The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-29
ON TRIAL FOR MURDER
JOHN STEENERSON's LIFE Is
HANGING IN THE SCALES
OF JUSTICE
STATES CASE PRESENTED


Jury Was Chosen without Delay,
and the Prosecution Rested be-
fore the Adjournment of Court
Last Evening-SouthaIP Sem
tence Is Postponed Until Thurs.
day.
To the surprise of the court house
habitues John Stevenson was yester-
day put on trial for his life for the
killing OF Ruth Parrish, the woman
killed by the prisoner on the evening
OF Oct. Is last. 1t had been anticipated
tnat there would be a plea Of guilty
OF manSlaug'hter in a lesser degree
and tnat the sentence would follow.
Judge Egan and G. J. Lomen, of coun-
sci for the defense, elected to have the
case tried on the merits of the indict-
ment, and there was no proposition
Tor plea Of guilty. The killing was
plainly shown in the evidence yester-
DAY and the state closed before the
adjournment Of court. This morning
the defense win have an inning and
the trial will undoubtedly be over to-
day. There is no evidence to show that
the boy did not kill the woman. the
theory Of the defense being that his
mental condition was such that he
was irresponsible when the killing oc-
CURED.
The prisoner looked as little like a
murderer as one could see in the court
room. He has a fairly intelligent
countenance and Is rather good look
ing boy. He does not look more than
seventeen at the most He has a
rather good face, and there was no
more ignorance expressed in 1t than
might be expected from youth who
was listening to proceedings Of that
which he must be ignorant because Of
his lack of knowledge of the language
OF the court. He was quietly and de-
Gently dressed, did not look at all like
the average foreigner. and his limpid
eye was intelligent enough, though he
was obviously disconnected by his sur
roundings. He sat behind Judge Egan
and wore that air Of expectancy that
is usual in the face Of the deaf man
or one that does not understand.
The crowd in the court room was OBJ
viousiy drawn by curiosity. There
was no particular evidence of friend
ship for or interest in the prisoner
There were number of women pres
ent, apparently attracted by the fact
that a woman had been killed under
peculiar circumstances.
The case Of the prosecution disclosed
nothing more than has been repeatedly
printed. Stevenson met the woman
on the street, which Is not yet shown
in evidence. Both went to a saloon
and had some drink and later went to
the rooms OF the woman. There there
was an alteration over a S. bill
STEVENSON gave the woman the bill to
get some beer She refused to get the
beer or return the money and the boy
drew a pistol. He fired one shot into
the wall to show her that he was in
earnest, and when she again refused
to give up the money, he fired into her
body. She died within a few minutes.
Mr.. Anderson stated the case to the
jury in few words. The jury box
had been filled without difficulty,
though, as a preliminary, s. P. Cros-
by, Frank Arnold and W. T. MciMur-
ran Were selected by Judge Brill to act
as triers. There were only fourteen
Jurymen called before the jury was
sworn in. When Mr.. Anderson began
his talk, there were in the box A. c.
Mace, w. F. Repke. Robert Quale, T.
c. McKelvey, j. NJ. McGuiggan, Harry
S. Mason, w. F. Myron, George Phlpps,
J. Henry Schneider, Jacob, Quesnel,
Henry c. Porter and William Gould
Jr.
Mrs. Annie Hale was the first wit
ness called. She said that Ruth Par
IRISH was killed at her house, 137 East
Ninth street. The woman had hired a
room from her last August. She was
at that time with man named Wood
ward: she had told Mrs. Woodward
that she and her husband were variety
performers and that she was a snake
charmer. Later the man had left, and
then Ruth Parrish had told Mrs. Hale
her true name and said that the man
was not her husband but had worked
with her professionally and now he
had deserted her. The woman had re-
manned until the evening of Oct. 10,
and that evening she had heard shots
in the house. She got up and saw
Stevenson when he was trying to
leave.
Police Officer Ryan was called to the
stand and testified to having found
Stevenson trying to crawl through q
window in the basement Of the mouse.
He understood the prisoner to say that
he had been fixing the window and
later that he had hurt a woman in the
house. He saw Ruth Parrish before
she died. She was lying on the bed
in her room. The defendant had ap-
peared to be stupid until he heard tho
patrol wagon coming and understood
that he was under arrest. Then he
wanted his gun back and said he would
kill himself The officer had much diff
ficulty in understanding what his pris-
oner was saying.
DR. j. c. Nelson, coroner, told the
details of the inquest and DR.. Roth
rock proved by a description Of the
autopsy that the woman was killed by
bullet that was shot from a slight
elevation and which had pierced sew
eral organs. The bullet had caused
death within q few minutes. He pro-
duced the bullet in court.
Capt Rouleau said that when the
prisoner was brought into the station
he asked him if he had killed wom-
an and that the prisoner had answer
ed yes. He thought the prisoner in a
sort of stupor
Louis Calvin cerroborated the story
of the captain as to what had transpir-
ed at the station.
Detective Murnane testified to the
examination of the room in which the
killing occurred and told how he had
found the bullet that was fired into
the wall.
At the conclusion of his testimony
the state rested and court adjourned.
This morning the defense will put in
its case and the jury should be out
soon after noon, as there is very little
fay