Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-12-20

Sheriff Reid and the witness Fred
Roehm, who will be kept confined in the
Billings county Jail until the case in
court is finally decided, when sentence
will be passed on him by the court.
THE PLEAS.
On Saturday afternoon Mr.. Miller be-
gun to address the Jury. A night SEES
sion was held, and Mr.. Miller continued
his address. He insisted that every sin
gle act and declaration of the defendant
and his wife after the killing of Severson
was incompatible with innocence. He
then reviewed the testimony, pointed
out Inconsistencies in that Of the defense,
and insisted that the story of the boy
was such a story as the boy could never
have invented. He insisted that no man
or woman that God ever made if inno-
cent, would have shown the heartless-
ness towards Severson that was shown
toward him after he had been shot.
The defendant showed no animation
whatever when informed that Severson
was dead, or when told by the coroner
that there was a hole clear through him.
This was ascribed by the defense to his
physical infirmities and his peculiar
characteristics. But the u%ndisputed tes-
timony showed that when the coroner
announced that he must take the boy
with him, then Mr.. Wadsworth braced
up, and for the purpose o reassuring the
the boy, the defendant announced that
he did not believe the boy was guilty
and he was willing to go on his bonds.
Mr.. Miller insisted that these announce
ments were made just to brace the boy
up, SO that he might not tell the actual
truth as to the murder. 1t had been
claimed that the defendant said he
wanted an investigation, but asa matter
of fact the defendant himself, who
ought to know, testified that he did not
asked for IN investigation. This man
who had lived for twelve years in the
family-a man who was nearly a brother
had a mother and sister, but the
! Wadsworths according to their own
story, never wrote a word to them about
it.
Court adjourned at $50 p. m. till this
morning.
Mr.. Miller resumed his argument this
morning. He began with the statement
that it might be argued by the defense
that the acts and declarations attributed
to Mark Wadsworth could not have been
made by him-that no sane man would
have made them-they were unnatural
and unreasonable. He said it must be
remembered that the state argued these
statements we're made by the defendant
with the spell of crime upon him-he
could not act naturally-his facul-
ties were benumbed by knowledge of his
crime. just as the boy Roehm had be-
trayed himself, on the day after the
crime, by asking sis Ed dead" SO had
Wadsworth betrayed himself by acts and
declarations which were consistent with
no other theory than that they were in
fuenced by the spell of crime.
He said he did not care what might be
said against the boy Roehm, in the alb
stract. He would admit it all, for the
sake of argument. He did not ask
any conviction on his testimony-the
law had provided that such conviction
could not be had. But he said all of the
evidence in the case-both witnesses for
the state and defense-had been to cor
roborate the statement that Wadsworth
was a party to the crime. He said every
witness for the defense had been in effect
a witness for the prosecution.
One Of the material statements of the
boy was that Wadsworth had been a
party to the conspiracy to kill Severson.
He held that every bit of evidence in the
case c~orroborated this statement. He
went over the testimony of Wadsworth
at the inquest at Medora, as read here
to the jury. He argued the immediate
acceptance by Wadsworth of the state,
ment that Severson was dead, and the
assumption that he had been kicked by a
horse as one of the proofs against him:
the failure of the man to go up to the
body, to make any examination, to ask
any questions, to make any suggestions:
his failure to direct any examination OF
the stable, to see whether there was any
evidence of his having been kicked; his
statement that the head of Severson
looked all smashed in, when the other
witnesses testified that there was no evi-
dence of injury on Severson's head but
a small spot of blood on the temple; his
heartless lack of interest in the body of
the dead mar and in it's disposition; his
admitted failure to ask hat an examina-
ton of the body be made; his failure to
go near the body OF look in the face of
the dead man before his body was taken
away from the ranch; his failure to ex-
press surprise, or even to say a word,
when the announcement was made that
CorDrcor hoI oo~=,l,o%E TE 49, Al..e -