The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-03-31
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Final Words in the Trial of Caro-
line Schmidt.
THE STATES EXPERTS R1DIoULBD.

Modern Times-The Case Given to
the Jury.
MEDIA, Pa, March 3t.-There was as
sarge crowd present at the opening of
court yesterday in the Schmidt murder
trial as at any time during the exciting
scenes of last week. Mrs. Schmidt and
her husband looked pale and anxious
hut Schmidt appeared brighter than he
did on Saturday. Tears several times
came into his eyes as the attorneys
touched on pathetic incident, but Mrs.
Schmidt retained her stolid manner
throughout.
When order had been restored Dis
trict Attorney Hannum began his OPEN
ing to the jnry "If The court please"
he began. "Caroline Schmidt is ON trial
Tor taking the life of her sister, Emma
Pfitzenmeyer After looking over the
evidence in the case since Saturday, and
noting the evidence, / have come to the
conclusion that it will not justify me
In asking for verdict of murder in the
trst degree. The commonwealth will
argue to you that Emma PfitZenmeyer's
death was not the result of suicide, but
O murder. The defence has shown no
good reason why this is suicide. We
will show that this was homicide,
and give the motive or reason this
woman had for killing her sister. The
theory of the commonwealth is this:
That her suspicious were aroused, and
going home and seeing the baby in the
kitchen alone ran upstairs, and there
saw that her suspicious had been con-
drmed, and there stabbed her sister to
DEATH
Argument for the Defense.
Garrett H. Pendleton, one of the
counsel for the defense, then began his
argument Mr.. PendleIon gave
sketch OF the defendant, of her coming
to this country, and in a very howery
and dramatic tone rehearsed the incl
dents OF that awful night. He then re-
viewed the evidence in regard to what
transpired before Mrs. Schmidt left for
home. He proceeded to argue that there
were but six minutes left for Mrs.
Schmidt to go home from the ball, go
past her baby and commit this crime
before il was made public. There was
no stronger evidence that the crime
was homicide than that the room was
not deluged with blood. The weakness
OF the commonwealth's case, he said,
was the absence of q motive.
Mr.. Pendleton next went into a de-
scription of the room, and argued that
the body, the cuts on the neck and the
blood in one pool was all against the
commemorative theory that it was a
homicide. The scream in the night,
nut OF which the commonwealth made
80 much, he said, was not Emma Pfitz-
enmeyer s death scream, but that given
by Mrs. Schmidt when she saw the
: dead and bloody body of her sister.
Mr. Pendleton said the motive for sui
do ahnr 1atyt i'm ori..l,g 1ar1rouuaI
manner and the failure OF John Taylor,
her lover, to marry her.
The Pathetic Side.
%. B. Dickinson, for the defense, fol-
lowed Mr.. -Pendleton in an hours
speech, in which he brought out the
pathetic side in the case, and seemed to
move everybody but the prisoner her.
self He said the commonwealth had
utterly failed to establish an of the
theories it advanced. With Foster
Miller asleep over her head, with neigh
bors all around, the absence Of disorder,
The size of the room, was all against the
theory OF homicide and in favor of sui
eide.
The speaker then gave his theory of
how he believed Emma Pftzenmeyer
took her life. Her horror of blood, he
Haid, prompted her to get down on the
floor.
Bromall Scores the States Experts,
W, B. Broomall the leading lawyer
fof the defense, followed NJ. Dickinson
In an able and argumentative address.
he argued against the improbability of
the commonwealth theories and the
difficulty it had to reconcile what it
called the facts or to make the evidence
nt. He hit the leading witnesses for the
commonwealth some pretty hard raps,
81 Nlagty. cal 80 10
said the case was one of the most re-
markable ever tried, and would ever
stand as an authority on the unreliable
ity of expert medical testimony.
DIR. Bullock, DIR. Forwood and DR..
Formad, he said, could never again tes-
tify in case of this kind without hear
ing this terrible blunder haunted in
their faces on cross examination. He
said the defendant has attracted by her
Innocence the attacking party to such
an extent that the commonwealth has
abandoned its tactics, and admitted
that it cannot prove her guilty of mur-
der.
Mr.. Broomall then reviewed the med
tcal testimony at length, asserting that
the testimony of the states experts
would go down in history as the great
ast medical blunder of modern times.
The Closing Argument.
In his closing speech the district at
torney asserted that homicide had been
clearly proven by chain Of circum
stances which were incontrovertible
While the state had been unable to pro
duce witness who had seen the fata
thrusts, the fact had been clearly estab
lished that Emma Pfitzenmeyer's lif,
mad been taken by her sister. He urget
che jury to do their duty without fea
or favor. A life had been taken, ant
public safety demanded reparation.
After the district attorney had con
cluded his address the Jury intimatet
TO the court that it would prefer wait
ing until today for the Judges charge
This request was granted and the cour
ndjQurned.
When court opened this forenoon tn
fudge read his charge to the Jury.