The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-01-31
JURY HANGS
VERY LITTLE PROBABILITY OF
REACHING A VERDICT.
ARE BADLY DIVIDED
TOLD THE BAILIFF TO GO HOME FOR
THE NIGHT.
1T WAS A HARD FOUGHT BATTLE
HELM AND DAVIS BOTH MAKE
VERY FINE SPEECHES.
ARE BADLY DIVIDED
1T WAS A HARD FOUGHT BATTLE
Williamson Gets silk Handkerchief to
Cry In Somebody Faints in the Crowd
Judge DaIe's Instructions in Full.

The most notable case of murder tried
In this county since 1874 was closed last
evening in the district court when the
fate of F. Marion Williamson was put
in the hands of twelve Of his peers in
the realm of citizenship.
The case has but one parallel in the
criminal history Of the county, and tina
is when Winner and McNutt were tried
for the murder Of Sever in the winter
of 1S74-in fact at the very birth OF the
New Year.
There is one conspicuous feature in
both cases and that is that the motive
was money to be derived from an in
surance policy. Even the amount of
the policy in both cases was alike-fiVe
thousand dollars.
Sever, the victim of Winner and Nc
Mutt, was burned alive in his bed; Leo
nard, the victim of the tragedy at the
home of Irena Northumberland was
pounded to death by Ratchet or piece
of gas pipe, either or both.
II was much harder to establish guilt
in the former case than the latter, and
yet in a few months the murderers of
Sever were behind the bars in the peni-
Tertiary where they remained for ove~
twenty years. There was but a primi-
tive civilization in Wichita then; there
were no great detectives or tinseled po-
licemen, and yet the death of Sever, a
stranger who had not lived one day in
the city, was properly and promptly
avenged. The trial of Winner and Nc
Mutt was held in the Eagle hall, a
room next to the Eagle office, and now
part Of the premises occupied by the
Boston store. 1t was a plain building
with no electric lights, no carved fur
nieure, no gilded chandeliers, no cush-
Toned chairs. no polished oak tables or
no statue representing blind-folded JUS
tice with a drawn sword in her hand
standing twenty feet high in front of the
building. The people who attended that
trial were there in rough garb; they
took their babies and held them in their
laps and the jurors did not eat in cour-
ses under the directions of a French
cook, but ate their bacon and cabbage
and potatoes in the old fashioned way
and were glad to get them in that way.
Yet they arrived al verdicts that up
held the law and that said TO cold blood
ed evil criminals, IF you kill your fell
low man you must suffer the conse-
quences; we propose 10 protect the lives
of our people and make them secure.
Henry Leonard was not a stranger
like Sever who never saw the gilded sun
rise over Wichita. lie was a merchant
on one Of the main business streets of
the city; he had lived here for years and
with a weakness or two excepted, he
was a good citizen He went to this
house on the night of Nov. Il, 1895, was
pounded TO death by either a Ratchet
of III
ged over 500 feet. thrown between a
stable and an alley and yet his muir
der is unavenged. The woman who was
found the next morning scraping his
blood from her floor with a knife and
who acknowledged he was killed in her
house and in her presence. was tried a
few days ago and the jury failed to con-
vitS her. Her former husband who was
seen with her five hours before the muir
der of Leonard, in a secluded spot read
ing the insurance policy on Leonards
life, made out in her favor. was tried
this week and given to the jury last
night. Their fifteen year old boy IS
still awaiting trial. The jury may fail
To convict him; they may acquit him.
Many doubt that he is guilty, nobody
believes that he committed the murder
alone, and il is as positive as the sun
rises and sets that the murder was COM
mitted by two Of the three parties. The
evidences of guilt are very numerous
but with the exception Of certain con-
fessions IL is circumstantial. While il
is circumstantial IT is very strong and
hundreds o. men have been hung
through evidence not half so strong.
1t IS possible that neither one of the
three viii be convicted, and a great jury
of p. 900 citizens must lean back in their
chairs and arrive at the conclusion thai
Leonard went TO the house on South
Lawrence avenue on the night of Nov
Il, went To bed. then took a Ratchet or
a piece Of gas pipe, killed himself and
then. after being dead. dressed him
self. dragged his own dead body out in
10 the yard. over a pile Of ashes. into
the stable, out into the alley. then up
the alley 500 feet where he laid II down
and then went off without saying a
word about il 10 anybody.
Long before the court opened YES
terday morning nearly every seat was
occupied anC during the day the crowd
kept increasing until their was not
room 10 stand in any part 0f the court
room or entrances thereto. The peo-
pie were damned UP against the judgs
hench. people sat on the sacred terri
rltory Of the jury. the reporters We're
crowded OUt Of their usual places and
even the sJenoCrapher did not have
elbow room left him 10 manipulate the
pencil Daring the afternoon pro
ceeciass some person tainted in the
oehsest part Of the crowd and was
taken out Il would have caused 4
statapede Were II not for Baili6 Furn