The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-12-11

medically, had risen 10 meet ths
point Of the weapon with his body.
An Attempt 20 Cover identity.
Then with his deed accomplished,
attorneys for the defense will seek
10 show that the murdefer's next
thought was his own preservation.
They win picture him snatching the
under-elothing frum Sharpless' bleed
ing body aud running 10 the closet
in search or woman's garment
which he might leave to bring the
stain or the crime home upon the
woman whom the defense will claim
he believed was occupying home
that should have been his own. They
viii picture the murderer stealing
the woman's Undertaking from the
closet. saturatlng Il with blood and
then tossing the garments back In
the room and selling the garments
worn by Mr.. Sharpless, leaping out
OF the window as he heard Mrs.
Sharplcss returning,
Lewis sharpiess ovestioned.
The defense will attempt TO show
that testimony OF the States Wit
nesses make their theory tenable.
On cross examination Lffewis Sharp
less was asked II he knew whether
his brother had had children. not
the children or his widow or OF the
wife who had died before his second
marriage. -
Mrs. Sharpless. when questioned by
Mr.. Baldwin. stated that she had
been out of the room for q few
n l,oN vasbn elm "a Il
she scarcely glanced at the couch
ON which her husband lay. The de
tense will attempt 40 show that she
had baraiy reached her own room
when means from her husband
brought her TO his side to find him
dying. In the cross examination the
defense sought. to show that Mr.
Sharpless might have lived several
minutes after the fatal thrust had
been delivered and be able TO make
sounds, although unconscious. ,'
Hidden Underwear Is a Puzzle.
In her conversation with Mr.. Bald
win Mrs. Sharpless, II Is said, de
clared that she was utterly unable
to account for the presence OF the
bloody underwear In the closet. The
defense VIII point out that had Mrs,
Sharpless committed the crime with
which she is charged she naturally
would have hidden the telltale gar
ments In a different place. Also
the defense will assert that she would
have used a different weapon. The
sword was long and clumsy. In an
adjoining room Il Is said there was
long butcher knife on n table
The knife, II is said. was whetted
to razor edge and would have
been a more convenient weapon fol
the woman to use.
That will be the defense which
Mrs. Sharpless, the Sphinx Woman
will break her long silence In an
attempt to establish In her own de
Tense from the witness stand In dis
trict court. Other witnesses will be
called by her attorneys 10 tell that
the Sharpless home life was happy
as the ordinary one. Their task
however. viii be light. . ..
Mrs. Sharpless to Bare Secrets.
The brunt OF the defense will fall
upon the shoulders OF the accused
woman. She Il Is upon whom hel
attorneys will rely to bare the sc
crets of her home. and of her life
10 the tiironging spectators In the
court room and TO, reveal to them
the skeleton In tho closet that haunt
ed her life and her husbands. the
knowledge of the wrong doing which
she will say was committed by her
husband years before she met him
the harvest of which she will say
finally swept him from her side and
left her alone to face the accusation
OF his murder. ,.-..