Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-02-18
THOMAS LAPPIN, STATES STAR,
WITNESS GIVES EVIDENCE
AGAINST WOMAN.
CASE is HARD FOUGHT
Much Interest Is Taken in the Trial
of Mrs. Lewis by the People of Keo.
kuk County and the Temporary
Court Room is Filled to Overlooking.

kuk County and the Temporary
Court Room is Filled to overtlowing.
Sigourney, Feb 17--(Special.)- D.
Thomas Lappin, the star witness for
the state in the murder case against
Mrs. Belle Lewis of Ottumwa was on
the stand for several hours last even
ing and this morning and his testimo-
ny, with the intimations which may
be drawn from it, is expected by the
prosecution 10 go far toward securing
a verdict of guilty against the woman
who is charged with the murder of
her husband. Several other witnesses
were examined but the main interest
centers in the testimony of Lappin, a
ditch digger, who spent much time
at the Lewis home and at other farms
in the vicinity, and who, according to-
his testimony, saw Mrs. Lewis pour a
liquid from small vial into some med
icine she gave her husband on the day
of his death.
Was It Poison?
Whether this man Lappin is telling
the truth, and If he is, whether the
liquid to which he refers was poison,
are two questions upon which hang
many of Mrs. Lewis chances for lib
erty. Another question that has been
asked is in regard to the disposition of
the bottle, which is supposed to have
been the one Mrs. Lewis is said to
have purchased from Druggist Dale
shortly before the fatal day, and which
then contained laudanum.
Case is Hard Fought.
The case is being hard fought and
is attracting much attention. The
store room where the court is being
held, which was formerly the head
quarters of an undertaking firm, is
crowdeds,to its capacity by spectators,
many Of whom drive many miles to be
present at the sessions of the court.
The people living in the 1ieighborhood
of Butler, where the Lewis family re-
sided until the death of the husband
and father, are in the city almost en-
masse and they take great interest; in
the case.
ottumwa Photographer Witness.
Bert Gillett, photographer at OF
tumwa, testified that he took pictures
of Mrs. Lewis and Ira Glassford,the
man whose name is linked with that
of the defendant in the case and that
they came to his photograph gallery
twice together. A. G. Pitts, also of
Ottumwa, the financier of the A. O.
| u. w. lodge to which Mr.. Lewis be-
longed and in which he had his life
insured, was another witness for the
state. He testified that Mrs. Lewis
paid an assessment for her husband,
sending it to him while Lewis was i'll,
and short time before his death. &
Lappin Was at Mt. Pleasant.
In the cross examination of Lappin,
the states, star witness, this morning,
Attorney A. G. Steck, of Ottumwa.
chief counsel for the defendant. brought
out the fact that Lappin was adjudged
an inebriate and spent some months
at Mt. Pleasant in the institution set
apart for inebriates. Lappin, howev-
er, denied on the stand that he was
under the influence Of liquor on the
day of Lewis death and denied also
that he had even had a drink of whis-
| ky that whole day. The defense ex-
poets to introduce evidence to dis
prove these statements.
The Testimony.
| The testimony in the case thus far
is summed up as follows:
Dollie B. Dale.
Dolly B. Dale, druggist at Fremont,
was the first witness. She testified
that Mrs. Lewis came to her store DC.
tober s, 1908, and asked for 15 cents
worth of laudanum saying that it was
for earache Mrs Dale put up one
and one-half ounces in two, ounce
bottle, labeled it, and recorded the
sale on her poison register. She stat
ed that this laudanum was composed
of fluid extract of opium and diluted
alcohol, and the strength of the opium
was about JIG per cent.
c. J. Shipley.
G.. J. Shipley, of the Hedrick Drug
Co., Hedrick, Iowa, read from his poi
son register under date of October 10,
1908, the record of the sale of one doz-
en- one-eighth grain tablets of NOR
phine for medicine for herself to Mrs.
Belle Lewis. He testified that she had
come into the store and asked for NOR
phine tablets. He gave her plain tab.
lets of sulphate of morphine. This
was in the afternoon of October 10,
1903. He also stated that she came in
and asked for the drug openly and was
not at all secretive in her manner.
| Bert GiIlett.
Bert Gillett photographer Of OF.
tumwa, testified that he knew Mr.. and
Mrs. Lewis-that they had had mum.
ber of pictures taken by him. He tes.
tilted further that about September 1
1903, Mrs. Lewis came to his place OF
1 business with a man whom he did not
| know but he knew it was not her hus
band. They wanted their pictures
1 taken, and he took one-half dozen
card size, of Mrs. Lewis and the man
| together, and one-haf dozen of the
same size of the man alone. They
Edid not stay to see the negatives but