Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-05-10
j. C. MITCHELL
ON JUNK|N CASE
ATTORNEY SETS FORTH REA-
SONS FOR LIFE IMPRIsoN-
MENT OF NEGRO.
COURT TO DECIDE
Supreme Body Of the State Will De-
termine Whether the Murderer
.. Will Hang or Die In
Prison.

The supreme court of Iowa will in
the near future decide whether John
Junkin, the convicted murderer OF
Clara Rosen will hang by the neck un'
til dead or be permitted to spend the
rest Of his life behind prison bars.
Judge J. G. Mitchell attorney for the
negro last week presented to the high
tribunal Of the state an appeal from
the decision of the jury in the case
tried last year at Centerville, and
while the crime was not denied, and
mercy was not sought by the Ottumwa
attorney, he endeavOred to convince
the judges Of the high court that cap
ital punishment to Junkin was lesser
punishment than solitary confinement
behind the walls Of FIT. Madison pen1-
Tertiary.
Judge Mitchell in his argument to
the supreme court described Junkin's
crime fully, going into the awful de-
tails of the atrocious murder and Ia
boring to bring out, as best as words
are capable of, the Nervousness Of the
act which caused all Ottumwa to
mourn. He told Of Miss Rosen leaving
home and how she proceeded from the
Rosen homestead on Locust street to
that of her sister Mrs. Nelson on Dare
street. In referring to the murdered
girl, he said:
"Miss Clara Rosen was an unmar-
ried lady of Swedish parentage, and
about Twenty-Five years Of age. She
was refined lady, quite well educat-
ed, more than ordinarily accomplished
in music, highly popular among all the
Swedish residents of our city, especial
ly popular in Swedish church circles In
all of which she was quite active, and
was we'll respected by all, Of whatso-
ever nationality. who knew her.
Admits Brutal Crime.
'Your Honors, Miss Rosen was MUIR
dered, in manner brutal, almost to
q point inconceivable. In that hole,
where her body was found, lay the
bloody stone, within a few feet Of her
body, with which her frontal skull had
been so brutally fractured, her nose
and her left cheek so brutally crushed.
And Sirs, John Junkin committed
that murder: One would stultify ones
self to say that the evidence in this
record can be read without burning in
to the soul conviction, that the de-
PENDANT Is guilty as charged. The
night was rather dark, and the are
lamp that usually lights Dare street
quite well, that night was out of order
and not burning. Junllin followed
Miss Rosen down Jefferson street, up
Cara, then up Dare street, where he
overlook her in quite a dark place,
struck her from behind with some
weapon, she fell on the side walk, no
then dragged her up the embankment
Of the vacant lot and on over to the
old cellar and cast here therein, and
then crushed her head with that
hideous stone. 1t was brutal murder
in the preparation of robbery.
''It may now be asked, why am |
here, after admitting so much? Well,
I am not here to plead for liberty for
John Junkin. If I had the power to do
it, I would not turn Junl1in loose, any
more than l would pull back the doors
of a. cage, that famished tiger might
spring into a bevy Of Sunday school
children.
But. I am here to register a Wig
orous protest against the death pen
atty in this case, revolving as the case
may be-" 49,.
Is Junkin a Human Being?
The Judge showed no sentiment in
the matter, nor did he appeal to SYM
patty or ask for mercy. He based his
argument on the teaching Of that mod
ern science, known as criminology,
claiming that Junkin's criminallty re-
suited wholly from his physical make
I'D and his environments, and that IN
a moral sense, Junkin Is no more re-
sponsible for his crimes than Is tiger
for it's ferocity AS to Junkin's environ
ments. among other things he said:
as Junkin a human being? There
is so much Of the brute in the human,
and so much Of the human In the
brute that an all comprehensive defini-
tion of the difference between the hui
man and the brute is difficult to form
ulate.
"Our postulate is, man or beast is
lust what his or its physical makeup
and environments make of him or 1t;
nothing more, nothing less and moth
ing different"
Murderer Resembles Beast.
AS to Junkin's physical makeup the
Judge said:
"Now as to John Junkin's mentality.
In that word mentality, include not
only the faculties of reason, but also
instincts, passions, tendencies, fancies,
predictions, idiosyncracies, in short
everything that enters into the make
up of that imponderable thing we
call character. Between mentality
and the physical there Is such rela-
tim +ha+ II ic Dertinent to inquire as
to Junkin's physical makeup. I shall
not attempt to fully describe that
makeup. Suffice it is to say, from head
to foot, in his makeup, he is grossly
When standing, his
posture Is that of baboon standing
on his hind legs: his arms are so
long that when he IS standing, his
enormous hands swing down to his
knees. His feet are comparatively