The Mena weekly star., 1913-10-30
EMMA NICHOLS IS
 1 FREED OF CHARGE
,,,o,,an Who Killed Her Newborn pabe Was Not Mentally Respon- s;hle According to the De-
 cisiOn in Court.

.of her body, the result ol 0Ac hii
 m of her babe, born out of we'd Rnet was freed Wednesday after noon. both charges having been G,;.,,issed After an examination Continuing through the morning and sn,o inc afternoon, the evidence r,,hmitted was such as to cause the nosocutor to ask the second indict- R,ont fo be dismissed. The first I'as dismissed during the morning. I Thai Emma Nichols is and has hoon insane for years, and was m onabIe of committing crime, was the f,afense in the woman's case, which ,,aS tried in the Circuit court sVednesday, the charge being that of soncpaling her issue. The defense's sttornevs are Pole McPhetrige and l. l. Alley.
 T The state contended in it's state 'snent of the case that the woman |did know right from wrong, and Ihp fact that she concealed the Aodv of her child was proof of the faci. that she was probably not Of =sironc mind. and that she made <oluntary confession of her crime. JL Alley, in stating the case for I4be defense. said that he was not |feceiving a fee in the case, but was appearing wholly in the cause or |humanity; that years ago the glrl xas bitten by a rattlesnake, and tor months was very ill, and was, |neyer the same since that time, Either mentally or physically; that =Ihe woman is 27 years old and of a good family, and knowing the disposition of the members of the familv, is confident that the girl s not knowingly criminally minded, End proof to all the contentious of Ibe defense would be introduced. 5 Mrs. COnder, when placed on the <tand for the state, said that she Event to the Nichols home after the birth of the child is alleged to have Iaken place, and saw blood stains en the floor, and Emma Nichols was sttempting to wash them off when Enc appeared; that the stains were In two connecting rooms. There kas no carpet on the floor. and zome of the stains were as large as Two hands placed together.
 Sheriff Thornton testified that the woman had sent for him to come to |he iail, and when he arrived she Mas very excited and said Mans hw is nothing to Gods law" and 8hat she wanted him to bring the Iourt over at once," as she wanted 10 plead guilty and get out of here,' and If you will get me a pencil and let me write down all the evidence you will see that l Am not guilty" She apparently did not realize anything about her baby, but was worried over telling .a lie about something. The sheriff Ruieted her and then asked about the killing of her baby, and she said that she did not want her nother or friends to know about Il; that she had another spell later 7n during the day, and demanded n opportunity to get her child be- {bre it died. A physician was called h and the woman was given medi- sal attention. At this time she was Trying to break down the door in rder to get to her child, whom she pparently imagined was still alive.
 Mrs. S. A. Nichols, mother of the 'irl, was placed on the stand by the Eefense, and testified as to Emma Ewing been bitten by large rattle nake several years ago, and that qnce that time has never been in Aer right mind; that she could not
 lk cOnsecutively nor rationally on ny subject. She said that her Haughter would be working at some
 sk, and before finishing it would
 art to doing something entirely
 fferent.
 Mrs. Nichols identified two letters
 rltten by the defendant while she
 as in jail, and the letters were Rad to the jury. They contained pthing but jargon, and no intelli- ence was displayed in their com psition.
 Frank Thompson testified that
 lendant had been employed as puse girl by his parents, and that
 considered her mentally un-
 glanced, judging from her cratic
 tlons while in their employ.
 Jaller Robert Norris testified that yen in the dead hours of night the
 oman would be necessarily count
 g. She would count up to nine-
 eh Tn disconnected manner and
 That makes Arthur" and re-
 eat It many times; that she in-
 sIed that they had no right to
 Pep her there, and demanded i'm
 edlate release. MT. Norris said
 aI ne considered her insane.
 Dr' t. Cochran. for the defense
 aled that the poison from veno-
 ous reptile would cause perma-
 nt derangement; that it would
 use disintegration of the brain
 sues which would result in de-
 una and melancholy in after
 ars, A person in that condition
 ". ,b 'ne doctor, could not consider
 sa a' rom wrong. He had exam
 su ; .ne defendant and pronounced
 ne defendant was brought into
 court room at the beginning of
 ', Tlal and immediately took .
 g. .a near her counsel, letting heI
 su rest in the hollow of her hand
 a;s aot one time during tiie morn
 s, uiu she move from that posi-
 pr. F AT aa. .,.. a.sA a..