The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-20

Mr.. Hamilton said, was concocted for
the purpose of gaining the. reward such
Service would entitle him to. Mr..
Hamilton then with rare cleverness
reviewed the testimony of Leopold
Nicotera and his wife, with whom
Lauisso boarded, and sought to carry
out the theory outlined above. He felt
that the jury would not convict the ac-
cused on such weak chain of circum-
stantial evidence, as in his opinion the
commonwealth had presented, boil
stored by what he believed to be per-
jured testimony.
EX.Judge Wards Remarks.
Mr.. Hamilton finished at 3.45 and ex-
Judge Ward began tAe closing address
to the jury for the defense. He i'm
pressed upon the jurors the necessity
of carefully considering the case and
said it would be better for them to err
on the side OF mercy than to convict
an innocent man, for 1t is the law OF
God and law of man that 1t were better
that nlnety-nine guilty men go free
than that one innocent man should be
convicted and his lamp of life eNtin-
guished to vindicate a law he had never
broken. The matter of n reasonable
doubt was dwelt upon at length and
Judge Ward said that IL there was
dozen theories pointing to the guilt of
prisoner and but a solitary one lead
ing to the conclusion Of innocence, the
jury would be forced to accept the
theory pointing to innocence. lie eX-
coriated Agli, whom he termed
thing" wretch" and seeker OF blood
money. He said it was not the duty Of
the prosecuting officers of the county
to employ reptile arm him with
bottle of whiskey and then send him
into the cell of suspected man for the
purpose of eXtorting confession 1t
was the duty of the officers of the
county to ferret out crime in manly
honest fashion without recourse to such
reprehensible methods. Judge Ward
then advanced the theory that Mrs
Nicotera knew the person that slew
Lauisso, and to protect the real mur-
derer is trying to fasten the crime on
Rosa.
He said that the evidence would indi-
cate that Mrs. Nicotera, instead OF sit
ting up on the night of the murder to
sew as she said she did. was entertain
ing n lover while her husband slept,
and Lauisso, when he returned home,
finding the intruder, went out of the
houes again and was followed by Mrs.
Nicotera's caller, who killed him that
he might never be able to tell Nicotera
of what he knew. Ex-Judge Ward
had not completed his argument at 5
o'clock, when court adjourned.
Important Insurance Case.
Before Judge Archibald the case of the
Clearing House Insurance company, of
st. Paul, Mimi, against L. Z. Williams
of Scranton, was put on trial. The de-
fendant is charged with having com
mitted forgery, Attorneys John p. Kel-
ley and NJ. w. Lowry prosecuted the
case and Attorneys L. C. Newcomb. j.
Elliot Ross and l.. II. Shurtleff con-
Quoted the defense. Williams is charged
with forging an insurance application
by which he procured policy ON the
life of his son, Louis II. Williams, who
has since died.
Williams presented an application
that ne said was made to the Mutual
Benefit Life Insurance company, and 1t
is now alleged by the company that
Williams forged this application.
DR.. Saltry, whose name was on the
application, was sworn and he testified
that it was forged. DR.. Beach was
sworn and said that he examined Louis
II. Williams before the application was
made and found him affected with
mitral reorganization of the heart, an
incurable disease. -,.>
Mr. Williams, the defendant, swore
that he made an application to the
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance COM
pany for his son and the policy was re-
fused because it was made out on an
old form then obsolete with the COM
papy. The case was on at adjourn
ment.
A verdict of not guilty was directed
to be taken in the case of the common
we9sth against Carrie Snyder, charged
with assault and battery. The costs,
however will be liquidated by her.