The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1905-01-25

TUCKER
IS GUILTY
Jury Says He Killed Mabel
Page
MURDERER COLLAPSED
Led From the Court Room 10
Jail in an Exhausted
Condition
MURDERER COLLAPSED

CAMBRIDGE, Mass, Jan. 2J.-Aft-
Ter the jury in the Tucker murder trial
had come into court and asked for in
formation regarding the exact legal
meaning Of the word malice" in the
expression malice aforethought' and
for information concerning the differ
ent degrees of murder and what con-
stituted manslaughter, which was ex-
planned by Judge Sheldon, they retired
and in a short time returned with a
verdict of guilty of murder in the first
degree against the prisoner, Charles L.
Tucker.
The last words of the trial Of Tucker
for the murder Of Mabel Page were
spoken when Judge Sheldon closed his
charge to the jury which has been con-
sidering the case since Jan. 1.
The day was long one and TO many
in the courtroom a very trying one
Attorney General Parker closed his ar
gument about an hour and half after
court opened. Then came one of the
most dramatic incidents in the trial, for
most Unexpectedly the young prisoner
accepted his constitutional privilege of
addressing the jury in his own behalf.
Rising in his cage, he asserted at first,
trembling, but later with considerable
confidence, his innocence of the crime.
He spoke about ten minutes, and when
he concluded Judge Sheldon began his
charge.
The case was given to the jury about
2 p. M, and they Immediately retired.
The penalty for murder in the first
degree in this state is death in the
electric chair at the state prison in
Charlestown, about a mile from the
scene OF the trial. Tucker will be SEN
fenced later.
Tucker collapsed utterly when the
verdict was announced. and his coun-
sci were unable TO revive him for some
time.
The announcement of the finding of
the jury, which was made at 1910
o'clock last night, was followed by one
of the most remarkable scenes that has
been witnessed in a Massachusetts,
courtroom for many years. Tucker col
lapsed utterly in the prisoners cage
when the foreman uttered the fatal
words, being completely overcome by
verdict which had apparently seemed
to him to be an impossibility. He was
led from the courtroom across the
street to the Jail in an exhausted con-
dition.
But perhaps the most remarkable
feature was the effect of the announce
ment of the verdict upon the attorneys
not only for the prisoner, but for the
commonwealth. James III. Valley, the
senior counsel for the prisoner, was
greatly affected, and when he left the
courtroom he met Attorney General
Herbert Parker in the corridor. The
leading counsel for the commonwealth
showed the result Of the strain to such
a degree that he threw his arms around
Mr.. Valleys neck, and both men wept
on each others shoulders, the attorney
general expressing in broken words his
sympathy for his brother attorney.
These two men were not the only
ones moved to tears. Philip Mansfield,
one Of the associate counsel for the
youthful prisoner, became hysterical
and fell into the arms OF reporter.
The murder OF Miss Mabel Page at
Weston, Mass, on March 81, 1904, for
the commission of which Charles l..
Tucker was tried, attracted wide atten-
ton because of the unusual and mysti-
flying circumstances surrounding the
case.
Miss Page, who was forty-oue years
Of age, lived in small country dwell
ing house with her father. Edward
Page, formerly prosperous Boston
merchant, and her brother, Harold. She
was stabbed to death with knife.
Basing his examination upon the APP
pearance of the wound found In the
neck, the only wound at first visible,
the medical examiner reported that
Miss Page had committed suicide, and
It was not until an undertaken had
discovered other wounds that II was
established that the woman had met
death at the hands of an assassin.