Arizona republican., 1910-07-26
A GERMAN MURDER TRIAL.
Criticicm of the Prosecution of Herr
 Weber Schoenebeck.

Berlin-The Allenstein murder trial has been suspended because 0f the ln- sanity of the accused and as long as she remains insane it cannot be re stunned. Frau Weber -Schoenebeck IS now in a government asylum and must stay there until she is restored to men tai health But there is little proDa- bility of the resumption of the trial Her case is exactly on all fours with that of Prince Eulenburg. He indeed is in the care of his own people, but ne is incapable of trair' not from insanl- tv but illness, and if he is pronounced restored to health sufficiently to en- able him to bear the physical and men, tai fatigues of trial he will be tried Rut he will never be tried. IL Is well known that the government is very Tar from having the intention of once more bringing before the public the details
 of a case which has already shocked the public mind and dscredited the aristocracy. Similarly the government does not desire a repetition of the story of a scandal which affects the good name and fame of the military class in Germany.
 Apart from this aspect of the case the Allenstein murder raises many | considerations which trouble the pub | lie conscience and excite discussion. In i the first place the trial of Frau Weber | Schoenebeck for instigating her lover, Von Goeben, to the murder of her nus band did not take place until two years | after the murder That would be eX- plained if the delay had been caused by the difficulty of procuring evidence | connecting her with the crime. No eVl- dence of the kind was brought forward during the time the trial lasted, how | ever. and, so far as anyone can tell there was not the least likelihood that any evidence Of the kind could be brought forward.
 Then there is the nature of the pro cedure. No stranger who followed the | hearing would suppose that there eX- l isted in Germany law of evidence or | a code of criminal procedure There | took part in the trial twelve ordinary l jurymen, a judge, lawyers for the
 prosecution and for the defense, wit
 nesses of various kinds, a dozen insani- | tarv experts and the accused with her l second husband, married two years ana four months after the murder of her first. They indulged as it appeas from the reports of the trial, in a haphaZard l discussion, jumping from topic to topic, from point to point, introducing all sorts of hearsay evidence and at times
 with two or three persons speaking at
 once.
 At one moment the judge stopped l the conversation to tell the jury that | he had received an anonymous letter
 addressed to them about the trlai. He handed the letter to them instead of
 keeping silent and putting it in the wastepaper basket
 For the space of a fortnight there were hardly half a dozen questions | put to the witnesses which had the re-
 motest bearing on the proof or dis proof of the alleged guilt of the ac- cused Examination and cross exam ination alike were solely concerned with the past lives of the accused and her lover and the 'vivisection of the soul" as it has been accurately de- scribed, of the accused.
 One result of this form of procedure is that at the present time it is not possible to say what line the defense | intended to take. All that can be sup posed is that it would have been that Frau Weber -Schoenebeck had no mo- tive for the removal of her husband, for he was a complaisant husband. | while her lover was of a character that promised no happiness in married life; that she had everything to lose by her husbands death, her position and her children among the rest, and that her husbands death caused her sorrow and pain. Had the. case been | tried in any other country it would | have been concluded within two or
 three days and the judge might have i! withdrawn it from the jury on the