The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-11-28

Continued from Preceding Page)
phisticated 1s-year-old child. but an ex-
perienced woman, who won the devo-
tiOn of Emil w. Strouss in Chicago
Benson declared the evidence shows that
Gertrude Gibson was p or p years of
age when she met the Chicago clothing
manufacturer and or years older
than Charles A. Patterson.
Joe Briscoe, the saloonkeeper, was
Mrs. Patterson's first, and Mr. StrOus
her second, so far as I have been able
to discover" Attorney Benson was con-
tinuing when Attorney Hilton. jumping
to his feet, objected and the court or
dered the jury to disregard this portion
of the prosecutors argument
He saw the Shooting.
Denver. Nov IS The defense in
the Patterson murder case placed on
the stand the mysterious eye witness
to the shooting of Charles A. Patter-
son by his wife, Gertrude Gibson Pat
terson, announcement of whose e1-
istence by Attorney o. n. Hilton in his
opening statement created som ething
of a sensation. He was Francis J.
EastOn, 5 , years old, who testified that
he had come from Minneapolis, Mimi,
to appear in Mrs. Patterson's behalf
He came to Denver the day before the
shooting, he testified, from Laramie,
Wyo.. where he had been employed,
and left Denver two days after the
shooting for Tacoma, Wash.
Easton corrObOated the story told
by Mrs. Patterson that she had shot
her husband after he had struck her
twice and knocked her down and was
standing over her with his arm up
raised to strike again
On the morning of the shooting, he
said, he had gone to the sanitarium at
which Patterson was a patient and
after an inspection of the grounds, had
set out for a walk in the neigh borhood
Some distance from the sanitarium he
observed a man and a woman, appa-
rently quarreling.
They turned at a street corner, he
said, and proceeded straight along.
When he was some 500 feet or so away
from the couple he looked back. he
told the jury, and saw the woman, ap-
parently reading newspaper clipping.
She handed the clipping to the man
and as she did so, he struck her in the
face, following with a second blow,
that felled her. She struggled to one
knee. he said, and fired twice, follow
ing with two more shots after a short
pause.
On cross examination he said he had
seen A B. Shugart, the eye witness
placed on the stand by the state, run
ming to the spot. but had not gone over
to the body himself, because, as he told
the jury, he did not want to get mixed
up in the affair.
The special prosecutor questioned
the witness closely in regard to his
life history. but failed to shake the
witness composure.
EaSton was the last witness for the
defense, and after his cross examina-
ton, the state commenced its testi-
mony in rebuttal. its most important
witness being Mrs. Mary K. Patterson
When the elder woman took the stand
the prisoner covered her eyes with
her hand and did not look up while
the examination of the witness was in
progress.
The elder Mrs. Patterson. the pur-
pose of whose testimony was to i'm
peach the defendants testimony on a
number of points. told of a family con-
ference just prior to her daughter-fn-
laws trip to Europe regarding the ad-
visibility of investing 81, 500 in a print
ing establishment in Chicago for young
Patterson.
Calls Her 'SThe Defendant
The prisoner had denied that such a
conference took place The witness
also declared that when the son was
i'll at her home, at time when the
younger Mrs. Patterson had declared
Patterson made an assault upon her,
the boy was so weak that he had to be
lifted in bed to be fed and that he had
been taken to the sanitOrium on a
stretcher. Whenever the witness re-
ferred to her daughter-in-law she call