Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-23
THE VERDICT
AnxiousIy Awaited by
Miss Nan Patterson.
Jury Still Out and All Kinds of
Rum0rs Afloat. /
She Apparently Is Absolutely Conf
dent Of An Acquittai.

New York, Dec. 22.-Nan Patterson,
former show-girl, passed an anxious
evening in the criminal courts build
ing awaiting the result Of the delibera-
lions Of the II men, who shortly after
noon, today. We're sent to a Jury room
| TO decide whether she should be brand
cd as the woman who fred the shot
that killed Caesar Young or liberated
to join her. family.
She had expected a speedy verdict
and had even packed her belongings in
the cell which has been her home for
several months, but evening came and
the jur;' went to dinner and returned to
its deliberations with no sign of what
the verdict would ne.
AS the afternoon passed into evening
various rumors were spread about the
criminal courts building as to doings in
he jury room.
'The Jury stands 10 to 2 for acouit
tai" was one Of these reports.
Zone man is holding out" was an
other.
Some had the harlhood to name the
juror upon whose refusal to acGuit
hanSs so much Cor the former actress
The fact that one of the jurors after
the charge of Judge Davis, today, hal
asked that he might take the revolver
with which Young was killed to the
jury room, gave rise to stories that the
jnrymen We're spending much time in
experiments But all these rumors We're
but iulc talk. apparently, for not an
authentic hint reached the crowds con-
gregated in and about the criminal
courts building as % what was actual
ly taking place.
TIE great interest which the trial Of
Nan Patterson attracted was neve..
evinced in more pronounced way than
this afternoon and evening. Excluded
from the corridors Of the court building
several scores of persons stood outside
the main entrance in the slush and
snow and cold. tonight. waiting for
word that the jury had at last agreed.
New York. Dec 22.-Even with the
verdict of the jury yet to come. Nan
Patterson, who for more than six
months. has been locked up In the
Tombs prison, charged with the mur-
der of Caesar Young. felt, Thursday
that the hardest part of her ordeal was
past. To the verdict. she said, she has
all the time looked forward only with
pleasure. On that point she has had
no fear. 1t was the long wait. the dis
heartening Interruptions and delay and
the nerve-racking strain of the long
trial that inspired her with dread. The
mercilesS arraignment of Assistant
District Attorney Rand, which she
H.
had feared would be the hardest to
bear Thursday. with all that behina
her. she said that she felt perfectly at
ease and awaited without fear, the
word of the jury which she knew
would set her free.
Il have passed through so much"
she said, that i feel l can face
another day without fiinching. The
judge. | know. will not be cruel to me,
and the tones of his voice will never
rise to the harsh pitch of accusation.
His charge, as l understand it, will
be as much for as against me, and
when he has finished it will only re-
main for the II grim-faced men in the
jury box to determine whether / am
guilty or innocent. I feel that they will
give me my freedom.
Even with the terrible words of Mr..
Rand ringing in my ears cannot be-
leve that they could set their wills
against me and send me condemned to
death to one of those little cells with
tie iron door that read Of in Roland
Molneux's books. Black as / have
been painted I cannot think that they
VIII take my life for a crime l never
committed"
Before leaving her cell in the Tombs
prison. Thursday. Nan Patterson
packed up all her belongings, including
the many little knick- knacks which
had accumulated during her long oc.
cnpancy. Grips and suit cases locked
and ready for removal stood by the
door as she started on what she be-
lieved would be her last journey across
the Bridge of Signs. Il know. l know
l will be free before night" she said
Il wanted every single thing to be
packed and ready. don't want to have
to come back here for a thing"