Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-02

| When court opened on wednesday morn
ing the defendant's lawyers were very
much perturbed when they learned that
| Mrs. Mack had turned States evidence,
| and until the woman was called to the
| witness chair Thorn refused to believe
| that she would betray him.
| For over seven hours Mrs. Mack sat
| there and told in detail! how she and
| Thorn had concocted and executed the
! murder OF the bath-rubber. All through
the terrible recital Thorn sat staring at
| the witness without showing any outward
| signs OF the passions which must have
been raging within. At times he smiled
and evidently enjoyeds the discomforture
of the s~elf-confessed murderess while his
counsel had her under cross-examination.
In her direct testimony Mrs. Mack said
that OH the morning OF June 18th she in
Guced Guldensuppe TO accompany her to
the Woodside cottage. where Thorn was
waiting TO kill him. and that the parcels
which her dupe helped her to carry con-
tained some OF the clothes which a few
hours later were used as ~wrappings Tor
his hurriedly-dismembered body. She told
how when they reached the cottage Gull
densuppe went upstairs to examine the
house, thinking 1t was to be used as q
baby farm. the profits from which he
would divide with her.
She went out into the yard and stayed
there until she heard a shot. Then Thorn
came running down the stairs and said:
ITS all over. He IS dead. l shot him"
Mrs. Mack returned to the city, leaving
Thorn to cut up the body and place the
parts in four parcels. The details were
sickening, and when the woman had con-
cluded one of tho jurors, Magnus Larsen,
was taken suddenly Ill. The trial was adj
journed for two days. 1t was finally de-
cided TO begin a new trial, as Larsen was
too i'll with appendicitis to continue the
case.
THORN'S EVIL EYE.
Stories of Thorn's "evil eye'' having
an effect on any one upon whom he con-
contracted his gaze began to circulate
when 1t was learned that Juror Larsen
had 10 undergo an operation. but the
talesman recovered rapidly and was able
TO be out OF doors by the time the Sc
conc trial began.
on the morning of Monday. November
2d, tho courthouse at Long Island City
was thronged with a curious crowd of
spectators and everything was in readi-
ness for the second trial to begin when
a message was received from Justice
Smith saying he was too i'll to preside.
Again the theory of the "evil eye" of the
prisoner was advanced as the cause OF
the Judges indisposition, and many
were guessing as to who would be the
next victim. Some one sent a charm
to District-Attorney Youngs, which the
sender assured the prosecutor would pro-
tect him again all evil influences.
Lawyer Howe and his assistant, Joe
Moss, said they had no misgivings about
"hoodoos,' and were only interested in
their client, who, they said, would prove
hat Mrs. Mack and not he was the
guilty person.
Toward noon a messenger arrived with
the information that Justice Samuel T.
Maddox would try the case, and at l
o'clock the Judge arrived. Early the fol-
lowing day the jury was completed. The
evidence produced at the abortive trial
was reproduced, with the exception of
Mrs. Mack. Gotha on the stand told the
story of Thorn's confession 10 him, and
~corroborated in a ways Mrs. Mack.
HE ACCUSED MRS. MACK.
The defendants lawyers were compelled
to change their line Of defence, and de-
cided to put Thorn on the stand to testify
that Mrs. Mack did the killing and that
he only helped to dispose of the body.
The peoples case closed on the afternoon
Of Friday, November 2Gth. and an add
journment was ordered until Monday,
November 18th. The jury, after three
hours elaboration, during which seven
ballots were taken, with eleven for con-
viction and one for acquittal, agreed on
a verdict Of murder In tho first degree.
This was on November Goth, and on De-
cember Sd Thorn was sentenced 90 die by
electricity in Sing Sing during the week
beginning January 10th, this year. Law
yer Howe stayed the death proceedings
by appealing the case, but the Court or
Appeals affirmed the verdict OF the other
court and fixed the date OF execution for
the week beginning August LIST.
Under the new law IL was not necessary
10 bring Thorn from the prison to the
county In which he was convicted. and he
had remained in the death-house at Sing
Sing since Saturday, December 4th.
Early last January Mrs. Mack was al
lowed to plead guilty to manslaughter.
and was sentenced to fifteen years i'm
prisonment, which she is now serving in
Auburn prison. The lenient manner in
which the self-confessed murderess was
treated by The authorities was a surprise
to many. She vi" regain her freedom in
about twelve years. s,,y7sETHynyu