Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-10-22
cRAMB[ETTS SECOND TRIAL
WILL COMMENCE AT STEUBENvIILE
THIS MORNING BEFORE JUDGE
MANSFIELD.
TWO HUNDRED WITNESSES
HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO GIVE
THEIR EVIDENCE.
Considerable Trouble Expected in
Obtaining a Jury-A History of the
Murder of James A. GOsnell, of the
Preliminary Hearing and the First
Trial-The Public Interest is Very
Great.
Special to the Register.

Special to the Register
SIEUBENVILLE. o., Oct. 21.-The
second trial of Quincy Cramblett, charg-
ed with the murder of James A. Cos
nell, of Smithfield township, will begin
tomorrow in court here, Judge J. A.
Mansfield presiding. The attendance
will be large and the interest intense,
apd as there are two hundred witnesses,
the trial will occupy the entire week.
Considerable difficulty will be expert
enced in securing jury. The State will
be represented by Prosecuting Attorney
A. @. Lewis and Hon. John NJ. Cook,
who has just been nominated for cir
cult judge in the Seventh district Cram
blett is being defended by ex-Prosecut-
ing Attorney E. E. Erskine and ex-City
Solicitor Dio Rogers. All are promin-
ent members of the bar, able and re-
sourceful in criminal and civil trials
There have been features and incl
dents connected with the case that have
not
Had Any Parallel
in the annals of murder cases. To begin
with, the murder was most foul one,
the murdered man being seated in the
kitchen of his farm house on the even
ing of November 4, 1899, reading his
country weekly, when he was shot by
| someone from the outside, his body be-
ing riddled with slugs, causing his in
slant death. Neighbors were summon
ed by the family, and one of the first
persons asked for by Cora Gosnell the
youngest daughter, was the accused
who was her lover and he came and
did all the errands and chores, and sat
up at night beside the body of the muir
dered man. Hawkshaws flocked to the
place, and they began the work of try
ing to fasten the murder on Cora Cos
nells lover, and many things pointed
strongly to his guilt. The tracks of the
murderer in the garden, from which
point the shot was fired, correspondent
with his. At the place where the as
sassin tied his horse the crackers found
that the horse had three shoes and one
bare foot, which correspondent with
Cramblett's horse, though there were
several who disagreed with the States
witnesses as to the number of shoes the
tracks showed the horse had on. Hair
on the fence was
The Same as Cramb1ett's Horse.
Cramblett was taken several times to
Mt. Pleasant for examination by Off
Gals and physicians. He went willing
ly, and was released each time No
bruise was found on his shoulder, which
1t was expected to find on the shoulder
of the person who fired the big charge.
A search was made of Cram blett's home
for musket which had been there for
years, but it was missing, and it's dis
posal could not be explained Several
persons came forward who testified
that Gosnell, though kind and neighbor-
ly to Cramblett, had refused to allow
him to marry either one of two of his
daughters, and Cramblett was mad
about this, and had made threats. Cora
Gosnell, the younger daughter, said
Cramblett proposed suicide to her be-
cause they could not be married, but
she kicked, because she thought she
was to young to die. Finally, one con-
stable thought the evidence against
Cramblett strong enough to warrant his
arrest, and besides there was another
incentive, that of securing big reward
offered. Cramblett was arrested and
kept at the constable's house almost
without any surveillance.
The Preliminary Hearing
was before Squire Humphreyville in
the town hall at Mt Pleasant, rented
by the citizens, so thy could hear the
trial and witness the scenes enacted
there, such as were never Witnessed be-
fore at trial Of this kind. In front
chairs sat the weeping widow and her
three daughters. Behind them was
an audience thoroughly pro-Cramblett
and they applauded and cheered the
sallies of both attorneys, especially the
sarcastic points scored by ex-Prosecut-
ing Attorney E. E. Erskins, who de-
Tended Cramblett. When Attorney Err
skine referred to Cramblett's refusal
to tell his love affairs to gray-haired
constables as being manly, the female
portion of the audience applauded
, warmly. Cramblett was held, and At
torney Erskine's plea against so doing
| was cheered. Cramblett was indicted,
but there would have been no bill found
had not several of Cramblett's relatives
been tripped up about the destruction of
| the musket, which was searched for
unsuecessfully by officers, and they told
of breaking it up and throwing it down
a WELL
Next came the trial, and as his family
were poor, the court appointed ex-Pros-
| ecuting Attorney Henry Gregg and P. P.
Lewis to defend, and though they put
| up a skillful defense, he was
Convicted of Murder
| in the first degree with a recommen-
| dation for mercy. All who were put en-
| the stand-ministers of the gospel, far
mers, and even the Gosnell family. gave
Cramblett the best OF characters. The
verdict was a universal surprise. and
| was very unpopular. and the jurymen
were berated by their fellow citizens
| Several ministers preached against it,
| holding that Cramblett had not been
given the benefit OF a reasonable doubt,
| and that facts pointed strongly toward
others who had grudges against GosnelI
| as being guilty. The female portion Of
| the community we're almost unit In
denunciation OF the verdict Cramblett's
mother has periods OF temporary In
sanity, and after she was recovered
from one Of these, she made afidayit that