The record-union., 1896-02-01
BARBER CHRIST ACQUITTED.
The Jury Believed H0 Vas Temporarily
Insane.
It Took Them Less Than Ten Min
utes to Arrive at Their
Verdict.

William Christ is a free man again.
for which he may thank a sympathetic
jury and the ability Of his counsel, Hi
ram w. Johnson.
The case was submitted to the jury
late in the afternoon yesterday, and i'm
side of ten minutes they returned to
the courtroom with verdict of acquit-
tai. The defendant was for a time al
most overcome when the result was an
nounced.
There was no question about Christ
having killed his wife purposely-not
accidentally, as he claimed Immediately
afterward and up to the time of his
trial. The simple fact was that he up
braided her for her infidelity, of which
he had just received overwhelming
proof, she scorned him and asked what
was he going to do about it, and his re-
ply was bullet in the brain. He says
that when she taunted him his mind be-
came a blank, and of what followed he
had no recollection whatever.
This is apparently the view the jury
took of the matter, and was the theory
which his able counsel SO eloquently
pictured to the men who were to deter
mine the fate of the accused. That
there was sufficient provocation to rob
some men of their reason-not only
temporarily, but forever-there can be
no doubt, and whatever the fact may
have been, there was no proof that even
suspicion of his wife's guilt had entered
Christs mind before the morning of
that fatal day when Mrs. w. c. Hart
presented to him documentary evidence
of the Illicit relations existing between
his wife and her husband.
There was, however, proof that
Christ and his wife had lived in appa-
rent peace and happiness, even after
the serpent of lust had left it's trail
across the threshold of their home and
while the doings of Mrs. Christ and her
paramour were subjects of neighbor-
hood gossip for months. These things
account for the verdict of the jury in
the face of the cold fact that Christ
murdered his wife in his own home and
within a few minutes after they had
been seated together partaking of their
evening meal.
Tt is not the first time that jury ac-
quilted a dishonored husband for TAX
ing the life of his wife or her paramour,
or of both, but usually the act is COM
mitted when the guilty pair are de-
tected in their guilt.
During the arguments yesterday it
was apparent that the sympathy Of the
large audience was with the defendant
There was the groundwork for an ef-
fective appeal to the jury, and that the
opportunity was not lost upon Mr.
Johnson is demonstrated by the result
District Attorney Ryan ably presented
the case for the prosecution, but when
the defense abandoned the theory Of
accident and set up that of mental ire
sponsibiIity the District Attorney had
that to combat which was not SO easily
disproven, as well as to contend against
the fallibility of human nature when
the life of a fellow creature is at stake.
The District Attorney could easily
have proven that Mrs. Christ was not in
an erect position when the pistol fell
upon the floor and was discharged, as
Christ at first claimed, for then her face
could not have been powder-bu burned.
Neither could the bullet, flying upward
and striking her in the temple, range
downward. In fact, had the defense
not abandoned the accident theory but
made its stand thereon, very different
termination of the case might have re-
suited.
Mr.. Johnson, in his argument, ad
ministered such a roasting to w. G.
Hart, "the manin the case," that Hart's
ears must have fairly burned, however
distant he may have been, if there is
anything in the old adage. He drew a
vivid picture of q home disgraced and
dishonored as had been that of the de-
fendant and long before the case was
submitted to the jury it was apparent
that the eloquent young lawyer had
won and saved the neck of his client.