The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-17
.SUSSMAN HELD UP
AS CRUEL SLAYER
COUNTY ATTORNEY DELIVERS
FoRCEFUL ARGUMENT.
Defendant Depicted as Crafty Villain
Who Deliberately Planned to Stay
His irl-Wife-Crime Viewed from
Every Angle and Conclusion Reached
that Deed Was Premeditated.

II, plead to You for the protection
protection of womanhood - said Al j.
Smith, county attorney, in bringing to
an end his closing argument in the
Sussman murder case today. IT,. -. 49,.
He had talked for more than two
hours without intermission, had an
alyzed the law and the evidence, and
had sought to convince the jurors that
their verdict should be murder in the
first degree, and that no other is war
ranted BY the evidence. Sussman was
repeatedly. described as man whose
word was to be discredited wherever
1t was to his advantage to speak an I'M
forth to show that the prisoner was not
to be trusted and to prove that the hor-
rid crime was deliberately planned and
executed was startling one when sep
arated from the mass of unimportant
evidence. 4 .s .s, -. = III
Sussman listened with careful atten-
ton, but bore himself quietly if not
bravely. He finched whenever Mr..
smith directed an accusing finger at
him, and often sat with bent head, but
maintained his composure thruout. -.
Not so his relatives. The feminine
portion was often moved to tears as
the county attorney in his dramatic,
forcible style hammered home the ac-
cpslng evidence: Across the table
where sat Mrs. Masinger and Rose Ma
singer, there were also several outbursts
OF weeping. There was no scene, how
yer, and the crowd remained unmoved.
Defines Degrees of Murder.
Mr.. Smith, in opening the argument,
spent some time in defining the various
degrees of murder and manslaughter.
lie showed the bearing that the law
has on the Sussman case and analyZed
the defendants evidence at some
length;
II have sympathy for that Suss-
man, he declared, "you have; but
this sympathy is not to protect him
from the just deserts for his own evil
deeds: 1t is not vengeance that the
law demands, but the protection of So
clety. If crime is committed the
law says that the evildoer shall be pun
ished in order to deter others.
=. The defendant said, Il killed my
wife, but it was not premeditated, See,
there he is sliding by murder in the
first degree. He said, 4 killed her, but
with no intent to kill, and there he is
sliding by murder in the second degree.
Then again, It was in sudden passion,
in frenzy he said. L was intoxi-
Gated Note how he is sliding into a
plea for manslaughter. -
II might say that the defendant tes-
titled almost. as you read lawbook.
Carefully and ingeniously the testimony
murder with the hope of securing YER
dict for manslaughter and thereby es-
gaping the penalty Of his crime. He
does not expect acquittal.-
ID Law Is Emphatic. -.
!. '"It is the law. that all persons are re-
sppnsible, for, their acts unless 1t is
proved that the person is in. such men
tall condition as to be insane. Intox-
ication is no defense. for a crime. That
IS the law, and it's good law, Other
wise our lives and property would not
be safe at any time. &#- IL
81 say to you conscientiouslv that
enry Sussman is guilty of murder in
the first degree beyond a reasonable
doubt. I say that he has studied the
law. since he committed this crime
against his wife, wife in name only
for he never treated her as his wife.
You know it! He knows it! He is
now trying to cheat the law of Mime
sofa and fool this pury. That is his
,tsCounsel for defense, in his opening,
drew tender picture. He pictured to
you loving husband Is that can a
loving husband? He drew YOU a, pic
ture Of love, Of affection, of home, of
every tie that makes a wife dear. It
was a picture to make us weep. He
Wept and he will weep a great deal
more this afternoon as he draws the
tender picture of a happy home circle
lit is bloody propositio on of law
/ TO MAINTAIN that Sussman is entitled
!: to considerat ton because he killed his
wife in a sudden frenzy, brought on by
learning that his wife had been untrue
to him and that her unborn child was
not his. own.
What would another do under the
circumstances? Would he have shot
the woman that he loved and killed her