The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-13
THE KENNEDY CASE
STRONG TESTIMONY FOR DEFENSE
RULED OUT.
A BLOW TO THE DEFENDANT.
WAS INTENDED TO SHOW KENNE-
DY'S VILLAINH.

CoDrt Refuses to Give 1t to the Jury
Until OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Was
FRIEND and Confidant of Kennedy
Latter Had Told Him He Had
Ruined the GirI-He Had Intended
10 Marry Her, but Had Lost His
1espect for Her-His Family Was
Opposed to Her and He Had An
other Girl.
Kansas City. June 12.-Judge Wofford
,o-dav ruled out the testimony of one
nj the strongest witnesses presented so
far by the defense in the case of Lulu
Prince Kennedy, on trial for the murder
Of her husband. The defense evidently
had counted much on being able to pre-
eent This testimony, and the courts or
der 10 strike it out was considered a blow
IA that side. Mrs. Kennedy was visibly
depressed by the courts action The wit
ness was Edward w. Lewis, a personal
friend of the dead man.
Through him the defense hoped to prove
+be theory that Kennedy had ruined Lulu
Prince under promise of marriage and
then refused either to marry her or to
live with her after marriage had been
forced upon him.
The testimony of Lewis was ordered
taken down by the court stenographer,
but the court refused to allow it to be
given to the jury until corroborated. The
statement as made by Lewis is as fol-
lows:
The Story of the Trouble
the day after the marriage Phil Ken
ding. He told me he had known the girl
for two years, and that he had loved
her and that he had promised to marry
her, but that he had ruined her. He said
that after he had ruined her he had lost
his respect for her He told me he had
been called up by Mr.. Nearing at his Of
fee and went there, where Mr. Nearing
told him he must marry Lulu Prince. He
refused and went out in the hall. where
he found Lulu and her father and brother
Lulu put out her arms and said: Phil,
don't blame me. This is not my doing
He said: They threatened me, and we
went with them over to the Court House.
where we were married Phil asked me
what he ought to do and l told him that
it was his duty to take her and acknowl-
edge her as his wife. He said: If l do,
people will not have anything to do with
me. They will not call upon me- l told
him not to consider that, and to show
him that l was sincere in my advice, 1
promised him that if he took his wife and
lived with her, I would be the first to
bring my wife to call upon them. He
said my advice was good and he would
follow it. I met him the next day. and
he told me he had changed his mind. I
will not have anything more to do with
the girl he said.
Had IA Girl in Grand Rapids.
Il asked him why, and he said his
mother vas violently opposed to il, and
besides, he had received a telegram from
the gin in Grand Rapids and he said,
She has forgiven me fully.
Il saw him almost every day and con-
tnued my advice about doing his duty
10 Lulu. The day before the shooting
! saw him and he asked me if l believed
In an eternal hell. I asked him why he
wanted to know, and ne replied that he
intended to kill himself. He said to me
VITA sadness: Ed, l ought to have
taken your advice. It's too late now.
He went away and the next day he was
killed
The Mr.. Nearing mentioned in Lewis
statement is the leading attorney for the
defense. The defense theory is that Ken
nedy Tilted Miss Prince for the Grand
RAPIDS woman mentioned in the state
mont. Other testimony presented by the
defense was an attempt to show that
Mrs. Kennedy was temporarily insane at
Inc time of the murder.
The defense had not closed when court
adjourned for the day