St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-12-03
CHILD AGAINST FATHER.
Dramatic Scenes in the Koran
Murder Trial Yesterday.

n "A
Dramatic Scenes in the Koran
Murder Trial Yesterday.
There is a sentiment eXtant that
Christ Koran ought not to be found
guilty of wilfully numbering MoritZ
Weisser. The willingness of his wife
to testify against him. and the fact that
his bright little daughter of nine years
was put on the stand by the state to
prove the homicide, tend TO arouse
sympathy for the unfortunate man.
When the state called Mrs. Koran to be
sworn as a witness, Mr.. Erwin stated
that the defendant refused to allow her
to testify on the grounds that she is his
wife. Judge Otis sustained the posi-
ton taken by Mr.. Erwin, and Mrs.
Koran was asked to retire. Rosa Koran,
the nine-year-old child, is a very bright
one, and told remarkable story on the
witness stand relative to the shooting
and the surrounding circumstance. Mr..
Erwin asserted that the child has been
drilled to detail her story. and the
father is authority for the statement
that the child was not in the kitchen at
the time of the shooting, and had writ
ten her story out and memOrlZed it after
plan detailed to her.
The Jury was completed during the
forenoon Yesterday, County Attorney L.
ID. O Brien opened the case to the jury,
and the court. counsel and jurors viewed
the scene OF the homicide, 4S2 Sher
burne avenue, before noon. In his
opening, Mr.. O'Brien made a statement
of the shooting Aug. s, last, and the
surrounding circumstances. The mo-
tive, he said, was jealousy, but it was
jealousy not founded OH fact. Koran
had told his aunt, Mrs. Brown, that he
would shoot WeisSer. The fact that
Koran was jealous is not a defense in
law. If Mrs. Koran had been guilty of
improper relations with WeiSser that
| fact was not, in law, justification for
| the homicide; bat Mrs. Koran is hard
working woman, and had not been UNI
| faithful. No man has right to try his
case and meet out the punishment, al
though the alleged prOYOcatiOn appeals
! to the sympathies of mankind. The de-
! PENDANT will be shown to be man of
ungOvernable temper and of jealous dis
position. The jury was appealed to by
| the astute prosecutor not to z we heed
| to an attempt TO blacken the character
| of Mrs Koran. She would be offered
as a witness. but it rested with the de-
Tense to permit her evidence being re-
ceived.
At the opening of the afternoon seS-
sion the state called as the first witness
Assistant Coroner DIR. J. B. Darling.
who detailed the results OF the autopsy
and the cause of death. Mrs. Koran was
| then called but was not permitted tC
testify, as already stated, and Rose
| Koran. the nine-year-oldc child of the de-
| PENDANT, was called. She was assisted
| in mounting the witness stand by Judge
| Otis in kindly manner that put the
| child at entire ease. The county attOr-
ney asked that the mother be allowed to
sit near SO that the child might not be
embarrassed. Mr.. Erwin said. LAS al
officer of this court l. assert that the
child has been drilled, and | ask that the
mother be excluded from the court room
while the child testifieS." Judge Otis
directed the mother 10 retire to an ante
room.
In response to questions by the county
attorney the child related a story Of TIL
shooting in q precise way that displayeC
unusual prscOcity and Intelligence. Tn
substance of her story is as follows:
M0ritz Weisser lived at her house with his
two children, Lizzie and Louisa. Her fathe
had not been living at home for some tim
| before The shooting. She WAS playing on the
front porch with Louisa WeiSser the evening
of the shooting She saw her father coming
and ran TO meet him. lie took hold OF be
hand and led her to the porch. lie stoppe1
to kiss Louisa Weisser, and she went in and
told her mother that her father had come
Mrs. Koran was sitting near the sink IN tn
| kitchen peeling potatoes, and Mr.. Neisse
was sitting on the lower step or the bac
stairs talking to Mrs. Koran. Her m0the
told the child to tell her father that she wa
in the kitchen and for him to come i'll. Sh
also told Mr.. Weisser TO go mp stairs. Mr.
Weisser took MS hat off the shelf and starte
up stairs backward. When he got TO tn
Il hn cfn
the kitchen and shot him. Mr.. Weisse
cried out, ''Ohr' and went up stairs. He
father then struggled with her mother, an
she asked him to give her the revolver, an
tried TO take il from him The child the
went ana called Albert Brown. at the requaS
of her mother and he came in few minute
and br, u 5ht doctor
Mr.. Erwin put in about two hours i
crOSS-eXamining the child and Subjectel
her to a most rigid test of his art, bu
the story in chief was closely adhered
to. She said she did not know that he
father told a different story from tina
told by her. The story varied in SON
particulars from that told at the in
quest. She had then stated that he
mother had tod her to go and look t
see if her father was coming. Sh
! stated yesterday:
She had not been sent to watch for b
father. She left the kitchen after Weiss
! came Ill anu DGEul W ldlh W 4lGL AlONHCi
! | The reason she told her mother that n
l | father had come was because she knew thu
he did not like to see Mr.. Weisser in th
, kitchen. She persisted i'll the story that II
: one told her that her father did not like
see Weisser with her mother. When pTesse
2 for an answer as to why she knew IL 81
\ said that when her father was livir
G at home her mother told Mr.. Weiss
q to hold his child Louisa, while she fixed Il
q sheets of his bed. and her father hit Weiss
= with Il chair and scOlded him. The chi
4 went over the details of the shooting agai
y She said when she went into the kitchen
d tell her mother about the coming of be
father, her mother had peeled three pOtatoe
n and had partly peeled the fourth. when b.
u mother told Weisser to go up stairs he look
around for his hat first, looking on the tab
then Oil the gasoline stove, and then foun
il OH the shelf over the sink; when he got
:, the third step he stopped and confirms
II talking to Mrs. Koran. TIE particulars
e the shooting, even to the position OF ali Il
IL parties and the flash frOmlthe pistol, we
d | described, as well as every motion of t
[. hree persons.
When Mr.. Erwin asked if the chi
@ did not know that it fixed the flash t
s far from the revolver, Mr.. O'Brlen Q
e iected. and the court suggested that t
: child was being pressed very hard. N
Erwin said he was aware of 1t. but du
: to his client demanded such course, b
e cause he never experienced such
S markable case of a young child testll