The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-06-20
Permitted, However, to Describe the
Shooting, which, He Said, He
Now Regretted.
TESTIMONY OF MRS. BARKER
WIFE OF DEFENDANT SAYS SHE
LOANED MONEY TO KELLER.
Severed Connection with His Church
Because He Assaulted Her-Trial
of Jessie Morrison.

BUFFALO, n. Y, June 19.-The fate Of
Roland B. Molineux, convicted of murder
as 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 arguments for
and against a new trial. The appeal was
finally submitted at 1:S5 o'clock this after
noon, and the decision will not be an
nounced until some months hence, when
the court sits at Albany for the fall term
The strange crime, with its complicated
plot and manifest mysteries, retains
strong hold on popular interest. The crowd
that sought admission to the courtroom
this morning was larger and more deter
mined than ever, and the bailiffs had to
resort to force to restrain the multitude.
The principal speaker was former United
States Senator 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 Ills, and John G.. Milburn, attorney
for Molineux, was heard for twenty min
utes in concise reply.
Mr.. Hill was again forceful and eloquent.
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 objections to acts
and rulings that had not substantially af-
fected the rights of the accused. If the
courts were TO be thus swerved from the
pathway of duty, he suggested that the
murderers might organize trust and all
enjoy freedom. In a dissertation on the law
he led the court down long line of author
tiles and decisions, all aimed al sustain
ing the use of the Barnet evidence and the
policy of the lower court toward the ex-
hibits of handwriting at the trial. In this
admirable story he made frequent reference
to the famous Tichborne case in England.
tracing a similarity in the admission of
part of the luckless claimant and the
policy of obstruction on the part of the
defense. In finally summing up Mr. Hin
reviewed the points made by him yesterday,
and, step by step, traced out the main fea-
lures of the theory of the people. He
reviewed the correspondence with the pat
ent-medicine dealers and proclaimed Mol
ineux as the author of the letters. the en-
emy of Harry Cornish and Henry G. Bar
net, the compounder of the rare cyanide
of mercury used in both crimes and the
man who mailed the fatal potion that killed
Mrs. Adams.
Mr.. Milburn's reply was largely devoted
TO an answer TO personal criticism and
particularly to Mr.. Hills allusion TO the
fact that through all his speech he had
not once expressed his personal conviction
of the innocence of the man for whom he
pleaded. The strongest nature of the reply
was the indication Of three points of weak
ness in the case of the people. He drew
attention TO the fact that the claim that
Henry c. Barnet had received poison rested
solely upon the hearsay testimony of DR..
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 IT was impossible,
Mr.. NIilburn said, to fix guilt upon him.
A conspicuous figure during the argu-
ments was General Molineux, the aged
father 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 the attorneys and spectators left
their chairs Chief Justice Parker called
the next case. Both Mr.. Hill and Mr. Mil
burn were proffered congratulations for
their notable efforts.