The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-11-28
GOES To THE JURY
TO-DAY
Testimony Ended in the
Hackett Case
Mrs. Elsie Hobbs Raymond Accused
OF Committing the Crime Seemed
Full of Courage.

Tuesday night the final words in
the trial of Mrs. Elsie Hobbs Ray
mond for the alleged murder of Mat
tie Hackett, seven years ago, were
spoken, with the exception of the
judges charge which was to be given
Wednesday, This mysterious murder
has aroused much interest throughout
the state, the girl having met her
death by strangling Circumstances
pointed to the guilt of Mrs. Raymond,
and the case has been on trial for the
past seven days.
Tuesday afternoon there were more
than 1000 people in the court room
and Congressman Daniel J. McGilli-
cuddy and Attorney General William
r. Pattangall presented their views of
the evidence and differences to be
drawn therefrom as it appealed to
the defense and the prosecution re-
spectiyely. The two attorneys discus
sed the points of the case in practi-
cally the same order. each putting his
own construction ON the evidence Of
fered
In concluding Congressman McGil-
licuddy laid great stress upon the
plausibilty of the tramp theory and
urged that the state should have in
vestigated it more fully before prose-
cutting Mrs Raymond.
Attorney General Pattangal first
took up the elimination of all other
suspects except Mrs. Raymond and
claimed it had been shown that it was
impossible for any OF them to have
committed the crime.
Then he argued that Mrs. Raymond
could not give a satisfactory account
of her time just before and just after
the murder He declared the evil
dence indicated she left her home at
7 o'clock and that she was unaccount-
ed for during the next four hours, un-
less she was the mysterious woman
who went up the Nickerson hill road
and was the woman seen by Lillian
Cowan returning at 9 O'Clock. He
urged that she had 40 minutes in
which to make the journey from her
house to the point where the murder
occurred and that the time when she
was seen by Miss CoWan was long
enough after the murder to have per
mitted her to have gone to that point
The attorney general pointed out
discrepancies in statements made by
witnesses for the defense and declar-
ed they were an effort to deceive He
drew attention to Mrs Raymond's
clothing, saying it was now establish
ed that she was dressed in dark cloth
ing as was the mysterious woman who
went up Nickerson hill. He disposed
of Mrs. Dwelley's statement that she
saw Mrs Raymond go into the or
chard at 8 o'clock, the time of the muir
der, by noting that at that hour the
sun had gone down and the moon had
not risen, so it would have been i'm
possible for her to have seen Mrs. Ray
mond.
AS to Mrs. Raymond's physical abil-
ity to travel the two miles up the hill
in 40 minutes, he cited the testimony
Of witnesses as to the time it took
her to make the same journey two
days before. He ridiculed the tramp
theory by pointing out that Alfred
Johnson, the tramp, instead of at
tempting to dssuade Levi Hackett
from going down the road when
screams were first heard, urged him
to go and in fact offered to go him
self
On the last day of the testimony,
Mrs. Raymond seemed full of courage