The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-20
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
ARGUMENT CLOSED IN THE CASE
OF ROLAND q. MOGINEUX, CON-
yICTED OF MURDER
D. B. HILLS NOTABLE EFFORT
Powerful Plea That the Verdict of
Guilty Reached in Recorder
GOff's Court Be Sus-
tanned

BUFFALO, N. Y, June 19.-The fate of
Roland B. Molineux, convicted of murder
IS the poisoner of Mrs. Katherine J.
Adams at New York, in December, 1898,
is in the keeping of the seven judges Of
the court of appeals, Who for three days
past, have been listening to the argu-
n1ents for and against new trial. The
appeal was finally submitted at 1885
o'clock this afternoon, and the decision
will not be announced until some months
hence, when the court sits at Albany for
the fall term.
The strange crime, with it's complicated
plot and manifold mystery, retains a
strong hold upon popular interest. The
crowd that sought admission to the court
room this morning was larger and more
determined than ever and the baiIiffs
had to resort to force to restrain them.
The principal speaker was former United
States Senator David B. Hill, advocate
of the cause of the people, who had three
hours and fifteen minutes of his allotted
time left when court opened at 10 O'Clock.
He spoke until lis, and John c.. AIilburn,
attorney for Molineux, was heard for
twenty minutes in concise reply.
HILL DEMANDS JUSTICE.
Mr.. Hill was again forceful and elo-
quent. He declared that the question of
guilt was the main issue in the case, and
warned the court not to heed plea that
dealt in technicality, and urged objec-
tions to acts and rulings that had not
substantially affected the rights of the
accused. If the courts We're to be thus
swept from the pathway of duty he
suggested that the murderers might or
ganize a trust and all enjoy freedom. In
a dissertation on the law he led the court
down a long line of authorities and de-
cisions, all aimed at sustaining the use
of the Barnet evidence and the policy of
the lower court toward the exhibits of
handwriting at the trial. In this ad-
mirably told story he made frequent ref
erences to the famous Tichborne case in
England, tracing a similarity in the ad-
mission of certain writings to prove per
jury on the part Of the luckless claimant,
and in the policy of objection and OBJ
struction on the part of the defense.
In finally summing up Mr.. Hill review
ed the points made by him, and step BY
step traced out the main theories of the
people. He reviewed the correspondence
with the patent medicine dealers, and
claimed Molineux as the author Of the let
ters, the enemy of Harry Cornish and
Henry c. Barnet, the compounder of the
rare cyanide of mercury used in both
crimes and the man who mailed the fatal
potion that killed Mrs. Adams.
CLOSED BY DEFENSE.
Mr.. Milburn's reply was largely devoted
to an answer to personal criticism, and
particularly to Mr.. Hills allusion to the
fact that throughout his speech he had
not once expressed his personal
conviction Of the innocence of
the man for whom he pleaded The
strongest feature of the reply was the
indication of three points of weakness in
the case of the people He drew atten-
tion to the fact that the claim that Henry
G. Barnet had received poison rested
wholly upon the hearsay testimony of
DIR. Douglass; also that Molineux had
not bought the bottle holder and had not
been identified as the man who hired the
Koch letter box, without which 1t was i'm
possible, Mr.. Milburn said, to fix the
guilt upon him.
A conspicuous figure during the argu-
ments was Gen. Molineux, the aged fa-
ther Of the prisoner, whose face told of
the strain that the always spirited and
at times bitter review of the case had
been to him.
There was no comment at the close, and
as attorneys and spectators left their
chairs Chief Justice Parker called the
next case.
Both Mr.. Hill and Mr.. Milburn were
proffered enthusiastic congratulations for
their noble efforts.