St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-07
THE STORY OF MAGGIE WACHTLER.
Mr. Erwin Assumes 1t to Be True for Purpose
The Address to Be Concluded
Some Time Today.

The jury's attention was called to
the fact that they were asked by the
prosecution to believe the testimony
of that red-handed murderer and
perjurer because he claimed to have
become converted, because he had
! been apotheosized and deiled and
because eX-Mayor EuStis shook
hands with him in the court room,
and told him in the presence of the
jury that he made a good witness.
The witnesses for the state were
characterized as highway robbers
and insane men. Adry was de-
scribed as having all the indicia Of
mental weakness, a human tiger
These two witnesses are attended
by two squireS-Horse Dealing Will
son as the squire of the murderer,
and Investing jerks as the squire of
the tiger" These four witnesses.
Mr.. Erwin said, furnish all the tes-
timony upon which the defendant
can be convicted. Blixt, with such
confederation as the others furnish,
must be believed or the defendant
must be found not guilty. The jury
are asked to believe man in such
an important matter when no one
would believe him in regard to the
most trivial things.
In speaking of Blixts penitence.
Mr.. Erwin said: 'I wouldn't take
this penitence, if 1 was in earnest,
to another church than The one pre-
sided over by Cardinal .2ustis. l
would point him to a diff. ."'t con-
fessor than Frier Odell.''
In the afternoon Mr.. Erwin devot-
ed most of the time to an analysis of
Blixt's testimony, pointing out all
the little discrepancies, as a skilled
lawyer only can, and comparing
Blixt's confession to the confession
of "Reddy'' Barrett, and claiming
that in Barrett's confession he sub
stituted his brother for himself; in
this case BliXt has substituted Harry
for Adry.
In short, the defense claim that
the state has not made out a case
beyond reasonable doubt, and that
it is more reasonable to believe that
Adry rather than Harry was the in
stigator of the murder.
Then the superb analytical skill,
whether sophistry or truth be it's
basis, was brought into play, and
shred by shred he tore to pieces the
elaborate statement Of BliXt, not an
lgnoramous, but an engineer of in
telligence and with a mental capa-
city phenomenal, in view of his cir
cumstances, showing how every
change from the original was sim
gularly adapted to accord with the
latest absolute information from all
reliable sources. The whisky. the
statement that the loan was a fake,
the change in the manner of the fall,
and all the other minute and seem
had contradicted himself, were ar
rayed beside the plausible reasons
for the same. Then there was the
hrSt statement, the "clean breast of
it, made by red-handed murderer;
made why? Because he had heard
that Adry was telling the truth.
The story that Adry and he had
agreed to tell if they were caught.
The first story was true, except that
Harry was substituted for his real
accomplice, because he was with
her so much" Stand Blixt and Adry
on the common rule. For fourteen
hours Harry, under pitiless fire and
cross-nre, was examined by the self
appointed tribunal, and his words
taken in writing from his very lips,
and two months later he tells that
same story without variation of a
single sentence. Blixt's story
changes from time to time, as his ex-
igencies demand. For the sake of
the argument, substitute Adry for
Harry in that first statement. The
facts, the mute testimony of broken
skull, Of heelmarks in the sand, of
unspoRen circumstances, all .corrob-
crate the first statement. On what
pretext did he account for her rid
ing with him, this perfect lady, the