Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-05-29
LOCKE'S DEFENSE
Physicians and Handwriting Experts
Make 1t Appear Strongly That
Locke Is Innocent.
LOCKE OUT UNDER BOND
Medical Testimony Holds That the Skull
Was Blown to Pieces by Gases from
Powder Which Entered at the
Bullet Hole.

The evidence submitted in the Locke
habeas corpus proceedings on Saturday
afternoon was of a decidedly favorable
nature to the defendant. 1t seemed to
prove conclusively that Merrill wrote
he committed suicide, and that, there
fore, Locke is an innocent man. AS
there was no possibility of the ease be-
ing finished Saturday night, and since
ed to leave the city yesterday, Judge
McFie ordered that Locke be placed
under $10,0 900 bond until the hearing can
be resumed, adding that bail IA grant
ed without any reference to the testi-
mony in the case, or as indicating the
decision he would give. as he had not
intimated nor would he intimate to any
one beforehand what his decision would
be. Locke's bondsmen are Hon. 7. B.
Catron and DR.. G. G.. Cruikshank. The
testimony given Saturday afternoon
and evening was in the main as fol-
lows:
S. B. Warner, the undertaken who
dressed the body of Fred l.. Merrill, was
called as a witness for the defense at
the evening session Of the court Satur-
day. and testified that in his opinion
Merrill had come to his death by a self
inflicted gunshot wound. When asked
by the district attorney what brought
him to that conclusion, he said that his
experience in preparing the remains of
deceased persons first convinced him,
| and second, that in preparing this body
he discovered charred flesh in the right
temporal region of the head of the de-
ceased at the point where, in his opin-
ion, a bullet entered and shredded the
flesh; that in attempting to bring the
edges of the wound at that place to-
gether he broke off the points Of two
needles in trying to push them through
the skin, and in order to connect the
flesh had to take a pair of scissors and
snip off the charred flesh, after which
he was able to unite the flesh in a direct
line.
william b. Ernendorf was next called
as an expert in handwriting. He said
that he had been cashier of a bank, loan
agent of a large banking establishment,
had made a special study of handwrit-
ing, and had appeared as a witness in
court on many occasions as an expert
Ia, ol,;rnrpo nh1y TTa ha1 o1cn nnn11nind
the chair of psychology at the Ne
braska university. He swore positively
that the handwriting in the statement
alleged to have been left by Merrill was
unquestionably Merrill's, drawing his
conclusion from comparisons of writ
ing identified as Merrill's with that of
the statement. The district attorney
asked the witness whether or not he had
made any microscopical examination of
the statement to reach a determination
as to it's authorship. He replied: II did
not; in a case so plain as this it was
absolutely Unnecessary" He further
said that it was utterly impossible for
a man who wrote an angular hand such
as Locke did to have even fairly imi-
tated the handwriting of Merrill with
out months of practice, and that to do
so the imitator would have to be an eX-
pert forger.
DIR. C. G. Cruikshank, of San Marcial,
N. NJ, next took the stand for the de-
Tense. He swore positively the mutilat-
ed condition of Merrill's head was due
to a gunshot wound from a pistol
pressed close against the right temple
of the deceased. His reasons for so
stating were as follows: That the pis-
tol, being held close against the head,
the bullet issuing therefrom entered the
head, and the gases generated by the
ignition of the powder, finding no oppor-
tunity to mingle with the atmospheric
air, followed the line of least resistance,
which was the hole through tbs temple
ing, shattered the Uranium and brain
substance; hat he had made micro
scopical examinations of portions of the
scalp from the right side of the de-
SCIoSN . lCoo civ tAlC oob
stance remaining in the skull, and also
of a portion of brain removed from the
ceiling of the room in which Merrill
came to his death, and found uncon-
sumed powder, powder burn and char
red flesh. He brought his microscope
into court, and demonstrated the pres
ence of powder in these portions of
Merrill's head, which the court looked
at through the microscope. Taking the
skull of the deceased, which was pro-
duced in court, and placing the bones
in opposition, including the piece of
bone found in the bed of the deceased
at the left-hand side of his body as he
lay, a perfectly round aperture was dis
closed, which was smaller on the inner
table of the skull, and probably a quar-
ter of an inch larger IN the outer table,
beveling from within outward.
In explanation of the rents in the
scalp of the deceased, he called atten-
ton to the fact that the breaks in the
We're not in opposition to these
rents, as would be the case if the rents
in the scalp were made by a cutting in |