Evening journal., 1903-03-21
ELMER COLLINS TEST FlES
Breaks Down and Weeps Telling Of the
Finding of Body.
Special to the Evening Journal.

Finding of Body
Special TO the Evening Journal.
Georgetown, March 21.-For over
three hours Elmer Collins, the accused
murderer Of his wife was on the wit
ness stand here yesterday afternoon.
ana was coMlclied to go over in detail
the scenes and incidents preceding and
following the murder of his wife. He
stood the ordeal well, and his story did
rot weaken lis case. Ilo toll the story
in a straightforward manner, and did
not hesitate but once and that was
when he came to the part Of his story
when he found his wife lying dead In
the stall in the stable
This was too much for him, and lean
ing over the witness box he began to
.cry. SObs shook his frail frame. and,
sinking down in the chair. he collapsed.
1t was several minutes before he suf-
ficiently recovered his compOsure to go
on and tell the rest of his sad story.
The dramatic climax to the taking OF
testimony during the day brought tears
to the eyes Of many women in the court
room.
Rigid Cross Examination
After he had related his story to Mr..
Richards he was taken in hand by At
tcrney-Ceneral II. II. Ward. who gave
him the most rigid examination At $50
O'Clock when court adjourned last
evening he had not finished. and the
crOss-examination was finished this
morning. Three other witnesses be-
sides Collins were heard yesterday af-
ternoCu. but their testimony was not
startling.
Defense Outlined.
As soon as court opened yesterday
afternoon Mr. Richards made his open
ing remarks to the jury. He said in
part:
1--WE will show to you the life and
the home of a plain Sussex county
farmer. w ewil prove to you that FL
mer Collins was born and raised in this
county. lie vas educated In The
schools here and then went to the
Wilmington Conference Academy at
Dover. where he stayed six months.
When he came home from school he
went to Crisfield. Nd. where he remain
ed for some time. Then he returned to
Sussex county and married. He settled
on the farm where he was living when
his wife was so cruelty murdered.
I'VE will show to you that his wife
worked in the fields with him. She
planted all of the small seed and drop
ped potatoes. 1t was no strange thing
for her to go to the field with him. We
will show you all of the history of his
life on Friday preceding the murder.
We will shcw that up to dark where he
was. There was another person at the
house besides him and him family. We
will lay clear all that was done on the
morning of April u, when his wife
VISA found murdered. We will show
that she was living o nthe morning of
April u even after Collins left the field.
I'VE will shcw that Mr.. Collins and
/ his wife always lived happily together
They did not have any jars. We will
show that in the search made after the
murder there were tracks found lead
ing to the branch. We will further
chow that there were tracks on the op-
site side of the branch. Testimony
Will be introduced to prove that a man
was seen running toward the branch.
Stranger Seen.
1--WE will show you gentlemen that a
strange man was seen on the Friday
evening preceding the murder riding a
bicycle in that locality. Then we viii
prove to you if the court will allow
it that this man committed the crime"
This practically means that the de-
fense will try to connect Waite Platt,
the colored man who was ARRESTED for
lstealing a bicycle and made an alleged
confession that he murdered the
woman. Pratt is now in the State Hos
pital for the Insane at Farnhurst
Witnesses Called.
, In an attempt to discredit the testi-
mony of Joseph Kenney, the defense
called G. N Walston, who walked from
the Collins barn, and J. H. Smith, who
said he could not see Walston except
for a space of $50 yards. Kenney testi-
fed for the State that he saw Collins
leave his house and go to the tomato
\ patch on the day the murdered woman
4 was found.
In cross-examination Mr.. Ward
showed that Smith was related to Col
Inns.
Defense Causes Surprise.
, Mr. Richards then called Elmer Col
4 Inns. There was a murmur of surprise
as it was not expected that the defend
! amt would be put ON the stand at sc
} oarly a stage Of the case. He walked to
/ the stand with firm step and took the
oath. Collins testified that he was &c
, years old. and attended school IN the
: ,neighborho0d Of his fathers home IL
! Little Greek until he WAS is years cid
.when he went TO the Conference Acad-
emy at Dover. In 1896 he married llds