Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-07
,PATR|CK'S STORY.
She Outlines the Case Against
Her Husband.
MAKES MANY CHARGES
An Answer to Trains Statements in q
Magazine Tale.
SAYS HER HUSBAND WAS DUPED
Declares That the Lawyer Has Never
Accepted the Substitution Of
Life Imprisonment.
SAYS HER HUSBAND WAS DUPED

1t supposed to be fair assumption
a life sentence for the murder of William
Marsh Rice, the aged Texas millionaire in
1900, had his sentence of death commuted.
that the last had been heard of this remark
able case which for years occupied the at
tention of the New York courts. But &C
cording to New York morning newspaper
Mrs. Albert 7. Patrick, wife of the con-
victed man, has reopened the case with
most amazing series of charges. including
statements that the Rice heirs spent two
million dollars in ralroad,ng her husband to
prison; that the jurors that tried Patrick
demanded a brlbe-that court, jury and
prosecutor were prejudced against her
husband. and others of like sensational
nature. Mrs. Patrick further says that her
husband contemplates asking for a writ of
habeas corpus on the ground that he was
tricked into withdrawing his application
Tor an appeal to the United States Supreme
court while he was under death sentence.
and accepting communication to life impris-
onment from the late Governor Higgins.
Mrs. Patrick's statement is in answer IN
an attack on Patrick made by Assistant
District Attorney Arthur Train of New
YORK in current magazine article.
Coached and Guided.
Discussing the Patrick trial. Mrs. Patrick
says:
1T was enough for the district attorney
TO object at any time to close the mouth of
witness. On the other hand, the per-
Jurers for the prosecution were given every
opportunity to rehearse their prearranged
testimony, and some of them were openly
and impudently coached and guided Every
objection was disregarded by the court
until the trial finally degenerated into a
police court wrangle, and the attorneys for
the defense threw up their hands and rested
their case without having called half their
witnesses. Jeffries of the bloody assizes
might we'll have gloated over the spectacle
and darkest Russia might have looked on
with envy
Mrs. Patrick adds:
Charges Perjury.
''Mr. Train repeats the Jones perjury that
Jones and Mr.. Patrick stumbled upon the
1896 will while examining Mr.. Rice's pri-
vate papers, and that thereupon the idea of
forging new will occurred to them The
fact is that, admiring Mr.. Patrick's ability
as a lawyer, and believing that he could
trust the son Of his old and faithful en-
ploye just profoundly as he distrusted
those who had managed his affairs so I'M
satisfactorily, he began consulting him
about the disposition of his estate. The
will of 1896 was but an expedient, executed
in connection with the litigation of his
wife's heirs, begun in that year. year
later he wrote to Charles Adams a we'll
known lawyer, to send him a form of codicil
which he could use in changing this will
After many conferences with Mr.. Patrick
he finally decided upon a new will and
asked Mr. Patrick to draw it."
"What Are the FactsP"
'Mr. Train represents Mr.. Patrick as
waiting for an old man to die after the
will of June 80, 1900, had been duly exc
cuted. What are the facts? In his first let
ter written to his father. af,er his arrest,
Mr.. Patrick says: The death of Mr.. Rice
fell like thunderbolt upon me. He and I
had contemplated going t. the safe deposit
vaults the following week, and had he lived
and been able to do so my taking possession
would have been accomplished and this
trouble avoided 1t was not necessary for
Mr.. Rice to die in order that Mr.. Patrick
should gain possession and administer the
trust reposed in him. To provide for every
possible contingency Mr.. Rice had executed
other documents, which were also de-
nounced as forgeries by the prosecution,
but which will yet be proven genuine, the
same as the will. And, by the way, Mr..
Train scores what he considers a great
point, because Wetherbee and others were
remembered In this will and not in the 1895
reason, outside of the perjured and crooked
testimony presented by his superiors and
admitted by that judge whose rulings cast
a dark shadow over the whole trial?
The Case Luminous.
The whole fabricated case against Mr..
Patrick becomes luminous when exam
ined in the light Of all the facts, and
especially the facts which were not per-
mitted to become known TO the jury
Il may say. in conclusion, that Mr.
Patrick has never accepted the substi-
tuition of life imprisonment for the death
sentence pronounced upon him One is
as horrible and unjust as the other. He
feels, as do also, that he was tricked
into withdrawing his appeal from tho
United States Supreme Court on the
promise Of pardon. He knew the
danger Of Withdrawing his appeal and
the fact that such condition was unnec-
essary, and had never been made a con-
dition for pardon before. He now holds
that the substitution of one form of
punishment for another, against his pro-
test, Is an invasion of his rights under
the Constitution Of the United States,
and he Is now contemplating the obtain
ing OF writ of habeas corpus as q
legal remedy. 1t was a pardon which
he was reluctantly and against his better
Judgment induced to apply for. When
the bridges were all burned behind him
have been far-reaching enough to cause
the substitution Of Communication for the
promised pardon and vindication."