Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-05-04
Mrs. Dodge, The Accused, Is
Calm and SeIf-possessed.
Governments Expert O0ctorSays
L Was Surely Murder.
The Defence Will Claim Accidental
Shooting or Suicide.

Guildhall. VT, May 3.-Holding up a
human heart, that of William Heath.
the Dalton, n. H., painter. whose muir
der is charged to Mrs. Florence III.
Dodge of Lunenburg, DR.. B. III. Stone
OF Montpelier. witness for the prose-
cution at the woman's trial today,
calmly displayed the bullet wound.
which caused death. AS demonstrated
the course Of the missile to the jury
men by passing a penholder through
the wound, the women in the court
room turned their heads and even the
attorneys could scarce repress a shud-
der. But the defendant did not blanch.
Another gruesome exhibit brought
into the case by DR.. Stone, who had
been put on the stand by the govern
ment In an attempt to show that the
bullet could not have been fired by the
dead man himself. was piece of
muscle from under the left arm, show
ing where the bullet had first entered
the body The bullet itself also was
shown 10 the jury.
During the time that DIR. Stone was
or the stand illustrating his testimony
\ with these exhibits the accused wo-
man was the calmest person in the
crowded court room, Not once was her
eonposure shaken. In contrast was the
emotion displayed by the wife of the
dead man.
The first intination OF the line of de-
fence which may be followed by Mrs.
Dodge's attorneys was brought out to-
day. when in cross-examining Guy
Garvin. they secured the information
that from the position of the body and
other circumstances, he had formed
the opinion that Heath shot himself,
either accidentally or with suicidal in
tent. Garvin testified the mans hand
was outstretched toward the revolver
which, it is admitted. caused death.
A vast amount of testimony was Of
fered at today's session. IL witnesses
taking the stand. The greater part of
the testimony had to do with the view
ing of Heath's body by persons who
were at Mrs. Dodge's home on the day
of the shooting, while the evidence Of
fered by two of the physicians who
performed the autopsy was the feature
OF the day.
Guildhall, VT, May 3.-That William
Heath was shot while he was in a
crouching position on the floor. that he
could not have fired the bullet which
entered under the left arm and passed
upward through the heart. and that
the shot must have been fired more
than three feet away, were the state
ments by DIR. B. III. Stone of Mont
pelier, who opened the testimony on
the third day of the trial of Mrs. Flor
ence Dodge for Heath's murder.
DIR. Stone is the state pathologist
and performed the autopsy, and among
the exhibits which he brought into
court and showed to the jury were
Heath's clothing. the bullet, which he
said, he found outside of-the body be-
tween the skin and the undershirt and
the dead mans heart with the bullet
hole through it. The widow of the
former high sheriff who is now an OBJ
ject of interest because of the accusa-
ton against her, sat unmoved while
DIR. Stone held Heath's heart in his
hand and slipped penholder through
the hole showing the direction taken
by the bullet.
Snow squalls were whiring down
from the Green Mountains and rafting
house when the proceedings opened
for the day. but the return of winter
did not prevent the townspeople from
filling every seat and DIR. Stones tes-
timony held interest above the roar of
the storm.
The jury heard very graphic de-
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