Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-04-20
THE TUCKER CASE,
Prosecution and Defence Rely on Same
Witnesses.

Boston, April LIT is an odd fea-
ture of the Weston murder case that
the prosecution depends upon the same
witnesses to prove that Charles L.
Fucker had sufficient time to have
killed Miss Mabel Page that the ac-
cuSed employs to sustain his alibi
The prosecution must show that
given the time when he was seen at
weston bridge and the time he was
seen on Charles street, Auburndalc,
there was ample opportunity for Tuck
er to have deviated from the course he
says he took and to have committed
the murder. The defence maintains
that no man could have done more in
the given time than make the circuit
which Tucker declares he took in his
walk that day
Both the prosecution and the defence
are busy figuring how much Tucker
could nave done in the AS minutes of
ms time that is unaccounted for. That
is the problem on both sides.
Even if Charles L. Tucker admits
that he went along South avenue as far
as Cutters Corner, third of a mile
from the Page house; if the stains OF
proves to be blood; if the stains on his
clothing are to be held against him;
if ne has made false statements about
some of the details the government
must show that the defendant had time
enough. had the opportunity to commit
the murder.
RealizinS this, the prosecution has
had men pacing the route Tucker made
the day of the murder to see of they
can find time for him to have made a
detour, visited the Page house and par
ticipated in all the events attending
the homicide.
fuckers time on that day, accord
ing to witnesses. from Weston bridge to
point or Charles street near his own
home. is IS minutes. He did not go
near the Page house, he says.
The police have covered this route in
A minutes. four minutes quicker than
Tucker. This does not include the dis
| lance from Cutters Corner to the Page
house and back.
According to this police estimate,
Charles l.. Tucker had only four min
utes in which to walk from Cutters
corner to the Page house, deliver the
message that Harold Page had been
| injured, make all his explanations, wait
until Miss Page had written the note.
follow her upstairs, stab here eight
times and get back to East Newton
street and continue his walk toward
Riverside.
Leaving out the time that Tucker
states himself. and taking that of the
witnesses on which the prosecution re-
lies, the question Of time seems tick
lish matter. as the prosecuting officers
admit by the experiments they are still
conducting.
Alden r. Kingsbury. Edgar G. Frost
ard Miss Sarah Connolly saw Tucker
| just at the Weston side of the bridge
over the Charles river at Auburndale ut
| 1902. He was then walking up South
| avenue toward Cutters corner.
| Tucker has said that he saw the two
| carpenters at work at the Filu house
| just beyond the bridge. He is mistaken
| because James s. Leonard says he and
| his assistant stopped work at II 45 tina,
| day and went to Auburndale for dinner
! Tucker is also in error when he SAYS
! that he saw n man presumed to be
John Dooley at work in the road far
Their on, because Mr.. Dooley says he
| left the excavation at II.
No one who saw Tucker at Cutters
corner has been found, nor is there known
| to be anyone who saw him nearer the
Page house than that corner. The GOV
eminent admits that there is no such i'm
nortant witness on the list at present
! Tucker is next placed by authoritative
| witnesses of the prosecution at a puin;
| on Charles street, Auburndale, coming
from the direction of Riverside station
nearly opposite the head of Bourne street
| on which Tucker lives.
| The witnesses who place him or
Charles street, walking towards his home
are Miss Sarah Connolly and her brother
John. John Connolly says Tucker was
walking lciSurely along the street at l. l.
Miss Connolly. who had her attention at
tracted to Tucker by her brother, thinks
the time was T.. 80.
Neither can be far wrong. for he ap.
peared at the boathOuSe near the Weston
bridge a few minutes after O'Clock
| 1t is impossible for Tucker to have
| shortened the distance by the road very
much had he tried Il short cut from East
Newton street. There is no bridge across
the Charles river between the Weston
bridge and that near the Riverside rail.
road station. Tucker must have used tho
latter bridge and when Miss Connolly ant
her brother saw him he could have been
coming from no other place
| He must, therefore. have gone alone
| East Newton street and then at right an.
giles either by the railroad. by the street
which runs beside the tracks. or through
the field between that street ana tn
river to the bridge at Riverside. The gov.
eminent is accepting his statement thai
he went along East Newton street to tn.
railroad tracks and thence to Riversid,
station.
If the police are able to cover that rout,
in a minutes. is it possible that Tucker
during the As minutes that are unaccount
cd for could have walked much fnrthc,
and still had time enough to have kille(
Miss Page?
| CONGRESSMAN Williams the Democrat,
| House leader. tells this story of hi
school in behalf of a man of many idc:l.
. anS of unlimited activities. but who nevc1
accomplished any apparent results HI
was the ultra type of refOrmtr and oft"l