Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1904-02-19

but eheotually conoealing any svi.
denoe Of bandoges or wounds. His
wife sat by him pale and sad.
The opening address to the jury
BY the state Was delivered by Lewis
Hood, assistant prosecutor Of Essex
county. While making no claim to
oratorial flourish, 1t was a finished
and scholarly presentment of the
states case and the evidence, that
certainly impressed the audience,
that completely filled the court room,
and must have appealed to the calm
Judgment Of the jurors. He dwelt
upon the evidence of the accused.
and the damaging effect Of a fabri-
Gated story to account for his pres
ence at home that night, and of the
guns being out Of his possession
during the time Of the shooting.
thereby destroying whatever of
truth that might have otherwise
been contained in his statements.
While no person saw the shots fired
there are clues that indicate who
did fire them, and these clues are
almost entirely furnished by the
! prisoner himself. The error Ia regard
to the guns being in Mrs. Kennedy g
room that night, the fact Of his
shoes fitting the foot prints leading
from the Bevans home, his admis-
sions Of not having seen the gun
since the coon hunt, the statements
that he had no lights that night
we're given prominence by the state
commensurate with their import
ance. He pictured Jaeger as a man
of the woods and fields who shot
for pleasure and shared game for
profit, sought the fields and woods
in his fight, keeping clear of the
} highways where his neighbors
would surely recognize him should
they meet him,
, Counsel dwelt also on his talk
with Lifts about going out and
knocking somebody over for two or
three hundred dollars as establishing
both the desire and the motive.
Lifts found him reloading shells,
! and the sheriff found he had buck
{ shot in his home. When from illness
caused by the newspaper reporter
telling Mrs. Jaeger her husband
, was suspected of the crime they
! called the Lifts TO their home TO
assist them apparently as their
friends. When they came did he
) explain to them his innocenceP No
{ He said, "if my wife had been
home this wouldn't have happened. y
! The defendant tries to qualify it on
the stand by adding ito me-" Why
. should George fear trial by his
3 peersP He said he feared lying wit
> nesses, and the disgrace of his FAM
? lily. Would the disgrace be any
less by his taking his life on the eve
I of his trialP
D Mrs. Kennedy who handled the
0 double gun was not called on the
9 stand George was in his sister &
q room where the guns were said to
have been set, but does not say a
word about having seen them, and
o Percy says that when he went after
Q the single gun in Mrs. Kennedy 8
n room he saw no other gun, and there
was no double gun standing by it.
= Why send with Gumaer for his
Q mail when he had already made an
s appointment with Lifts to go down
to Centreville that night. To OK.
a plain and sustain the theory Of a
Q light that night he claimed to be
3 carrying in potatoes and apples.
t Why should he fabricate such evil
. dence If he were innocent.
o Heknew too we'll that when Bevans
a got to the phone that it would bring
a the people on the public road, hence
. he made his return by the woods
+ an fields, private way.
Mr.. Hood concluded his address
Q in about two and half hours, after
= which Ex-senator Lewis j. Martin,
!. for the defense, occupied about the
J. same time in a statement of his
D views of the case that combined the
a tact of an able lawyer and the
n acumen of a judge upon the bench,
a He oontsnded there was no evidence
of motive or that Mr.. Bevaus was
It forehRnded, that as far as the tracks
$ we're visible they ran about at right
T. angles with direct line 70 Jags ser'a
b home and that the tracks could have
= easily been the imprint OF almost
= any other shoe Of like size and that
j. the imprint did not show the hole
d nor the breaks in the sole, nor were
}. the measurement accurate, being
d taken after the ground was frozen.
0 Would ,eaye it to the jury to de.
It eide what weight should attach tC
the alleged use Of wadding from the
d Gazette when there were 100 copies
s Of that paper taken in the township
A. 81