Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-11-13
EVIDENCE or HANDWRITING
SHARKS IN LARSON TRIAL
CONFLICTING.
hAMnAwo,ruMa
WILL HAVE LITTLE EFFECT
ON JuRY's FINDINGS
Defense Prepares to Dispute Every
Peint Made Dy .stats-Many Wit.
nsssss Called 70 Dispute Story AZ
Marsan Neutrality-suspicious. to Jury
Soon.

Special to Times Republican.
NorthwOod, Nov. 13.-Handwriting
experts are not selling at q premium
today in Northwood. It is quite evil
the trial of Eta Larson in the poison
scandal case. are satisfied that the evil
dence that has been offered by experts
on both sides will amount to very little
when the case actually gets into the
hands Of the jury.
1t developed that these experts agree
that the ten letters in controversy were
written by some one who attempted to
disguise his handwriting. In one Of
the letters purporting to have been
written by Eta Larson, she says In
that that she Is writing 50 that no one
would know who wrote it. II Marean
wrote It she would naturally disguise
her handwriting Mrs. Rhodenbaugh,
who taught Marean how to write. Is
confident that the letters were writ
ten by her oldest daughter, Eft, and she
not only bases this upon the character
istics Of the letters but also the express
sion. Eta used the expression
wouldn't Of which Marean does not
use. The words mighty" and 'darned,"
the letter used when Eta would get
little excited were peculiar to her and
not to Marean.
Says Massan Wrote Thorn.
Expert Frances B. Courtney occupied
an entire half day In giving his evil
dence for the defense. He was as con-a
fdent as he could be from careful ex-
animation that Marean wrote the ter
letters in controversy. but when 1t came
to cross examination he acknowledged
that there were similarities in the let
ter "e" written by Eta, and those
in the disputed letters. and they
were dissimilar to the letter
&c" he found In Marean's adj
mitted writing but he dismissed this
because he considered that one Of the
points where the hand was disguised.
He found this also true in the crossing
OF the letter "t'. In Etta's handwrit-
ing the ct" was crossed in the same
way that it appears in all the letters in
dispute. This was another evidence in
the mind Of Mr.. Courtney of the dis
gu1se. When Attorney Marley asked
him II he found the letters 1t" and "e'
similar in the admitted writing Of Eta
Larson and the letters in dispute, if he
would not think they were written by
the same person he answered no. be-
cause on these he based his opinion of
their disguise.
Real Fight Foilo~s..
After the dismissal Of the expert on
handwriting the real fight was on. Ac-
In 40 of made. nv A..
torneys Stiger and Kepler there will
.Marean Rhodenbaugh that will not be
contrad1cted. They commenced 1t Sat
urday afternoon and they will commune
it until all the evidence for the defense
is in. Tho defendant, Mrs. Eta Lar
son, will go on the stand unless the
present plans are changed. So will
Christian Larson. her husband. who is
under indictment for the same offense,
and possibly twenty-five other witness
es. The Whitcome and the Hummel
families, and possibly the Mowers, will
all be drawn in AZ witnesses for the de-
PENDANT. The state Is preparing for its
erbuttal and has witnesses here from
FIT. Dodge and other points who have
something Of vital concern for the
state, according to the attorneys
Witnesses Contradict Maroan.
During the afternoon Saturday Wit
ness after witness fatty contradicted
the testimony of the 16-year-old Mar
can Rhodenbaugh. the self-confessed
one who administered the poison. Mrs.
Minnie Mowers, Ethel Mowers. Anna
Thon, Mrs. Ed Hummel, Dewitt Hum
mel, Mrs. Amanda Larson, Mrs. Lewis
Kennison, b. Kennison and Mrs. B.
Kennison. The entire afternoon was
put in contradicting the statements
made by Mareans relatives to where
and how she received the letters. One
Of the most positive of the witnesses
was Miss Amanda Larson, sister Of
Christian Larson, who is under indict-
ment with his wife for the commission
Of this crime She stated positively that
when Eta Larson came to the school
house that there was positively no
communication of any considerable
length in the school room between
Marean and Eta such az the former
testified to. She was a positive witness
and gave much strength to the evidence
OF the defendant. Anna Thon, q little
girl Of fourteen years, gave her testi-
mony stating that she was with Marean
when it was claimed that Mrs. Ed
Hummel gave her letters but she saw