New-York tribune., 1901-07-26
MOTHERS PATHETIC TALE.
MRS. FoSBURGH TELLS HOW HER
DAUGHTER PASSED FROM LIFE.
THE DEFENCE RESTsLCAsE MAY BE IN THE
JURYs HANDS BY EVENING.
tBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE

[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUSE-I
Pittsfeld Mass. July 25.-With the exception
OF one witness, General j. w. Whitney. OF the
Massachusetts detective force. the entire evil
dence in the case against Robert Stewart Fos-
burgh is now before the jury. Mr.. Whitney
who is a brigadier- general in the State militia,
is in camp with the Second Brigade, which ne
commands at Framingham. He will be here the
first thing in the morning His testimony VIII
be very brief The only point upon which he IS
to testify is regarding the statement made by
Miss Bertha Sheldon. OF Providence. General
Whitney will testify that when he saw Miss
Sheldon, she told him that she heard shots
fired in the Fosburgh home when she
guest the night of the tragedy. To-day she
told the jury she had heard a shot fired
To-day was the closing day for the defence,
and there was considerable rebuttal testimony.
1t is a noticeably strange feature of the Fos-
burgh case that there is unusually large
amount Of contradictory evidence. So direct are
the contradictions in many that those in
the courtroom to-day compelled to select
one side or the other guilty OF apparent false
hoods AS instance. the testimony of Mrs
Herbert Bullard, a sweet-faced, conscientious
young woman. may be referred to. Mrs. Bullard
called for the defence. She lived at the
time Of the tragedy in a house on Tyler-st.. near
the Fosburghs- At about 113o o'clock the
night OF the tragedy she happened to look out
of the window ans two suspicious charac-
ters conversng in a low tone and moving toward
the Fosburgh house.
Later she heard the shots fired. and later still
Policeman Flynn came to telephone from her
house 10 the station. Mrs. Billiard explained
that she mad said nothing about the two men to
Flynn because the announcement of the tragedy
had taken il from her mind.
Policeman Flynn called to the stand in
rebuttal.
Did you ask Mrs. Builard If she had seen
any suspicious characters about?" asked Mr..
Crosby. for the prosecution
Yes" replied Policeman Flynn.
What did she say?'
She said she had seen no one"
VERDICT MAY BE REACHED TO-DAY.
With the winding up of the evidence to-day.
al interest is now centred in the verdict. This
may come tomorrow.
In the time the motion r1ay be made
by the lawyers for the defence to AXE the case
away from the jury the plea that II is not
sustained by the evidence.
Mrs. Robert L. Fosburgh. the mother of the
defendant. was the chief witness the defence
produced to-day. She told a long circumstan-
tial story Of the affair at the Fosburgh house.
A surprising feature of her testimony came in
the effort Of District Attorney Hammond to
show by the witness that she had said the de-
gether. The witness refused TO admit that she
had said any such thing
Didn't you tell DR.. Paddock that their rela-
tons were not harmonious?" asked Mr. Ham
mond
Il did not"
rs it not fact that you asked Dr. Paddock
10 speak TO the younger Mrs Fosburgh and
tell her that she change her manner
toward her hushand?"
NO, sir
Miss VI. Esther Chapman who lived near the
Foshurgh house; Harry S Plumb and Mrs Plumb
testified when the couort opened this morning
They We're the first to get there. All three of
me witnesses testified to bearing pistol shot
followed by screams in the Fosburgh house
MISS sHELDoN's TESTIMONY.
Miss Sheldon was next called She said she
was little hard Of hearing. She testified as
TO her acquaintance with the Fosburghs She
visited at the house last year on invitation Of
Mrs Fosburgh, sr.. who had invited her to visit
her daughter. She was not at all well. and was
only intending to stay one week but Mr. Fos
burgh, sr. wished her to remain 10 see his
wife. She occupied the guest chamber OMEN
ing off Mays room
In the morning she. in company with some
members of the family, attended the South
Church The family later went driving In the
evening there was singing by May to the wit
ness accompaniment. Mr. and Mrs r l. Fos-
burgh retired first The witness retired about
the same time as Beatrice and May The fam
lily on separating kissed each other good
night. as was the custom. She had the same
defective hearing then as now She was awak-
ened by loud noise. followed by a piercing
scream, then by a pistol shot She saw May
on the floor with her mother stopping over her
H. = Fosourgh was lying beside her uncon-
scious
Miss Sheldon then stated that Beatrice had
said just as the witness opened the door lead
ing into Mays room, Burglars have entered
the house and shot May" The witness sat up
the remainder of the night, going home in the
morning She left because she was very ex-
cited and nervous. She had some conversat ation
with Mrs. Fosburgh about going
On cross-examination Miss Sheldon said she
had seen Detective Whitney at her home in
Providence. She said she willing to go TO
Pittsheld and testify, but said she knew moth
ing. She denied saying Mr Whitney that
she heard shots. She did not come to The
inquest because her father would not allow
her TO.
F. P. Sheldon father of Bertha, said that the
reason he would not let his daughter come to
Pittsheld that she was Just recovering
from a nervous attack. and if she came to Pitts
field it would stir it all up again
THE MOTHERS STORY.
Then Mrs. Fosburgh was called TO the stand
Her story listened to with attention. Tho
witness related what occurred on the day and
evening previous TO the tragedy. She told of
the family attending church and Of the de-
fendant and his wife going driving She also