The herald., 1897-01-21
AL ROUND BAD FAMILY
How They Are Proving
Barthelman Insane
THE Old NAN RIPPED A Feather BED
A Complicated Law Suit Over a
Parcel of Mules
A REVERSED DIVORCE SUIT
A Man Wbe Is Charged With Stealing
His Own House
Charged With Grand Larceny He Gave Bond
Yesterday
Cheap Real Estate OF the Late Pool
Savage-Niles and the Street
rrodipr Contro otor-T Tar,n
Trial Jurors.
Charged With Grand Larceny He Gave Bond
Yesterday

/ IHe Oh one WIS
| crowded almost to suffocation yester-
! day during the trial of John F. Rarthel-
man for numbering his wife Mabel
| Nearly one-half of the audience was
composed of women, some of whom were
| friends of the murdered woman and
others had no such excuse for their
presence The gallant deputy sheriff
NJ. Marsh, provided seats for all, even If
he had TO haul the horrid men out of
their comfortable chairs. Throughout
the days proceedings the defendant
showed more interest than on any pre-
vious day, and several times was seen
to speak to his attorneys-som
that had not occurred before during the
trial He even seemed moved slightly
| by some of the most pathetic portions
of the testimony given, especially by the
mother of his victim.
At the opening of the trial in the morn
ing H. w. Holden, father of the murder
ed woman, was recalled to explain a
reference he had made the day before to
his partial deafness He said that the
deafness comes on him only when he
catches cold and this particular attack
has been with him only during the past
week. In answer to questions witness
said that Barthelman and his wife did
not get along we'll together; had fire.
quent qdarrels, and the defendant would
swear t his wife and call her bad names.
Since the divorce of the Barthelmans,
the defendant often said he wished his
wife were dead and the child too. The
efforts of the defense in cross -eXamina-
tion were to get the witness TO admit
that at times the defendant acted queer
ly. Miss Angie Lord, another witness
who testified for the prosecution the day
before. was also recalled to show that
she knew Of frequent occasions when
Barthleman swore at his wife and called
her names.
The next witness was Leonard Fowler
who as reporter visited Barthelman in
jail the day he was arrested. Witness
asked defendant why he had done the
bloody deed, and the prisoner answered
that he must have been crazy over his
troubles, but refused then to say Wheth-
er he charged his wife with infideity.
Defendant asked witness to go and see
Davis & Rush, the attorneys and tell
them he wanted them TO defend him
Detective A. j. Bradish next testified to
having gone to the house of J. s. Ven
nam. No. SIG Buena Vista street, the
morning after the shooting, to arrest
Barthelman, but on arriving at the
house discovered that Officer Vignes had
already taken the defendant Mr Ven
mum gave to witness a loaded revolver
and bottle of laudanum. The pistol had
been taken from DEFENDANTS pocket by
Nennum and the poison was placed by
Bdrthelman on a What-not Just before
he went away with Police Officer Nignes.
Police Officer II. c. Vignes testified to
having gone to Nennum's house and ar
resting the defendant, who begged to be
spared the humiliation of riding in the
patrol wagon as it would not look we'll
Witness humored him by taking him to
the city prison by means of a street car.
j. $. Nennum. the next witness, has
known defendant some years. Defen-
dant was at the home of witness the
night OF the shooting, but he had not
seen him. The next day. between s and
. in the morning. defendant had come
to the house. of witness. When Barthel-
man entered the house witness spoke to
him. but received no answer. AS he
looked bad, witness made him sit in a
chair ana then took a revolver out of the
pocket Of Barthelman. 1T was loaded.
Defendant would not make any reply
to the questions of witness. MI Ven
num found the bottle of laudanum on a
Chinese basket What-not in the room,
Where 3arthelman had put it before
going out with the policeman. Defendant
tried to get the revolver back from Wit
ness, but the weapon was locked up and
out Of reach. Witness did not know
where defendant passed the night. Wit
ness gave the pistol and laudanum to the
detective. On cross examination, wit
ness described more minutely the ap-
pearance Of I}arthelman when he came
into the house. The defendant had a
vacant stare, seemed to be looking into
vacancy, and would not say anything.
In answer to a question by the court.
witness said defendant was not living
at the Nennum house at the time Of
the shooting. and his coming when he
did was purely accidental.
Mrs. Anna Holden, mother of the mur-
dered man, was the next witness. The
broken hearted woman, Well advanced
in years, said she knew of frequent oc-
casions when Barthelman had abused
his Wife ana called her names. During
the year previous to the shooting Bar
thelnan and his wife lived very unhap-
pily.
Pearl Nennum. the next witness, told
an interesting story. Between Z and 8
o'clock of the evening the shooting oc-
CURED, and only a short time after the
tragedy occurred, Barthelman called a t
the Nennum house and told witness
what he had done. Barthelman told to
WllNSSS ioHS story OF now ne 0aQ been
informed by friend that his wife was
guilty Of infidelity. and how he had de-
termned to get possession Of his child
at any cost. He told witness how he had
demanded the child. and on the refusal
of the former Wife, he had shot her. He
seemed excited. lie went away from the
house, saying that he ought not to stay
there as h was red handed, but he did
not know where he would pass the night
THE INSANITY PLEA
on the opening of the afternoon ses-
sion the court room was even more
crowded, if possible, than during the
morning Only TWO more witnesses We're
put on by the state. Mrs Krum testi-
fled to frequent quarrels between Bar
thclman and his wife. J. r. Steward tes-
tilted that Barthelman had asked him
to discharge Mrs. Barthelman from hl;
employ. This concluded the case for
the prosecution.
F. f. Davis, counsel for the defense,
then addressed the court, outlining the
proposed defense He could show, he
said, that Barthelman was driven crazy