The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-03-22
MAY BRING IN SKELETON
PoNcA MURDER TRIAL is ON,
SENSATIONS COMING.
SUICIDE OR INSANITY PLEA
Frank Brink is Being Tried at Ponca
for the Murder Of Bessie Newton on
the Eve Of Her Marriage to Another
Mantle Complications.

Mantle Complications.
Ponca, Neb., March 21.-The dead
body of Miss Bessie Newton, now six
weeks in the grave, may be eXhumed
and the gruesome skeleton introduced
as an exhibit in the murder trial of
Frank Brink, should the defense at
tempt to prove that a suicide pact eX-
listed between Miss Newton and Brink,
and that Brink did not shoot his sweet
heart on the eve of her wedding to
another man.
BY the skeleton, the state will seek
to show that Miss Newton was wound
ed twice and not once as commonly
believed, and drawing conclusions
from the nature of the wounds dem
onstrate the suicide agreement a myth.
A hasty autopsy of the girls body
after her death, revealed only one bull
let hole, entering the abdomen, going
directly through the heart and emerg-
ing at the shoulder blade. The states
attorneys are not satisfied with the
postmortem examination and since it
| has become known that the defense
might try to free Brink on the ground
of suicide compact, there is well
founded rumor that the girls body
will be dug up.
Suicide or Emotional Insanity.
| From the opening statements made
to the jury late yesterday afternoon
| it is apparent that Drinks attorneys
| nr lot an
emotional insanity. On the other hand
the state will piece together a long
chain of circumstantial evidence show
ing that Frank Brink, and only Frank
Brink, could have fired the shots
which killed Bessie Newton.
Still pale and weak from his long
illness brought on by his attempt to
kill himself by firing four bullets into
his own body, Brink sat all day in the
court room, deeply interested in the
selection of jury and the statements
made by the opposing attorneys when
at last the jury was empaneled. Two
or three times when C. A. Irwin, who
is conducting the prosecution, made
the dingy court room echo with his
cry that the man who committed such
a heinous crime should suffer capital
punishment and nothing less, Brink
WINGED and moved uneasily in his
chair.
With all the evidence against Brink,
not a soul in this town saw him enter
or leave the Newton home and can
swear so positively. A drayman driv-
ing by heard two shots fired. Two
women saw Miss Newton run out of
the house and fall in the street. They
also saw a man disappear down the
alley. Was that man Frank Brink?
That the state will have to prove.
Immediately after Drinks wounds
were dressed his bloodsoaked clothes
were burned. The women could de-
scribe the clothes, but they have been
destroyed.
Important Witness Missing.
Then, too, it has been learned that
Miss Newton telephoned young man
in town asking him to come up for
supper on the evening the murder or
suicide took place. This man has left
| tO"h anu lltio nv DCSh
about the shooting. Men who were in
the cigar shop when Brink entered say
he took a revolver from his pocket.
If this is true, the theory of a suicide
pact is substantiated in a measure.
Thus, all kinds of contradictory evil
dence will be introduced in the trial.
The sympathy of the people of Pom
ca is largely with Brink. They say:
IF he is guilty he should be pun
ished," emphasizing the off"
Miss Newton is described as a
Clever girl" of ordinary good looks
with a liking for Irritation She was
an only daughter with two grownup
brothers. She and Brink had been
going together" for three years.
lODonnell had won her consent to
marry him ten days before her tragic
death.
Before the tragedy and after the
invitations had been issued for the
marriage of Miss Newton and Mr..
IODonnell, Drinks friends here in
dulged themselves in "jollying" him
over his failure to capture the heart
of the girl he had wooed three years.
This hurt Brink. At one time he is
alleged to have said:
"Well, you can set it down that she
will never marry him"
Over fifty witnesses have been sub
poenaed by the state and about half
that number by the defense. The trial
will continue through this week, at
least, and may not go to the jury be.
fore the first of next week.