The Portland daily press., 1895-08-09

poisoned by strychnlne as that was ad-
mitted. He also would not try to combat
the suicide theofy, as Doth that and the
accident theory were not claimed by the
defense.
SO far as appears from any living wit
ness. or any circumstances, that Ui1 was
the only substance that Getcbe7l took
that the others did not take Therefore
it was the gin that carried the strvcbnina
1t was easy enough to say that wit
Desses were niled With venom and
prejudice; but it was to the attorney
generals mind a curious circumstances
that a jury should, if all these witnesses
were such transparent liars,s convict a
woman, especially when she was defended
| by as able counsel as there is in Maine :
AS to the bitterness of strychnine. it
was shown that the sulphur disguised
this bitterness Fowler, who had tasted
the gin few days before, found no
bitterness; but did when he tasted it
while Getchell was sick.
The fact that Mrs. Getchell got the
bottle when the doctor wanted TO use
carbolic acid augured guilt as much as i +
did innocence.
As to the claim that Forrest Trask
poisoned the gin, the attorney general
said that as this point was not raised at
the trial. and comes up now entirely new.
the evidence is not so fullas 1t might be.
Mrs Getchell testified that she saw
Trask on the steps that forenoon when
| she came from the out house. 1t must
| have been curious coincidence that
brought him tot that house at lust that
time; and that got Mrs. Getchell out of
the way conveniently.
As to the point that Mrs. Getchell was
not known to buy the poison, it should
be remembered that in Maine that it is
easy to get strychnine at drug stores.
AS to the motive, the only persons VIII o
had the motive were Trask and Mrs.
GetGhell. But the attorney general could
not see how Trask had a motive and Mrs.
Getchell none, provided their relations
We're such as represented IN the testimony.
Commenting upon the order of Mrs.
Getchell that her letters should not be de-
livered to her husband, the attorney gen.
eral called att 3ntion to the testimony
showing a secret correspondence between
Mrs Getchell and Trask
1t should be borne in mind that Trask
and Mrs. Getchell were about the same
age, that Trask was not living with his
wife, and that Mrs. Getchell was at the
time of her marriage the mother of two,
not one, illegitimate children. With her
previous history, the surrounding circum-
stances, and the abundance of suspicious
acts testified to, but one inference was
possible concerning Mrs. Getchsll and
Trask. Henry Getchell understood these
relations, and one night, after one of her
suspicious performances, he threatened to
take her life with butcher knife
Arletta Getchell testified to this.
AS to Mrs. Getchell's motive, it should
be remembered that if the property did
not come to her it went to her young
child.
The attorney general then dwelt upon
the idea of using poison that came into
Mrs. Getchell's mind. She had said once
hot hon 1<Nrr r-hN
be cross and ugly like his father she
would poison him to DEATH After her
husbands death she told Abbie Keen
that if they found poison in Henry's
stomach they could not find where she
had bought any on the Kennebec river.
When, after her husband was taken
sick, Mrs. Getchell wanted to give him
more gin, he demurred, saying he feared
1T would kill him. But she said: "Take
it Henry, it will warm up your stomach
and make you feel better.
Mr.. Powers concluded by summarizing
briefly, claiming that the gin was used
to introduce the poison into the system;
and that Mrs. Getchell had opportunity
for doing it, and very nearly exclusive
opportunity. The only thing to modify
this is the claim, here introduced for the
first time that Forrest Trask did it. But
the lack of motive on Trask's part, his
conduct and all the testimony goes to
show that he did not do it. She also had
the motive for doing it; and her conflict
ing statements go to show that she did it,
The idea that Trask committed the
murder is over borne by many facts, and
especially by the fact that during all the
days of the trial it never occurred to the
learned counsel for the defense, and is
now brought up for the first time.
AT the conclusion of the attorney
generals address, Mr.. Heath spoke briefly
in rebuttal.
He said that it was true that the theory
about Trask was not brought up at the
trial. There was no time then to ex-
anime closely, because he did not know
there was strychine poisoning until Prof
Robinson tetified. He met the issue as
best he could; but later more light and
more facts had come to him, and ma de it
his duty to do all possible to solve this
mystery.
Getchell died December 8, 1893, and his
body was disinterred and examinged
twenty days later.
The Law court will now consider the
case and render decision later.
The judges sitting were Peters, Wal
ton, Foster, Haskell, Whitehouse and
Strout Judge Wiswell, who tried the
case, did sit in this case, a recent egisla-
ture having made a rule in such cases.