Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-06-02
IN HIS OWN BEHALF
Caspar N. Smith Told How He
Shot Clark Mundell
West wardsboro Murder case Nearing
End at Newfane-Sef Defense Claimed
MAY Go to Jury Today.

long time in their arguments the jury In
the case of the state against Caspar M
Smith of West Wardsboro, charged with
murder in shooting Clark Mundell on the
morning of April 81 will receive the case
this afternoon. The trial began Monday
afternoon in county court in Newfane
before Judge L. l.. Waterman of TINS
town and a jury, States Attorney Frank
E. Barber of Brattleboro and Attorney
General John G.. Sargent of Ludlow APP
pearing for the state and Attorney Ar
thur V. ID. Piper of Jamaica and At
torney Robert G. Bacon of Brattleboro
representing the respondent. The de-
Tense rested yesterday afternoon after |
the respondent had testified the greater
part of the day, and the arguments were |
begun this morning, States Attorney |
Barber opening. He was followed by |
Mr.. Piper. Mr.. Bacon will close for the |
respondent and Mr.. Sargent for the state
1t is not generally believed that ver- |
dict of anything more serious than man
slaughter will be found. This is the
second murder trial this term, and the
respondent in the other case Frank j.
Boyd. who was found guilty of man
slaughter in killing John Potter in Will
mngton, has not yet been sentenced.
Smith shot Mundell in the head early
on the morning of April p, He had
been away a few days and on his re-
| turn he found Mundel and Mrs. Smith
| in the latters bedroom. Mundell had
been working for him. A fight followed
during which Smith took his revolver
| from a shelf and fired three times. Num-
dell died the following Monday.
| Court convened at 2 o'clock Monday
| and the greater part of the afternoon
| session was consumed in drawing the
| jury, although lew men were challenged.
| Three were excused by the court because
| of their prejudice against capital pun
| ishment. Four men were challenged by
| the defense and three were challenged
| by the state The jury finally was made
UP as follows: Merrill F. Proctor of Bel
lows Falls, hotel clerk; S. F. Cakes of
| Cambridgeport farmer; Peyton r. Holt
| of Londonderry, merchant; Ernest b.
Stowell of Grafton, farmer; E. \.
Glazier of Cambridgeport, farmer; j. E.
| Hall of Brattleboro, retired; Arad I.
| Fellows of Newfane,> sawyer; Henry NJ.
| Roberts of Jacksonville, farmer; Henry
E. Stillwell of Bellows Falls, retired;
VIII A Wood of Putney farmer; Edwin
c. Barnard of Bellows Falls, jeweler;
| Henry Hazeton of Putney, farmer.
When the jury had been empanelled
the state called Dana Gilman of Brat
tleboro as the first witness. Mr.. Gilman
is a civil engineer who went to the
Smith home after the shooting and made
drawings of the premises His testimony
related wholly to his drawings and
measurements.
Mrs George Tudor of West Wardsboro
was called. She is a daughter of Mum
dell and testified to Mundells being
brought to her home from the home of
| w. j. Dawson after being wounded. She
broke down and wept and made dem
onstration when the indictment was read
to Smith. and by request of counsel all
witnesses in the case were excluded from
| the court room.
The first witness Tuesday morning was
! Frank Smead of West Wardsboro, a
photographer, who exhibited photographs
of the Smith home, taken after the af-
fray. Dr. B. II. Stone, pathologist of
the state laboratory of hygiene in Bur
lington. testified to performing an au-
topsy upon Mundell, saying that he found
a bullet hole in the skull and wounds
upon his face and bruises on other parts
of his body. skull was used to de-
monstrate to the jury the location and
extent of the wounds. DR.. Charles f.
rated DR.. stones testimony.
| DIR. George r.. Anderson of Brattleborc
| made examination of Mundell, April
2s the day after the shooting. and he
testified that he performed an operation
removing a piece of bone from the skull
besides some splinters. He produced the
bullet, which lodged in the socket of the
left eye. DR.. II. p, Greene of Brattle
boro, who accompanied Dr. Anderson
/ corroborated the latter's testimony
The operation was performed in the
home of Mr. and Mrs. George Tudor il
the presence of DR.. o. V. Hefiion o.
Wardsboro, States Attorney Bar
n Der and Attorney A. V. d. Piper. Or
e cross examination of the physicians b!
= Mr.. Piper it was brought out that in go
+ ing half mile to the Dawson house
t climbing fences and crossing two brooks
the trip might have caused laceration!
h which were found on Mundell's legs.
: Amanda L. Smith, wife of the re
O spondent, was put on the stand. Sh,
q | is % years old and was married t
| Smith N 10 r,cn wi Oh
IS, on an acquaintance of five weeks
She testified that her husband came
= | home late at night and that when sh
: first saw him he stood in the middle o
> the bedroom with lantern on his arm
= | She said Mundel was with her, but tina
: | she did not know it until she awoke
She said that Smith rushed at Mundel
and told him to get dressed and leaV
>, the place, but that Mundell struck hin
4 and pushed him out of the room ant
= finally out of the house. Smith, she said
!, soon returned through the bedroom win
!, dow. Mundel, the witness testified
e picked up two sticks of wood and me
Smith at the bedroom door, where h
= struck Smith again. She said the Ian
:, tern went out, but that in the moonlgh
o she could see Smith take a revolver from
il a shelf in the bedroom and shoot thre
= times, the first shot going into the air
=. With no clothing save a piece of under
G wear she ran to the barn and conceale
d herself in the hay. In the morning he
husband brought clothes to her, she said
on cross examination Mr. Bacon Shove
that she was arrested two days later OF
n a statutory charge
on being further questioned by MI
j. Barber Mrs. Smith said that when MI
Barber arrived in West Wardsboro t
investigate the shooting she told hin
that her husband came home in tn
night drunk ana began to abuse her an
4 that Mundell, who was occupying a couc
,e In another room. came to her assistanc
and that Smith thereupon shot him. Sh
m admitted that the story she told MI
Barber then was not true, but said sh
J., told it because Mundell's son, Bert Nun
dell of Brattleboro told her to do sc
She also testified that Mundell had trie
-, to induce her to go with him to Sout
Carolina, saying that he had from $3Ot
az to $4,000 In a bank In Brattleboro, an
that he had suggested that she ought t
q poison her husband.
Mr.. and Mrs. w. j. Dawson told abou
IL Mundell coming to their house about
O'Clock the morning of the shooting an
about taking him in and doing wha
re they could for him until he was remove
to the Tudor house about o'clock tina
morning. The last witness Tuesday wa
ia Almon Robinson of West WardsborC
who was placed in charge of the Smit
house by Deputy Sheriff Il. NJ. FIT
He testified about finding broken windo'
a glass lantern and other articles o
the floors and box in the stove contain
A. ing a cleaning rod and oil used In clear