The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-06-01
ON TRIAL FOR LIFE.
Mrs sutton's Case is Now in the Hands o
Jury.

In the Court of Oyer and Terminer
for this county, before Judges Fort and
Vreeland, the trial of Mrs. Emma K
Sutton, under Indictment for murder
of her husband, was taken up on Mon
day morning.
When court was opened the room
was crowded and so continued
throughout the trial.
Selecting the jury consumed about
an hour. There were eighteen peremp-
tion challenges on the part of the de-
fence, six by the prosecution and two
were excused on account of illness.
/ One jurym man was excused because he
was opposed ito capital punishment.
He based his belief on the sixth com
mandment, "Thou shalt not kill "
He said that this would prevent him
from finding verdict of guilty even
if the facts under charge of the court
warranted it. AS he was excused the
court remarked that he was not quail
fed to serve in jury in any case.
The following jurors were finally
sworn: Samuel Bogart, John E. De-
Hart, Joseph Harris. John E. Ross,
Arthur B. Crane, Abraham Kaufman,
Harry Dickerson, John Vreeland, Os-
car Jennings, John B. Wolfe, David
Hathaway, William Parliament.
Constables Charles Hopper, Francis
E. Cook, Mahlon Hiler and John West
were selected and sworn to take
charge of the jury.
| Just behind the counsel and backed
up by five doctors and surrounded on
all sides by medical books sat the
prisoner.
Although on trial for her life, the
prisoner, with but one exception dur
ing the whole week, exhibited no
emotion. At times she laughed, nota-
bly,, when she saw the headlines of
New York papers, which spoke of her
as prompting her counsel when she
was being led to her cell. On Thurs
day afternoon, when the case closed, a
gleam of satisfaction fitted over her
face and she smiled. The only emotion
shown was while she was on the stand
and her counsel, Mr.. King, was ex-
amining her as to the death of the de-
ceased. At these times she shed no
| tears, but her voice was somewhat
broken.
The opening by Prosecutor Mills
was short but strong, He told the
| jury that their present duty was the
highest that ever fell to citizen to
perform; that the state wanted only a
just and impartial decision from them
according to the evidence.
The facts are these the deceased. a
brakeman ON the D. L. 81 W. R. r.,
quit work about January He had a
cold and kept to the house, but it was
not deemed serious enough by the de-
fendant or deceased to demand doc
tor or the application Of medicine un-
til Monday, Jan. 10, when DR.. John
Miller was called. DR.. Miller treated
the patient for cold, bordering on
pneumonia and he left grain quinine
capsules and some anti -fabrian tablets
and ordered the deceased to go to bed.
On Wednesday the patient took to his
bed and from that time to late Satur-
day night, his condition bettered con-
tinually. On Saturday night, at the
request of Mrs. Sutton, two friends
came over 70 the house with whiskey
and a violin to have a jollification.
The deceased was lively and joked and
laughed with the others. Some say he
took his share of the whiskey and
played the violin although he did not
leave his bed.
This continued till a. m., when all
parties went to bed. They arose at
5. 40, when the visitors came down
with intent to leave. They asked to
see the deceased, but Mrs. Sutton
would not permit them as she told
them, he was then asleep. The defen-
dant wanted them to stay till after
breakfast but they refused and left.
An hour after they left, the neighbors
were summoned by Mrs. Sutton and
they found the deceased in the throes
of acute tetanic commissions. DIR.
Miller was called. When he arrived,
Mrs. Sutton asked him to give de-
ceased something to make him vomit.
Mrs. Sutton explained this by stating
that the deceased had eaten a pickle
and this caused the convulsions.
At 8. 10 Sutton died. Coroner Hagan
was called by DR.. Miller and he de-
cided to have an autopsy performed.
This was done the following after
noon. All the organs of the body
were found to be normal The stomach
and part of the liver were sealed in
glass jar and sent to Prof. Cornwall
of Princeton for chemical analysis.
He testified that he found between a
l-S0 and 1-50 of a grain of strych-
nine.
The deceased was insured for 81, 800,
the prisoner being the beneficiary.
There was testimony also of threats
made by Mrs. Sutton against the life
of her husband
The state claimed that Sutton died
of strychnine poisoning; that Mrs.
Sutton was the ONLY nersOn interested