Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-03-18

LEXINGTON. Neb., March 1.-THE
ness stand with her eyes covered with
thick blue glasses and her face OBJ
scured by a heavy veil, was presented
in the County Court here Thursday in
the trial of Mrs. Fred Laue and James
Dinsmore, charged with the murder of
the husband and wife of the defend
ants, respectively. The woman on the
witness stand was Mrs. Laue, and her
face was obscured to protect her from
the hypnotic influence of Dinsmore,
her alleged partner in the crime.
Mrs. Laue had been unable to tes-
tify against Dinsmore heretofore be-
cause of the absence of this protection.
Twice the trial has been postponed
because of the physical inability of the
woman to face Dinsmore The mo-
ment she came into court and her eyes
came in direct line with those of Dins-
more she appeared to go into coma,
tose condition, out of which medical
skill was required to bring her.
Power Overcame Her.
Wednesday when brought into court
Mrs. Laue Immediately was bound by
Dinsmore's SPELL Nothing could be
done with her. The physicians exam
ined her and reported to the Court
that she was hysterical but not other
wise i'll as far as they could ascertain.
The Court ordered the woman to re-
ply to the questions under penalty of
being incarcerated for contempt, but
she did not appear to hear the order.
Her father sat close to her and held
her hand, reassuring her, but to no
purpose. Dinsmore in the meantime
kept his eyes on the womans face con-
stantly. The attorney for the State
asked the Court to order the prisoner
to take his eyes off tne woman, but the
Court ruled that the defendant had the
right to look at her as closely as he
saw fit.
Thursday when Mrs. Laue was
brought into court her face was pro-
tected as described above. The attor-
neys for Dinsmore asked the Court to
order the woman to remove her veil,
but the judge was so impressed with
the power of Dinsmores hypnotic in
fiuence that he refused to order the
witness TO discard her veil.
Woman Confesses.
A feature of the case is the presence
here of Dr. j. j. Mound, of Chicago,
DR.. Robert Porter, of Cincinnati, and
DR.. r. Lay Moffitt, of New York, ex-
perts. on the subject OF hypnotism.
They are paid by the State TO be pres
ent and lend their assistance in I'M
raveling the strange tangle. Frank
Dinsmore is accused of numbering his
wife and Fred Laue six months ago
for the purpose of marrying Mrs. Laue.
Dinsmore and Mrs. Laue asserted that
Laue killed Mrs. Dinsmore and then
himself
Mrs. Laue later confessed that Dins-
more committed the crime with her
consent and alleged that he had hyp-
Noticed her.
Protected from Dinsmore's piercing
eyes Mrs. Laue told the story of
the crime and reiterated her confess
sion, going into details. Dinsmore
was unmoved by the recital but sat,
constantly keeping his eyes on the wo-
man, but his influence failed to exert
itself through the veil and glasses.
The woman was exhausted at the
close of her testimony.
The defense had but little testimony
to offer, except Dinsmore's denial. The
arguments of counsel were concluded
this morning and the jury after being
out two hours, returned verdict of
guilty of murder in the first degree
and fixed the penalty at death.