Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-16
STATE FINISHES ITS CASE
GsOd Progress is BsiHg MAIDS in the Rod
sr.ok Murder Trial
INDICATIONS WHAT DEFENSE WILL Be
Expert Testimony to show That Blow
Received by Meyer was Not sum-
Client to Cause Death and That
Moyer started the auarreE.

AS had been anticipated, the defense Of
Otto Roderick, charged with killing Clark
Meyer, the railway mail clerk, will be that
the blow Roderick struck Meyer was not
sufficient in itself to cause his death. This
was made evident yesterday afternoon When
the defense placed on the witness stand
DTB. T. p. Lacey, V. L. Treynor, II. b.
Jennings and Don Macrae, ir.
Drs. Lacey, Treynor aud Macrae testified
to having attended Meyer at different times.
especially on two occasions when he suf-
fered a fracture Of his leg, the result OF
falling on the sidewalk. Their testimony
was to the effect that they had noticed a
general brittleness OF Meyers bones, max
ing them peculiarly susceptible to frac-
ture. ID Jennings had never treated Meyer
and his testimony vas merely in the ali
stract.
The direct testimony for the state was
completed shortly after the noon recess.
DR.. Seybert. who performed the post NOR
tenn examination on Meyer. testified that
in addition TO the wound under the eye he
had found a large confused wound back Of
the left ear. In his opinion, he said, this
wound could not have been caused by a
blow from a FIST or by falling on the stone
pavement. While not stating 30 directly,
he inferred that the wound had been
caused ty brass knuckles or seine other in
strument
Roy Keller, VIII Frisbie and Frank Cook.
the three young men who were with Meyer
in the Creston house saloon Just previous
to the assault, repeated the testimony they
had given at the coroner's inquest. They
told how Keller had been struck by John
williams. Roderlck's companion, but none
Of them saw Meyer struck.
Williams Has Poor MemOry.
John williams, who was with Roderick
the night Meyer was assaulted and who was
arrested along with Roderick. when placed
on the stand evinced a peculiar lapse Of
memory. To almost every question asked
him by County Attorney Killpack he an
swered: II do not remember" He told
OF having struck young Keller after the
latter. as he alleged, had applied a vile epi-
tibet to him, but he insisted he did not see
anyone strike Meyer. His testimony varied
in many points from that given before tho
inquest.
Constable Albert and Detective Murphy,
who arrested Roderick the day following
the assault on Meyer, testified as to Rode
rick admitting he had struck Meyer. Roy
Jones. the employe at the South Main
otEeet reSIAurantI from whom hOuerlck
tried to borrow 25 cents the night of the
assault. repeated his testimony practically
as given at the Inquest. This was to the
effect that when he declined to loan Rode
rick the money the latter informed him he
had already knocked out one four -eyed
fellow and that he had a great mind to do
the same TO him.. Meyer wore eyeglasses.
and It was to that Roderlck was supposed
to have referred to when talking OF a four
eyed fellow.
The last witness for the state was Re-
porter o'Hanley, who read from his short
hand notes the testimony Of the several
witnesses at the eoroner's inquest.
II is understood that the defense intends
today to place on the stand witnesses in
an attempt to show hat Meyer was of a
quarrelsome nature and that he started the
trouble which led to the assault on him.