Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-10-02
gorros 10 I'd snt =: 5IAvr. ZONES
to Nesen.. If .luserhtion ID
hIS aenbngh Trial
JUDGE EVANS TAKEN 10 TASK
Argues That Presiding
Judge Unnecessarily BelittIed Cir
cunstantial Evidence Presented by
Proseoution--The Case Reviewed
From Viewpoint Of State.
Special 70 Times-ls Republican.

| Special 10 Times Republican.
Eldora, Oct. 2--Altho the legal side
Of the Blydenburgh wife murder case
has been judicially tried, and the de-
| PENDANT acquitted, the public contfn-
| ues to discuss the matter in all it's
phases. TO put itself Alright before
the public in view Of the public critl-
cisn offered against the state by Judge
Evans, the following statement has
been prepared by men close to the
prosecution:
Having observed that the Blyden-
| burgh case is being referred to In the
newspapers frequently and having
read the article published in the Tim
read the article published in the
Times Republican in the issue of Sept.
25, we thought perhaps your readers
would be interested in hearing from a
party who was present during both
trials and a party who disagreed with
Judge Evans in his views.
/ 1--WE can only criticize what Judge
Evans is represented in your paper to
have said by saying that Judge Evans
| in making his public declaration at the
time he instructed the jury was max
/ ing an effort to sustain his position
much as an attorney makes an effort
in presenting a case to the jury. we'll
1 ~ n.
portunity for anyone to answer him;
and the statement published above re-
!. ferred to is misleading. The fact must
not be overlooked that with the EVIL
dence substantially the same In the
record so far as it's competency was
established, the supreme court in both
decisions of the case decided that there
was sufficient evidence to justify sub
hitting the case to the jury. When the
state rested its case, in the trial be-
fore Judge Evans motion was made
for a directed verdict, which motion
was by Judge Evans overruled, he
holding that there was sufficient evil
4 dence to warrant the submission or the
case to the jury. and after the time
that that ruling was made the states
evidence was not changed. Judge
IEvans, then, in passing upon the mer-
its of the case. put himself in the po-
sition of weighing the evidence and
determining what ought to be done
lwhen this is especially and peculiarly
within the province of the jury as the
practice is generally understood to be
in this state 1t is these interferences
on the part of the court in the tria
of criminal cases which compels men
to Justify themselves in taking the
law in their own hands.
"The following facts stand IN the
record without a dispute:
4 "Blydenburgh figured before he left
IOhio that the woman he married Was
worth $4,000. He would not marry
her until he came to Iowa and satis-
fed himself by ocular demonstration
Of the fact of her holdings. Within a
week after marriage he, by methods
not to be approved, induced his wife to
convey to him one hundred and TWEEN
Ity acres of her land. A short time be-
fore she died she had visited firm OF
attorneys for the purpose of commenc-
ling an action to recover this land
back. Blydenburgh was aware of this
and tried to dissuade her. She asked
him to deed her land back and let her
go home to Ohio and end the trouble
She was preparing to go back to Ohio
about the time her death occurred
When she died, haste upon his part
was manifested to get the body beyond
the limits of the state. When he was
preparing for her burial TN Ohio the
undertaken rendered him two different
iron safes to encase the casket, one OF
them at $40, the other at $45. Both
were air tight and of precisely the
same make, excepting that the more
expensive had five spring locks on the
inside so that when the safe
was closed It could not be
opened excepting by breaking
and was supposed to be PROOF
against an attack. When he returned tc
Iowa he talked with various parties
declaring that his wife's lips were
sealed; that she was buried in grave
ten feet deep and in burglar proc
safe that no one could open; that SHE
was well done up with three quart:
of embalming fluid and no one could
get at her and that the iron safe wa:
good for one hundred years: and tool
the position that he would inherit hi:
wife's entire estate because they mac
no children. When he learned tina
there was some move made to exhuln'
the body he Immediately went to thu
county attorney, the man that he knew
would be obligated to prosecute HIN
if there was any trouble, and paid hin
a large fee to go back to Ohio to SET
what was being done. In two day
after the county attorney returned
from Ohio, he again employed tn
county attorney to go and take will
him Drs Morse and Gethman to AM
Arbor where the parts of the bod.
were known to be for chemical analy
sis and when there, there was an at
tempt made to get possession Of thes
parts.
IF this conduct which is brief,
stated and does not go into detail, Il
!, consistent with innocence, then we d
not understand what men would Ordi