The Portland daily press., 1895-11-04

the evidence indubitably pointed to muir
der in the first degree, and if they believed
the prisoner to be the man who Killed
PIE tzel TO find him guilty, or if they
believed him innocent to acquit him.
Mr.. Graham spoke two hours and 40
minutes, and it being 1.30 O'Clock when
he finished, a recess was taken until 2. 30
p. m.
The crush to get into the court at the
afternoon session was tremendous.
Holmes consulted with ROtan when the
latter came in, and as he talked, he
laid his hand in an appealing sort OF way
on his lawyers arm. Mr.. Rotan began
his argument at $50 O'Clock. He stated
the responsibility of the jurors and
five days in gathering evidence relating
to the identity of Pietzel. He said: we
do not dispute that this was Pietzel' s
body. That is the least point of the case
We acknowledge that the defendant and
Pietzel had number OF
SCHEMES TO SWINDLE.
They even had another scheme besides
this one. Briefly, the Commonwealth s
evidence shows that Holmes and Pietzel
came to this city together under false
names, and that Mrs Howard was with
| them. It is also true that Holmes did
| The facts of the case are these. We made
| no defence because we are satisfied that
| the Commonwealth did not make out its
case. and that the evidence is more
consistent with suicide than murder. y
Mr.. Rotan then reviewed the finding OF
| Pietzel's body by Holmes and said there
was no evidence to show that Pietzel was
| drunk at the time he died. He said that
| the facts in the case warranted the sup
position that Holmes was only going tc
| make a short call on Pietzel on that day.
| He said that important and vital testl-
mony was given by Mrs Howard about
their plans for going away and that he
would read the testimony. We cannot
assume that Holmes started out with
| the intention of
KILLING PIETZEL,
| for how could he know if he would be
drunk or asleep or in any condition sc
that he could overpower him. There is
no testimony which says Pietzel did not
kill himself except from the position OF
the body.''
| Mr.. Rotan, as he proceeded. did not de,
yelop his argument as it was capable OF
being developed and his points were not
| we'll made or strongly brought out.
Holmes was keenly conscious that his
case was not being presented to the jury
with the sire myth III was chpitpie oi' anu
he frequently prompted Mr. Rotan dur
ing bis address and called his attention
to the points that he had overlooked.
W hen Mr.. Rotan concluded, Judge Ar,
mold addressed the jury. He told the jury
that there were three points for them &c
consider. The first was whether BenJai,
min F. Pietzel was dead; the second, II
dead, did he die violent death? the
third, if he died violent death, did ne
commit suicide or did the defendant XII
him? Then Judge Arnold reviewed the
ev idence AS to the motive for the crime,
i if the jury believed Mrs Pietzel's story,
then they had it in the desire to Obtain
the insurance money from her. Nexi
Judge Arnold came to the question Of
whether it was
A MURDE r OR A SUICIDE.
Judge Arnold said the jury could judge
from the cross examination of Miss Yoke
relative to Holmes's s departure on Sun
day afternoon, whether it was known il
law as a fight Finishing his review o
the evidence Judge Arnold said that tht
adoption of u suicide as plea of defence
was no uncommon one in trials. Judge
Arnold gave the jury the usual instruo