The age-herald., 1901-09-24

Andrew j. Smith.
 Joachim H. Mertens.
 Robert J. Adams, contractor.
 Buffalo 5-. Y, September 23.-Leon F. Czolgosz was placed on trial this morn- ing, charged with the murder of Presi- dent Mckinley. He entered a plea of guilty" which was subsequently, chang ed to mot guilty by direction of the court.
 All the events of the day indicated that the trial will be short Court convened at 10 o'clock and within two hours eight jurors had been secured Justice Tru- man c. White, one of the oldest and most experienced of the Supreme Court judges was on the bench. Immediately after the opening of the court and after the prisoner had pleaded, Justice Loran l.. Lewis senior counsel for the defendant, announced that together with his collea- gues, former Justice Robert c. Titus and Mir Carlton F. Ladd, they were ready to act in behalf of the prisoner. "I thought 1t best" he said, flor my colleagues and myself that I should say nothing regarding our presence here as | attorneys for the defendant. At the tiaa4' my name was suggessed' was out of the | city and knew ylothing of what was | transpiring here with reference to the se- | lection of counsel for the defendant When the circumstances of my selection were told me I was extremely reluctant to accept. But the duty had been im- posed and I considered 1t my duty in all the circumstances, to defend this man.
 T ask that no evidence be presented here-tnat the court will not permit the acceptance of any evidence unless it would be accepted in the trial of the most meagre criminal in the land"
 Judge Will Give Fair Trial.
 T am familiar with these circum- stances" said Justice White in reply, and l wish to say that l will give you every assurance that the prisoner will have a fair and impartial trial. and that during the progress of the trial he will receive such treatment as the law de- mands in any criminal case"
 The work of securing the jurors was then undertaken with alacrity that was amazing Before the day was over the entire panel had been sworn, the ju- TOTS had listened to a description of the Temple of Music where the crime oc- cured, had seen photographs of the inte- rior of that structure and had been told by three surgeons what caused the death of the President and the effect of the as- sassin's shot upon the various organs of the body. They had also learned why the fatal bullet had not been located
 The presentation of the governments case began shortly before O clock when Assistant District Attorney Hallery be- gan with much deliberaton to address the jury. He spoke very briefly.
 We shall show" he said, that for some days prior to the shooting this de- fendant had premeditated the shooting of the President. He knew that the 9th of September the President would re- ceive the populace in the Temple of Music; that one day he went to the ex- position. got into line with the people and approached the President; that he had a weapon in his hand, and as the President extended his hand in kindly greeting he fired the fatal shot
 'He fired two shots. in fact. One of them took effect in the abdomen and caused that mortal wound which resulted in the Presidents death. That in brief. is the story we shall show you. Witnesses will tell you this story and am sure that when you have heard the evidence you will have no difficulty In reaching a yer dict of murder in the first degree"
 First Witness.
 The first witness Samuel ]. Fields. chief engineer of the Pan-American ex- position, described the ground floor of the Temple of Music and was followed by Perry A. Bliss, photographer, who pre- sented views of the interior of the build ing. The remainder of the afternoon was taken up with the testimony of three physicians, two of whom had attended the President during his last days, while the other performed the autopsy. The latter, pr. Harvey R. Gaylord, was the first of the trio to be called. He described the location of the wounds in the stomach and the direction of the bullet. The cause of death was attributed to the gunshot wound, but fundamentally, he said, it was due to the changes back of the stomach in the pancreas, caused by the breaking down" of the material Of the pancreas as a result of the passage of the bullet
 Dr. Herman Mynter followed and his testimony was of importance, inasmuch as it brought out the fact that the req son why the fatal bullet had not been located at the autopsy was because of the unwillingness of the Presidents reIa- tices to have the body further mutilated by their instruments Dr. Mynter and Dr. Mann. who followed him, both tes- tiled the the primary cause of death was the gunshot wound in the stomach One effect of this wound was they gid. to cause the gangrene to form in the pam crease and the spot of poisoned tissue was as large as a silver dollar.
 Prisoner Czolgosz during the morning evinced no interest whatever in the pro- ceedings but as the testimony was in troduced he paid more attention to what was said. and looked at the various witt nesses closely.
 The probable duration of the trial. ie