The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-24
VANCE UNNOvED
HEARS SHOCKING
TALE UhFOLDED
Witnesses Tell of His Having
Beaten and Kicked His Wife
Who Died in the Hospital.
POISONING CHARGE
ALSO TO BE PRESSED
ACCUSED MANS DAUGHTER RE-
LATEs INCIDENTS PREcED-
ING MOTHERS DEATH.

Through the testimony of Lena Vance
the twelve-year-old daughter of Thomas
Vance, on trial charged with the muir
der of his wife. Mary Vance, the case
for the state was fairly outlined at yes
terday's hearing. Obviously frightened
and nervous over her trying ordeal. the
little girl told in voice scarcely audible
to the jury the story of the quarrel be-
tween the husband and wife and the as
sault which is supposed to have con-
tributed to the death of her mother
Certain portions of her testimony, were
secured with great difficulty, as she ap-
parent1y did not fully understand the
purport of some of the questions put TO
her, and took refuge at times in a stub
born silence which was broken only af-
ter repeated questioning.
During the recital of the attack upon
his wife as related by his eldest child
the prisoner listened with perfect equa-
nimity, chewing gum and caressing his
red nustache, which offers a start
ling color contrast to the prison palIor
of his face.
During the testimony of Mrs. Amanda
Ward, former wife of George Vance
nephew of the prisoner and a sister of
the dead woman, Thomas Vance listened
with an expression of genuine am.se-
ment. 1t was through the efforts of
Mrs. Ward that Vance was arrested and
the supposed dying statement of his
wife accusing him of poisoning her was
secured. She will be cross-examined by
Judge Maginnis for the defense this
morning.
The cross-eXamination of the defense
at yesterdays session was directed IN
some degree toward showing that she
had carefully gone over the testimony
of Lena Vance in preparation for the
story to be told by the child upon the
witness stand The questions Of the de-
Tense also attempted TO bring out the
fact that Mrs. Vance was in bad health.
that she was accustomed to taking med
icines and that she was a woman of vfo-
lent temper. Many of the questions on
INSTRUMENTATION attempted to show
the discrepancies between the testimony
at the preliminary hearing and that
given yesterday.
Case Is Outlined.
The prosecution was opened by Dis
trict Attorney F. c. Loofbourow. who
outlined the case to the jury. stating
that the state would try to prove that,
after being brutally assaulted and
kicked by the defendant, Mrs. Vance
had been poisoned by a bichloride OF
mercury tablet slipped into a glass Of
water by her husband. from which she
afterwards drank. Mr.. LoofbOurow
outlined the symptoms exhibited by
Mrs. Vance during her illness and i'm
pressed upon the jury the fact that,
should a victim of mercurial poisoning
live twenty-four hours. nearly every
trace of the poison disappears from the
body
The witnesses for the state and for
y Iafa oil fAara4I,aY
and Joseph 3. Swenson. county sur
veyOr, explained the chart of the Vance
house at SCI South Seventh West street
where the assault and poisoning are
alleged to have occurred. He explained
that the house was separated from the
neighboring houses upon each side by
about ten feet
Mrs. WunderIich's Story.
Mrs. Clara Wunderlich, neXt-door-
neighbor of the Vance family. was then
called. She stated that she saw Mrs:
Vance, on the day of the trouble. Nov.
26. 1907 She stated that she was in her
own house when her attention was at
tracted by the noise of a fall within
the Vance house and the screams OF the
Vance children and Mrs. Vance. She
said that Mrs. Vance came out upon
the back porch of the Vance house.
deadly pale. with her hair disheveled,
and called to her to telephone for the
police saying, He is killing me" Mrs.
WunderIich asked who. and Mrs. Vance
stated. That brute which I can my
husband" Mrs Wunderlich stated that
she again saw Mrs. Vance as the latter
got off the Poplar Grove car about >
o'clock the same afternoon, that is. the
afternoon of Nov. 26. She said that on
the next day she had gone to the Vance
house in response to a summons from
Mrs Vance about 10 o'clock in the
morning and that she. Mrs Ward and
Continued on Page 3.