, the jury viewed II the post mortem WA
= made at the house Of one OF Rudy's rela
) tives on Manor street; DIR. Davis assisted
: at the post mortem.
Cross.eNamined ! could not tell how
long Rudy was dead when l saw him: hi
clothing was very wet; II had ralned yer,
hard about II O'Clock on Sunday night; wa
not acquainted with Rudy; do not know
that he was paralytic; have no means O
knowing whether the fracture OF the SIX nj
was after death or before death; there wa
sufficient fracture to have caused death; DIR
Davis and ] made post-mortem exsmIna
tion afterwards; the defendant was no
present when the body was examined.
n IL.