The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-05-07
DEATH NOT
BY ACCIDENT
wS
That Is -ndeavor of
F<Gw ation in Wells
Case
BOY LOUIS DEATH
CAUSED BY ARSENIC
Testified Physicians at the
Trial of the Case at
st. Adams

st. Adams, May Announcement
that the state would endeavor to elm
mate the possibility that the death of
6-year old Louis Wells was due to an
accident was made by States Attorney
Gaylord r. Ladd when the trial of Julius
Wells OF Swanton, charged with muir
dering his child, was resumed in Frank
lin county court to-day. Although Wells
was arrested for the alleged poisoning
Of Louis and his daughter, Marie, aged =,
he is being tried only on the charge of
numbering the boy.
When the trial was started this morn
ing there were only q spectators, among
whom were six women DIR. A. l.. Cross
of Swanton was the first witness. He
testified that he was called to the Wells
home late on the day OF December 2,
1912, and he found two very sick chill
dren. The boy was unconscious. He
asked Mrs. Wells about the boy and
she did not seem to think he was very
sick The witness also testified that the
girl was semi conscious, but that testi-
mony was objected to and the court or
dered it stricken out Louis died while
he. the doctor, was In the house.
On his second visit to the house, tes-
titled DR.. Cross, he saw DR.. K. r. Lape.
On this visit the boys stomach was re-
moved and it, together with some con-
densed milk. was sent to the state lab
oratory at Burlington. At this point
States Attorney Ladd informed the
Il Al. frxr -. ehr
that accidental death possibility must
be excluded.
When Dr. Cross was cross-examined
by Attorney w. r. Austin for the de-
fense, the latter tried TO show that
when the stomach las placed in a pa
per for shipment to Burlington. il was
wrapped in paper placed on the floor.
Dir. Gross could not remember that the
paper was placed on the floor.
Later DR.. Lape testified that when
the stomach was removed it was wrapped
up in paper which he took from his
own yalise When the stomach and the
condens milk were sent to the state
laboratory, DR.. Lape wrote that he eN-
pected that they would find ptomaine
poisoning.
Two other witnesses heard were Peter
Fountain, sexton of the cemetery, who
told about digging up the body; and
Pearl Iadue OF Milton, fbrother-in-
law of the respondent.
The Cause of Death.
DIR. B. II. Stone. director OF the state
laboratory at Burlington, testified that
he examined the stomach and the con-
densed milk; that he found seven grams
of poison in the stomach; that probably
not all taken into the body would have
been found because some OF II would
have been thrown off by vomiting; that
he thought probably twenty eight grains
had been swallowed; that one and one
half grains would have been fatal.
DIR. Stone testified that the cause OF
death was arsenieal poisoning; that lt
would not have been taken as paris
green and he could not say whether 1t
could have been taken as rat poison.
DIR. c. +. Whitney. chemist at the
state laboratory, testified much along
the same lines as DR.. Stone, expressing
his opinion that probably more than
twenty-five grains of poison had been
taken.
Howard Morgan of Everett, Mass,
manage of the Wood Morgan detective
agency and Thomas Turner. an opera
tor for the same company, we're on
the stand late this forenoon. The lat
ter testified that he saw Wells one day
and that the latter would not talk, but
said that If the detective would come to
the Franklin county Jail, where Attor-
nev +. S. Gushing was, he Wells would
talk. The detective said he went there
but did not see either Wells or the at
tOrney