Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-08-24
this woman had ANYTHING to do with

|
the death of Mr.. Harris. They went
to the neighbors Immediately after
| they found the body and a doctor and
the coroner were notified at once.
According to the testimony of the doc.
tors rigor morris, in this case, may
have set in at any time Mr.. Harris
helped with the chores that morning.
They left him to go blackberrying
The mother wanted to go along. He
said no, | am going to walk up. They
went after blackberries, to a place
where there was good reason to sup.
pose they would find them, but did not
get any. When returned Mr.. Harris
was dead. On what theory does the
state ask that this woman be bound
over.
Arthur Brown was the next wit
ness. Mrs. Harris and son ran to the
Ward place, their nearest neighbor,
and when they arrived there she was
so out Of breath she could hardly talk
and was crying Ward and Brown
went to the Harris home. They found
Harris lying on the bed with his arms
across his body and the revolver lying
under the right hand. There was
blood on the face and mouth. The
doctor came and said no one should
touch the body until the coroner came.
coroner's Autopsy.
Coroner Mills held an autopsy the
next day after the body had been care
fully washed and prepared for burial.
The coroner's Jury came to the con-
clusion that the man came to his death
by a gunshot wound The gun was
close to or against tho head because
of the burnt powder found in the
wound. I believe the gun was held
against the head This would account
for there being no scorching of the
hair. The hair was probably carried
into the wound or destroyed. There
was no evidence Of any other wound
He must have committed suicide. He
was driven to it by the persecution Of
the man bringing this action, who
hired an attorney to assist one of the
ablest county attorneys we ever had
John Wards testimony showed that
both Mrs. Harris and her son were cry
ing when they reached the Harris
home. Mrs. Harris said that she
thought Jim had killed himself. When
they started back home she saw Ward,
wearing hat like Harris in the dis
lance, and in the fullness Of her heart
she exclaimed, why there comes Jim,'
rejoiced beyond measure because she
thought her husband was alive MT
and Mrs. Harris may have had their
little tiffs There are few married
people who do not. The evidence
shows that they had come to Ottumwa
the day before and settled their af-
foi Nv Nd
bly, and on their return home all ate
supper together at the Lewis home
There is no motive here The next
day he was served with notice by
Myers, that he had no right to go to
the farm he had rented to attend to
his crops
No Abrasion on Skull.
"Dr. Abegg testified to the discolor-
alton at the back of the head, but he
said he had made no examination he
was there merely as a spectator and
did not take particular notice. There
back Of the skull. Mr.. Schaffer, the
undertaken, said there was no evil
dence of any wound on the body ex-
cept the wound in the head. There
was an attempt made to show that
there was a monkey wrench in the
bed, but this utterly failed. The wo
man brought down from Hiteman to
testify said that she saw a monkey
wrench In the hands of James Jones
III the dining room. What of that?
The Note Question.
THE claim ma ybe made that there
was something marvellous about that
note. The first question when a per-
son commits suicide is what did they
do 1t for. did not they leave some note
or word? What more natural than
that this woman, after living with her
husband nearly twentv years, and
knowing him as she did, should say,
Jim must have left some word for
Willie and me. telling us what to do
She may have searched in other
places. After the undertaken had re-
ported that he could find no note, she
asked if she might have permission to
search for one. She asked Mr.. Jordan
and Mr.. Ross to hunt for the note and
when she saw the pin in the shirt
said: oh, thereit is There is no
evidence introduced to show that the
handwriting in the note is that of Mr..
Harris. Samples of handwriting have
been introduced but the receipt written
by Mr.. Harris was written with a pen
with the book resting on his knee.
Why did not the state introduce some
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