The Washington times., 1902-02-04
JUROR BECOMES I'LL
IN PATRICK Case
Recorder Golf Forced to Ad-
journ Court Early.
DEFENCE DISPLAYS CONFIDENCE
Not Enough Mercury in Millionaire
Rice's Body to Cause Denth-Bnnk
Clerk FniIs to Identify Real Sig
nature.

NEW YORK, Feb. 3.-The Patrick mur-
der trial was adjourned an hour earlier
| than usual this afternoon by Recorder
Goff at the request of the sixth man on
the jury, John D. Campbell, of 2l2 East
Forty ninth Street, who complained Of
being ILL.,
The third week of the trial began with
William NJ. Rice, jr., nephew and name
sake Of the dead man. on the stand. His
direct and most of his cross-eXamination
had been finished before adjournment last
Friday.
Tells of Fathers Death.
He was asked today by Lawyer Moore.
of counsel for the defence, about the
death of his own father, which occurred
recently on a train in Texas. The fathe;
of the witness was brother of the late
William NJ Rice. Mr. Moore tried to
show by the sons testimony that the
father had died of heart disease, and that
the Rice family was subject to that com
plant. but all questions along that line
were ruled out by Recorder Goff.
After Mr.. Rice left the stand the assist
ant district attorney. who has charge OF
the case, read the Rice will of 1896. which
was admitted as evidence late Friday af
ternoon No testimony relative to that
document was taken today.
Differs With DIR. Williams.
Coroner's Physician Edward J. Donlin.
who performed the autopsy on the body of
Mr. Rice, was the next witness. He did
not seem to be SO sure about The cause
of death as DR.. Hamilton Williams, who
did not perform the autopsy.
The testimony CT Dr.. Denim. however,
was in the essential points corroborative
of DR.. Williams testimony, and was to
the effect tnat death was caused by in
haling chlorofOrm.
The prosecuting attorney and Mr.. Moore
then had hot dispute over DR.. Donln on
technical points. and both were hauled up
in short order by the recorder.
Chemical Expert on stand.
DR.. Rudolph a. Witthaus, the chemical
expert, was then called. He testified to
finding a little over three quarters of a
grain of mercury in Mr.. Rice's body in
his analysis of the several organs. The
assistant district attorney asked the
chemist if that mercury had been in the
i'll the embalming process.
The question was objected TO by Mr.
Moore and ruled out The question was
put in a dozen different forms, but none
of them properly. according to Recorder
Gon. and the prosecution failed to estab-
lish definitely the fact that the mercury
was given to Rice before death.
Aids the Defence.
Under cross exa nina ion. DR.. Witthaus
admitted that he had not found enough
mercury to cause death. In his redirect
examination the chemist was allowed to
say that he knew of no embalming fluid
which contained mercury. While DR..
Witthaus was on the stand Mr.. Moore
and the as =istant district attorney had
another row. Each accused the other of
being rude ANA unfair, and their little
set-to was the livelest incident of the
day. 81
DenOunocs VIII as Forgery.
William +. Harman, a clerk in Sven
sons, and witness to the Rice will of
the various W. NJ Rice sigma
lures already in evidence as forgeries.
Then Fred B. House, for the defence
introduced four signatures and resorted to
a prize every package method to con-
fuse the handwriting expert of the prose-
cution. Each OF the four signature was
on the edge of a paper projecting through
a slit that had been cut in a sealed en-
velope. None of the rest of the paper
was visible.
Harman declared three OF the four sig
TO be the genuine signatures of
the late William NJ. Rice. He was doubt
full about the fourth. Hr. House then
asked that the envelopes be opened ard
their contents. with the signatures. be
admitted as evidence. The clerk opened
the first envelope and found that the
paper, save for The signature near the
edge, was blank.
The assistant district attorney objected
TO its admission on the ground that
blank paper must be irrelevant. The con
tents OF the other three envelopes was
not disclosed. Al! four were marked for
identifca ton.
Fails to Identify.
Mr.. House said after the session that
one OF the three signatures which Har-
man had positively identified as Rice's
was not Rice's at all
THAT shows. said the lawyer. what
all the handwriting testimony is orth."
The assistant district attorneys COM
ment on the four envelopes was;
1t suits us either way. If the sigma
tures are genuine would like to have
Patrick explain how he got them. If they
are forged I'd like 10 have him explain
how he can reproduce that signature so
closely as to fool a bank clerk who knows
all about Rice's signature"
Agrees With Dr. Wirhnus.
DR. Henry b. Locmis was the last wit
ness OF the day. lie had also made an
analysis of the organs of Mr. Rice s body
His testimony corroborated that of Dr.
Witthaus.
He also testified that he knew of no
disease which would have caused such a
OF the lungs as was shown by |
the autopsy on MIR. Rice's body.