The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-11-02
ON THE JURY'S MERCY.
HOLMES TINES 4 BOLD STEP IN
me ABSENCE or OFFENCE.
Not ~ Witness Has Appeared for Him-Ihe
Prosecution Present No Direct
Proof against Holmes.

day threw himself OH the mercy OF the
jury.
When the Commonwealth closed It's
case this afternoon his attorneys an
no.snced that the prosecution had not
mad. out It's charge OF murder. ana tncy
would rest their case upon the evidence
Offer ed by the Commonw ealth, ana submit
no testimony Ia defence or the PiiSoh'i'
Ih.s decision was made by Holmes upon
the advice OF a wcl-Anown lawyer VIM
was at one time retained by The prisoner.
The move seemed like bold one put
was .5nnuestionahly done more IN des-
| ,ora,ion in the hopc OF influencing the
nrv ard creating the impression IN lher
minds that being conscious oil MS inno-
, cence. and not having had time 10 pre-
n.rc q proper defence. Halmcs trusted
himself in their sense of justice
lar 40 DKFtNcf.
In rculity Holmes has no defence.
No, = witness has appeared for him. ana
his lilac record would tell terribly az iinst
hin. even if n were able 10 ofier some
thing like su bstantial proof that he niu
not kin Pier;el The Commonw attn pre-
s.ft.d no direct proof that Holmes muir
dorcd Pietzel. Their chain of circumstah-
tial evidence even was not as strong as
was expected, and. but for the admissions
az various times of Holmes himself til'
district attorney would have hdd most
difl...'i task in proving the charge nay
the Commons ealth hesitated 10 arraisn
Holmes for murder here until discovery OF
no hoaies of the Pietzel children, is well
t,o.vr When the bodies OF these chill
Treo were found. the district attorney
was then absolutely convinced th"1
Holmes killed PietZel, and that the ihui
der of the children was the direct OUT
come OF the first ASSASSINATION ""Vr
The three children were unear'hea' am
Holmes made his admission that ne naS
been alone in the house win w -, %.
hod,, of Pietzel Mr. Graham vas sa'ishVu
- no strength Of his case, and brought
the accused man TO trial ,., J..
I, was expected that the case would DC
sensational in the extreme put 49,
Irdeo Arnold ruled out all t'e cN
hearing upon the murder OF the cn'iui en-
,b,, most chastity feature of Holmes series
of crimes was eliminated. lns,oa' %
furnishing any sensation the trlai i'So'l
los heen as duh and uninterestnB 10
,h, .pectators i'm the courtroom az inc
maturity of ordinary murder cases are
Two IvcIprsrs or Norf.
p,t two incidents out Of the ordinary
49, hro<cn the monotonv of the pro
ai,.,s These were the appearance
,,,or the witness stand of Mrs. fleZei'
ana her pathetic tale of her journey VII"
Iioimes and the testifying against the
,r,sonor Of the rirl that he deceived into
believing that sac was his legal wife
mt Miro with asses were called 70 the
stand to-day. TIE defence TINS iho'.''ns
bad decid,sl that they would attempt TO
- ,bat pietzel committed suicide, ana
,ras not murdered Expert testimony
hearing up,)n this theory, introduced ny
Mr. Graham. must have shown the altoT-
news for II dimes that the defence theN
h,d outlined would require greater re-
sources to maintain than they had al
tbeir command. They further maze TWO
blunders to-day. Mrs Pietzel was re-
called 20 the stand to identify some arti-
cles of clothing belonging 70 her nus
hand and. VI der cross-examinauon, the
defence attem pied to show that she was
ne-fectlv cogl szant OF the scheme 10
swindle the insurance company, ana tha'
I'm the tourney she took with Holmes she
was irving to avoid arrest for her share
in IL. and not seeking her children ana
| husband
Mr. Graham resented this form Of OK
animation Indignantly, and accused the
defence of attempting TO add to the
voman's already heavy burden or grief
80 ryIDFNcr AGAINST Mrs. PfTTzFr.
He showed by the witness statements
that. although arrested for conspiracy.
no indictment was ever brought against
her and that she was discharged be-
cause there was no evidence showing
that she had any direct connection win
the sWindle The question OF tho AT
tornev for the defence brought tears 10
the eyes OF the broken woman upon
the stand and her appearance excited the
svmrathy Of all in The court. Nhen
she was removed from the stand and led
into the corridor. she was attacked hv
"A nervous it, and her screams rang
through the room.
The defence's second blunder was in
endeavoring TO elicit from Miss Yohe
the opinion that she still believed herself
TO be the legal wife of Holmes When
Mr.. Graham saw the drift of the Ques-
lions being asked. he had the witness
tell the entire story of how Holmes had
| deceived her in the marriage. and the
! lies and deception he had practiced upon
her. During this recital Holmes be-
! came confused. and hung his head in
a shamefaced manner.
Just before recess was taken, Mr.. Ora
/ ham announced that the prosecution had
| closed its case. During the recess
! Holmes consulted his lawyers. and when
they came into court. MIR. Rotan boldly
asked Judge Arnold to either discharge
the prisoner for the Commonwealth had
not made out a case against him. or else
|
| Arnold refused TO co. Then they asked
for a continuance of at least three or
four hours, in which 10 prepare their
evidence. Judge Arnold refused TO grant
this much time. but gave them half an
= hour They retired with the prisoner,
and upon their eturn. Mr.. Rotan an
| nolnced that they would rest their case
upoV the evidence of the Common
/ wealth.
PEOBiBLY co To gHE JURY TO-DAY.
He said they were satisfied that the
prosecution had not proven the charge
OF murder and they were willing to go
TO the jury without calling any wit
| ncsses.
1t was then arranged that the closing
! arguments on both sides should begin
! tomorrow, and the Court adjourned for
the day. The closing arguments and
the charge of the jury will probably con-
sumo the better part OF tomorrow. but
the case will in all likelihood be given to
| the jury tomorrow afternoon.
-t-
i,r parkhurst'> Bitter Speech.
NEW YORK, Nov. DIR. Parkhurst
was the principal speaker at a meeting
held by the Government club. at Ar
lington Hall tonight. Or. Parkhurst