New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-23
Wife Weeps After States Wit
neSseS ASSaiI Testimony That
Lawyer Hoped Would Help
to Make Him. Free.
BURIAL THEORY ToTTERS
Two Experts Try to Show Mrs.
Szabo Was Not Strangled,
but Their Evidence Is Weak
ened by prosecutor-Case
May End on Monday.

Iron q STAFF Correspondent OF The Tribune.1
Goshen, n. Y, Nov. ga slice of beer
immersed in a solution o. formaline was
produced in court to-day by the attorneys
for Burton w. Gibson ~ prove that the
embalmng fluid. containing formaline,
with which Mrs. Szabo's body was pre-
nared for burial might have brought
about the contorted conditions found in
her throat at the autopsy, said by experts
10 establish conclusively that the woman
had been strangled to death.
DR. Arthur S. Moore, young expert
through whom the beef was introduced
testified for the defence that the forma-
line had caused II to shrink five-sixteenths
OF an inch
"T wish to offer this piece Of beef In
evidence" said Robert H. Elder, counsel
for Gibson.
well" said Judge Tompkins, you
might give it TO the jury for lunch"
Under direct examination by Mr. Elder
DR. Moore would not say that animal
tissues generally contracted when forma-
line was injected into them. but that SUCH
was frequently the effect. In long hypo-
tbeticsl question he was then asked II the
condition found in the organs OF Mrs.
szabos throat could be duplicated In a
dead body by mechanical means.
Made "WinIow" in Neck Of Corpse.
He replied that it could, saying that
only Yesterday he made what he described
as window" in the back of the neck OF
a dead person by removing the verteora
and muscles, enabling him TO observe the
throat organs. On moving the body IN
various directions, he said, the tongue and
epiglottis "hopped" in positions similar 10
that described in the autopsy OF Mrs
szabo's throat. The handling OF the wom-
ans body. he said, might have thrown
her organs into that position, and the en-
haIning would have fixed them there
Isidor Wasservogel, on cross-exanind-
ton, asked the witness:
do you know how many muscles there
are in the throat? Do you know the
names of the muscles attached to any
organs in the throat?''
NO. I do not" DR.. Moore replied, after
q moment of hesitation.
DO you mean to say that you, doc
tor Of medicine. do not know the names
of any muscles in the human throat?
Mr.. wasservogel exclaimed. in astonish-
ment.
II do not" the doctor replied
At this point Mr.. Elder took the wit
ness and sought TO show that the doctor
knew something about human muscles by
asking him, encouragingly. If he knew
how many muscles there are in the human
body.
NO, I do not" replied the expert
THAT is ALL" cried Mr.. Wasservogel,
throwing up his arms, amid a general
laugh. and the witness stepped down.
UphoIds Burial Theory.
The other expert for the defence was
Dr. Henry W. Cattell of Philadelphia.
Under Mr.. Elders guidance he testified
that the condition found I'm Mrs. Szabo's
throat might have been caused by hand
ling and emOalming, asserting also that
the same condition could not be produced
In a living persons throat without leav-
ing external marks.
Under cross examination Mr.. Wasser-
vogel drew from him admissions that
weakened the defence's medical evidence
ever more than did DR.. Moore's. He
admitted, among other things, that he
knew nothing about the Szabo case ex-
cept from what he had heard and read.
Al this point Judge Tompkins himself
took hand In the examination.
Who can ordinarily tell best the
Judge said. the one who makes an au-
topsy or the one who reads about it?"
The one VINO makes the autopsy" re
piled the doctor.
Mr.. Nasservogel then asked him If he
really believed as he had testified under
direct examination, that the tongue could
"Aop" after death into the position in
which ii was found in Mrs Szabo S
throat. The doctor qualified his former
statement by saying it could not in that
way fulfil all the conditions. Mr.. Was
servogel also drew from him the state
rnents that he was ignorant Of some OF
the most eminent medical authorities on
strangulation and that he did not believe
2 person could be killed by strangling
without leaving external marks
Have you read many authorities on