Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-02-24

TO warrant his arrest. When appre-
1ended and told of his sweetheart's
| death he seemed strangely affected, but
offered no explanation. When searched
| handkerchief known to have belonged
70 the girl was found in his possession.
"On the day of the trial the courtroom
was crowded with spectators. ! 1t. was
understood that there was7a witness not
known to the defense. Upon this witness
the state relied for conviction. At five
o'clock the prosecutor, James 7. Ronald,
| rose. He was a remarkable man, of
! powerful stature, commanding in height
| and possessing a trumpet-toned voice
| He called to the bailiff: Bring in Mrs
Martha Braddon!' ~.
"a stir of interest ran through the
courtroom. Mrs. Braddon was the gen.
| tie old lady whose apartments were next
to those of the dead girl
'She said that she had known Chap
| man from his boyhood; had known
the dead girl for two years; had known
1ef the love between Chapman and the
dead girl from the girls confession.
Then in the tense stiffness she testi-
| fed that on the day of the tragedy she was
reclining in her room when she heard
from the next room the expression:
| 1'm@tired of this; I've had enough OF
this and then the words: This is the
time. to. end it. Later she heard scuf-
fling, and the girls voice saying: Don't
kill me- and then, after pause, the clos
ing of door.
| "When questioned she said she had
attached no Importance to this as the
girl, being an elocutionist, frequently
practiced readings, and she thought this
one of her recitals and that she was read
! ing in two voices some dramatic selec-
ton. After the death of the girl she re-
allied that the other voice was Chap
mans. She asserted that she could not
be mistaken. She swore as. posltiVely as
one could that sheknew it was Chap-
man s voice which exclaimed: I've had
enough of this.'-
Though Chapman had not been seen
in the hotel. he had really gone to the
girls room that morning.
"The case was ready for argument.
| For myself, / was never SO hopeless IN
my life. TWAS the custom to present the
law to the court separately from the ar
| gument to be made to the jury. Inc
states attorney was to open, of course;
| was to follow, and he was to close. Inc
| presiding judge was the gentleman VINO
has been three times mayor OF Seattle
| Judge Humes. He had been the Doon
companion and law partner OF the state,
attorney. mention this to show no"
difficult it would be for him to mistake
the identity Of the states counsel or his
| peculiar and marvellous voice. .-e
cat noon the judge signaled to me
saying: you may begin your argu
| ment upon your legal contentious
while we are waiting for Mr.. Ronald.
l replied saying, that preferred his
presence. Just then voice in the
corridor was heard saying: 4 will be
there in moment
at was at once recognized by the
Judge as the voice of the states attor-
ney. The jurors. also recognized it..
Judge Humes,< hearing the voice
said: You may proceed, Senator Lewis
Ia was then closing my term as
territorial senator)-Mr.. Ronald is
entering"
81 had already risen, and, turning
toward the door, saw, not Mr.. Ronald
but his young daughter. Then it was
clear that the voice was not Ronald
but that of hisadaughter, speaking to
4 the lady who had come with her. We
waited several minutes before the
states attorney appeared with an arm
full of books, having been in the library
selecting decisions to reply to what
he anticipated would be my legal con.
tentions.
Here was my opportunity. On this
seemingly trivial circumstance the life
If Chapman hung. I at once aban.
Toned every thought that had previ
)usly entertained so far as a line of de.
ense was concerned: Waving my ar
yument on the law, presented to the
Jury the evidence of the fact-thate q
moment before, the Judge, who was
znown to have been his life friend
was so secure in the belief that Mr.
Ronald was about to enter the court
room that he had ordered me to pro
coed with my argument. Also that sc
absolutely assured were the jurors, al
of whom knew Mr.. Ronald, that it was
his voice they,-too, were prepared to
proceed with the cause.
From that l argued that, although
the voice proved to be that of his
daughter, each one of the IL jurors
and the judge himself would have
sworn, were it necessary, that they hat
heard Mr.. Ronald's voice. How, then
asked, in the face of such a demon
stration, could they convict Chapman
upon the statement of Mrs. Braddon
when she, too, however honest, could
have been as much mistaken as they:
Il "The jury acquitted Chapman.
'The girl, who was the unconscious
savior of a mans life. has recently
been awarded medal at a Chicago
college for thes best contralto tone pro
duced in contest of a. hundred voices
But | am safe in saying, there viii
never be onef of her class who will
give to her voice the value ascribed i
| I11-T -