The age-herald., 1902-01-22
MRS. RICHARDSON AGAIN ON TRIAL Charged With the Murder of
 Her Husband HAS AGED PRECEPTIBLY The State Trles to Show That She Was unduIy Intimate With Stew
 art Fife, a Clerk In Her
 Husband's Store.

Piattsburg. Mo-. January 2i.-Mrs. Addie
 L. Richardson faced [ jury of farmers in | the Circuit Court here today, and her | trial on the charge of murdering, a year
 ago last December. her husband, Frank
 W. Richardson, merchant, at their home | in Savannah, Mo, began in earnest. Mrs.
 Richardson was surrounded by her three 1 youthful sons and several other members
 of her family and that of the man whom | she Is charged with murdering, including l his brother, John D. Richardson, of Chi cago.
 The prosecution under the indictment | of murder in the first degree is based on
 the proposition that the prisoner either
 killed her husband or knows who did. The belief that all members of the Richard | son family have all along expressed in
 the innocence of the widow appears to
 be unshaken by the recent arrest of
 ciate of Richardson.
 Adheres to Her Story. Mrs. Richardson still adheres to her
 story made at the time of the shooting, 1
 heard buggy drive up and her husband enter the hall; that she heard some one l say, Has it come to this?' and that the pistol shot was fired by some one un- l known to her as he entered the door of the parlor bedroom, where she awaited
 him. No one has professed to believe that
 Mrs. Richardson fired the fatal shot, but
 the state has expected that in defending
 herself against the charges she would be | forced to tell who did.
 l Mrs. Richardson has aged perceptibly ! in the last year, and when she entered 1 court today her features showed plainly the result of the stragn she nas under l gone Mrs Richardson held her youngest | boy in her lap during the session of court l today. When the indictment charging her l with "maliciously and deliberately mur- dering her husband was read she dis | played no emotion; nor later when Attor-
 ney c. F. Booher, in the statement of the | case for the state, said "As motive we
 will try to show that Mrs. Richardson | was unduiy intimate with Stewart Fife. | and we expect to show that Fife was in l the neighborhood of the house that
 night
 The Case Presented. | C. F. Boomer, Tn presenting Lne CdSe 1Or
 the state. told of the murder at the Rich 1 ardson home on December 24. 1900. Rich 1 ardson had planned to accompany her l to a Christmas entertainment. At the | last moment she telephoned to him at the l store that she had decided not to go
 Twenty minutes later" said he, Rich | ardson was a dead man in his own | home" Richardson was shot and killed as | he was about to enter his wife's bed room.
 | we will show" said MT. Booher, that | so far as the state is able to present it, | the defendant was the only person in that | house at the time. As a motive we will | try to show that Mrs. Richardson was
 unduly intimate with Stewart Fife, | clerk in Richardson's store, and we ex- | pect to show that Fife was in the neigh | borhood of the house that night. l Stewart Fife was arrested in Washing | ton recently charged with complicity in | the crime and brought back from the
 East Sunday night.
 Saw Fresh Buggy Tracks. | George D. Crowley, a former business
 partner of Richardson, was the first wit | ness called. | MT Crowley told of going with Richard 1 son from his home early in the evening l to Richardson's store. The children had | gone to the entertainment and Mrs. Rich ardson remained alone. He was at the l house after the murder and said Mrs. Richardson was prostrated. He told of making an examination of the premises | and of discovering fresh buggy tracks in | the snow.
 | Bessie Phillips was called but did not respond and an attachment was issued 1 for her Bessie Phillips was a domestic | in the Richardson home at the time of the | murder and at the coroner's inquest gave | testimony ref1ecting on Mrs. Richard | sons relations with George Crowley. | M. E. Brown, clerk In Richardsons | store told of Mrs. Richardson telephon- l ing that Crowley had left his gloves at
 the house and that she would bring them | to the store.
 l Mrs Richardson is specifically charged with firing the shot that killed Frank I Richardson. Fife is charged with doing | the same thing.
 l Mrs. Kerr. a next-door neighbor Of the Richardsons to whose house Mrs. Rich | ardson went to telephone b fore and after | the killing, was asked If Ihe heard the | sound of a shot and testified that she heard a peculiar sound, after which she heard the sound of buggy wheels driving away. Although Mrs. Kerr was sub poenaed by the state, she proved a strong witness for the defense. Her testimony had a tendency to revive one of the ear Hest theories advanced-that Richardson was shot by some one who drove away in a vehicle.