The San Francisco call., 1910-11-20
THOMPSON GIVEN
A 20 YEAR Term
Judge Dunno Sends Eva Swans
Slayer to San Quentin
Penitentiary

A sentence Of 20 years Imprisonment
An San Quentin was imposed yesterday
by Judge Dunno upon Robert Thomp-
son, the spurious doctor" convicted o.
the murder Of Eva Swan. who died as
the result OF 2 criminal operation per-
formed by the defendant in his Golden
Gate avenue Office. The hope raised in
Thompson's breast q week ago that
his motion for q new trial would be
granted was dashed by the judge. VINO
in a short oral decision said that the
decisions in this state upheld the dis
trict attorney IN his contention that
the evidence Of the accomplice, Marie
Nesserschmidt, had been corroborated.
Notice Of appeal from the verdict and
the judgment was announced by
Thompson's attorneys, Robert Ferral
and J. J. Greeley, Immediately after
sentence had been passed. Murder is
not & bailable offense, and the defend
ant must remain in the county jail until
his case is passed upon by the district
court Of appeal.
TESTIMONY SUFFICIENT
AT the time this motion was pre-
sented," said Judge Dunno, i wes
strongly impressed with the force Of
the suggestion made by defendants
counsel that such corroboration as Ia
required by law Of the testimony of an
.sccomplice had not been produced. I
find, though, that under the decisions
IN this state II would seem that the
actual commission of an offense may be
esta ablished by the testimony OF an ac-
cOmplice alone, and that the evidence
outside Of the accomplice need not be
sufficient TO establish the actual guilt
of the defendant. but 1t must in some
way tend TO implicate and connect the
defendant with the crime Unquestion-
ably the record here discloses evidence.
which, If il does nothing more. at least
connects Thompson with the crime
charged Whatever may be the view
Of this court as TO the proper construc-
lion Of the section. under the authori-
lies it must hold that the evidence dis
closes sufficient confederation. and the
motion for a new trial is denied"
PLEADS FOR THOMPSON
Thompson was ordered to stand up
for sentence. and while he was on his
feet Attorney Ferral made a brief ad-
dress in mitigation Of his offense. The
lawyer asked the court TO bear in mind
the extremely doubtful nature Of the
prosecution" and the fact that the chief
witness, Nurse Aesserschmidt. was
before Thompson, that she contradicted
herself in her testimony over and over
again, was guilty Of perjury almost
times without number, and admitted
making false statements" Further,
Ferral pointed out, this was Thomp-
sons first offense, and the additional
fact that there was no suggestion of
child murder should be considered by
the court Finally, the lawyer said it
was in Thompsons favor that he had
not taken the witness stand and COM
mitted perjury.
COURT FIXES PUNISHMENT
Without comment, Judge Dunno fixed
the punishment at 20 years imprison-
ment.
The evidence in the trial showed that
Thompson not only performed the il
legal operation on Eva Swan, a young
stenographer and school teacher, but
that for period Of II days he kept
her in his Office without calling in out
side help, although he believed she
was dying. After her death he sawed
of her legs, forced the body into a
trunk, had it conveyed to a Eureka
street cottage, and there buried it in
the basement. This occurred last April.
The crime came TO light in September
when Glen Pike a young man who had
been employed by Thompson to distri-
butte advertising matter, was refused
money by the defendant. In revenge
Pike gave what information he pos
sessed to the police.