Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-15
STATE RESTS IN
THE WELLS TRIAL
Wife of Respondent Cross Exam
ined-Her Counsel and States
Attorney Testify.

~ ADAMS May 9-The State rested
'"se at 1913 this afternoon in tho
Vi julius Wells, charged with
,"B MS little son. and the defense
trtI' one witness taking the stand
yIio'e adjournment at five O'Clock At
'' ''l'uE session Mrs Wells was
a''''a VN''"ihed by Warren H. Austin
"u"'', ior the respondent Attorney
General X. II. Brown began 70
.N"l''fa'ioh which was followed by a
rc-cross-eXamlnatton by Mr. Aueti,
which ceased at about 10 "a o,,te.i.
DR. G. f. Whitney OF ,bo i,,hoa....
testified I'm regard to tho orange s.,,,
which were found to contain arsenic In
the form of paris green.
Mr. Whitney also told OF rece,v,n, tr,o
other oranges from the attornev-renera,
which contained paris green, and also
of receiving a package from Mr.. Gushing
containing cotton, wool AMI excelsior
but no arsenic; but metal box he re-
celved contained paris green.
Sheriff G. G. Holmes told Of the ac
tons of Mrs. Wells the day her cell
was searched He said she Travelled
around" considerable, cried and moaued.
and the following day she cut off her
hair and tore off her clothes
Later she was dressed by Catherine
Leblanc and appeared all right
States Attorney Ladd testified regard
ing cloths and pieces of orange in Mrs.
Weiss cell and also told how he. Detec-
tive Morgan and the sheriff went to inter-
view Mrs Wells but did not see her
She was in the bathtub with almost no
clothes on, and was talking, saying soma-
thing about Lena Fisher and that she
couldn't take the poison" Later Cath
crime Leblanc dressed Mrs. Wells and she
came out.
WOMAN DETECTIVE IN JAIL.
An important witness OF the afternoon
session was Miss Catherine Salo Thur.
man Of Boston. an employc Of the Wood.
Morgan Detective Agency. who was placed
in jail with Mrs. Wells under the name
of Catherine Leblanc.
She said on the night she was placed
in the Jail Mr. Wells was there and he
said Mrs. Wells did not poison the chill
dren and that he though; Julia Fisher
did. One morning Mr.. Wills passed his
wife something and later the witness
said she noticed Mrs. Wells had soma
thing in her stocking. The witness told
of the search of Mrs Wells and of her
feignng insanity.
On cross-examination she sal, that sha
had been detective three VARS and
was put in jail to obtain inform ton bu,
not necessarily to get informationagal
either Mr. or Mrs. Wells. The witness
was in Jail about 16 DAYS but neVr saw
Mr. Wells hand the prisoner anthins
but once
She had seen Lena Fisher ri,a
oranges to the prisoner once but notMr,
Wells. Mr. Gushing visited Mrs. Nans
while the witness was In the jail. 'he
day after Mrs Wells was searched Ia
fegned insanity the witness said. r.
Wells's last visit to his wife was I,
days before she was searched.
In DANGER OF THEIR LIVES"
Mrs George Damage Of Milton testife,
that she saw Mr.. Wells the day after
his wife was arrested she told of a
conversation which she said he had with
Mrs Laduc, Mrs. Weiss mother in
which he said she tMrs Ladue) had bet
ter prove her daughter insane because
they were all in danger Of their lives.
The witness did not know Of Mrs. Wells
ever being out Of her head
Mrs Enos Ladue was the next witness
and she said that Mr.. Wells came to hel
and told her to make his wife as crazy
as could be as it would save him and
her too
Howard Morgan told of the actions and
words of Mrs. Wells the morning she was
found in the bathtub. When he tried to
get her out of the bathtub she screamed
and cried and acted as if she We're crazy.
CHI ,-ief a nd
the States attorney entered and soon
Mrs. Wells was calm. When Mr.. Austin
inquired as to what brought about this
calm witness said the woman was afraid
Of the sheriff and himself,
DETECTIVE WITH MIR. WELLS.
Alfred Rose of Brazil, South America
an employe of the Sherman Detective
agency, testified that he was placed IN
jail with Mr. Wells and remained =
days, during which time he had many
with the respondent. HH
said that once Wells said his wife had
poisoned the children and once he said
his wife had lost her mind
The witness testified that Wells TOLL
him once that he thought his wife kill
he children to get the insurance money
so theN COulu nave a Sopu CHRISTMAS
which was coming
At another time. later, the respondent
said he thought his mother had killed
he children because she was cranky and
lidnt like children and often slapped
hem,
The State rested its case at i:3S and
he defense had one witness on the stand
before adjournment at five O'Clock He
vas DR.. c, e, Whitney of the State lab
,ratory at Burlington who told of an
llyzlng the dirt from the vegetables TAX
n from the Wells cellar Eight one
lundredths of a grain OF arsenic were
ound in the examination of approximate
y two-thirds of the dirt DIR. whitney
estihed that he used one-third OF tho
rt in a preliminary examination. Ask
d how many potatoes he would have to
ave to get dirt enough from which tc
rocure the same amount of arsenic
ound in the children's stomachs he said
! would take a bushel if they were like
he ones he had,
UNIVERSAL TEST USED.
DIR. c. f. Whitney told Of the process
+ testing the stomachs of the chill
rem, when on cross examination he
'as asked if it was considered a good
est, the witness said it was the one
Universally used for detecting arsenic
oisoning. DR.. g. II. Stone gave testl-
lony similar to that given by DR.
Whitney.
Mrs, Wells was recalled and asked
II hue . l,a hat