The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
IMPORTANT DAY IN
 IN SCHENK TRIAL Defense Charges Conspiracy
 Against Wife SESSION VERY LIVELY Lawyers Make Things Hum and Judge Has Trouble to Keep Order-Prose- cutor Handlun Says Woman
 Tried to Confess
SESSION VERY LIVELY

Wheeling, " Va, January 21-This was day o1 Importance in the trial of
 Laura farnsworth Schenk, charged with
 poisoning her husband. John O. schens lhe defense completed it's case At a.so
 this afternon and Mrs Schenks attornexs also played their strongest card in inc effort to establish the allegation that a
 conspiracy had been formed by members or the schenk family to get rid of Jobn Q. Schenk's wife.
 This came when Mrs Jane Hedoes ono or the heirs 10 the large Nichols estate
 which Albert schenk headed a syndicate
 to buy. declared that Johns brother had said to her:
 1John has bought his wife a $500 auto
 mobile. Every time she goes out in if I
 have hopes that she will break her neck
 will leave no stone unturned to rid us of that woman.'.sss
 The most gruelling cross examination to MT Handlan- has yet subjected any wifi
 ness failed to change the testimonv of Mrs Hedges. Neither would she admit | that the evidence had been given on ac- count of personal feeling against Albert 1 Schenk
 The night session was adjourned at 9:O5. and was featured sby sharp argument be- l tween Prosecutor Handlan on one side | and Messrs O'Brien and Boyce on the
 other. On one occasion in reply to a re-
 mark by counsel for the defense, Mir
 Handlan warned Look out, Boyce,'s
 The gavel was kept busy by Judge Jor-
 dan throughout the brief and lively ses- sion. The argument started oyer limiting the number of character witnesses put on l by the state.
 During the late afternoon and evening
 Prosecutor Handlan put on 2s character witnesses to prove the standing in tie | community of Dr. J. w. Myers who de-
 clared that he had sold Mrs. sehenk
 sugar of lead and that she had tried to buy arsenic from him. The witnesses
 were bankers, business men, city and county officials.
 Mrs. John Lash, neighbor of !, the Sohenks. was the first witness of the day.
 She told of having cared for Robert and l Virginia, the Schenk children, on the
 night of the mothers arrest, and of try ing to get a note to Mrs. Schenk; that I husband and wife apparently got on well l together but little of value to either side was got from her.
 Upon leaving the courtroom she went | to the prisoners chair and embraced Mrs. | Schenk.
 | pr. s. L. Jepson, editor of the West Vir- ginia Medical Journal, who examined the millionaire packer was called. At that time he found nothing to indicate poison | ing, but when cross-questioned admitted | the symptoms described by physicians | for the state and embodied in the hypo- tactical question would indicate both lead | and arsenic poison.
 Just before the trial opened in the morn- 1 ing Prosecutor Handlan told newspaper | nfen that Mrs. Schenk had started to con | fess to him, had stopped on account of l illness, and promised that she would tell
 the whole story later. This statement was | natly contradicted by J. J. OBrien. who declared that Mrs. Schenk has always
 maintained her innocence and led to some of the sharp interchanges of 'compi- ments'' between counsel later. | At the conclusion of the session to- night adjournment was taken to Monday | morning. .es1 ~9zsss sr3