Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-01-26
PATERSON FIENDS
ESCAPE GALLOWS
Murder in the Second Degree tn,
Verdict in the Bosschieter
Case.
MAXIMUM PENALTY, THIRTY YEARS
Defendants Showed No Emotion when the
Verdict Was Announced-CIosing
Arguments of Prosecution
and Defense.

NC<AilSteT, AiureW y. campbell ano
William Death, three of the four per.
sons indicted for the murder OF Jen.
ME Bosschieter, a mill girl, who was
murdered on the night of October is
last. were last night adjudged guilty
of murder in the second degree. Ac.
cording to the jury law the maximum
penalty for the prisoners is thirty
years Imprisonment. The jury look
fourteen ballots, n after summon
ing Judge Dixon II the prisoners,
filed into the court room. The prison.
ers appeared very V
McAlister seemed more excited than
any of the others. He sat biting his
lips while waiting. Campbell thrust
his hands into his trousers pockets and
clinched his fists in them. Death
looked anxiously about the court room
for a moment, and then assumed the
same attitude as Campbell.
When the verdict was announced the
prisoners evinced neither elation nor
relief.
Judge Dixon thanked the jury, and
said he believed the verdict a just one.
He then dismissed the jurors until
Monday morning. The court then rose
and the prisoners were taken back to
the Jail.
A crowd was gathered outside the
NN~NSN 80 IN nav ING DuN as VII
the preceding days Of the trial, only a
limited number OF persons were admit
ted TO the court room. The defendants
were brought into court shortly before
10 o'clock and look their usual seats
beside their counsel.
Defenses' Closing Plea.
Ex-Judge William T. Hoffman, be-
gar the closing address for the defense
as soon as Judge Dixon took his seat
on tho hnnnh M 1IAffR,a, it'd.
pressed his pity for the fate thai had
betallen Jennie Bosschieter, sympathy
with her parents, n hoped hat the
accused would not be found guilty OF
the girls murder. A point which, in
Mr.. Hoffmann's opinion, had not been
sufficiently emphasized by his assoc
ciates In the defense, was thai a de-
PENDANT is not to be permitted to be
called upon to prove his innocence, but
the state must prove his guilt.
Mr.. Hoffman proceeded at some
length in emarks calculated to dis
credit the testimony OF Professor Wit
thaus as to the quantity of choral
hydrate that had beer administered to
the girl and quoted the professor as
saying that the mount of choral he
found in the stomach could not have
done any more harm than if 1t had re-
manned in the bottle. He cited the tes-
nv VI ~. NdlluN ilDtIB 10 the erect
that analysis Of embalming fluid such
as that used to embalm the corpse of
Jennie Bosschiter gave the same re-
suits as Professor Witthaus obtained
from an analysis of the girls stomach.
Counsel also quoted the denials on the
witness stand by all three defendants
that they administered or knew Of the
administration of choral hydrate or
knockout drops to the girl, and de-
clared that they would not perjure
themselves even to save their lives. Mr..
Honmann alleged that statements had
been eXtorted from two Of the defend
ants by the Police by improper means,
and that these statements then had
been distorted into confessions. All the
circumstances of the meeting Of Jen-
ME Bosschieter with defendants the
evening of October IS and of the start
In a hack for Lees hotel, counsel said,
were inconsistent with the theory of
the prosecution, that the affair was
prearranged on the part of the men for
their assault on the girl by the road
side. Schulthorpe, he said, was here
to do as the state wanted Counsel
concluded With these words.
THE whole case is consistent with
the innocence of the defendants under
a proper application of the law. If
they go to the scaffold / will not be
here to see it. / shall shield my face
and say shame, shame 10 the good
name of the people Of New Jersey"
Prosecutors Closing Address.
Public Prosecutor Emily began the
delivery of the final address for the
state. After abiding to the enormity
of the crime charged he attacked the
testimony the defendants gave on
the witness stand. Their meet
fnHr a ~ I H. aaG1
accident; and he asked why those with
whom McAlister said he and Kerr had
ar appointment for the evening Of Oc-
tober Is, which was not Kept, had not
come forward to support the testi-
mony Of the accused. The engagement,
Mr.. Emley asserted, was at Saal's sa-
Icon, and had for its purpose, as
Campbell had put it, Of having a
good time with the girl now dead.
Mr.. Emley pointed out alleged in
constituencies of the story Of the ride in
the Schulthorpe hack as the defend
ants told it on the witness stand, and
Scoffed at the allegation that the girl
was taken riding in order that the
fresh air might revive her.
If their purpose was humane why
was the girl not put under the care of
Mrs. Saal, instead of being driven
Lway in a hack with men? Why, when
Lees hotel was reached and the girl
was very i'll, was not the house aroused
10 afford her assistance? The scenes
by the roadside and at the brook were
recalled, and the fact brought to the
jury's attention that there had been
no proof presented by the accused, as
there might have been, of their story
that the girl had vomited in Camp
bells handkerchief. Adverse comment
was also passed upon the behavior OF
the accused men when DR.. Townsend
told them the girl was dead, and the
fact that they threw her comb and
other personal effects into the river
when they left her corpse at the side