Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-04-21
Quincy Youth Found Guilty and
Condemned to Death for
Staying Family.
JURY IN QUICK DECISION
Verdict Is Reached in Four Hours, the
Vote for Conviction Being
Unanimous.

That is the verdict of the jury re-
turned at 1880 Saturday evening.
The end of the sensational murder
trial came with remarkable sudden
ness. The jury retired at 1928 in
the afternoon and the prevailing opin-
Ion was that no verdict would be
reached until several ballots had been
taken and no return made until Mon
day morning. Instead, however, at
O'Clock word came from the jury room
that the II men had agreed upon their
verdict. The young defendant was
brought into the court room and walk
ed with a steady step, showing no
nervousness whatever. The foreman
of the jury, Sampson G. Sparks OF
Camp Point, handed the verdict to
Judge Williams. A glance at the tur-
lists countenance left no doubt of what
the verdict was. He handed the YER
dict to Circuit Judge Beatty, who read
il:
I'VE, the jury, find Ray Pfan-
schmidt guilty If the murder Of his
sister, Blanche Pfanschmidt, and fix
the penalty of death"
SHOWS NO EMOTION.
Pfanschnidt sat unmoved, looking
stolidly ahead, just as he has during
the four weeks of his trial, showing
not the least emotion. A slight culver
of the muscles Of the throat was the
only evidence whatever of any unusual
feeling on the part Of the condemned
youth.
With the same steady step which
has characterized his entrance into
the court room every day for the last
four weeks, Ray Pfanschmidt march
ed out of the court room and down
| the winding stairs TO the jail, found
guilty by jury of II men of one of
the worst crimes ever committed in
| Illinois,
| Immediately after the verdict was
read Attorney George Covert made a
motion for a new trial. Judge Will
iams set May 6 as the date for the
argument on this motion.
| JURY UNANIMOUS FOR GUILT.
The first ballot taken after retiring
on the question of guilt or innocence
proved that the jury was unanimous
for the defendants guilt The next
ballot was taken on the question of
the penalty and IL OF the jurors ia
vored the death penalty, one being
for life sentence. On the fourth bal
lot the one juror favoring life SEN
tence changed his vote to the death
penalty. The jury decided not to
make known its verdict until after
supper and it was not until o'clock
that the bailiff was notified of the
jury's decision.
The close of the long Pfanschmidt
murder trial was far different from
the scenes witnessed during its prog.
ress. But few persons knew that the
jury had arrived at a verdict and not
so persons were in the court room
After the news became noised about
the city the people came in crowds
to the court house, but the proceed
ings were finished before the largest
number had arrived.
Judge Williams had cautioned the
crowd against any demonstration and
the verdict was received with absolute
|
GUILTY OF FOUR MURDERS.
While technically Ray Pfanschmid
was found guilty of the murder of his
sister, Blanche Pfanschmidt, in real
ity he was found guilty of the mur
der of all four of the persons who wert
killed on the Pfanschmidt farm las
September Sunday, Sept. 29, the
Pfanschmidt home was discovered IL
flames. Four bodies were found il
the ruins. An investigation led u
the theory that the four persons were
killed Friday night, Sept. 81, and th'
house set on fire Sunday night. Abou
week later Ray Pfanschmidt, th'
only son OF Charles and Mathild;
Pfanschmidt, a high school graduate
and former student of the Univers
ity of Illinois, was arrested. The yer
dict is the elimination of the arres
and trial of the young man.
Z. NJ c. Kaempen, father Of Mis-
Emma Kaempen, who was one OF thu
victims of the tragedy, expresses
himself as satisfied with the verdict
1 Il believe Ray Pfanschmidt is gull
ty If the murder of my daughter.
did not pursue him with vengeance.
: helped to fight the trial to the utmos
because / wanted to see justice don
and because / believed that Ray PfaI
? schmidt was the murderer of IN
daughter"
CRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
All of the evidence against Pfar
schmidt was circumstantial. The d.
fense based it's case on the theor
that the evidence of the state wa
= planted"
" The trial has attracted more after
ton than any ever tried in Adam
county, owing to the prominence
the Pfanschmidt family and the br'
,, tality of the crime
e A strange coincidence exists in tn
J. fact that Saturday was the 23rd ann
.ersary of the murder of Charlie