St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-21
have several legal principles in your
mind. One is that of the


and this presumption is to be considered
in the light Of evidence. and it is
principle founded upon that beneficlent
law which says every man is innocent
until he is proven guilty. The character
and previous life of the defendant must
always be taken into consideration, and
| understand the government allows
that there is nothing in defendants past
life, previous to arrest, to be
doubted. Recall the case, the court
said; put one part with another and see
whether you can conceive at this time
this defendant had toward her STEP
mother feeling that could be properly
called hatred. If this conception is not
warranted by the evidence, then it
should not have weight i'll your mind.
The government claims those acts come
under the head of murder in the first
degree. The law claims that, in order
to prove this, everything claimed must
be proven beyond reasonable doubt"
Continuing, 1t was stated that the
government presents this case on CIR
cumstantial evidence. IT the evidence
left the jury in reasonable doubt as to
whether she was where her father was
when he was murdered, then the
doubt would be fatal to the gov
ernmen's case. 1t was understood by
the court that the government claimed
that all essential fact was embraced in
the note matter; that she had made
statements which she knew were false
when she was making them, There are
three grounds to base this on. First,
the man who wrote it; second, the man
who brought it has not been found, and,
third, there was no note.
What Motive Had Defendant
to invent story like this? asked the
court. Would not it have been more
natural for her to say simply that her
stepmother had gone out to make
call? Was it natural thing for her to
say, to invent, that what any time
might be brought against her? 1t is
said no letter was found. i
But contemplate the possibility of
there being another assassin. Might it
not be part of the scheme of the as
Sassin? Might he not have come on her
when the note was there at hand?
Might he not have had reason to remove
it as one Of the links? In circumstantial
evidence unless every link hold good
the chain is worthless. (Here the
court gave several illustrations of his,
meaning). The jury was asked to
bear in mind the supposed facts that
the defendant had no blood on her
clothes when seen first, and there was
nothing to connect her with the murder
so far as outward appearances went.
In order to warrant conviction it was
not incumbent on the government to
show that she alone had the oppor-
tunity. Was the defendant in the
house when these people were killed.
Are the views of the experts correct?
Was this defendant capable of doing
this work? The government claims
that she was not in the barn at the time
she said she was, and makes other
charges which the jury must carefully
weigh for their actual weight. The Jury
was again cautioned against receiving
statements for facts.
Calling attention to medical experts.
the court sed med inclined to place
small reliance upon them as a general
thing and the jury was given to under
stand that it must give to
Expert Testimony
just as much weight as they thought it
ought to receive. The jury was eau
toned against noticing III any way the
fact that defendant did not take
the stand. The court said the
burden of proof is OH the
government, and the defendant is not
obliged to shoulder any of it. The jury
was not to deal with the evidence in a
captious spirit. If not legally guilty,
you are to say so. The jury was asked
to think over carefully whether a per-
son contemplating crime would be like
ly to tell a friend of it, or predict it in
any way the very day beforehand.
In the matter of the dress
the court asked the jury to say
whether they could extract from all
the descriptions of the dress enough by
which to identify 1t. The quarrel story
the court disposed of in short order,
and, of course, left it with the jury to
say whether it was reasonable to say
that such persons who were interested
i'll getting Mrs. Reagan's story became
SO without having first ascertained the
truth of the matter. The court said the
jury will lift the case above the level
of passion into the clear lines of truth
and reason.
AT the conclusion of the charge, the
attorneys consulted few moments.
The jury was allowed to retire, and
counsel agreed upon what exhibits were
to be put into the case, after which they
were brought in again, the oath admin
istered by the clerk Of the court aud
the jvry took The case.
Poisoned by Underbrush.