Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-12-10
THINK THEM GUILTY!
BUT NOT PROVEN BEYOND A
REASONABLE DOUBT.
Jury in the Houston 1urder Case
Could Not Agree on Verdict
Miserable Character of Jacobs
Caused His Evidence to
be Doubted

Up to the the time of going to press
this Friday morning the jury in the
Houston murder case has not agreed
upon verdict and there is little doubt
but that the result will be disagree
ment. The rumor is circulated that on
the first ballot the vote was eight to
four for acquittal and later the vote was
equally divided, six to six.
The evidence in the case was all in
Friday evening last and the witnesses
discharged. Saturday morning the
speech making began. Attorney Cog
gins, of Grand Rapids, made the open
ing talk for the state, bringing before
the jury the chain of circumstances
preceding and following the murder,
and the various incidents which point
to the truthfulness of Jacobs con-
fesslon and connect Lord and Emery
with the crime. He pleaded that the
ends of justice demanded a conviction;
that the proof as the attorneys for the
state saw it, was conclusive. Mr.. Cog
gins finished Lis speech during the
afternoon and was followed by ex-
Senator Neal Brown, of Wausau, for
the defense. Mr.. Browns speech was
an able one. He went over all the
ground carefully, following the Incl
dents as detailed by Attorney Goggins
and made plain the weak links in the
rhoir 10 Cnol-n 70,
giving way Monday afternoon to
Judge Williams, of Grand Rapids, who
has been connected with the case for
the past three years. He had a won
derful knowledge of the different
witnesses for the state, knew their
characters from q to q, and dlSseCted
their evidence with master hand.
Every little incident favorable to his
clients was magnlied to its greatest
Importance and he closed with a bril-
liant peroration. Attorney Gardner,
of Grand Rapids, closed for the state.
His speech was brief as compared with
the others, but he managed to say a
whole lot in a short time. He called
the jury back from the theories of the
defense to the facts presented by the
prosecution and asked a vindication of
the law. He finished shortly after noon
Wednesday and Judge Bardeen de-
livered his charge to the jury, they re-
tiring at 5 o'clock for deliberation.
So far as the efforts of counsel are
concerned a case was never more ably
handled than this one. Every point
has been contested and not circum-
stance or bit of evidence but what has
been made the most of. The reputa-
ton of the attorneys in the case led one
to expect much of them and in no way
was there disappointment.
While the public did not act as
jurymen to decide the case, yet it is
impossible not to form an opinion in a
case which has attracted so much at
tention. Careful inquiry reveals an
overwhelming belief in the guilt of
Lord and Emery, but it is also believed
the proof was not sufficient to preclude
the shadow of a reasonable doubt. The
miserable character of David Jacobs
and the confessed degradation of his
daughter, Emma Houston, counteracted
their evidence in the eyes of the pub
lie and it was given little or no consid-
Grafton. 1t is reasonable to suppose a
portion Of the jury considered the case
in the same light, for if considered, the
evidence of these two was sufficient
alone to have caused conviction.-
Wausau Central