Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-09-26
AMAZING CELEBRITY SHOWN IN
CZOLGOSZ CASE.
ASSASSIN PLEADS GUILTY
But Plea of Not Guilty is Entered
Jury Drawn and Opening Heard
and Testimony of Several Witness
es Already In-case May be Dis
posed of in Another Day or Two.

gOSZ was placed on trial yesterday
morning, charged with the murder Of
President Mckinley He entered a
plea of guilty, which was subsequent
ly changed to not guilty by direction
of the court All events of the day m
| Dictated the trial would be short TIE
court convened at ten and in two hours
! eight jurors had been secured.
Justice White, one of the Oldest and
most experienced supreme court
| judges on the bench, Immediately after
the opening of the court, and after the
| prisoner had pleaded, announced that
| he and Justice Lewis were ready to act
| in behalf of the prisoner
The work of securing the jurors was
undertaken with amazing celebrity. Be-
| fore the day was over the entire panel
| was sworn, the jurors listened to a
! description of the temple of music
where the crime occurred, had seen
photographs of the interior of the
| structure and had been told by three
effect of the assassin's shot upon the
various organs of the body. They al
| SO learned why the fatal bullet had not
! been located.
The presentation of the govern
| ment'S case began shortly before 3
o'clock when Attorney Halter. with
much deliberation addressed the jury.
The first witness was Samuel 7.
| Fields, civil engineer, who explained
| the position and direction of the aisle
In which the president stood when
| shot. Percy A. Bliss testified to hav-
ing photographed the interior of the
music hall. DR.. Gaylord said the cause
Of death was attributed to a gunshot
wound, but, fundamentally, was due 20
| changes in the back Of the stomach
and in the pancreas caused by the
breaking down of the pancreas as the
result of the passage OF the bullet.
DR.. Mynter's testimony was import
ant inasmuch as it brought out the
| fact that the reason why the fatal bull
let was not located was because of the
| unwiilingness Of the presidents rela.
tives to have the badly further mutilat-
ed. DIR. Mynter and DIR. Mann, who
| followed him, both testified that the
primal cause of death was a gunshot
wound in the stomach. One effect Df
| the wound was to cause gangrene to
| form in the poncreas.
Czolgosz, during the morning evin-
ced no interest in the proceedings,
but as the testimony was added paid
more attention to what was said. The
| probable duration of the trial, it is
| believed, can be placed in two full
| days
| 1t is not probable that any defense
will be put in, owing to the charact9 r
Of the prisoner and his refusal to help
| his attorneys procure evidence that
| they could use in his favor The idea
| OF the attempt to enter a question Of
| sanity is not thought of in view Of
! the reports of the alienists who re-
| Gently examined him and there is
ground for belief that the trial will De
| concluded at a session of one dav
| or more.
Calling the talesmen one by one was
begun at 1895. The first man up
was Frederick v. Lauer, a plumber.
He is a portly, open faced man of in
telligent speech and direct manner.
He was accepted and will probably be
| foreman.
The question put to him were of
| class asked all of those who came
after him. Did he believe in the in
stitutions and government of this
country? Did he believe in capital
punishment? Supposing that he had
heard and read of the case was his
opinion of it SO fixed that it could not
| be changed by evidence and so forth
and so on. 1t was evidently the in
tent of the defense to accept the SER
vices of any fair minded, sensible
man, open to conviction that Czolgosz
was insane when the deed was done.
There was no disposition to bubble
and the routine work proceeded with
reasonable rapidity.
| Within an hour four other jurymen
were obtained. They are Richard J.
Garwood, builder; Silas GARNER, farm
er; Henry W. Wendt, manufacturer;
James S. Stygall, Jr., plumber; Will
| lam Lotion, farmer.
AS each of these men was accepted
CzolgosZ was told to stand up. Then
followed the formula, Prisoner, look
upon the juryman' juryman, look up
on the prisoner" after which the oath
was administered. In no instance did
the assassin look at a juryman. In
stead he rose promptly, gazed steadily
at the judge and kept his unwavering
| look until permitted to resume his
| seat
At noon fourteen men had been ex-
cused from service. Some of them
were challenged by the defense;
others were dismissed for cause by
the Judge; one or two were not want
| ed by the prosecution. 1t happened
| more than once that prospective
| juror admitted having such opinion of
| the defendants crime that it would
require overwhelming evidence to
change it. Others not so frank were
set down by the defense because
Judges Titus and Lewis suspected
them of desire to convict The state
| challenged when Penney thought a
man weakened. One cause of dismis-
sal was lack Of property. To sit on
this trial man must be taxpayer or
his wife must pay taxes.
Other jurors obtained before the
noon adjournment were: Walter E.