The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1896-09-24
HILGENDORF TRIAL.
A Jury SECURED AT LAST AND
TESTIMONY BEGINS.
THE NAMES OF THE JURORS.
Attorney Peter Fisher Makes the Opening
Statement.-The Appearance of
the Defendant Opening
Scenes.

The Bilgendorf murder trial opened
this forenoon. After having gone
through list of about 172 names, for
which Sheriff Cropley had to hustle out
with three special venires, a jury of
twelve good and true men were found
who suited the fastidious tastes of the
attorneys. The jury selected is COM
posed of the following men: Lyman
Fay, Hubert Schilz, Nicholas Schu-
macher, William Elfers, Bernard Voss,
R. A. Ames, Henry Seavy, John
Kritchman, John Tanking, John Lip
pert, William Schwartz and Ferdinand
Bosselman.
1t was about IL o'clock when the
jury was sworn in. The attorneys in
the case being District Attorney Buck
master and Peter Fisher for the state,
and D. G. Lloyd and George Kroncke,
Jr., for the defense, Immediately pre-
pared for action.
August Hilgendorf, the aged defend
ant charged with the hideous crime of
having brutally murdered his wife July
4, sat in the court room, perfect pic
ture of stoicism. From the moment he
was placed in his chair within the bar
be assumed a position somewhat in
clined forward and wearing an express
sion of passing interest in the proceed
ings. During the entire time he re-
NAMED in the court room he did not
vary this position, for rest even. His
small blue eyes merely scanned the in
teresting scene which was being en-
acted in the court room. This was all
spread out before him and it did not
require the turning Of the head one way
or the other TO see all that was worth
seeing. The men called to do the
passing upon the matter of his guilt or
innocence passed in or out of the jury
box, and he did not seem to care which
way they went There was little color
in his face. The close confinement Of
the past months had bleached out the
tan which the san Of the prairies had
painted upon his cheeks and delicate
pink, which might have been the pride
of young girl but for the whitening
skin covering it, had taken it's place.
He simply looked straight ahead. His
elbows rested on either arm of his
chair, while his large, calloused fingers
interlocked carelessly in front of his
breast The position was one of care
less repose, such as one might assume
who was Watching some new puzzle in
which there was no particular interest
outside of that OF the movements Of
those who sought to solve it for their
own qualification 1t was a peculiar
scene, indeed.
The jury having been made up to the
satisfaction of the attorneys, Mr.. Fisher
made the opening statement. He went
through al! the details of the case from
beginning to end. He told the jury
how he expected to prove that Mr.. and
Mrs. Hilgendorf had quarreled the
morning of the day of the tragedy, how
Mr.. Hilgendorf had taken some butter
to town to sell, how he had bitterly
cursed all women when slight disap-
pointment came to him in the matter of
selling the butter, how he finally went
to a picnic and drank considerable
liquor, returned home and used abusive
language concerning his wife after the
supposed commission of the awful deed
Of which he stands charged. All the
details of the place in which the body
was found were drawn out, and what
the wounds on the body seemed to in
dlcate. In short the entire evidence
the state expects to produce was laid
before the jury i'll almost complete
form.
Those who have followed the details
of the case think Mr. Fisher made an
extremely fair statement Of the whole
case.
Having finished the statement the
court adjourned for the noon recess.
At 2 o'clock the matter Of hearing
the testimony came up.
By the time the court reconvened
this afternoon there was a crowd in the
court room which occupied nearly all
the available space. Almost as much
interest seems to have developed in the
case lis in the famous arson trial of last
fall, though the attendance of ladies
cannot be said to be quite so marked
as yet.
The first witness called was DR..
Saunders. He brought out nothing new
in the matter that was not published at
the time of the preliminary hearing.
He detailed all the wounds found on
the body of Mrs. Hilgendorf and an
swered about the same hypothetical
questions he had answered before. He
was kept on the stand about an hour.
DR.. Ripley was next called. His tes-
timony was merely corroborative of that
of DR.. Saunders
Beggs' Tropical Oil.