St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-30
EXAMINATION OF MRS. LOEA
PERKINS ON CHARGE OF
MURDER BEGUN.
STATE MAKES NO HERDWkY.
NO TESTIMONY INCRINTNavqNG
THE ACCUSED YET PRO-
DUCED.
SHE GETS MUCH SYMPATHY.
State Expects to Complete It's
Case Today-Defense VIII
Ask Dismissal,

The preliminary examination of
Lora Perkins, charged with the muir
der Of Lola Hawkins, was begun
shortly after o'clock in the police
court yesterday afternoon, and a
number of witnesses examined, after
which the examination was con-
tinued until this morning, and the
| prosecution expects to complete it's
| case tonight.
There was an immense throng of
people crowded into Judge Hollis
| stuffy little police court long before
the hour set for the commencement
| of the hearing. The throng was
composed largely of men, although
| there were number of women pres
ent, some of whom had come
| through force of circumstances as
witnesses, and others drawn there
| by sense of morbid curiosity and a
| desire to sit and stare at the heavily
yelled little woman in black, who,
| almost too feeble to walk, was half
carried to her chair behind A. H.
Hall, her attorney, and w. E. Hewitt,
I his associate counsel, by Sheriff
Holmberg and Mr.. Hall.
The police court officers had
| planned neat little surprise for the
| curiosity-seekers, and it worked to
! perfection. One and all, they crowd
| ed into the criminal court room
| where Judge Holt was hearing a
plain drunk" case, and anxiously
waited for the arrival of Frank Nye,
| Mrs. Perkins and her attorneys with
the officers. They were disappointed.
While they We're jostling and
crowding each other in this room a
| small party Of newspaper reporters
and the elect gathered in the civil
court room adjoining. County At
| torney Nye was there, as was also
Mr.. Hewitt and the officers. At 2:10,
| after disposing of the small cases,
| Judge Holt left the bench in the
criminal court room and entered the
civil court room, where it had been
arranged that Mrs. Perkins hearing
should take place; the crowd mean
| while waiting in the other room.
Some ten or fifteen minutes elapsed
after Judge Holt took his seat before
Mrs. Perkins, the defendant, was
brought into court. Mr.. Hall stated
that she was sick in an adjoining
| room, and that a physician was at
tending her. She was very anxious,
| he said, to be present and face her
| accusers, and would be brought into
| the room in few minutes.
TT
ported on either side by the sheriff
and her attorneys, Mrs. Perkins was
attended by Mrs. AXtell and a Mrs.
Hood. She sank languidly into, her
chair. There seemed no power in
her frame to support herself.
HER HEAD DROPPED BACK
against the high chair-back, while
Mrs. Axtell secured a fan. Mrs. Per-
kins never moved but once, and that
was to allow her head to drop down
upon her right hand and to hold
handkerchief to her mouth. No por-
ton of her features were visible, for
not once did she raise the close, black
veil. Within a few feet of her sat
Superintendent of Police Smith, and
apparently the time he was in the
room was spent in closely regarding
| the woman's every move.
WAS the woman really in the con-
dition she claimed, or was it all a
magnificent piece of acting?'
If the former, she is entitled to
| sympathy, even though she is
| charged with the blacklist crime
known to humanity. If the latter,
| her equal never stepped upon the
! stage or never sat a prisoner in
court room. She appeared to be as
weak as a child, with no power to
move. She took no interest in the
proceedings that could be noticed.
| The thick veil prevented a scrutiny
of her face or its changing express
sions. Not even the much-spoken-
of fuxuriant growth of blonde hair
was visible to the spectators.
No time was lost in getting down
to the business before the court, and,
sumed until $50, when court adj
| journed, all that had been done by
the state was to establish the facts
Of the fire by iremen and the fire
| marshal, and the nature and ex-
| tent of Mrs. Hawkins injuries by
| the physicians. No testimony was
introduced, except in two cases, as to
what had been said and done by
either Mrs. Perkins or Mrs. Hawkins
on that occasion. Fire Marshal
Charles o. Pierce testified to having
| had an interview with Mrs. Perkins
| on two occasions the morning of the
fire. AS he was giving his testimony
now and then
LOW MOAN ESCAPED
the accused woman, as, in fact, it
did at intervals all the afternoon.
Marshal Pierce testified that he ar
rived at the fire about five minutes
after the alarm came in at Gil, and
that soon after he met Mrs. Lora
Perkins between the two houses. She
| seemed to him to be almost hyster-
zeal, and was running around nearly
wild. He found out her name and
the causes which led to the fire as
near as she claimed to know. Mar
shall Pierce said Mrs. Perkins told
him that her sister was sick in bed,
and that she had been sitting UP
with her all night; that about 5
o'clock she had gone into an adj
joining room to read, and that the
next thing she remembered she
heard a scream. She had jumped
up and run to the other room, and
her sister stood there in sheet of
fame. She tried to get the door open
and was almost smothered before she
got it open and out. Marshal Pierce
said further that he then had no
suspicion that there was anything
out of the way. and about an hour
and half later he had been driving
down town by there and saw Mrs
Perkins again. This time she was
Il