The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-18
ARGUING MOLINBUX'S CASE
The Appellants Counsel Attacks
the Expert Testimony.

Mr.. MiIbUrn Points Cat the Alleged
Unfair Conditions Under which
the Condemned Nan Was Made to
Furnish Samples of Handwriting.
BUFFALO. jane 1S-Although the
Court Of Appeals does not convene until
/ 10 O'clock and remains in session contin-
uousIy until O'Clock in the afternoon,
! several women and a number Of men were
at the City and County Hail at $50
/ O'Clock this morning to be sure of secur-
/ ing seats and keeping them until today's
! arguments in the MoIineuX case are I'm
/ ished.
/ The throngs that want to get in were
) more cIamOrous this morning Most
Buffalonians have heard John c MibuTn,
who is making the arguments for the de-
! fence, but comparatively few ever have
heard ex-senator Hin, who VIII speak for
/ the prosecution. In view of this fact,
extra precautions were taken TO keep the
crowds away. and emphatic orders were
: issued to the attendants to keep the num-
Der Of spectators at the same figure
+ General NoIineux, father Of the appel
/ liant, entered the court room shortly be
fore 10 O'Clock and took a seat at the ex-
treme right In an instant he was spied
/ by a number Of New Workers who called
to him. Then General MoIineux took a
/ seat next to Bird s. CoIer, Comptroller OF
/ New York, who sat in the front row. The
! attorneys arrived a minute OF 50 before
| the justices entered. Senator Hill and
AIr NiIburn greeted each other by a
handshal1e. Charles II. lie Barber, As
sistant District Attorney, sat next to Sen
ator Hill
7 am sorry to notify your honors that
I 7 f1-z- 81 10
| Mr.. Mi1burn- i have stin a half hour
and if I am allowed another hour that viii
make five hours"
/ Chief Justice Parker nodded assent and
! Mr. NIiIburn continued his argument.
} Mr. AiiIburn referred TO KinsIey. the
I handwriting expert, and said: 'KinsIey
was hired by the police department to
/ take charge Of the handwriting branch Of
the investigation. and was sworn on the
! trial 10 prove documents from his per-
sonal knowledge Of MOlineux-s writing,
obtained by actually seeing him write He
was also the main expert Now the only
occasions on which Kiusley saw BIOIin-
eux write was when Molineux was pro-
duced ct the District Attorneys Office,
and to write matter which Kinsley pre-
! pared for him to write. That consisted
! of a copy Of the Cornish letter, known as
( the Harpster letter. the name of the poi
son and other matter which viii be found
| in the Iettered exhibits.
! Those papers were papers obtained by
{ a man in the employ Of the police depart
ment and who mad the defendant write
/ with pens furnished by himself and TO
! write such words as he requested him 20
/ write. Now there was the principal wit
ness, remember, to prove the documents
/ were in the handwriting OF Molineux. as
! a man acquainted with the handwriting
/ of MoIineux- Evidence of a similar char
! acter was rejected by this court in the
| case of Hines vs. McDermott. g. New
/ York, which was a case where an expert
was sent TO Europe to obtain handwriting
and which was thrown out as inadnissi-
/ bic evidence kinsley, the expert, was
I paid and in the employ Of the police de
partment Of New York and had arti-
| fetal writing Of Molineux in his pos
session TO prove that Molineux wrote the
/ address on the poison package. He was
an incompetent witness because those
writings were not genuine writings.
Was ATolineux's counsel present at the
time when MoIineux wrote the letters at
2Ir- Kinsley's request?" enquired Justice
Cullen
Mr. Weeks was present. replied Nj
AIiIburn Here was this defendant
charged with the commission of sen
sationaI crime that had attracted atten-
ton al over the country He was under
subpoena to attend the inquest 10 fix the
responsibility Of the death of Mrs Ad-
ans. Remember how much freedom Of
action 2 man would have under those
circumstances. The fact that AIr. Weeks
was present does not mitigate the mat
ter a particle Remember the position a
person Is in when every request Of the
police department and every request of
the District Attorneys office had to be
hOnored. Public authorities have power
under such circumstances that are almost
beyond the power Of expression 1t was
exercised in manner that L might say
was unscrupuIous-'
Did the defendant know what was eX-
pected Of him on that OCCASION asked
Judge Cullen
He was asked to go there and write
said MI Milburn. and he wrote under
those conditions. He could not do any
thing else. He never wrote on that occa-
sion IN his natural hand. If they asked him
to write vertically he did as they request
ed 1t was artificial. They had endless
specimens in his natural hand. They
wanted him tc write a copy Of the Harp
ster letter and q copy Of the address on
the poison