The San Francisco call., 1909-11-24
STATE is NOT
DEMANDING THE
DEATH PENALTY
Prosecutor of Alma Bell Tells
Jurors He Does Not Expect
Extreme Verdict
With Bowed Head the Young
Woman Hears Herself Held
Up to pubIic ScOrn


Hamilton would not agree to that
with the defense complalsant Judge
Arnot limited the arguments to -four
and a half hours for each side.
Chamberlain said that the defense
would not take its full time The pre-
sumption is that the arguments viii
have been completed by noon tomorrow
and the case given to the jury either
before or Immediately after the noon
recess.
She was nervous during the morning
and looked weary after her ordeal OF
the day before
Sits With Bowed Head
The defendant sat with her head
bowed in her hand during the latter
part Of the prosecutors speech. Her
face was hidden, but there was no
patent indication that she was weeping,
though she was pitifully subdued. She
had been set forth in a relentless way
as a wicked. jealous, low, depraved
woman. who killed her lover premedi-
tatedly and with malice.
Hamilton began his argument at 1875
o'clock and talked for ? hours and 35
minutes. He spoke first Of the prose-
cution's attitude in not raising the
question Of the death penalty. In the
state Of California" he said, "a woma n
has never been hanged. 1 couldn' [
myself hang a woman who had killed
the man with whom she had been inti-
mate and 1 couldn't and 1 wOuldn't /
ask il of you
There is only one thing that we
do ask OF you. gentlemen of the jury.
When YOU render the verdict, we ask
that the highest moral wreath, the
wreath that belongs to the virtuous
woman. 10 your wives, sisters and
daughters, be not thrown away on
Alma Bell You have heard il said,
Joe Armes got what he deserved. Give
Alma Bell what she deserves. If it
was the hand Of God Almighty that
directed the bullet into Joe Armes'
heart, il was the hand of depravity
that turned il loose"
In uncomprOmising language Hamil-
ton denounced the life which Alma
Bell led with Joe Armes- He scorned
the suggestion of the defense that the
two We're living in the relation of hus-
band and wife. There IS something
more dear in married life than the low
immortality in which they lived" he
shouted, and with soaring sarcasm
spurned the girls idea Of her love"
for Armes.
When woman willingly gives her
virtue away she has no right to hide
behind the unwritten law asserted
Hamilton.
can our daughters he said, "be
taught 10 this effect; You may lead
the life Of immortality and no matter to
what length you may go you may kill
your victim, for the Alma Bell case has
established the precedent that under
those conditions you may go free?"
Taking up the evidence. Hamilton de-
clared that Alma Bell was not in a
delicate condition when she shot Armes
and supported his theory with the dec
laration that not once in Armes' ca bin
on the night OF the murder did she ap-
peal 10 him 10 marry her.
pike" Bells Memory
Hamilton's handling Of pike" Belrs
memory was IS picturesque as the sub
1ect demanded and lacked nothing in
vigor.
Il never heard Of such unfair treat
ment Of the name of a father, of the
name OF husband, as in this case" he
shouted. swinging on his heels toward
Alma Bell, who sat with her brother Ed.
He did not make his money standing
al bar. He was a man. To do what
he did took energy, zeal, industry, man
hood. He was endowed with an almost
magical skill which enabled him TO
open the treasure boxes Of nature and
take from the earth the yellow gold.
My dear young lady, and Hamfl-
ton stood with his back TO the Jury.
his hands stretched out dramatica lly
toward Alma, who did not raise her
weeping eyes from their resting place
on her palm, my dear young lady, if
~Tr
standing here fighting for you and he
would walk over the body of any one
who would attack the character of a
member Of his family. To have Pike
Bells widow come here and write
across the memory OF her husband the
name 'drunkard is the most terrible
thing I have ever heard"
Pleads for Defendant
Attorney Chamberlain, in opening his
argument for the defense tonight, be-
gan with a review of Alma Bells life
from the time, when, at the age of
16. she left her mothers ranch to earn
her living.
As a girl, Alma Bell was unframed" .
he said, and when thrown on her own
resources. at an age when a girl de-
mands the most tender care she was
forced TO do poor and menial labor
When she met Joe Armes, the one
great love that every woman knows
sooner or later, came into her life. He
asked her 10 become his wife and she
believed in him. Their wedding day
was set, and il was not until then
several weeks after she became his af-
ianced wife-that she succumbed to his
opportunities. Alma Bell yielded to her
lover. but, gentlemen OF the jury / say
TO you. she is not the first nor yet the
last woman, to do this. and il he had
kept faith with her as she had kept
faith with him. this tragedy would
never have been recorded.
The Girl Went Mad
when she went to Joe Armes in his
cabin on that fatal night. Alma Bell
was not woman demanding her
rights; rather she crept on her knees
to the bedside of her betrayer, like a
wounded. hunted thing. begging sue
cor in a time Of dire distress. Armes
spurned her, and il was with her i'm
pending shame burning into her brain
in soaring letters Of FIRE that this girl
went mad.
rs it possible, do you think. if this
defendant had not been Detrothed 10
Joe Armes, as has been claimed, that
he would have allowed her to live in
his mothers house, the friend and con-
fident Of his sisters. and the companion
OF his brothers, Would he have al