The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-03-14


New York, March 1S.--Tberc Is no doubt
hut that the prosecution feels severely the
effect that the incident Of tho burning OF
tho towel saturated with chloroform had
upon the case Of Albert r. Patrick. Strange
as it may seem. the only Thing TO hc.
ucyc now is that Osborne had been mis-.
Informed as to The character Of chIoroform.
How far the incident has shaken the stor,
Of Jones. taken as q whole, it is hard to
tell. 1t is left for Osborne TO declare and
District Attorney Jerome said that It was
not fairly conducted and further that at
tho time Jones was likely to imagine a
smodctng burning as a harug fame The
most effective thing that he can do. how.
over. is to point out that the tale was not
a carefully constructed one due TO a con
Spiracy to pcrsecute Patrick, Tor in thrt
case such mistakelf mistake It was
would not have been allowed to have been
made.
Tho feeling that 1t has cngcudcrcd be-
tween the counsel for the defendant and
Mr.. Osborne Is very deep. The prosecutor
feels that he has been tricked and does
not hesitate to say so. Only tho most
strenuous efforts of the recorder arc able
to keep the court in decent docorum. 10.
day the court threatened in way that
looked very much as If he was about to
carry it ont TO put the assistant district
attorney In Jail for contempt
Mr.. Osborne was, on. this occasion. rs
he has been on former ones very profuse
in his apologies and he is able TO obtain
the recorders forgiveness more fully than
Mr. Moore can whose offenses Ia this line
are not so great
DR.. Gardiner seemed 10 he able 10 bring
ont all that was pngnacfous In MIR Os-
borneS character. It was this witness
who went on the stand yesterday and told
Of the results OF the experiment with the
towel and chloroform. DR.. Gardiner, while
valuable to the defense, is inclined TO re-
gard his connection with the defense too
strongly. Osborne tried to emphasize this
point and Mr.. Moore tried TO protect his
witness. The clash was a severe one and
in the end Osborne refused to cross-cx-
anime the witness further.
The most important witness Of the day,
however, was Or. Flint and his testimony
was in some way more damaging to the
prosecutions theory than the incident Of
the towel. He described the effects Of mcr.
curry upon the human system III II WHY luUt
was easy for the jury to understand as
was rs important TO tho case. His tosi-
mony that the element could he detected
some time' II year after il has been ad-
ministcrcd was meyrected. What he had
told about the kidneys being diseased was
the hardest thing for the prosecution TO
contend with, He, like all other doctors
presented by the defense. believed that Mr..
Rice's death was due to natural causes.
His cross-cxamlnation, which promises to
be interesting, was just begun when court
was adjourned for the day.
In beginning the cross examination Of
Or. John II. Gardiner today Mr.. Osborne
described the medical history Of Rice $
case from the prosecutions point Of view
and asked the witness II, under the condi.
tions existing at IL a M, as told by the
attending physician, something must not
have interviewed to cause Ricc's death at
5 O'Clock in the evening.
"Therc was quito sufficient evidence OF
oedema OF the lungs Mt that time" DR..