The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-11-08
THORN ON TRIAL.
Guldensuppe Murderat Last
in Court in Long
Island City.
THE JURY PANEL AGONY
Prisoner Shows No Signs Of Nervous
ness and Watches the Pro-
ceedings With Smiles.


1s97-The big building which is known as
the Queens County Court House on jack
son avenue, Long Island City. was the
Mecca of the morbidly curious this morn
ing The structure is a combination OF
Sheriffs office, Court House and County
Jail, and for some time past two very
widely known prisoners have been con-
fined in portion allotted to those un-
fortunates who have in any way trans
gressed the legal statutes governing elther
acts of misdemeanor or felony
The two prisoners mentioned are none
other than Martin Thorn. barber, and
Mrs Augusta Mack, a midwife. Who are
jointly indicted for the murder of one
William Guldensuppe,. Turkish bath at
tendant, who disappeared last June. II
the testimony of many persons who knew
Guldensuppe very well can be relied upon,
portions of a human male body, which
were picked up within the week following
the masseur's unaccounted for disappear
ance, have been identified beyond doubt as
the remains of the missing. man.
Thorn and Mrs. Mack, it is alleged, had
motive for the removal of Guldensuppe,
and to prove this to the satisfaction OF
twelve talesmen is the task which District
Attorney William J. Youngs began TINS
morning Ex-Surrogate August N. Weller
and Assistant District Attorney George
W. Davidson, who assisted Mr.. Youngs in
the preparation of the prosecution, viii
act as his assistants throughout the
trial.
The October Term of the Criminal
Branch of the Supreme Court of Queens
County is the legal term of the court In
which the trial began today.
Judge Wilmot NJ. Smith presided. AL
though the barber and midwife were
jointly indicted by the Grand Juries OF
New York and Queens counties. it was
decided that they should be tried sep
arately, and Thorn's trial, after being set
down for October IS, was adjourned until
today on the application of Lawyers
Howe & Hummel, who were assigned by
The county to defend Thorn.
AS reason for such adjournment, the
accused mans lawyers claimed that they
would thus be enabled to produce a wit
ness named Peterson who had seen Gul-
densuppe in Germany since the time of
his alleged murder last June. Peterson
was expected to arrive last Friday on the
steamship Fuerst Bismarck, but up to the
present he has failed to materialize.
BY 8 O'Clock the majority of the 200
.jtlrs.. panel zsere I'M the building. The in
closure in the centre of the court room
was expected to arrive last Friday on the
lawyers and press representatives, and as
the seating capacity of the room Is very
limited, many of the summoned jurors had
to sit in the benches outside this enclos-
ure and good many of them were accom-
modated with chairs outside the court
room doors.
At i quarter past nine o'clock Sheriff
Don't had completed all arrangements for
oil h rir1Cy n
the court and some favored people VINO
had tickets were admitted to the CALLER
les. The seats on these galleries were
soon filled up and standing room was at a
premium. The Sheriff's, deputies had
hard time of it keeping back the surging
crowd which filled the main hall and
starways of the building all anxious 10
gain admittance to the court room and al
though every inch of space there was
taken up. many insisted that they had
fruitless and they had to be satisfied with
listening to the whispered rumors which
were passed along as to what was occur
ring in the room on the second floor.
Lawyers William F. Howe and Joseph
Moss, who have charge of Thorne's de-
fence, were early on hand and both said
that they were, confident that their client
would be acquitted. When they were
asked as to the whereabouts of their
German witness Peterson. they, refused to
answer, and they were equally reticent
when asked the names of their expert wit
nesses.
Lawyer Emanuel Friend, of Friend.
House & Grossman, who has been looking
after Mrs. Nack's interests since her ar
rest, was also in court and he stated
that w, IL Hirsch of his firm, would
watch the proceedings during Thorne's
trial in the interest of Mrs. Nacks de-
fence.
Judge Smith took his seat on the bench
at 9:45 o'clock, and Court Clerk Thomas
Seaman began calling the two hundred
names of those on the special jury panel.
This occupied about twenty minutes, and
as there were several absenteeS, the clerk
read the names of those who failed to
answer for the second time before any
fines would be inflicted.
At ten minutes past ten o'clock District
Attorney Youngs called the Sheriff to him
and directed him to bring the prisoner
before the court.
The Sheriff went out hurriedly and re
Methven, who was handcuffed to Thorn.
The prisoner walked briskly up to the
table at which his legal advisers, We're
Howe and Moss. As soon as he was seat
ed, Captain Methvan took off the hand
cuffs and sat Down on the right side of
the prisoner, while one of the Sheriff S
deputies sat on chair to Thorn's left
The accused barber swas cleanly shaved
and did not show. any signs of nervous
very little trace of his confinement, and as
he glanced around the court the general
opinion Of those who watched him closely
ance of a man who would be likely to
commit such fearful crime as that
with which he is charged Thorn
was dressed in black diagonal
cutaway coat and vest with which
was rather loose fitting. He wore dark
oolored trousers a white collar turned
down at the points and a dark colored
tie made up like a four-in-hand. He
came into the court room without a hat
He whispered a few words to his coun-
sci and when the District Attorney ad-
dressed the Court and moved that the
trial of Martin Thorn be taken up, the
prisoner looked at him earnestly Lawyer
Howe stood up and said:-
"Your Honor, we are ready
Thorn was then told to stand up and he
did so quickly. All eyes were riveted on
him and as the clerk explained to him
his right of challenging any of the jurors
summoned to try him, Thorn bent for
ward and listened to every word. When
the clerk had finished the prisoner in
clined his head slightly and sat down
again.
During the examination of the talesmen
q faint smile played around Thorn's
mouth and at times he appeared to be one
of the most unconcerned persons in court
The first talesman called was L. e.
Blomduist, painter who strangely
enough is resident of Woodside, l. l.,
where the alleged crime Is supposed to
have been committed When asked by
the prosecution as to whether he had ever
seen the prisoner, Blomquist aid:-'sYes,
think I saw him once IN Woodside.' =
He had not formed an opinion on the
case and was not opposed to capital pun
lshment. When the prisoner counsel be-
ran to examine BloEnquist, he ELECTED the
fact that the witness had been speaking