The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-27
Plain Recital Of Events Sur
rounding Shooting Of
Her Husbafa..' .'tatc n,
PROSECUTION DECLARES THAT
KILLING HAD Been PLANNED
Couheuds Execution Of 1t Was In Ac-
coedance With Previously Laid Plan
OF Actaon-Had Tried to Arouse
Victims Anger.

Mrs. Mary R.ss Of Beaulieu, Minn.,
widowed by the bullet which killed J.
franklin Ross and which the state
OF North Dakota contends was fired
by McI.ain Cooper with felonious in
tent. was the first witness called In the
trial Of the Traill county young man
in the Grand Forks district court this
morning. The jury was secured late
Saturday afternoon and the trial was
formally opened this morning by the
statement of the prosecuting attorney,
G. A. IYche of Trail county.
That the murder had been planned
and deliberately executed Is the charge
made by the state and which States
Attorney Lyche this morning told the
evidence. That the defendant had
come to the farm on the morning of
the murder and had made efforts to
arouse Ross anger and thus lay the
foundation for plea of self defense.
was another contention voiced by the
Trail county prosecutor. His state
ment of the case occupied about a
half hour, and after the introduction
Of plats showing the location Of build
ings on the Harry ]. Cooper farm, the
scene Of the shooting, Mrs. Ross was
called to the stand.
Unacquainted with court proceed
ings tho widow. dressed in black and
whose face indicates plainly the effects
OF illness and of recent trouble, took
the stand. Her story. simple but
straightforward. was told to the jury
torneys.
Heard Shot and Cry.
The first intimation of trouble on
the farm on the morning of the shoot
Ing, she said. came to her as she was
In the kitchen Of the home. she at
that time hearing shot and cry Of
pain. Running out Of doors she
soc the body Of her husband stretched
cut on the ground, with McLain Coop
Or standing at his side. revolver In
hand.
frightened at the scene which pre-
sented itself. she declared that for a
few moments she was Unable to slssvs,
and then called to her husband, ask.
INC whether or not he was shot. He
answered yes, askdng her to call q
DOCTOR. This she replied to ;hys aslkina
whore he had been shot, Ross answer
Ing that he had been shot in the back.
Nolan was saying something, she
said, but a dogs barking made it i'm
possible for her to hear.
The physician. DR.. Anderson Of
Hillsboro, she herself called by tele-
phone. In the meantime her husband
was brought into the house by Jack
Huet, employed on the farm, and the
physician arrived in about an hour.
A brief examination Of the wound was
made. Mrs. Ross being present, after
which the victim was removed to the
Anderson hospital in Hillsboro. Mrs
Ross went tc Hillsboro about 4 o'clock
that afternoon and remained in the
city until her husbands death, August
8, the shooting having occurred
March II. :.
Cooper Standing at Ross Side.
At the time of the shooting. when
she got to a point where she could
zee her husband and young Cooper,
Mrs. Ross said that the defendant was
holding the revolver in manner
which indicated that he was looking
ct 1t, appearing to turn it from one
side to another. When she called to
her husband, the widow said that Nc
Lain started to walk away, going to-
ward the main barn and calling Jack
three times, being about twenty five
feet from the barn the last time he
called.
Mrs. Ross also testified that her
husband did not have a rifle or a re-
volver Of his own on the farm, nor
had he at any time that he was in the
employ Of II. J. Cooper.
McLain Cooper, the witness said.
had boarded with them during the
winter season, and during a portion of
the time had spent evenings in the
house playing cards with Ross and
others. On cross examination It was
shown that these card games had been