St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-16
The Alleged Slayer Of James
Scanlon Before the Dis
tPict Court.
AJury Secured and the Exam
nation Of the Witnesses
Begun.
Story OF the Crime RehearSed
by Mrs. Harris, the Lodging
House Keeper.
Policeman Rees Tells What
the Woman Said to Him at
the Hospital.

tlle hospital.
The attraction of murder trial
proves irresistible. and yesterday the
new court room was packed to its ca
pacity by crowd that craned its neck
to miss none Of the testimony in the
case of Pearl Wilson, charged with
killing her paramour, James Seaman.
The story, if not familiar, is all told in
the testimony that follows and has
the fascination usual to CHASTITY
tale of that kind. Pearl came into
court dressed neatly in black silk,
the sombre hue of her costume re-
lieved only by light plume in her hat.
She was pale and worn, but through the
trial sat quietly and seemed not the
least interested in the proceedings. w.
" Erwin. her attorney, did not appear
and the defense was conducted by
Cyrus Wellington. with County Attorney
Davis for the state. The morning was
taken up with securing jury, and it
was well on toward 8 O'Clock when,
after excluding the witnesses, the testi-
IL.
ined was Jane Harris, VINO has a lodg-
ing house at 225 Washington avenue
south, where Scanlon was shot. She
testified as follows: II rented room
to James Scanlon on the evening of
Aug. IA. He SAID he wanted the room
for himself and wife. He was alone
when he rented the room, but short
time after an expressmaD
BROUGHT a TRUNK
to the room, and later in the evening /
saw him going up stairs with woman.
| did not see the woman'S face, but she
was tall woman like Pearl Wilson.
About 10 o'clock a woman came to my
room and inquired where the water
closet was located. She was the same
woman who iS.nOw on trial. and who is
called Pearl Wilson. | rent the second
and third floors in the building. My
room is on the second floor, and the one
| rented Seaman is room 6, Oh the
third floor. 1t is the front room on
that floor. About IL O'Clock the next
forenoon | heard noise on the third
floor, and soon after | heard two pistol
shots. Philip Miller, one of my lOdg-
ers, who roomed on the third floor,
came down and SAID some one had been
shot i'll Room e. l sent him after po-
liceman, and then went up to Room 6.
l could hear some one inside gr0aning
and calling for help. 1t sounded like
woman'S voice, and / asked her if
she was alone. but got no answer.
] was badly frightened and ran down
stairs again. When the policeman came
/ went up to the room with him. We
found the door locked and he told her
to open the door. The policeman then
went down stairs to get something to
break open the door with and was gone
very short time before he came back
WITH AN Az
and man named Luke Kane. They
forced the door open and all three OF us
entered the room and found Pearl
Wilson lying on the floor and Scanlon
lying OH the bed, Scanlon's face was
turned toward the door. Pearl Wilson
was lying on the floor with her head
toward the door and her feet toward
the bed. Her hand was stretched out
toward the door and pistol was lying
on the floor. short distance from her
outstretehed hand. Scanlon did not
move after | entered the room. The
officers picked the woman up and placed
her in chair and then Immediately
picked her up again and laid her OH the
floor. She did not speak a word while
was present. Scanlon held hand
kerchief in his hand and was lying
perfectly motionless. He had bullet
right side and had his right hand
stretched out in front of his breast.
The woman was shot in the head and
was bleeding badly. When she was
placed in the chair the blood seemed to
smother her. There were two little
bottles on q stand in the
room. one contained some whisky
and the other some beer"
On cross-examination she testified:
with the exception of seeing wo-
man going up stairs. | did not see Pearl
Wilson until she came to my room and
inquired where the water closet was.
About / o'clock ScanlOn went down
stairs and out of the building, and
short time after | heard him come in
and go up stairs. 1t was about II O'Clock
when l
HEARD A NOISE
like tranSOm falling. 1t sounded al
most as loud as report of q pistol. I'M
mediately after ] heard two pistol shots.
/ was ont in the hall on the second floor
at the time and the room occupied by
Scanlon was the front room on the third
floor. | did not see any powder marks
on Scanlon's head where he was shot.
After Scanlons body was taken to the
morgue | took the pillow case off the
pillow and wiped up the blood on the
floor. | used it to wipe up the blood
because it was all bloody anyhow"
SIMON MNULTY,
a police officer. testified: II was on my
beat short distance from 225 Wash
ington avenue south, at II o'clock on
the 18th of last August, when man
came running up to me and said there
had been some shooting in Jenny Har-
ris' place. / ran to her place and went
up stairs. ] met Jenny on the second
floor and asked her where the shoot
ing had been. She said: Follow me-
and ran up stairs. / followed
her to room 6. The door was locked,
and / heard some one inside groaning
and calling for help. 1 tried to push
open the door, but found it locked.
then went downstairs and cot an axe
and wens back up stairs. Luke Kane
went with me. l forced open the door
and found Pearl Wilson lying on the
floor. Her head was about two feet
from the door and her feet were drawn
up under her and toward the bed. Luke
Kane is now dead. be fell down
an elevator shaft in the Tribune
building a few weeks ago and
was killed. He helped me pick up
Pearl Wilson and put her in chair.
She seemed to smother while sitting up,
and we put her back Oh the floor.
There was q frunk i'm the room and two