The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-04-10
FOR PERJURY.
May Burnett'S Trial For Giving
Perjured Testimony
In the Collins Murder Case Be-
gan This Morning.
PENALTY is SEVERE.
1t May Be Anywhere From Ten
Years to Life Imprisonment.
Judge Carver Selected to Pre-
side In the Trial.

The trial of May Burnett for commit
ting perjury on the witness stand dur
ing the trial of the Collins case, was
begun in the district court at 10:4o this
morning with Judge T. F. Carver pre-
siding.
May Burnett, it will be remembered,
is the woman who testified that she
was out house hunting at o'clock on
the morning that ]. s. Collins was muir
dered, and that she saw a colored man
leave the Collins residence by crawling
out over the kitchen roof, and that he
carried a bundle. She was accompanied,
she said, by Ella Buchanan, a colored
girl who was working for her Ella
Buchanan corroborated her testimony,
but created a sensation the following
day by acknowledging on the witness
stand that it was all false.
Mrs. Burnett was arrested for per-
jury on Christmas day, the day follow
ing the conviction of John Collins. Her
bond was placed at $4,000, but 1t was
afterwards reduced to $500, but she
was unable to secure even this amount,
and she has been in the county Jail
ever since her arrest.
There were upwards of a hundred
spectators in the court room when the
case was called this morning, but
large number of them were jurymen,
as special venire had been summoned
in addition to the regular panel MAX
ing twenty-eight men from whom to
select a jury.
Mrs. Burnett was brought from the
county Jail to the court room by Jailer
Carl Lawson some time before the trial
was called. She was accompanied by
her sister, Mrs. Middleton, and by her
father both of whom occupied seats
adjacent to her during the trial.
Judge Hazen had refused to hear the
case himself as he was the trial judge
at the time the perjury is alleged to
have been committed, and he thought it
might be charged that he was preju-
diced. In order to obviate any such
possibility he requested that some at
torney be selected to preside during the
perjury trial. The attorneys in the case
had agreed upon Judge Carver, but be-
fore leaving the bench Judge Hazen
suggested that an election better be
held by the members of the bar in order
that the procedure might be regular,
and his suggestion was carried out.
Mrs. Burnett's attorneys are E. G.
Wilson and A. H. Vance, and County
Attorney JetmOre is conducting the
prosecution for the state.
The entire forenoon after the case
was called was taken up by the attor-
neyS in arguing preliminary motions.
ment on the ground that sufficient
warrant had been issued and that the
complaint did not show the perjured
testimony was material to the case. A
motion to quash the information was
also made on the ground that it did
not state the date of the alleged per-
jury.
Mr.. Wilson, for the defense, argued
the plea in abatement for over an hour,
but it was promptly oVerruled by the
court. Mr.. Wilson argued that the stat
ute under which Mrs. Burnett was ar
rested is unconstitutional from the fact
that there is no limit to the punishment,
but Judge Carver held differently, mas
much as the penalty is the same as
that prescribed for murder in the second
degree, which has been repeatedly up
held
On the motion to quash the indict-
ment because it did not contain the date
of the alleged crime, Judge Carver
asked for authorities on both sides, and
pending this a recess was taken until
o'clock this afternoon.
IF Mrs. Burnett is convicted of the
crime of which she is charged her pun
ishment will be severe. For perjury in
a case of murder in the first degree,
with the purpose of affecting the verdict
of the jury, which is the charge against
Mrs. Burnett, the minimum penalty is
ten years in the penitentidry. and it
may be anywhere from that up to inn
priSonment for life. 1t is one of the
severest penalties on the statute book
Among the witnesses to be intro
duced against Mrs. Burnett are Ella
Buchanan, the colored girl whom Mrs
Burnett said accompanied her on the
morning of the Collins murder; Mr.. and
Mrs. Barrie, who will testify that Ella
Buchanan was working for them at the
time Mrs. Burnett said she was working
for her; some of the city officials of
Argentine, and some of the Topeka po-
lice force, who will testify as to Mrs.
Burnett'S police court record.