St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-25
But the Jury Added Recon-
mendation to the Mercy
Of the Court.
The Prisoner Receives the
Verdict With the Same
Stolid Indifference.
Able Summing Up by Counsel
and the Strong Charge
Made by the Judge.

|
der of jacob Kohn in the early morning
of Sept. Is. 1887. The argument of the
case to the jury concluded shortly be-
fore O'Clock last evening, and the
charge to the jury lasted about half
hour. The court room and galleries
were packed all day by spectators, who
| listened with open mouths. as well as
eyes and ears, to the arguments of coun-
Sci and the charge of the court.
Shortly after court opened at 10
county attorney. began the presenta-
tlOn of the case to the jury. He in
dulged in no flights of oratory, but gave
a careful reh1arSaI of the facts, with an
occasional reference to their bearing
| upon what he termed the inevitable
| conclusion that Kill is guilty of murder.
He described the lonely Hazard farm,
near Lake Como, where Jacob KOhn
| lived as the solitary occupant. and pro-
| ceeded to detail the facts adduced at
the trial-the finding of Jacob
| KOhn on the morning of Sept. Is,
1857, yIng on the bed breathing his last
with two wounds OH the back of the
head, penetrating the skull. and which
| looked as if made with pick or harrow
| tooth. He declared that the motive was
robbery, and said that the amount of
money taken from Kohn or found on
| kllPS person may have been small, but
| that Kill may not have known that the
| sum was small or his intellect may
| have been of such low order that small
sum would have been sufficient in
| ducement to him to commit murder in
case he was detected in the act of steal
| ing it. lie thought it probable that
| Kill, being an inmate of the house on
the fatal night, might have first at
| tempted to steal the money and clothing
| of kohn, who discovered him, and then
TO hide his crime had murdered Kohn
He claimed that the s0-called seeds of
insanity were not SoWn until after the
murder. and thought it probable that
his mind was shaken in 1888. after he
had simulated insanity and began to
cut capers when watched. He argued
that it was toying with his mind that
brought on insanity, but that the man
was sane enough before and for some
time after his incarceration in Jail. His
account of his life was given in a
marvelouslv clear manner, and when
cOrnered in the crOSS-eXamination he
had been very aStute, and got out of the
corner by saying he did not remember.
MIR. Munn's speech lasted an hour and
fifty minutes, and after its conclusion
the court took a recess until 2 o'clock
III Tile AFTERNOON.
B. Ii. Schneider made a most able
argument in
Behalf of the Accused.
He stated that he believed that the
evidence for the state had not made it
clear that the offense had been commit
ted by Kill. 1t was only theory, and
that theory was no more consistent than
that some one else had committed the
OffauSp tsEOr iuctaDaa - Said hn ic
probable that Kohn may have gotten
into an alteration with some one
in his barn yard that night.
after arriving home from town. He
may have been hit over the eye with
mans fist or club and knocked down,
not upon the ground, but upon the sharp
point of harrow tooth-tbe wounds
We're about four inches apart and were
made with an instrument similar to a
harrow tooth, and at about the same
distance apart as they are found in a
harrow. No one had found the instru-
ment that had caused the wounds, and no
one was able to state what had actually
caused them. Mr.. Schneider proceeded
to discuss the insanity of Kill. He
alleged that while no one act of Kill
prior to the homicide might show him
TO be insane at that time, yet all of his
actions as detailed in the case showed
that he was not only man possessed of
low order of intellect, but that he was
utterly eSpOnSible-unable to diStin-
guish right from wrong, or to
apply that distinction to his own
acts. Mr.. Schneider gave a faithful
cluded with an appeal to the jury to do
their duty, as he had tried to do his, in
coming to an honest conclusion from all
of the facts presented in the case.- Mr..
Schreiber'S presentation of the case
was a mastery one and he was the re-
cipient of many words of praise for
the ability with which he conducted his
case throughout. Mr.. Mum was among
the number who heartily congratulated
him.
The Charge of Judge Kelly
was clear reviw of the salient points
in the testimony and a fearless in
depreciation of the law. 1t was gener-
ally considered as very strong against
the prisoner and devoid of any express
sion of sympathy or modifica-
ton in favor of the accused.
He laid particular stress upon the
| necessity of the defendant proving
| the time of the insanity at the
homicide and commenting on the
testimony of the expert witnesses
| he alluded to the fact that the court was
compelled to remark that physicians
| were apt to differ upon questions of
| science. He advised the jury to scruUi-
niZe the testimony of the physicians
| and to disregard that testimony in SO
! far as they believed it affected by inter-
est in the case. He said their testi-
| mony was conclusive upon noboay, and
| the jury should give a respectable con-
| sideratiOn to their testimony in so far as
| they could by exercising common sense
| He also cautioned the jurors against
| those experts who have a theory.
In discussing the degree of insanity
| necessary to constitute an excuse, he
said that the man must not only show
! by preponderance of testimony that
| he was insane at the time of committing
the act, but he must show that he was
at that time unable to distinguish be.
| tween right and wrong, or be unable to
| apply that test to his own act. His
morbid propensity to do unreasonable
| acts was not sufficient test of such in
| sanity to excuse him of responsibility
| for the crime.
1t was noticed that the jurors gave
| close attention to the charge of the
court and that their faces underwent
| somewhat of a change as the Judge
| progressed.
| heceptlOn Oh the ter01cts
1t was nearly IL o'clock last night
| when the court was convened for the
! purpose of receiving the verdict of the
| jury. When Kill was brought into the
| court room his countenance wore the
same Indifferent look. Not the slightest
sign of emotion was betrayed on his face
when the verdict was read, announcing
that he had been found guilty as charged
in the indictment. His finger was in
his mouth at the time. as it frequently
has been during the trial. He pulled
slightly at his mustache once, but there
was not nervous twinge visible and
not word escaped him, even when the
handouts were placed on him and he
was taken back to jail.
The verdict of the jury ended with
request for mercy to the court.
Mr.. Schneider asked for stay of sixty
days and gave notice that he would ask
| for a new trial on the ground of errora