Arizona republican., 1913-05-08
Murder in the first degree.

Murder in the first degree.
Without the qualifying phrase
which will prevent the imposition of
the death sentence, a verdict of muir
der in the first degree was returned
last night by the Stewart jury after
a deIiberative session of five minutes
Instructed at fiVe-tWenty. the twelve
men retired and remained in the
jury room for short time before
being taken TO dinner At about
seven twenty. after the jury had been
back only 4 few minutes. the bail
ifs were told that decision had
been reached. and the news spread
rapidly.
Judge Morrow had just finished
dinner and he hastened to the court
room TO hear the verdict. Stewart
was in the chair at the west end of
Il .1.a.stts tgt,l. nrTE .e7,-
ping his Knee vith MS nand. but
showing no other sign OF emotion.
His habitually undemOnstrative cOun-
tenance was unruffled by the ap-
proach of the moment that would
mean q few DAYS of life in con-
Gemned cell or the rest Of his life in
the Atlanta prison. Nowhere was
the strain OF the last few moments
OF the trial more evident than on
the faces OF the jury the men
took their places Never was Il more
attentive jury selected than this one.
and their work had told on them.
The calling and counting of the jury
took but a few moments At pre-
cisely 7:45. Clerk Allan B Jaynes
arose told the defendant 10 look at
the jury and the jury to look al tn-
defendant Then he slowly read the
fatal paper First the jury found
for the United state in the case of
the pleas of once in jeopardy and
former conviction. meaning that the
territorial court which once before
tried Stewart for the Kibbe murder
had no jursdiction And we furth
er find for the United States Of
America and find the defendant
William Stewart. guilty Of murder in
the first degree"
Stewart tWitched forward in his
chair He gulped hard once or twice
and sat still while a cold sweat in
huge drops broke out on his ridged
forehead His hands for once were
still and he seemed frozen in his
chair. \ moment since his Attorney
Benton Dick had whispered to him
smiling. The smile was wiped off
the attorneys face and was replaced
/ by unterpretable look He imme-
diately arose and asked the court
for a short time to prepare a mo-
tion for new trial, and the court
granted him until two o'clock this
afternoon Dick will appeal the case
/ if the motion is not granted With
/ SO positive a verdict. there is little
chance that the motion for another
/ trial will be granted SO it is almost
certain that Stewart will hear the
sentence Of death imposed shortly
! one Of the sWiftest murder trials
! that has ever been held in the dis
! trict court for the Arizona federal
district was that of William r. Stew
art. charged with the killing of Fred
i Kibbe. Less than one day was oc-
cupied by the government in its ex-
animation Of witnesses \ few hours
| Sufficed To examine and cross eX-
! amined Stewart. the only witness in
his own behalf. All yesterday after
noon was taken up with the presen
| tatiOn of the governments first ar
gUmcnt by Assistant District Attor-
ney Jack Forrest Benton Dick, for
| the defense took one hour and thirty
minutes to enter his plea for Stew
arts life District Attorney Joseph
! Morrison consumed the longest time
! with his final summing up. and Judge
Morrow took fifteen minutes to read
his instructions to the jury. The in
structions We're very thorough and
complete Definitions of murder ma
lice. jurisdiction. etc. occupied the
most of the time. Special points were
made of the pleas of the defense Of
former jeopardy and former convic-
ton and the jury was instructed to
find for the government on these
two points. This meant that the
holding of the supreme court of the
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