The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-28
tie the letters wrote

| The jury asked to see the specimens and
| exhibits. They were handed around.
| Did you compare the specimens with
| Cornish's handwriting
Il did, and found so many jdissimiIarI-
/ ties that told the police Cornish could not
have written the wrapper" ~
That concluded Mr. kinsleys testimony.
| Mr. Weeks, addressing the coroner said;
| Now that there is no question that this
| testimony accuses Moineaux of a crime, L
ask that he be permitted to exercise his
| constitutional right"
your honor" interrupted Colonel
/ Gardiner, lit has been held that a party
accused of crime has right to cross
| examine in an Investigation before the
| coroner"
Mr.. Weeks denied this.
Another Expert Testi6es
Finally Mr.. Weeks was induced to sit
| down, after Coroner Hart had refused to
| rule any questions. Edward Hay,
| handwriting expert of Washington. d. c..
| the next wi sness, testified that he had ex-
amined carefully the admitted handwriting
of Mr.. MoHneaux, the inscription upon the
| wrapper fin which the poison bottle was
mailed and the letters signed III. c. Bar
| net" and Harry Cornish"
And you have compared these writings
very carefullly?"
Very carefully"
| "And your opinion is?'
"That all were written by the same
hand
| S"And what Is your opinion as to who
| wrote the address on the poison package?"
| tMr. Molineaux.- 1t has the same charac-
tefistics of all the other writing.
During the trying ordeal Molineaux sat
like statue.
In answer to Colonel Gardeners last ques-
tlon, Hay stated that while the handwrit-
ing of Molineaux throughout his work done
prior to this case and in the ordinary trans
| action OF business made the comparison
| stronger than the Cornish and Barnet let
tiers, the latter gave conclusive evidence
that they were written by Molineaux.
The witness gave a minute idea of his
| reasons calling attention to various little
habits characteristic and was finally asked
by Mr.. Gardiner:
Have you any doubt In your mind that
the person who wrote the address on the
wrapper around the poison bottle was mo-
lineaux?'
II have none whatever"
Certain of the Correctness
DO you realize the gravity of your
claim"
II do. I would not give my opinion II
I were not absolutely certain in my mind as
to its correctness" .ss5-
H. Tolman of Chicago handwriting ex-
pert, was the next witness He said he
| had occasion to examine the exhibits of
Moineaux's handwriting together with
letters and documents signed III. G. Bar
net and "Harry Cornish" also the in
scription on the wrapper. He said that ne
had given them a very careful comparison.
"And what Is your opinion as to WHO
| they may have been written by?" s'Ts
81 will say that not only who may have
| written them, but who did write them. the
same person who wrote the accreditted
writing of Roland B. Moneaux wrote the
letters signed III. G. Barnet and Harry
Cornish also the inscription on the wrap
per-" go
"Do you realize the gravity of this
clamp ss4 5:r ,i-.i II
Perfectly"
you have compared the several docu-
ments with the wrapper of the poison bot
tle?' f.r3
81 have - = Z
Have you any opinion as to who may
| have written it?'
"Unhestitaingly, my opinion is that the
Inscription on the poison wrapper was
written by the same person who wrote the
documents sIgned 'hoiano MJii.ieaux.
BY juror: Gould those effects De OBJ
| tanned by a person who might have had
. Mr.. MoIineaux's handwriting in his posses
sion"
i Was MoIineaux's Handwriting
mo, sir. 1t might on one or two letters,
but would be impossible for any one to
carry it all the way through the documents
| l have handled"
| A. S. Osborne, of Rochester N Y. was
|
positive as the preceding witnesses that
Molineaux wrote the poison addresses and
the forged letters. 800.
Prof Persifer Fraser testified that he
had been a student of handwriting for the
last twenty-one years. He has been en-
ployed an expert In the courts. In reply
| to questions he said: st
1.-THE hand that wrote this letter signed
Roland Molineaux Is the hand that wrote
the documents in dispute signed Harry
Cornish and H. C. Barnet -
| Witness declined absolutely to qualify
the statement.
| DR.. w. e. Hagen, of Troy, an examiner of
disputed handwriting, said he had exam
ined the three sets of documents in the
case and the letter signed Roland Molin-
eaux and was convinced that the same
hand wrote them all.
| Roland 3. Moiineaux sat and listened to
| the testimony of the handwriting experts
| without betraying any nervousness at all.
| Not SO with his father, however, General
Molineaux who seemed on the verge of col
lapse during the better part of the hear
ing.
/ 1t was just 435 when District Attorney
| Gardiner arose and announced that all the
evidence in the hands of the people had
been given and he faced the jury and be-
gan to sum up the casce
The Reasons of Delay
He explained the reasons Of delay in
bringing the into an Investigation.
| saying 1t was necessary to determine
whether Mrs. Adams had really died of
poison. Prof. Wilthaus did discover poison
in the contents of the bottle and as it was
possible for the district attorneys office to
go ahead with case, 1t did SO.
I'm consequence Of the publicity the case
| was given," continued Mr.. Gardiner Ger.
tain persons became suspicious and were
put on their guard. Certain methods had
therefore to be adopted to disarm susp-
cion. The first witness who was placed on
the stand CORNISH was made to suspect
that he was the guilty party, and the EVIL
dence he gave was the evidence of a man
full Of CONSERVATION. But in this direction
we disarmed suspicion from the really
guilty person. Now, the very next man
to go upon the stand (Molineaux) was tho
person that the public had settled upon.
How the community reached this con-
clusion Is a question When this witness
j