Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-03-16
THE SpgASE MURDER TRIAL
The state Presents All its Testimony and
Rests-StronR Evidence Presented.


Special telegram TO the Re0tstsr.
WELLsBURG, w. VA, March 49,
Last evening the jury Of the Spease
case and the prisoner, in charge or
Sheriff Cowan and Deputies Beard and
McMannus, visited the scene OF the
murder.
The line the defense is trying to es-
tablish is that the child was tainted
with disease, which manifested itself in
blood poisoning and the sores-rather
an unique defense.
The attendance at court to-day was
very large. At the opening DR.. 6. p.
Johnson was recalled by the prosecu-
tion aud stated, upon reconsideration,
that they had cut an incision in one OF
the bruises on the abdominal wall and
found the tissues and muscles all
bruised.
Coroner J. B. Walkinshaw was called.
He first saw the deceased November 30;
went to her home with DR.. Johnson;
found her in Q comatose condition and
could not find any pulse in the wrist;
pupil of left eye dilated; skull was
bruised and soggy like. After making
further statements corroborating DR..
Johnson fully, he was handed the skull,
when he pointed out the fracture TO the
Jury, il being on tbs right parietai bone.
He said it would take an instrument
with a knobbed end to produce wounds
like it. On his first visit found blood
blood clotted in the nostrils. The
bruises noticed were OF comparatively
recent origin.
On being cross-examined by Palmer
he said: One blow could not have
caused the skull injuries. The actions
of the little girl, such as frothing at the
mouth and tenorous breathing, were
symptoms OF epilepsy. The Coroner's
Jury did not see the brain, but only the
seams after the organs had all been re-
placed.
Court resumed at one o'clock, the
room being filed half an hour before
the time.
Mrs. Daugherty, living just east OF
the Spease house, said she was at the
house at the time Of the girls last in
Jury, November 80; she went into the
room and saw Nora sitting by the fire.
Her two girls were with her. Nora
asked, "Goldie, give me your doll.
Mrs. Spease corrected her with, "You
should not ask your company for her
doll" She did not appear angry. Nora
was in good health when we left.
Went to Mrs. Vests. In about five
minutes Mrs, Spease came and said,
''Mrs. Daugherty, do'come down; l be-
lieve Nora is , dying. When Mrs.
Daugherty got there Nora was lying on
the bed, gasping for breath and nncon-
scious. She went to the stone quarry
and told her husband. He and Mr..
Stocks came up. l said, John, run
for a Doctor" Mr.. Stocks said There
is no use for a Doctor" My husband
went and secured DR.. Johnson. When
I left to 60 for Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Spease
said: "Oh, Mrs. Daugherty, they will
think did this, because l was alone"
Was in the room at the operation. The
child fell into witnesses hands to be
dressed for bed after the operation.
When witness IMMERSED her she saw
the bruises across the front part of the
body. Witness called DR.. Walkin-
shaw, who looked at it and
called DR.. Johnson. When
DR.. Johnson came the first time
he felt It's head and said 1.-THE child's
skull is fractured" I felt the girls
head, and it appeared soft, like Jelly.
She seemed to recover consciousness on
Friday, the day she died. Witness rec
ognized the bruises ia the photographs
Once. passing the house, witness heard
cries and blows, but nothing else; only
remember of hearing such sounds once
in that house, but while the Speases
lived in the Rodgers house heard
screams and blows. On the day she re-
ceiyed her last blows she wore ging-
ham apron over green worsted dress;
wore only the dress when witness got
back, in five minutes. She was lying
on the bed.
Miss Mary Sanders, Of Portland, O.,
a former resident called: Was passing
out the Bethany pike shortly before the
child's death. Saw Mrs. Spease come TO
the door to throw out some water. She
was followed by the little girl. She
threw her back into the house; heard
her fell, and then the screams Of the
little girl who said: "Oh, mamma, don't
whip me any more; IL hurts me so bad"
Mrs. Thomas Forbes corroborated
Mrs. Daugherty about finding Nora
breathing hard. She heard the doctor
say he thought the child was in convul-
sions. The head felt like jelly. When
witness worked her fingers up and down
il felt as II there was liquid under the
skin. Mrs. Spease said the child
said she was not feeling well and
wanted to stoop when she walked; told
her to straighten up; when she tried 1t
she fell; noticed the bruises when wit
ness undressed her; heard crying once
when Mrs. SpeaSe lived in the Rodgers
house.
Mrs. John Green said she heard Mrs.
| Spease scolding the child and heard
blows as if with a club used in whip
ping; never saw her in any awkward
condition.
Ex-Sheriff J. L. Curtis stated that he
guarded the house; recognized an apron
as one of the little girls. With DR..
johnson witness found blood spots on
the apron by microscopic examination;
one looked as though water had been
applied to 1t; the lower spot was redder
and larger than the upper.
Thomas BuckSlew heard the crying.
The State here reste.
A Sensational FaIsehOOd.
Special telegram 10 the Rs01stsr
E,rpN,ON-r March I4-The sensational