Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-02

the gamest man accused Of great
crime that ever met up with.
Passing over the case Of Dr.. Buch-
anan, the poisoner, who to everybody
who came into contact with him
seemed to richly merit the legal death
which he finally met, the next big
murder trial in New York was that OF
the dentist, Kennedy, who was accused
of beating Dollie Reynolds, an actress,
to death at the Grand hotel. The
evidence against Kennedy, although
ingeniouSly woven, was purely and un-
euuivocally circumstantial and there
were two mistrials right off the reel,
both of these costing the people a
tidy sum. Contrary to the custom In
such cases for the people" assuredly
seemed to have 1t in for Kennedy for
some reason or other-he was tried
for the third time again with the hung
Jury result This time he was turned
loose, with the charge still hanging
over him. II Kennedy was guilty OF
having killed Dollie Reynolds then he
certainly succeeded in fooling the great
majority Of the newspaper men VINO
reported his various trials, and most
of them had been in more or less close
contact with noted criminals for many
wears. Even II he were guilty, some
of the evidence adduced against him
was so palpably cooked up that 1t
would have seemed subversive of all
the aims of justice and an outrage had
he been convicted.
The case Of Mary Livingston Flem-
ing, accused Of numbering her mother
by putting arsenic in a pail OF clam
chowder which she sent to her. was
another one Of the big trials in which
a huge bill was rolled up against the
people" largely on account OF the
great number Of alleged chemical ex-
perts and "alienists" who were called
to testify. This was the trial in which
the dogmas Of the writer's Of the Lom-
oroso and Nc rdau type were first
yanked into an American murder trial
for the purpose of proving the alleged
"degeneracy" Of the defendant. The
"alienists" fairly revelled in that trial.
Mary Livingston Fleming was a
rather plain but withal an extremely
accomplished and interesting, not to
say fascinating. woman, and nobody
seemed to be greatly worried for the
future Of society in general when she
was acquitted. A great effort was
made to prove her a degenerate" and
an equally heroic effort made to pre-
vent that stigma from being fastened
upon her. The testimony brought out
in these encounters between her coun-
sci and the prosecutors was more ss.la-
cious than anything Of the sort before
or since, but it was kept out Of the
newspapers by a general understanding
of the men reporting the trial, as well
as by an agreement reached by the
proprietors Of the newspapers.
John Mcintyre was then the dis
trict attorney Of New York, and he
tangled up some Of the alienists called
by the defence in a sad sort of way
He had a bullying, hectoring way with
alienists much the same as that en-
ployed by Mr.. Jerome, and he gener-
ally succeeded in bulldozing the alien
lists into silence or submission, but he
struck snag when he went up against
the leonine DR.. Spitzka, noted New
| York specialist on nervous diseases.
Spitzka came out with flying colors,
alone Of all the testifying experts. DR..
Spltzka early in his life had been
veterinarian. Mcintyre thought he
was going to discountenance and dis
credit DR.. Spitzka by alluding to this
fact at the beginning of his examina-
| ton.
"Is it not a fact" Mcintyre asked
him, that not many years ago you
were consulted solely in connection
with the ailments Of horses?
YES" promptly replied DR.. Spitzka,
"and it is additionally true that even
now l am sometimes called upon to
treat asses"
Mcintyre, pretty sore over this one,
tried the same kind Of thing on DR..
Spitzka several other. times during the
examination, but was finally routed, to
his vast discontinue. Mrs. Fleming
to whom a son was born while she
was awaiting trial in the tombs-was
acquitted after very long trial. She
| went to Alaska not long afterward and
Is said to have become very wealthy
in the Alaskan gold fields.
Then came the two trials Of Roland
Molineux, indubitably the most accom-
plished and adroit individual ever put
on trial for his life in an American
court. He was convicted upon his first