The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-01-07
MANKA7rO FREE PRESS

! care or by tHe state, put would be sep
arated and scattered among strangers.
The speaker referred touchingly of
the death of his own parents, and how
his heart had nearly broken, and re-
ferred to how much created would be
the agony for the children if their
mother were to be hanged from the
end of rope. When he concluded,
the defendant, her four children and
Mrs. Schwandt were in tears, and many
ladies in the audience were using their
|handkerchiefs.
The court at this point took re-
cess until $3.50 a. M TODAY.
| This Forenoon.
| Mr.. Wilson resumed his argument
this morning. The talk when p. A. Led
better arrived did not show hostility on
the defendants part. Her conduct at
other times did not show hostility
Possibly Mrs. Randall expressed more
hostility toward P. A. Ledbeter when
she wanted to collect her note than
Mrs. Ledbeter did.
Referring again to the suicide story,
the speaker defended his clients con-
duct in not speaking to her husband
about it. He said that sixty per cent
of the insane are never told that they
are. Women are not as strong as men,
and they would have to approach the
subject with a great deal of care. If
the defendant made mistake of iudg-
ment, it was not an evidence of MUIR
der.
Why did Smith go to the house and
get the hat and jacket the day of the
alleged temperance? He did it to
fool the defendant. He did not tell
her for an hour or two, so as to give
him time to leave, so that search would
be useless.
The body was found fully dressed, as
perfectly so as though he had dressed
himself. The cap only was missing,
and here it is except the top. A
chew of tobacco was in his mouth The
jury should be cautious of evidence
that gives information of a long time
in the past, for it is easy to forget or
! misunderstood or msconstrue. Tiff
fanny repeated conversation that he
heard seven years ago. 1t might have
been said by Led5eter then in iok-
ing manner. Whatever the talk was,
it has little to do in this case. Sew
eral witnesses say that Ledbeter did
not chew tobacco in his bed The find
ing of the tobacco in his mouth
is one of the strongest circumstances
to show that he was killed in the barn
in the morning while doing his shoes
The thick mud, straw and hay on the
bottoms of the shoes shows that he
must have been killed in the barn. The
fact that his stomach was empty is
also circumstance. Hazel Ledbeter
heard her father call Frank Smith, the
morning of May 5, and this shows
that he was killed that morning Led
better must have laid on the right side
of his face to the wall, and could
not have received that blow from a
person standing beside the bed. The
blow was delivered by strong bru-
tai character, and not such. a one as
would be made by a woman if she
wished to affect a persons death. The
state has not shown you the clothing.
1t must be bloody. The shirt would
be bloody if it was pulled down over
his head. The clothing should have been
shown to the defense and not kept
locked up. 7e .a.
The speaker referred to the danger
of taking oral evidence. He maintained
that Mrs. Ledbeter did not try to mis-
lead p. A. Ledbeter and Sheriff Dona-
hue so that they would not go past
the grave in the field. She sent them
by the best road and did not tell them
that they could not get through by the
ravine Mr.. Donahue was not put on
the stand by the state to testify to |
the conversation.
Morning of May S.
The speaker took up the events of 4,
the morning of May 5, rehearsing the
evidence as given by the defendant,
and showing the plats and photographs
to the jury. The defendant had no way
to know how much time elapsed from
the time that she saw her husband |
aunl she saw Smith except as she
know how long it took do her to do the |
various things that she did. Judging
this way, twenty-five minutes elapsed. |
She did not see blood on Smiths |
hands, but there was blood on his soul. |
When she went to the barn to call her |
husband to breakfast, she little knew |
that he was then buried beneath the |
hay and straw and dirt in the feed |
alley, and that she would come back |
distracted woman. She had search |
ed about the barn and pasture and
Smith had come to her and talked of |
Ledbeter pounding the COW. He had
asked her what she was going to do,
and she said that she was going |
do, and she said that she was going |
to call the neighbors, when Smith said |
wait, don't 60 yet Her hysterical
condition later was not due to the heavy
work that she had done that morning,
but to the fact that she had worked |
hard ironing the day before, and was
unwell The matron of the Jail knew
when she was unwell since.
Undoubtedly when Mrs. Ledbeter saw
her husband pass the door he was going
after barley to feed the chickens.
n