Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-08

Schneider by Representative W. A. Stone
of Allegheny.
Strenuous Efforts Of the Defense.
For upward of 80 days the trial has beer
in progress. The prosecution showed, By
apparently absolute proof, that the killing
was premeditated. Letters from Schneidel
to young lady residing at Culpepper indi
Gated his desire to get rid Of his wife. II
one letter he called her '9iving devil, >
and letter of the same date was shown II
her fathers house.
The counsel for the defendant, Hon. Jere
Wilson, one of the most eminent criminal
| practitioners in the country, made the Piles
of self defense. A revolver was found
lying beside the dead body of young Frank
Hamlink, from which five shots had been
fired. The revolver asserted to be Schnei-
der's was found, at the latter's direction, in
an alley near by, leaned up carefully
against a telegraph pole.
1t was shown by the most conclusive cir
cumstantial evidence that Schneider, after
the killing, had tossed his pistol down be.
side the body of young Hamlink, and that
after relatives had seen him in his cell at the
station house the pistol was placed in, the
alley to make tine second weapon in the
case. For trumped-up evidence, of the thin.
nest and most absurd character, the defense
stands almost alone in the annals of murder
trials. The most desperate perjury is plain
upon the face of much of 1t.
Some Poorly Supported Claims.
To account for all the bullets supposed to
have been fired witnesses for the defense
swore to anywhere from seven to q dozen
shots, by actual count The revolver found
in the alley showed no sign of having been
fired for months. Police officers swore that
when Schneider was brought into the sta
tion house his patent leather shoes were
bright and clean, though the alley was deep
with mud. No sign of bullet holes were
found in Schneider's clothes that evening,
though he claimed to have been shot, The
next day holes we're found in his overcoat,
undercoat and vest, which were claimed to
have been shot there, but which were
proved by expert testimony to have been
made in some other way than by bullet
So, all through, goes the desperate testi-
monv for the defense.
Now comes perhaps the most curious and
and startling phase Of the matter. 1t has
been anticipated from the beginning that
the murderer would not be convicted. The
recent acquittal of Frank Ward and Thorn.
ton Haines, two murderers of social stand
ing and influence, has destroyed the conf
dence of the Washington public in the vir-
tue or judgment of Washington juries
when the life of anyone but poor ignorant
negro is at stake. From the beginning
lynching has been talked of. Daily the
courtroom has been crowded by the wealth
and fashion of the city, mostly the feminine
element of it, and these have added fuel to
the fire OF indignation and fury to come if
the jury fail to convict.
About Ready for Lynchfng.
Never have seen public feeling worked
up to such pitch in trial for any crime
The young men of the city, spurred to
bolder expression, possibly, by opinions
from their lady friends, who for month
have talked of nothing but this trial, speak
openly of organizing lynching party if the
jury fails to convict. The one thing that
will deter them is the possibility of con-
viction on the charge of numbering young
Hamlink. The current trial is for the mur-
der of Mrs. Schneider. No one can tell,
however, what will happen. The tempera-
ture of feeling on the subject is at fever
heat. At the clubs, at the hotels, in the
streets, all sorts of people talk violently of
the case, and common impulse toward
lynohing, in the event Of the failure of the
jury to convict, seems to be in the atmo-
sphere. LIGHTNER.