The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-01-26
MRS. SCHENCK PUT
HANDS OVER
HER EARS
During Arrangement by Prose-
cutting Attorney
Jury OUT WITH CASE
Alleged Husband Polsoner Collapsed
on Last Day Of Her
Trial

Wheeling, West Va, Jan. 26.--The
case of Laura Farnsworth Schenk,
charged with poisoning her husband,
John o. Schenk, went to the jury a
little before o'clock yesterday after
noon. When at 10 o'clock no agree
ment had been reached the court or
tdered the members Of the jury sent
to their hotel to be locked up for the
night. Predictions of disagreement
are general.
TIL then a crowd of several hun
dred impatient persons stood In the
corridors of the Court House await
ing the verdict. The courtroom was
allowed to fill comfortably, then all
the arrivals were stopped at the top
of the stairs by dozen deputy sher-
IFS. Even newspaper men were
kept out of that part of the hall lead
ing from the jury room to the court
room.
A glimpse into the jury room early
in the evening disclosed a group OF
jurors In their shirt sleeves arguing
with one man. This gave rise TO a
rumor that the jury stood II TO for
conviction.
AT the conclusion Prosecutor Hand
lan's bitter arraignment yesterday af.
ternoon Mrs. Schenk collapsed utter
ly and 1t was necessary for Deputy
Sheriff Tom Kelly and Mrs. Schenk's
attorney J. J. p. 0'Brien, to carry her
out of the courtroom into the jail.
When she was brought into the court
room later when the jury first report
ed its inability to agree on verdict
she seemed to have aged ten years
during that brief space of time. She
was very pale and leaned on O'Brien' 5
arm as she walked to her seat
Prosecutor Handlan's closing argu-
ment was the most bitter arraign-
ment ever heard In a local court. Dur.
ing the greater portion of his address
Mrs. Schenk rested her head in her
hands with her elbows on the table
keeping her hands over her ears SO
that she could not hear what the pro
secutor was saying.
Just before his conclusion however
she listened. She heard the prosecu-
tor stigmatiZe her as not only unfit
for association with respectable peo
pie. She heard him scQff at the ar
guments of her counsel that she cared
anything for her children, who, the
prosecutor said, were neglected-lefi
10 sleep under rug in the automobile
while she went away with Dan Phil
| lips. She heard herself called an un
natural mother, an unusual wife, un
fl to be placed In charge Of the two
children. IL was at the mention OF
the children that Mrs. Schenk collap
sed
Mr.. Handlan had already said that
the woman looked on the murder Of
her husband as "a simple business
proposition. when unsuccessful her
self she offered another $1,000 to dc
her vile work for her, when coldly
calmly, fendishly she asked the WON
an of whom she would have made Z
tool TO place the poisoned medicine
beside her unsuspecting husband!
bedside that he might reach out II
the dim light Of the sickroom in the
night and swallow It himself.
He added that the climax OF tn,
fiendishness came when she referre,
to the Sisters of Charity ut the hos
pltal where her husband was lying a
the point OF death, as pack yelled h.
pocrites" while they we're doing al
in their power for the husband whom
she sought to slay.
The prosecutor defended Dan Phil
lips whom he said the woman hal
"ensnared with her wiles." He salt
the young man was compelled 4
come forth and testify In the case. III
was hopelessly involved and had 1
answer questions propounded or &
to jail phillips is gone" said tn
prosecutor. lie has signed wal
rant that has taken twenty.eigh
/ years out OF his life"
IL was learned last night that Phi
lips owned $4,000 worth OF stock i
the Cahouse Music Company. Iii
partners bought him out and Phillip
fearing violence, had left town.