Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-05-12


decision by Judge Cu.tir illustrating the
force of circumstantial evidence. You 60
to bed at night, there is no snow on
find fresh snow and in the snow are tracks
leadi 7g past your reghtor's. Your neigh
Dor denies that anyone could go along as he
md party of friends had sat up all night
and watched. You would believe the ci :
cumstantial evidence of the tracks in the
now. Now, gentlemen, let's follow the
tracks ia this case and see where they lead
US.
Whether he got water or not that noon is
immaterisl. 1t is strange if he got two
p sils of water that Mr.. Nash should have
gone for water hen he came. The
counsel for the defense asks you
if the government believes in its the
Dry why was Trask not Indicted :
Gentlemen, one at a time is enough. When
ne is, if he is, my brother Heath will, un-
lonbtedly,a ,as ably defen him as he has the
prisoner.
Mr. Fowler tasted the gin the night be-
fore and it was not bitter then. He tasted
It when he mixed it Saturday and it was
litter. Mrs. Getchell told DR.. Driscoll that
he second dose her husband said tasted
| queer and he spit it out What did she say
TO Mr.. Norton! / know she denies it. She
| sold Mr.. Norton that once before he gagged
yhen he took it. 1t was bitter, it was
loaded with death between morning and noon.
Nobody in Sidney or anywhere else has
been able to discover that VIM. Henry
Getchell had an enemy on earth save in his
own household. Nobody else could have
put that strychnine in that bottle. Don't
tell me, if | was on trial for mur Ter and
vas guilty that l would tell the truth, if the
truth made against me. She told DR.. d. is
coll no one el.e was in the house. She now
contradicts Task about being on the
steps. Gentleman, this is not guess
Jog school. But says counsel you have
not shown where she got the strych-
niue. 1t is not necessary. She had
opportunity Lock at her g ting the post
master not to let the hu band she lovei so
dearly, have her letters No honest W man,
| say it advisedly, would be afraid to have
her husband take her letters out of the post
lie. The pitiable, miserable excuse she
gives. But would she have told the post
master not to let her husband have her
mail on that account? The counsel would
have you beli.ve thst was trying to show
that these letters were from Trask. gave
him credit for greater perspicaci'y than that
Whether she got strychnine in those
letters cannot say. The counsel
iwelt at Length on the laxify of
the enforcement of the law relating to the
sale of strychniue. 1t is not how she got it
but di shs have it is the question That
she did have and put that poison ia that
bottle believe is as surely proven as any
earthly proposition is.
| believe that some of the sympathy be-
slowed on the criminsl should be bestowed
on the victim, maligned here by those VIII 10
ought to love him.
OF course we would not expect anybody
t, kill, but, oh, they do kill. Poison is
womsn's weapon. But crime is foolish
from the time Cain killed Abel.
| have wondered az sat hsre what de-
tense the eloquent counsel would have made
had be defended Cam (manslaught, r, in
terrupted Mr. Heath have thought that
he would have argued that b cause Cain
and Abel slept in the same trundle bed and
played leap frog together it was impossible
that he should have killed bis brother.
is not bound to prove a motive if We estab-
lish the fact beyond doubt. You cannot
measure crime by the motive. The govern
ment is not bounl to go farther, but we do
go farther. The opposing counsel says that
lust is not a sufficient motive. Now gentle
men your observation tells you b. tier. Lust
is an overwhelming passion. Milton places
Lust at the coun il board of Satan hard by
Hatred. Adultery is treason to the hus band
And treason to the husband and murder
ever kept together. 1t appears that the
prisoner knew Trask before she did Get.h-
ell. They woul1 have you understand tn At
it was blt a casual acquaintance, although
/ fill to understand how he could have
known her by just hauling wood to her
boarding house. The counsel would have
you believe that Trask loved Getchpl and
that because of that love her bedroom was
open to him at slI hours.
Because of that lie could be constant
companion to her wherever she went.
From the days of Solomon it has been
past finding out the ways Of the man and
woman We cannot under-tand how the
millionaire's daughter could elope with the
negro coacbman. II il evident that Trask
was more companionable for sh, was with
him the greater part of the time.
From all this testimony was it VIM.
Henry Getchell that Trask loved, or Clara
Emma Getchell? Is IL insg nable III IT oi
people have come here 70 lie to convict an
innocent person.
You heard the counsel allude to the face
of Eliza Williams. Dees that prove she
didn't hit the truth? There has not been
particle Of testimony to show that the char
) ct II of single government witness was
not good. The treasury of the county was