Evening journal., 1904-05-03
MRS, POWELL FEARS CAMERA
Women and Preachers Attend Trial Of
Woman Charged With Murder.
Special to The Evening Journal.


Dover, May 3.-Ohicers guarded every
door OF the Kent county court house
yesterday morning. and as early as s
o'clock. two hours before the trial OF
Mrs. Powell was slated to begin.
crowds thronged the corridors.
Mrs. Powell prepared for the trial
early and desired 70 be taken over be-
fore the crowds became too large. She
seemed TO be I'm mortal fear Of the cam-
era men, more so than she did the out
come of her trial.
Associate Judges Grubb and Boyce.
who have been detained IN Dover be-
cause Of the hanging OF the Wilson
Damp duel jury, were early ON the
bench, and acting Chief Justice w. G.
Spruance arrived from Wilmington a
few minutes after the hour set for the
beginning OF the trial.
Court convened at 1910 o'clock with
the calling Of all the Jurors Of the spe-
cial and regular panels
Many Women in the Court Room.
A large number Of women, dressed in
! light spring attire. crowded into the
court room. an unusual thing for Kent
county, where women do not attend.
DR.. w. r. Hoey. one Of the physi-
clans who first returned Miss Albin as
a suicide, arrived in court early. smil-
ing. and was assigned a seat on the
right of the room.
A number of clergymen. including Dr.
L. f. Barrett and J. I. VanBurkalow,
Methodists, were assigned seats within
the bar enclosure.
Remembers One Woman Hanged.
Former Attorney General White, OF
Georgetown, who remembers the only
occasion on which a woman was hang
ed IN Delaware, arrived in court at
1910. The woman so put to death was
negro and in 1861 she was hanged in
Sussex county for the poisoning of a
babe committed to her care as nurse.
Two men were executed at the same
time, bpt for other capital felonies.
Mrs. Powell was not brought into
court until o'clock, because Of the
apparent disagreement Of the Wilson
Damp jury Wilson was brought into
court looking as though the milestone
had been lifted from him by the hang
ing Of his jury. He was seated I'm the
prisoners dock, and there were whis-
perlngs passed around that the dis
posal Of his case would take another
hour.
When the Wilson jury was finally
marched In they reported that they
had not agreed. Judge Grubb. who
was conducting II rse. refused again
to discharge the on the ground
that It was a bad Precedent and they
could reasonably compromise upon a
degree Of the prisoners guilt. The jury
has been empanelled since Thursday.
The court, by thus deciding. shows dis
tinctly that II will not tolerate a dis
agreement OF the jury.
It was 1iS0 o'clock when Attorney
General Ward appeared and asked for
more time before the trial OF the Pow
ell case was begun. Both the state
and the defense are ready" said he.
but we do not feet like going into this
or any other murder trial with a jury
panel incomplete as It Is because Of the
absence from the court Of the Wilson
jury"
Dr. A. Robin. the bloodstain and
meteorological expert. formerly Of Del
aware College, came into court with his
testing apparatus about 1 o'clock. he
is the expert to whom was sent Mrs
Powell's clothing.
At 1 O'Clock the Wilson jury was sent
for ana being still disagreed was dis
charged, that the court might use the
Jurors in the Powell case. There are
but fifty-four jurors in the entire We
nue. and thirty can be peremptorlly
challenged. Others may get off with
various excuses.
Mrs. Powell Brought in.
AT 3 o'clock the trial OF Mrs. Powell
was begun, and Mrs. Powell was
brought into the court room accom-
panied by the tipstaves. The one with
the red spear preceded her, the one
with the black spear following, and
each taking a seat beside her in the
dock. The spears signify blood and
death and the whole performance is a
continuation Of the Jewish law taken
from Genesis I'm holy writ:
'Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by
man shall his blood be she'd"
Alfred NJ. Powell, the defendants
husband. took a seat back Of the pris-
oner's dock. He was detected looking,
but neatly shaved and wore a boiled