New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-09
yOIING MEsEROLE ON TRIAL.
MIC FATHER KISSES HIM IN COURT.

fmnOrtant tflal lOT HuIuci III enV INV
-. IN Brooklyn for many years, that OF Darwin -
eesN~o,e for the shooting Of Theodore W. arbig on
o. was practically begun yesterday in the Court
1uie = end Termner, before Judge Edgar NJ Cullen
Of W, Monday was spent in getting jury, and
Al was mainly devoted to the presentation OF
!',oe nv the prosecution, conducted by Assis'ane
en-, Attorney John F. Clark. The evidence Tor the
p,'-.ss will be presented to-day The prisoner Is
eel0na nv william J. Gaynor and Henry W. socum'
ana Ia,ier being one Of his social companions as
g' pve in the same neighbOrhood on the hlli.
hs,. veseroe who cast his first vote In 1889, but
so'ls not vote this year because he was oehind
W a, hammond Street Jail, was accompanied III court
"a. usrcnts His father is General Jeremiah v
- /. member OF one OF the Oldest families in
,,ic, former commander of a militia regiment ana
b--.,c and now president OF the Williamsburg
w. Iant. Mrs. Meser61e dressed in mourn
~ So, her heavy Grape veil was thrown back IRON
ne 90 Directly behind the prisoner, and near his
o" -, cat Mrs Dovie Forney COmStock, the cause
- 49,, r,a-ier she was accompanied by her father,
y WI Forrev Of Washington. brother of Colonel
a. vorpev. Mrs COmstock's appearance has I'M
:, since She appeared al die Coroners r'queS'
p black eye and other marks Of the abuse Larbs
"a ubested her 20 before he was shot by Mtsefoie' al
- ast 81 No 356 sackett-st
De- -' ..,r,r,or, Part OF the supreme Court, was
- 20 ID utmost capacity. the gallery benS crowded
u mon who looked each others shoulders ~
.o,c below A number of wellknown lawyers
.,,es tie proceedings, and Surrogate Abbott Sa'
- che bench with Judge Cuilen a part OF the Gay
,9- Pratt aud Osborne after their courts closed
- rssoner was taken into the courtroom Few
l| before tho hour for beginning the trial. and
- -Neseroe kissed his son when he came In
~ ,,s.erole was too much overcome 10 greet her
~ 'r,o ,vas ba-gsnd from confinement and dread oil
= infsniohs death.
rbs opsning argument by Assistant DsirctAT
= ri,-se- wa. a concise statement OF the crcum-
ess n the crime for which the prisoner STANDS III
go lie de,aIed the circumstance OF the sSSOHauoh
:, T.bir with Mrs. COmst0ek, whom he called an
s.svsntnres,.s who schemed 10 make the acquaintance
I,rair through his little boy. Later she made me
a,r+anco Of Young Mcscrole the son Of wealthy
- .,d after he returned from Europe last spr-hs
- vent 70 I've in a room IN her fat. He had never
-. Isrhiz until the day Of the shooting On llaI
u NIoerole took Mrs C,mstOck to COney Island ana
~ they returned he went 10 his room L;rDlg en-
- tho bonse and he and Mrs. COmstock quarreileh'
-, ,nnear, sud Mr.. Clarke, that Larbg demanded
a., re,ure Of this woman. lie prOba;ly saw tla' he
- Nm du1.d one of the principal witnesses
- is a woman who lived with Mrs. Comstock VINO
.orrunately is now missing The prosecution WIZ
-. eou Mrs COustOck but witnesses VIII be pr0aho1u
!, show that there a quarrel In the ha'' "'i'N
= orsrbeard through the airshaf, and after threat
:. b,o. two shots were fired and Larbis was Killed.
