St. Paul daily globe., 1890-12-19
RAzzLED BY MUM.
Horton Comes Under the Fire
of the Acting County At
torney
And Experiences a Decidedly
Warm Three-Quarters Of
an Hour,
When the Torture Screw Is
Relaxed and Adjourn
ment Taken.
The Days Proceedings Full
Of Lively and Dramatic
Incidents.


| dramatic incidents yesterday. 1t was
| the most interesting days proceeding,
from the standpoint OF onlookers, dur
| ing the almost three weeks considera-
| ton of the case. Horton related the
occurrences Immediately surrounding
the drowning of his wife and child
| Mabel in manner that was conversa-
| tional in tone, but dramatic in the clear,
! straightforward manner of recital. His
| voice was we'll modulated, and betrayed
evidence OF an attempt TO re-
strain emotion. At one time, under
the sharp croSS-eXamination OF
Mr.. Mum, when alluuing to the
! alleged inGdelty of the dead wife, de-
| fendant'S voice Quiyered, his eyes filed
with tears, and he appealed to the AL
mighty to witness his declaration of
| wanting to be lenient with his wife and
| just to his children. During the ordeal
OF his second day on the witness stand
his part OF which was under the test of
rigid and rapid cross-eXamination by
the aStute assistant county attorney
the man showed himself to be of con-
siderable intelligence, honesty of pur-
| pose, and of a fine sense of feeling when
it is remembered that he was reared
and lived in the ordinary walks of life.
All those who were admitted to the
court room and the packed galleries
maintained an impressive stiffness. the
| spectators leaning forward with anxious
faces during both sessions of the court,
while they sought to catch every word
uttered by counsel. the court and the
witness.
1t was about five minutes after 10
O'Clock yesterday morning when the
testimony was resumed. MIR. Erwin
asking:
What time did you leave Trempealeau on
July %, >S9?
Horton replied that he left there at
about p. M.
Mr. Erwin then proceeded with an
examination of the facts about the let
ters and kilograms, which, the prosecu-
tion claims. were written as decoyS to
trap Mrs. Horton into a committal
which would make divorce possible,
and which the defense stoutly insists
show an attempt to reconcile husband
and Wlfe, to forget the past and be set
tledagain in a common home.
IN response to the questions Horton
stated that he did not succeed in seeing
his wife on the occasion of going to
Trempealeau. He had sent her tele-
gram the day before that he would be
down on Sunday. After trying to find
her at her mothers and at Lewis Han-
sons, he concluded she was trying to
Keep Out OF His Way.
He wrote her a letter after returning
to st. Paul in which he stated that it
was not right TO live the way they had
Deen,Wlth the children scattered around :;
| that they ought to live together and
take care of the children. He desired
| to provide for them and was willing to
make his property, which consisted of
some land. over to them. lie also al
luded to the Egelund matter in the same
letter, and expressed Willingness 10
live together as husband and wife if she
would explain that matter The other
telegramS were sent with view of
clearing up matters by arranging upon
some definite plan to provide
for the support of his chill
| dren or for being reconcile1.
| had no particular reason for renting a
room OH the West side, except while
walking over there one Sunday he saw
| the LaDdroche house, which had sign
| OF rooms for rent upon it. He liked
the house, and engaged the room at 81
per week. stating that lie would want it
| Tor q week or so until he coulG get set
tied in house. The Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday evenings after his wife
| came to st. Paul, his wife and he spent
IN talking over their troubles. She told
hlm all about the Egeiund matter, and
they were reconciled. He detailed his
| experience and where he had been dur
| ing the separation. The explanation as
to now they happened to take the fatal
boat ride was detailed by Mr.. Horton.
The child, Mabel, was looking out
OF the window on "Wednesday night
| and saw the lights III the GLOBE and
| Pioneer Press buildings and asked what
they were. lie explained that they
were newspaper buildings. The child
asked then what the dark place between
them and the lights was. When told
that 1t was the river she wanted to take
a rlue Ill boat upon il, and said,
Mamma, w0n'tyou go with US for a
ride on the river?" 1t was then deter
| mined to take take the boat ride the
next evening. The arrangement made
with Miller was related, and their sub
sequently going down to the river and
starting i'll the boat. He accounted for
| the fact of having two vests on by saw
ing that after going home they ate some
watermelon he had taken home, He
changed his clothes, taking off his coat
and then unbuttoned his pantaloons
| from the suspenders and pulled the
I former OH and put on another pair The
child was restless and began 10 cry. He
| dressed hurriedly and went to the river.
He did not notice that he had two vests
| on until after the drowning, when re-
moving his clothes to put on dry ones.
Produce the Clothes.
MIR. Erwin here made inquiry of Mr..
Munn as 10 what had become of the
| clothes. and asked that they be pro-
duced i'll court. He said he wanted the
clothes, the valiSe and the trunk of
Horton brought into court The clothes
were promised to be forthcoming.
and the witness proceeded, in response
to questions, to describe The clothing
worn by himself and wife on that night.
and the events connected with tile boat
ride. He carried his wife's cloak. or
| mantilla, to the boat, and said she wore
a cream-colored dress. lie wore a dark
| fr0ck coat and pants. a StetSon hat and
Oxford tie shoes. He helped his wife
| into tie boat, and she took the scat in
the stern, but subsequently, feeling a
weakness in the back. he took off his
coat and put it against the edge of the
seat, and she sat down upon the bottom
of the boat and leaned against the seat,
or coat. Inc baby" as he called the
child. had been helped to the next seat
toward the stern. His wife remarked
that she felt more comfortable after
being seated on the bottom of the boat.
His feet were sore from standing in the
office constantly, and he removed his
shoes while in the boat so that he would
feel more comfortable He never had
any experience in rowing boat. as he
had only been i'll one once before, but
had ridden i'll canoe number of
times, and had occasionally sat in a
canoe and padded it along. When
asked why he did not go up stream that
night, he stated that he had no reason
for not doing so, hut suppored that he
started down stream because it was
easier rowing at the start.
What kind of q time did YOU have when
you went down the riyer:" asked Mr.. Erwin,
The answer came back prompt and
decisive:
Very pleasant time. We talked about the