Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-13
CAUSE OF CONVICTION
Failure Of Defense to Put in ANY
Testimony.
S % NJ E SIMIL AR CASE S


tndt roland burnnam MOllneux was guilty
of the murder of Mrs. Katharine ]. Adams.
Cases like those of Carlyle Harris, the Dur
rant murder case, the DR.. Buchanan muir
der case, the Dr. Graves poisoning case and
the case of Mrs. Cordelia Botkin pale into
tnsignfficance and become almost petty po-
lice court affairs when contrasted with the
Molineux murder trial. which for the past
year and two months has divided the peo-
pie of New York into two hostile camps
those who believed in the guilt and those
who believed in the innocence of the de-
PENDANT.
In point Of money expended the Moli-
neux case is second only to the Dreyfus
case. Gen. E. L. Moineux has expended a
| fortune in his efforts to clear his son, and
though his expenses were undoubtedly
lightened by the decision of the attorney
for the prisoner, Barlow S. Weeks, not to
put any witnesses the stand, neverthe-
less, the fortune of the general is said to
be greatly impaired. AS for the state, it
has undoubtedly expended hundreds Of
thousands of dollars in securing the con-
Viction of Moiineux.
Heavy Cost of the Trial.
High-priced handwriting experts, high
priced detectives, high-priced scientists,
high-priced doctors and high-priced law
yers have been united together in aid OF
Assistant District Attorney Osborne. If the
past three months could be printed they
would make a set of books more volurn-
nous than the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The only thing that could be compared with
them would be the Congressional Record.
Old-tirne criminal lawyers say that in the
history of the country there has been just
one murder case worthy of being spoken of
in the same breath as the Moiineux case.
That is the famous case of Prof. John
White Webster, the Harvard professor of
chemistry whose murder of DR.. George
Parkman in 1912 divided the city of Boston
into two hostile factions just as public opin-
ion in the city of New York has been divided
in the MolineuX case. Prof. Webster, ike
Molineux. was convicted largely upon cir
cumstantial evidence. Like MoineuX, ne
had a knowledge of chemistry and the
sciences; like MolineuX, he was of excellent
family and had wealthy and influential
friends. who almost moved heaven and
earth in their efforts to secure an acquittaL
But in spite of everything the jury return
ed a verdict of guilty and he was hanged.
Though the jurymen in the trial of Ro-
land b. MolineuX have agreed not to talk
about what went on in the jury room dur
ing the hours spent in deliheraton Satur-
day afternoon and evening, the outside pub
lie has a pretty good idea of the causes
which resulted in the finding of a verdict of
guilty. Criminal lawyers in this city pref
ty generally agree that MolineuX, like Car
lyle Harris, was convicted because he re-
fused to go the witness stand. And
MolineuX would undoubtedly have made an
excellent witness on the stand At the time
of the coroner's inquest he was always
ready with a smile and always ready with
an answer. But the failure to put in a de-
Tense was IN many quarters interpreted as
a confession of guilt.
Convicted by His Friend.
The evidence in the case is too long to at
tempt even a hasty generalization, but if
there is one thing that stands out more
than another it is the fact that MolineuX
was undoubtedly convicted by one Of his
best friends. That friend was the girl who
worked under him when he was superin-
tendent of the chemical works in Newark,
the girl who had charge of his private
rooms at that place. An unwilling witness,
smuggied across the Ne" Jersey state line
into southern New York, while out for a
drive with two young men supposed to be
her friends and admirers, but in reality de-
tectives selected for that purpose by the
eyes she confessed that Molineux had been
in possession of the fatal robins egg blue
crescent adorned writing paper, that she
had even appropriated sheets of that writ
tunatey for Molineaux, that paper figured
in the disputed handwrftings and at the
time Of the coroner's inquest Molineux
SWore positively that he had never been
in possession of anything of the sort.
OF course, Mr.. Weeks, the lawyer for the
defense, attempted to show during his argu-
ments that this was a common kind of writ
ing paper, and that any man might easily
forget the character of the writing paper
which he used. AS matter of fact. that
writing paper was an uncommon kind of
paper and was quickly withdrawn from
the general market because it did not suit
the fancy of the fastidious. The city editor
of the New York World had corps of re-
porters searching for days for that class
and character of paper Immediately after
the poisoning of Mrs. Adams, and these re-
porters absolutely failed to get on the
track of any of 1t either in Greater New
York or Newark. And 1t seemed to be a
fair inference that If Molineux was not tell
ing the truth about this paper he was not
telling the truth about the private letter
boxes or the poison package This became
doubly true when Molineux failed TO go on
the witness stand and admit that he made
a mistake when he testified at the coroner's
inquest that he had never bought any paper
of this character.
Interest in the Next Move.
Naturally more interest is now taken in
the future movements of the attorneys for
the defense than in the history of this cele-
brated case 1t is by no means a foregone
conclusion that Molineux will ever be cleo
trocuted. In fact, the attorneys for the de-
Tense are of the opinion that the battle has
just begun When the verdict of guilty was
rendered late Saturday night, and the re-
corder asked Messrs. Weeks and Battle If
they had any requests to make, Molineux
leaned forward to his attorneys and pathet-
ically asked them to beg the court to sem
tence him to death immediately 1t was
finally arranged that sentence should be
passed upon the prisoner next Friday. But
between now and next Friday a good many
things may happen to change the aspects
OF this case.
When every other avenue is closed there
still remains the insanity plea. One of the
last statements of Mr.. Weeks to the iury
as Recorder Golf was charging the court
last Saturday afternoon was that it was
murder or nothing" Heretofore the law
yers for the prisoner, the prisoner himself,
the friends of the family, the family itself
have refused to even hear of insanity being
entered as a defense. But in the light Of
the verdict in case new trial is refused
they may be willing to accept the insanity
plea, and thus save the disgrace of an cleo
trocution. And it is by no means certain
that a commission of medical experts would
not find Moiineux insane There are
many things in his private life which seem
to bear out that theory. Then his peculiar
conduct during the trial. laughing and
smoking, when the most serious matters
We're being considered. smiling almost in
the very face of death, has naturally given
the impression that he il mentally unbai-