New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-03
HOLMES FOUND GUILTY.
teress In his face which mad not been seen there
lore during the trial

....r the doors were open the room was filled
- oyerfowing. When Holmes came into court
-, ,.Ie face wore a more serious expression than
=, has yet borne. and as soon as he entered the
v,sock he began to scan his notes He paid no at
..,ton to the crowd, and seemed utterly oblvious
:, ,he hundreds Of eyes focused on him. He con-
lifted with Mr.. Rotan when the lawyer came
,.o court and as he talked he laid his hand In an
.nneaing sort Of way on his arm. Mr. Rotan be-
r.n his argument at ESQ O'clock He said In part:
Gentlemen OF the jury. there is no one in thi.
Courtroom who feels greater weight Of response
Silty than do. but you. gentlemen. have greater
Snr had. and II you are no sed by the
evidence you violate your oaths. If you allow the
s before through The Pase print; You 40
until he proven guilty. You try this
f bT anything SAID by counse! outside Let us look
az What the Commonwealth has done. They have
used five days IN ss s v ses all
e the IDENTITY q Mr. Pistz s We do not dispute
point OF the case We acknowledge that the de-
fendsnt and Pie.zel had number Of schemes to
THIS one Briehy. the common weath's evidence
shows his: That Homes and Pietzel came to this
Ecward was with them. /, is also true Mr. Holmes
gid take Mrs Pietzel around the country The
because We satisfied that the Commonwealth
is more consistent with suicide than murder. On
sunday morning, September 3. Mr.. Holmes went to
the body on the third door. What Mr. Holmes did
by the evidence in this case. is that he found NJ
Petzel committed suicide by swallowing chloroform
drawn through gull The Commonwealth claims aims
taken down stairs and that II could have been SO
arranged as 1t was found after rlgor norris had
Has the Common wealth shown how soon Holmes
evidence to show tina, the defendant secured this
Insurance policy on the life of Pie,zel? You may nay
motive in the killing to secure the money why
ID not Holmes get Ple;zel to have the policy made
Pei1el started FOR philadelphia he ,ola his family
g Ss Bsore he Killing Fl s Ssn
ina, Pe,ze was perfectly sober and vel IL b the
ina, Pietzel drunk. and easily
powered and killed by the defendant. The Com
no evidence in the brain or stomach Of Petzei tina;
he had been drunk before he was killed. We can
maze IN his habits could have killed this strong.
pOseI,ul man There no no. evidence that Pisinsl
day morning. Is it likely that Pietzel would have
@ as ss that yo me sH bach s ma
p. he was only so,ns 70 make short call on
by Mrs Howard about their pans for going away
Gentlemen will read the testimony to you.
MI Rotan stopped and taking the bundle o.
testimony given. found that Of Miss Yoke in re-
lation to how Holmes had told her previously to
Sunday that they would proba bly, leave the city
that day, and how she had half packed the
trunks when he returned TO the house.
THE THEORY OF SUICIDE
After reading the testimony. Mr.. Rotan con-
tinued
@ Ty do sS this rs1s
leave?
Mr.. Graham interrupted Mr. Rotan by saying:
think II only fair TO say that Pietzel called on
Holmes the Saturday night before; He told Miss
R9ilroad and the exact date Of their leaving was
not fixed until Holmes returned from his visit to
PietZels house.
Resuming. NJ. -Rotar said:
We cannot assume that Mr.. Holmes started out
with the intention OF killing Pietzel for how could
ne know II he would be drunk asleep or in any
condition so that he could oyerpower him, No.
tention when he went away Sunday. They argue
especially upon the testimony OF DR.; LEHMAN. one
OF the greatest specialists In the country that
would be impossible for man 10 Kill himself with
and retain This pGs0n n's maze 90
year ago. Then he had no knowledge OF me case
that the was the BODY Of Pietze He did not think
that they would dare bring charge OF muroes
~ M 4 retze T ds not i XIII IL
position OF the body You VII IemepsI . hi ife
by chloroform.
Mr. Rotan here asked for permission to seno
out and buy bottle Of choroform, which was
rranted Continuing, said that 1t was not
true. az asserted by the Commonwealth tha'
ch!oroform could not out Of hose from
bottle on account Of the air which forces II
back. He besought the jury 10 consider this ex-
periment before arriving at any decision. lie
then said:
Great stress has been laid upon the fact that no
irritation was found in the stomach Why. assum-
,g hat he killed Petzel what object would lie have
IN putting chloroform In the stomach AFTER oe"'"'
NJ Rotans points were not well mace OF
strongly brought out. There were great possioi"-
ties u Kidding the Commonwealth's case ana
Eo',,as was unfortunate that he did not nave
older and more experienced attorneys VINO coula
have presented these weaknesses OF the proseo"
ton n the Jury in an effective manner homes
was keenlv conscious that his case was not oeihs
Presented 10 the jury with the strength IL was
,apsble Of and he frequently prompted Mr.. Rotan
and allied his attention to points he had over
looked.
JUDGE ARNOLD's CHARGE
When Mr.. Rotan finished Judge Arnold chargeo
the Jury He explained the various glaues "a
murder and particularly premedita'eo "iuiue''
He advised the jury that In the case before '"e'''
there could only be one grace or murdei io' men
tooons,aar and that was murder in the first de-
gree He said that the evidence was eh'iiei' -"
camstantial but that was not unusual as many
nr,da- csses are decided by circumstantlai EVIL
denee There were three points FOR them u con
slider. First Is Benjamin F. Pietzel deao' 0eCo"''
II, dead did he die violent deathE iHiru - "e
Died violent death, did he commit sulclue u
did the defendant kill him? Then ne reNie"eo
the evidence. When the doctors testimony was
reached that Pietzel had been killed by poiso','
and that II could not have been seii-aui''i''''
Judge Arnold oueried: IF the poison was no, sen
administered then the question is. Who ola eo-
West L hist