The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-03-07
WOMAN In TEARS
AS LOVER BEARS
PLOT TO NURDER
Witness Againsy Wife Declares
He Made Confession to
Save His Neck From
the Gallows.

Oklahoma City. Okla. March A.
Turning states evidence against his
fellow defendants charged with the
murder OF Thomas ]. Gentry and adj
hitting that he did so to protect him
seH under promises made to him by the
county attorneys Office, ]. X. Mackcy is
the star witness for the state in the trial
Of Mrs. Alverta Gentry now being CON-
Quoted by Judge Huston in the district
court.
without a culver and in a voice that
snaTled with nhuman hatred for Mrs.
Gentry. his former sweetheart, who Is
now on trial for her life, Mackey ad-
mitted that he knew Of the plot to
murder Gentry, that an attempt had
been made to buy poison to commit the
deed and that he knew that the wom-
ans infatuation for him was at the
bottom of the plot. He turned upon
those accused with him, laid the actual
commission of the deed at the door of
Maurice Weightman. and denied that
he was in the room when the shot was
fired.
According to Mackey, Mrs. Gentry
after the fatal shot was fired emptied
contents Of trunks upon the floor, took
the diamond stud from the shirt of her
dead husband and placed a comb from
her own head in the bed, to make II
appear That a woman companion Of
her husbands had occupied the bed
the night of the killing.
lie testified that he saw the MUIR
dered mari sitting in q chair with the
blood streaming from the crown Of his
head and that the woman came to him
and said:
Come; this is no place for us!"
Merciless animation.
Through a merciless cross examina-
ton at the hands of Norman Pruiett, he
held to his story, and admitted that he
was only telling what he claims to be
the true story I'm order to save himself.
DO you not know that this little.
woman was more thar two miles away
from the Gentry house when you Slip
ped up behind Thomas ]. Gentry and
hred the bullet into his brain tina took
his life ?" shouted Pruiett at one time
In the cross-eXamination.
Mackey did not quail under the shot.
he was leaning Forward in the witness
chair and replied in loud voice:
NO. l do not"
You say that you knew that Mrs.
Gentry and Maurice Weightman had
threatened the life OF Thomas Gentry"
again asked Pruiett. why did you not
then warn him. or notify tie officers
that this mans life was in danger?"
Il did not consider it any of my BUSH
ucSS, was the answer.
Promise Of Protection.
Mackey said that he has been prom
ised protection by Assistant County At
torney Zwick if he should tell all he
knows and that. he was Influenced by
that inducement alone in taking the
stand. He admitted that he made a
written confession 10 the county at
orney's office some time ago and that
1t, too. was made under q promise OF
protection. He said that he loved
Alverta Gentry With q love that is
deeper than the world can understand.
that he regarded her as the woman OF
his affections.
us it not a fact that you went to
Gentry's house previous to the murder,
disguised as a burglar, TO Kill him: that
his wife wrenched the pistol from your
hand, showed you out of the door, and
did you not later pawn the pistol off
under the name Of Jack Mason?" asked
Pruiett.
Maekey Denies 1t.
"No; that is not true. l did pawn the
pistol at the Goldstein pawn shop on
Broadway, but 1t was the day before
the murder and Mrs. Gentry gave 1t
to me-"
According to the testimony Of Mack
~, the plot to kill Gentry had been
mapped out among the three for a
month before the actual killing. He
claimed that he never had any inten-
ton OF taking part In it, that Mrs. Gen.
try told him Gentry had struck her,
and that she was going to kill him
or get some one else to do so. He said
that Weightman bought poison and
placed 1t In milk, but that Gentry for
some reason did not drink it and then
the plot to shoot Gentry was decided
upon.
The evening before the murder. he
said, there was a dispute between
IVai0bfmpn and MrS Gantru q @ 70 uyhC
should fire the shot and that he sug-
gested they draw straws. He claimed
that Mrs. Gentry prepared the straws
and he held them. In the draw Weight
man drew the straw which meant tha
his was to be the hand that fired the
shot.
According to Mackey's story the three
then went to the Gentry home n the
deed was done. He testified that the
woman made eggnog and that the three
of them frank, Mrs. Gentry stating
hat 1t would be thought that Gentry
had been entertaining friends and thar
one of them had killed him. He did not
see the shot fired, he said, but heard
! the report. 1t was then he said that
he went Into the house and saw the
dead man sitting In the chair with the
blood streaming from the wound down
over his breast, his feet crossed and
his hands resting in his lap.
Then he says the woman came and
took him away, Weightman going with
them. According to his story, Weight,
man later threw the automatic pistol
in the sewer n they boarded a car
and went to the Ferris hotel, where
they spent the night. Weightman did
not accompany them to the hotel. he
said, but came later and aid
"You thought I would turn rabbit,
didn't your"
The next morning. he said. they left
the hotel and later he was arrested
and taken before Chief of Police Thigh
man.