The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-21
VERDICT AGAINST BARKER
Found Guilty of Assault With IN
tent TO Kill.
The Jury in the Jersey City Case
Ont for Only Thirteen Minutes-fn-
tense Public Interest in the
Trial During the Closing Hours.

| NEW YORK, June 1.-THE ease Of
/ Thomas G. Barker. Of Arlington, n J.
| who has been on trial at Jersey City for
| shooting Rev John Keller for an alleged
| assault upon Mrs Barker went to the
| jury at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon. and in
| thirteen minutes verdict of guilty of
| assault with intent to kilI' was brought
| in.
Mr. Van Wrinkle began to sum up the
| case in behalf Of the defendant at 1880
o'clock this morning The prosecutor fin-
/ ished his argument at 12:55 clock \ re
| cess was taken until I:3O o'clock. When
| court reconvened Judge Blair delivered
! his charge
! Public interest in the trial during the
| closing hours Of the case became intense
At an early hour this morning there was
| a large crowd around the courthouse and
when Rev MIR. Keller drove up TO the
! rear entrance, there was a rush to see
| him He refused 10 talk this morning and
/ preserved the patient demeanor that has
| characterized him throughout the week.
| The courtroom was filed early. those
! who gained admission having to pass
| double guard and everybody being care
! fully scrutinized. Although court was
| scheduled to convene at 1915 o'clock it
! Barkers entered at 1920 The defendant
| appeared to be very nervous at first, NOV
/ ing about uneasiIy in his chair, but final
| y settled down to his normal rigid atti-
/ tude- Mrs Barker was pale and immOv-
able Five minutes after the Barkers en-
tered, Rev. Mr. Keller was led in
Before the closing addresses were be-
gun the defendants table was moved and
| the Barker party so arranged that the
| wife of the prisoner whose face was ash
/ en- grey, and the defendant himself faced
| the jury Mr. Van Winkle pored over his
/ papers a few minutes, and, when remind
| ed by the judge that each side only had
! an hour and fifteen minutes to sum up,
| took an exception.
Mr. Van WinkIe opened with a refer
ence to the fact that he had been prose
cutOr of the pleas and went on to say
that great deal of the defendants case
had been excluded by the court s rulings.
He said in part;
This court cannot tie this jury down
to its methods in considering the facts.
| The evidence discIoses an underlined out
rage We tried to get before you why
this man shot this minister Millions Of
people in this broad land wanted to know
In the absence of a defined outrage yoa
have right to coajure up the darkest
and blacklist picture that you can If
Mr. Barker thought the shooting was
right and If was wrong in Law, he did
not know right from wrong, and you
may excuse
If the story were true as matter of
fact, and he believed il, then, by the law
of God and man and the verdict of every
jury IN the land, in case like this he
must be excused. He must be excused If
ne believed the story though it were false,
for he had an insane delusion The out
rage is out of the question; it has not
been Investigated"
Mr.. Van Wrinkle asked the court TO
strike out the prosecutor questions of
Barker when the defendant was asked if
he had not shot a man out West The
request was denied. Mr.. Van Winkle pro-
ceeded to attack the prosecutions alien
lists who testified against the theory that
Barker was suffering from emotional in
sanity.
Mr- Van WinkIe concluded at 1I:45
O'Clock Mr. Erwin, the prosecutor, arose /
promptly and began his summary in q
hard matter-of-fact way The issue AIT-
Erwin said. was only whether OF not a
man could take the law into his own
hands and then come into the courts and |
invoke the protection Of the law that he |
had violated