The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-20


: Archibald Frame, Jr, farmer, :.
= Robert n. Hodge, irouworks :.
- foreman, S2s West Seventh =
= South street.
:: : =;
a panel Of thirty veniremen was ex-
hausted, Thursday, in Judge Arm.
strong's court without obtaining a full
Jury in the noted Thomas Vance wife
murder case. Only six Jurors, had been
clock, when adjournment until 9:30
this morning was taken, and 1t was
necessary to draw another venire panel
Of siXtY-two names. From this num-
Der it is believed that q full jury will
be seated at least by o clock this af.
ternoon. and possibly sooner. The trial
proper will start Saturday morning, un'
less adjournment is taken this after
noon until Monday morning.
Most OF the venlremen excused were
objected 10 because OF implied or ac-
tual prejudice. Several excused said
they had formed opinions as TO the
merits of the case from reading news
One venireman. though. said he hadn Z
read newspaper and didu : hear any
thing abopt the case until along in last
June or July. six. or seven months sf
forwards, and the only information he
possessed about tho murder came to
him mostly as rumor.
Judge Maginnis's Motion.
The first step in the case was the
motion by Judge w. L. Maginnis, of
Ogden, leading counsel for the defense,
TO quash the information against
Vance on the ground that the evidence
introduced before Justice Dana T,
Smith al the preliminary hearing did
not Justify the binding Of the accused
man over to the district court The
motion was denied.
Vance was then ordered TO stand up,
snd the charge was read 10 him. The
prisoner showed no emotion, while this
was being done. At the conclusion, he
answered in a clear, even voice, in re
sponse 70 the question, "Guilty or not
guiltv3n
Not guilty!"
The impanelling of tine jury was then
proceeded with.
murder, an unbailable offense, on three
counts. The first alleges that on No
yember %, 1907. he kicked and beat
Mrs. Vance so violently that she died
at st. Marks hospital December s
twelve days later. The second allege,
that on November q Vance placed
poison, bi.chloride OF mercury. into a
drank, causing death December s. The
third count joins both as the cause of
death
Yancc's four children, the eldest of
whom is about IL years. aud Mrs.
Amanda e Ward. the divorced wife
alleged wife murderer. will be the
principal witnesses for the state II
will be sons and daughters against
father. At the preliminary hearing
Mrs. Ward. then Mrs. Vance, was
especially bitter against Vance, and it
is 70 her that Vance LAYS most of the
blame for, his arrest and Imprisonment
on the murder charge,
Story Is Recalled.
According to a story that gained
wide currency soon after the alleged
murder, Vance became angered and as.
saultcd Mrs Vance because she filed
his coffee cup with too generous hand,
running il over Jumping up, he threw
the cup al Mrs, Vance and then struck
her down and kicked her, il was al
legged. She fed from the house. but
soon returned. and Vance again as.
saulted her. The next day, it was al
legged, Vance slipped into the room in
which Mrs. Vance was lying in a semi.
conscious condition, produced by the
assault Of the day before, and placed
bichloride OF mercury into tho water
nf which the wounded woman after
ward drank. These things the state
VIII Try to establish beyond uncertainty
at the trial.
Another part Of the state s probable
evidence will be an attempt to estab
!ish that the Vances. who are natives
~ the Carolinas, spring from a
family of violent men. Mrs. Ward said
NJ the preliminary hearing that il was
q tradition in the neighborhood in
which the Eances resided in the Caro-
linas that it boded III for the woman
who married into the family The
Fances, she declares, became VIOLENTLY
iusane when angered.
v.afa after 18th the wsls alleged murder Es Mrs
rublic eye in divorce proceeding. M
against The accused man s nephew. Th'
woman got "A divorce on the ground,
~ cruelty. the custody Of the fiv,
minor children, $50 month alimony
also the Vance home. valued at $1,000
while she remained single, but sh,
Irnarried, her second husband bein:
Albert Ward, three months after. an,
Vance IS now suing 10 set aside III,
order requiring him 10 pay her $40
mouth alimony. TO regain possession O
MS property, and TO get the custody o
the children. His petition likely viii
coine up in Judge Morse 8 division o
the Third District court this afternoon
Second Venture a Failure,
Apparcntly Mrs. Ward IS secon
matrimonial venture has been failure
II -is said that Ward soon ran away
aud that Vance refused TO pay the ali
mony after she married Ward, and a
It consequence The woman is withou
funds and almost destitute
The deiendaut's defense has no
heen outlined, but il ;s under
stood that apoug other thing
the srciib.'ity of Mr.. Ward