Evening journal., 1903-03-18
SMILES IN DEATHS SHADOW
Man on Trial for Wife Murder
Amused by Lawyers Tilt.

Amused by Lawyers Tilt.
stan Correspondents Evening Journal.
Georgetown, March 1s.-Summed up,
the testimony so far introduced against
Elmer Collins, the alleged brutal muir
derer of his wife. Ida, amounts to lit
tie. and it is admitted by those who
have followed the case closely, that
the defense had the best OF almost
every witness heard yesterday. The
witnesses instead of forging links with
which to bind Collins, have served to
add an air of mystery to the case. The
evidence did not go farther than TO
prove that Mrs. Collins was found
murdered in a stall in the stable on
the farm near Laurel on April H.
If the Hen Could Talk.
According to the evidence Of several
witnesses, there is an old hen down on
the Collins farm which could name the
murderer if it could talk. 1t was di-
! rectly under the nest on which this
hen was sitting that Mrs Collins body
was found. 1t was there when the
murder was committed, and was still
there when the neighbors from the sur
rounding country arrived at the stable
in response to the husbands summons.
1t is dumb-unfortunate for the
State.
Collins Children in Court.
One of the features of yesterday af-
1 ternoon was the presence Of the Col
Inns children in the court room. They
were brought there by the brother Of
Mrs. Collins. Few people in the room
knew them at first. Gradually it be-
came noised about that they were
present and Immediately became the
centre Of attraction for all eyes.
Poor little dears," What a pity"
were some of the remarks heard. Col
Inns did not have a chance to speak to
| the little ones. Dnui today they
did not know their father was in Jail,
but thought he was away working
during the long. dreary days since Oc-
tOber, when he went to Jail.
Crowd Getting Larger.
The crowd in Georgetown and in the
Court House was the largest in the
history Of the town. Before the public
was admitted to the room the bailiffs
saw that all the witnesses and court
officials were seated. Then the double
doors We're opened wide. Like a whirl-
wind the curious crowd swept into the
corridor and up the stairs, yelling and
pulling and hauling each other. They
did not stop at the doors of the court
room, where the judges sat. solemn
| and stern on the bench. The mob
poured into the room until not another
could be crammed in. The balance
stood in the corridors and on the stair
way. In the crowd were men and
women from the back woods who had
1 nnf hapn n hafnrn
There were also men and women from
the best families in Georgetown. Sit
ting on the bench with the judges was
former Governor Tunnel.
Lawyer Almost Mobbed.
The lines are being drawn closely.
For the first time the lawyers in the
case clashed last evening over the ad-
mission OF testimony. The point was
whether 76year-old John Henry
should give expert testimony regarding
the number of hours Mrs. Collins had
been dead when he saw her. The de-
fense won.
Robert c. White. one of the attor-
neys for the defense, was almost
mobbed by an irate witness, Joseph
Kenney, last night, on the street. In
cross s-examination this evening shortly
btA'it Nouil ClOHels lne 1iloIite
brought out that Kenney owed Collins
money, and for that reason was liable
to be biased. Last night Kenney and
his wife met the lawyer as he was
leaving the court room, and almost as
saulted him. Mr.. White got in a crowd
of his friends and escaped from the
man and woman.
For some time there have been ru-
mors that the defense would attract
the methods of the State detectives
Francis and Ratledge. Attorney White
laid the ground for it when he got
Mary Henry, one of the witnesses Ia
! admit that Detective Ratledge had
suggested to her that she saw Collins
running across the field between and
6 o'clock in the morning. In his open
ing address to the jury Attorney Gen
eral Ward said he would prove that
the body of Mrs. Collins was Geld wher
it was found in the stable.
In ss-eXamination, George Henry
one of the States witnesses, admitted
that the body was warm and that he
got spots of blood on the back of hi:
hand. On the other hand. John Henry
b the father of the preceding witness
said the body was cold and stiff. Thi
, state was attaching much importance
' TO the testimony of George Henry ans
} Joseph Kenney. who testified they wer,
; working in a field near by and coul,