The Detroit times., 1908-05-25
PAINTS WH|TM0RE
AS OEEP.O!EO
VILLAIN
PROSECUTION BELIEVED TO HAVE
BIG SURPRISE TO DEFENSE UP
ITS sLEEvE-PRIsoNeR's LAW.
YER CONFIDENT.

NEW YORK. May 25.--It took Just
az minutes to draw the IL Jurors who
are trying Theodore 8. Whitmore, In
Jersey City. for wife-murder. from
the struck panel. They are: Fore
man. Francis E. Jewkes. Edward a.
Barnes. Joseph Brown, Lars P. Han
sen. Rowland II. Bell. John e. Barr.
Edward Willis. Henry Moeller, Dan
lei Beatty. Richard Ellis. Louis H.
BellofY and VIM. II. Anderson.
In his opening address. Prosecutor
Vickers painted villainous portrait
OF Whitmore, the selfish. brutal wife
murderer.
The first witness called by the state
was Webster Crane, the young man
who found the body OF Lena Whit
more three-Quarters submerged in a
pond In Lamp Black swamp. He tes-
tined that he was employed In tho
boat-house of C. A. Hazard. About
3 O'Clock on the morning after Christ
mas he was walking past the pond
and saw the body In the water with
the foot protruding.
Body Nude When Found.
THE body was nude he said. 81
called Albert Thompson, who was on
his boat, the Idle Hour. in a drydock
a short distance away. Harry Miller
was with me. After a while we pull.
ed the body out and covered II over"
Albert Thompson, who has been a
prisoner since the finding Of the body,
together with Frederick Kirkland. was
then called. Thompson told of help
Ing pull the body from the water
and of finding the sealskin muff and
part OF woman's coat. Frederick
Kirkland, his partner on the boat,
followed him to the stand with prac-
tically the same story
VIM. B. Salter, a brother OF Lena
Whitmore, took the stand and swore
to the identity Of the body. Salter
came from Poughkeepsie, to identify
the body after his sister Mrs. Bessie
E. Schmitler. had been found and
had declared the body was that of Lee
ma Whitmore.
NEW YORK. May 25.-Reports of
new and startling evidence, winch the
prosecution will spring as surprise,
were current about the court room
when the trial OF Theodore s. Whit
more, motorman, for the murder of
his wife, Lena. opened In Jersey City.
today. II was the setting for the final
scene In the great New Jersey
swamp mystery
Whitmore was haggard and wan,
after five months Imprisonment.
Five important witnesses were
brought from the Hudson county Jail,
uhara fhnu houn
months. They are Mrs. GeofSie Dick
enson. with whom the husband bad
planned 10 elope, just before the~Ais-
covery OF his wife's body In the
swamp near Harrison; VIM. Bartlett,
better known as Gold Tooth Billy"
a friend and partner Of the accused,
who In confession declared that
Whitmore had deliberately plotted to
poison the woman Frank Englert,
Frederick Kirkman and Albert Thomp-
son. of the yacht Idle Hour, which lay
near the scene OF the tragedy on
Christmas Day when the body was
found
The prosecutors have a mass of evil
dence against the husband, who, Bart
lett says, was a member OF a band
OF thieves. In the last three or four
days many new developments. all tend
ing to make the case darker for Whit.
more have been made public II is
said the state has a surprise In store
for the prisoner.
I'VE will prove complete alibi for
Theodore Whitmore and he will be
indicated" said Alex. T. Simpson.
counsel for the prisoner today.
Hurled Alive Into Marsh.
Mrs. Whitmores body was found on
the day after Christmas In the shallow
water Of the New Jersey swamp. She
had been stunned by blow and di-
vested OF clothing. The autopsy