The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-06-16
EISENHOWER MURDER TRIAL
Continued from first page.l

l'pitlllutu from llIHt puget
hower's) wife when he arrived home. Eisen-
hover agreed to this, but upon arriving home
commenced to fight with his wife. Schwindt
interfered and in the struggle that followed
Eisenhower sustained fractured rib. The
District Attorney then touched upon suits
before Justices against Eisenhower on COM
plant of the wife for assault and battery
and gradually brought up a review of the
circumstances of the shooting. At this point
Mrs. John Schwindt the widow of the muir
dered man, her two little girls and
Mrs. William schwindt became so much
affected that they wept audibly and they
were induced to leave the court room tenn
/ pomuly, under escort of ex-Chief Burgess
James Smith, who is looking after details of
the trial in connection with the District At
torney's office. Mr. Bechtel, in outlining the
law told the jury that if in his intent to
| shoot William SChwindt Eisenhower killed
John Schwindt he was just as guilty of
murder in the first degree as if he intended
to poison William Schwindt and gave the
potion to John. Mr.. Bechtel also stated that
the Commonwealth proposed insisting upon a
verdict of murder in the first degree, upon
the grounds of intent and malice and leave
| the decision to the jury upon the evidence.
Mr. Bechtel spoke fifteen minutes.
! The first witness called for the prosecution
was Mrs Rachel Schwindt, widow of the
murdered man. John F. Whalen, Esq, con-
| Quoted the direct examination, which opened
with interrogatories concerning the name,
| etc, of herself and the deceased and the
circumstances under which he was brought
home on that fatal day. Mrs. Schwndt said
| she had two daughters PRESENT. in court. The
witness wept while on the stand but sue
ceeded in sufficiently controlling her emotions
! to answer the questions with distinctness.
| Mrs. Schwindt said she had been married ten
| years. William and John Schwindt were
twin brothers, there was close resemblance
to each other and both worked at the Turkey
Run colliery. Her husband lived from the
18th to the Goth of February. He was un-
| conscious from Wednesday morning, 22nd.,
until he died.
Congressman Brumm conducted the cross
examination of the Witness but made it very
| brief and only put three questions as to the
condition of her husband when he reached
/ home.
| DIR. J. G. Church was the second witness
He said he was a graduate of the University
Of Pennsylvania, resided at Shenandoah,
and practiced as a physician almost continu-
ally during the past nine years. He was
called in to attend the victim after the shoot
ing. He described the condition of the
victim and the nature of the wound
Schwindt did not suffer particularly from loss
Of blood. The bullet entered the back and
almost entirely severed the spinal cord
causing paralysis of the lower limbs. The
cause Of death was due to the severing of the
spinal cord. DR. j. c. Biddle extracted the
bullet on February 18th. DIR, J. S. Callen
was present The witness produced bullet
Schwindt was conscious when DIR. Church
was first called and remained so almost up
to latter part of the last day. He had in
tammation of the brain and that caused him
to be deliriOus on the last day. The sever
ing Of the spinal cord by the bullet was the
cause of the inflammation. The bullet
wound was necessarily fatal.
Cross-eXamined by Mr.. Brumm, Dr. Church
told how he found John Schwindt and pro-
ceeded to make an examination of the
wound, the time involved and who were
present, among them being Drs J. Pierce
Roberts, j. s. Callen and d. W. Straub All
failed to successfully probe for the bullet and
Dr. Church concluded to send for DR.. Bidde
and an operation was performed the next
morning. Mr.. Brumm put DR.. Church
]
ment he gave the patient pending the opera
tion, the steps attending the operation. The
doctor was taken close to the jury box and.
prompted by Mr.. Brumm, described with
pencil and paper the location of the wound
and the incisions that were made for the
| operation. So much time was spent by Mr..
Brumm in this line of examination many
formed the opinion that the defense may
] "a ba b11l
sarily fatal. The patient had not recovered
/ from the opates two hours after the opera
tion, Dr. Church testified, but his condition
was good. His pulse was as near
normal as could be expected and his breathing
as natural as it could be under the influence
Of drugs. His heart was acting nicely and
not as if under the influence Of drugs The
patients condition was also very favorable in
the evening at O'clock but he was still un-
der the effects of the opiates. The doctor
succeeded in getting him awake for a few
minutes to ask him how he felt. DR.. Church
was closely examined as to all his visits to
| the patient and the treatment
! Mr.. Brumm "If the wound was neces-
sarily fatal, why all this operation and treat
ment 2"
Dr. Church "To do all we could for him.
To allay suffering. The effect of the injury
was known, but not the extent"
! DR.. Church said that in his professional
opinion there was no risk in pushing the
operation to extract the bullet after the
operation had gone so far as to disclose that
spinal cord had been affected, neither was
there any good to be obtained. DIR. Church
was cross-eXamined for about one hour and
| twenty-five minutes, and left the stand at
! l1:3O.
Dr. J. Pierce Roberts, of Shenandoah, was
called but only occupied the stand about five
minutes. No cross examination.
DR. J. c. Biddle, Of the Miners hospital at
/ Fountain Springs, was called and subjected to
an examination for about 80 minutes The
doctor described an examination of the wound
and an operation performed upon Schwindt
after the shooting lie said the only chance
the patient had was to remove the pressure
on the spinal cord. The operation was per-
formed by making an incision in the back.
! TTo f,rpl tho bul1at ir,be1dpd obput 10 I'm hos