7, will be shown that the Two men Wefe l"llS Ne'' ~
.,ert when the fatal shots were hIed
The first witness called was samuel H. McEiroy' a
,,vsyor who identified a diagram of the rooms where
". shooting was done. Other exhibits shown later
,s,e he pistol with which the shooting was done :
,he two bullets extracted from the dead man Ills
,ulh pisrced and bloodstained clothing and pieces
A. canton flannel upon which experiments ma Oeeh
made +, show al what distances powder marks from
fnng pistol wOuld show oo
DR.. g. Warner shepard, who has made some oooo
,ostmorem examinations for the County Coroner
pn Of his examination of the body OF Larois' anu
finding the bullets. One of the bullets entered tne
~, sda ~ the chest The Other bullet entered an
rh lover down and passed through the lett veht1cle
n n. heart and lodged IN the back. There was an
abrasion On the face which was apparently pFOuuoeu
n, The nall of the body after the man was slOU Liips
was man of muscular build, strong and atiheuc'
,,rnc nearly 200 pounds and five feet eight inches
IN height He was somewha, inclined TO corpulency'
The slf-slIrrender of young Meseroe and Mrs com
stocs At the ButIerst. police station was detaled
bg TbHce Captain p. H. Lazy. lie SAID nc wiz
Standing at the Of the station about ~ D. H. vi
June 81 when young man, who proved " oe
Neserole, with Mrs. Comstock on his ARM approao"'u
and said he had shot whom he did not hio"'
rrs Comstock also denied knowing him. They tou
where the shooting done, and the witness anu
sergeaR Mande visited the place They iouiu Uno
ssad body of Larbig in a room in the nat. "heh hc
r,prned 10 the station the witness told Meseroe thd'
the man he had shot dead, and warned MN Oh 'hc
,er,l of saying anything that could be used asae'
him. ,o,o
Meserole said he had nothing to conceal anu 'ou
NE story OF the shooting lie said that ne WIS blnS
on MS bed reading when he heard quaffel Oe'"o'H
Mr. Comstock and a man unknown TO him. VINO h"u
come An a few moments before Mrs Comsock came
into his room pursued by the man. who caught her oN
The throat lie told the man TO STOP ana urd"ii'E
his pistol threatened to shoot. The man let go anu
ma him he would have him arrested Tor thrcd'eh'hs
hi, lie and then rushed at him and Knocheo MN
down When he got up he fired two shots ana Vno
fell 10 the floor 49,, ,a mac
similar evidence about the finding of the body was
vs, ~, Police Sergeant Nlande and in resaTd 10 the
occurrences AZ The police station by sergeant "as"'
The latter said that Mrs COnStock ADMITTED u MN
that LarLig assaulted her By reason Oh JeaiouS'' gnu
had = HACK eve and marks Of fingers on hef uiroa'
The most Interesting evidence oil tile day wa sven ~
N Grace Creation who lived IN the fourth fiat OF inc
saekett-st house three floors above MIS-. Co"'SVo'A
she said she heard loud talking and went TO ue an
,l4 81, ,rbicb the rooms OF all the fats cOmmuni-
tat. and heard distinctly a woman say DON'T poi''
that revolver Al me-; then mans voice S'N ue
sane followed by the same man voice saying ny
God don't shoot - and another mans VOICE. To-
xin' Two shots in quick succession 1oNoweu' "HO 'I
Questioned BY Mr. Gaynor the witness sald sue leI'
sure that She could distinguish DeI"eeh man
a wonan's voice at the distance she was rom MID
Comstoel,s fat Evidence in regard TO the aDlh'9
H., from the first 10 the fourth fiat by the ar
Ezii was given. -
The line Of the prosecution in proving that tie TWO
Hs were not engaged in a hand-tohand conilct "neh
NJ shooting was done was developed when Dr. waiter
Kent ANALYTICAL chemist Of the Board Of heA.h'
vs put upon the stand 70 testify to experiments Ii.
x made in firing pistol at short range AZ pieces OIL
mt, aarnel Tie testified that there were no pow
t.rmars On Larligs waistcoat, and his experiments
showed that there would have been if the shooting
had been done at distance Of less than elsht iee'
The er,ss-exanination was then begun. Mr. OaShOi
wanted to know Il the particles of powder would mol
sdhere more TO new cloth than TO the worn wal'teoa
The vitless thought not. The adhesion OF the par
tdes I'D not depend Oh the surface hDre' Inc o"'c