Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-05-03
GROGAN'S MOTHER
Takes the Witness Stand to
Testify Against Eastman.
Says Eastman Once Said Of Grogan:
"His Days Are Short"
Attorney General Tries to Have Eastman
Grand Jury Testimony Admitted.


larger portion of the proceedings of
the Eastman murder trial. today, was
| taken up in unimportant expert testi-
| mony on powder stains on clothing and
| alloys of lead in bullets, there were one
or two witnesses who proved to be the
most important in the trial, while the
day ended in magnificent forensic eff
Tort on the part Of the attorney general
To obtain the admission Of the testi-
mony Of the accused which he made
! before the grand jury which indicted
him.
This testimony the court, earlier in
the week, after a private hearing to the
different lawyers, was excluded, but
the attorney general, today, made an
other effort in open court, to obtain a
reversal of the decision of the judges
| through numerous legal citations.
backed by an earnest and eloquent
plea. The defense. relying on the
! courts former decision, made no reply
| to the argument of the attorney gen.
| cral, ana as the court withheld it's
decision on the last plea of the attorney
general. the latter, tomorrow morning.
will cite additional cases bearing on
the subject In giving the attorney
| general another opportunity to be
heard, the court just before adjourn
inent said that il had yet TO hear Of a
! q :e where the testimony of any wit
ness before n grand jury called to in
dict that witness. could be used as ev-
| idcnc" in the trial
| by far the most important witness of
| the day was the aged and decrepit
| mother Of the dead man. who tottered
fcebly into the court and gave an in
| stance where Eastman looked iowa rd
her son and said: His days are short"
| This was a little over q week before
the tragedy and was used by the gov
eminent to show Eastmans bearing
toward the dead man.
Late in the afternoon two witnesses
We're recalled, who We're present at the
autopsy and. identified the little bullet
as the one taken from the body, the
identifcations being made by its pc
culiar formation which correspondent to
the rim fire bullet and which they said
they noticed q the time of the autopsy.
This last testimony will have a great
bearing on the case if the defense
should claim that the bullet which has
been frequently shown to the jury and
| WHICH is tuiilltlcu Dv tHe ue1enSe TO
have been Il center fire bullet, was
changed some time after the autopsy
by some government official. and that
the bullet which really killed Grogan
was of a rim fire variety.
Should the governments plea for the
admission of the grand jury's testi-
mony be Overruled. tomorrow morning
it is likely that the case against East
man will rest there and that the de-
fence will then be begun.
Dr. F. f. Draper continued his tes-
timony of yesterday afternoon as to
the experiments with pistols and the
| carrying power of certain cartridges in
their discharge upon pieces of shirting.
He admitted that heavy calibre cart
ridges would carry powder marks fur
Their than the 32-calibre.
Dr.. Charles c. Foster, who assisted
DR.. Draper in his experiments. corro-
borated the latter statements. He said
that the extreme distance at which
powder marks would be deposited on
the cloth when a pistol was fired in
doors was IL feet At five feet the
grains would be forced through the
cloth. Out of doors the extreme dis
lance at which they would be deposit
| ed on the cloth was eight feet.
With the exception of one witness the
whole of the morning testimony was
very dull. being taken up entirely by
| expert testimony on the present. or as
the government claims. the absence OF
lead in commercial tin.
The most interesting witness of the
morning was Mrs. Mary Ann Grogan
mother Of the dead man. white-haired
| infirm old lady. who was assisted into
1 the court by three officers. and was ac-
companed also by one of her daughters
She gave her testimony in 4 very weak
voice. so that it could barely be heard by
| the jury and scarcely at all by the other
persons in the court. She was placed
upon the stand principally to confirm the
governments contention of i'll feeling be-
tween the two men.
| She said that q few days before her son
Dick went to New York, or on June 26
Eastman came into the house for pitch
er of milk The family was sitting there
and Dick also was present. She noticed
that Dick" looked tired and worn. He
went out soon after Eastman came i'm
and she did not notice that they spoke.
His days are short"
| One or two of the girls asked Eastman
what he meant by it, and Lizzie. the wife
| of the dead man, told Eastman he must
have been drinking. Lizzie and Mrs.
| Eastman became quite excited and wit
ness hear Eastman say again. Ills days
Iare numb pred" Sac thou 5ht EaS'm man re
peated this two or three times. Another
time she heard loud voices in another
room, which she thought were those Of
Eastman and her son.
This constituted Mrs. Grogan's testimo-
n.y. as the defence, owing to her weak
ened condition, refused to cross-eXamine
her
At the close of DR.. Diapers testimony
in the forenoon, all the bundles OF shirt
ings which had been used in experiments
on the discharge of the p!s OILS and for tn
presence of powder grains were fled as
exhibits in the case. Prof. r. ). Wood
was recalled and said at the request OF
the government he Analysed last night
three rim fire bullets and eight grain
chips taken from each contained no tin.
CONTINUED on page A.