Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-21
WOMAN MAY
KNOW FATE
BY TONIGHT
ESTELLE CORWELL IS TORN
WITH GRIEF
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENSE RESTS
CASE
Witnesses and Hearers Deeply Moved
by Lawyers Touching Appeal for
MISREPRESENTATION to
Close Today

"And the Master said, Go, and sin
no more Will you do that for this
poor sinner"
Closing the little Bible from which
he had been reading Horace IL. Appel
attorney for Mrs. Estelle CorWeli'
charged with the killing of George ~.
Bennett, closed his argument TO the
twelve men at $3.50 o'clock yesterday
afternoon.
With pale face and tears streaming
down his cheeks the attorney sank INTO
his seat. apparently exhausted aftei
nine hours Of speaking. AS he uttered
his closing words Mrs. G. G.. Weich,
mother of the woman on trial, Threw
her arms around her daughters neck
and sobbed aloud, while evidences OF
1eep emotion could be seen throughout
the crowded court room.
Never in the history of the county
has so large a crowd gathered IN anu
near a department ~of the superior
court as appeared yesterday: E..
The doors of the large chamber IN
which the grand jury holds its ses-
sions and which Immediately adJoins
Judge Wilbur's court were thrown open
and into this room hundreds or per-
sons crowded and listened to the ap-
peals of the attorney on behalf Oh ms
client. In the court room itself not
an inch of standing room remalneu.
Mother Cheers Woman
Near the defendant sat her mother
and two cousins, the Misses eulnones.
Some distance away sat g. W. Ben
nett. father of George I. Bennett Inc
rnother of the dead man reached the
court room about a half hour after the
session began, but was not allowed TO
take the seat she has occupied almost
daily throughout the trial. When she
entered the room a seat was oilereu
TO her in the rear of the chamber anu
near the door, but she insisted she pc
allowed to occupy her old place Ihls
was refused by the bailiff, acting upon
instructions of Judge Wilbur, ana the
gray- haired mother Indignantly left the
court room and sat for some hours vi
a bench in the corridor.
Frank Blair, deputy district attorney
will begin the closing argument when
court convenes at 10 o'clock To-Day. IL
is expected he will take up the entire
dav and the case will, in all probabillty,
be given to the jury by 6 O'Clock TINS
afternoon.
Attorney Appel, resuming his argu-
ment yesterday, dwelt at some length
upon the testimony of Mrs. j. u NC
Kenna. who was proprietor Of the
III /.
defendant lived, who testified she did
not know that Bennett and Mrs. Cor
well were living together as man and
wife.
Saws Statements Are Unreasonable
He declared her statements We're UNI
reasonable, and pointed out the fac'
That Bennett chose the room and partly
furnished it, and that he had been seer
there frequently.
AS Appel read letters written by Ben
nett and addressed to Mrs. Corwell as
his wife, the defendant burst into
tears. "God's hand is in this" cried
the attorney, land these letters come
to us as O voice from eternity. Ihey
were written when no death had oc-
Cured and no trial was in prospect.
He pictured the happiness of the
couple and told of Mrs. Corwells belief
that Bennett was an unmarried man
when he made love to her.
Exhibiting a tintype of Bennett ana
the defendant he said: think, men,
of the proud moment when she showed
this picture to her girl friends and
said: This is George; this is my be-
trothed.'
Look at her now" he cried, turning
with arm otustretched toward the
black clad woman. Look at the
change. Remember through what she
has passed. Is 1t not enough to nave
driven her insane? When the thought
came that she was abandoned. was II
not enough to dethrone her reason
Who would take her by the hand and
say, Come, l will care for you? She
believed herself desolate.
May Practice Deceit
"a man may practice deceit all his
life and still we may believe him to be
an honest man. And we believe him
to be honest and upright until he is
caught in his deceit, as surely he Will
be some day"
Referring to the theory of insanity
he said Mrs. Corwell had keen SEN
sibility and imagination and that the
seeds of insanity had been inherited
from a neurotic mother. He told OF
her attempt to take her life by swal-
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