Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-01-24

Providence. Jan. 2S.-Mrs. Elizabeth
Frances Mohr will go on the WITNESS
stand in an endeavor to prove 10 the
;urv that she was not an accessory
before the fact to the murder Oh ner
husband DR.. c. Franklin Mohr, as
the state has charged.
Decided Saturday
That was definitely settled SATURDAY
in conference which the doctor
widow held with her attorneys.
| Rumors that her testimony Will pe
sensational and that it will thro" d
flood of light on the mlre OF soruio
motives. intrigues and passions tia'
| have engulfed her life, were IN clrsu-
lation late Saturday afternoon. AS n
mattar of fact no one knows the ne
! ture of the story that Mrs. Mohf VIII
tell except the woman herseli' e
| lawyers, John J. Fitzgerald anu IA
thur Gushing, and the members VI
their law firms. And they are sayiis
nothing about it to outsiders.
| Nevertheless the belief grows tial
the Widows testimony Will become
the keystone of the structure that tie
defense plans to rear, very much DIS
/ the testimony of George w. Healls'
Jr DR.. Mohr's trcacherous chaulieui'
proved to be the keystone OF the pros
ecution's case. Whether she Will ne
put on the stand early in the preseh
tation of her side OF the case-alio
that means early in the coming "eeA
or whether she will be held PACK
until near the end of the trial, IS
something also that her counsel nave
not dvulged.
Mrs. Mohr Eager TO Tell Story
OF one fact there can be no doubt:
That Mrs Mohr is eager to nave lhe
world hear her story. At the END or the
first week of the trial she gave out
statement asking the public to sus-
mend Judgment about the case until aii
the evidence had been heard. Iester-
dav at the close of the second week,
she reiterated her plea, declared that
she would go on the stand and that
she would walk ont of the courtroom
! freo woman when the trial was over.
She has undoubted faith in the efn-
cacv of her story to accomplish sueii
result.
the defense viii call at least 20 VIII
nesses Among them will he Augustus
u. Mohr of Mct.wensville, fa., the doc
tors brother. and Mrs. MohfS Two
! children, Charlie" and Virginia. Sew
! eral servants employed in the ElmWood
avenue house. in which Or. ana Mrs.
Mohr lived until their separation, VIII
! tell of the relations between the Two.
! Miss Emily G. Burger, invariably re-
ferred to ROW as the other woman
! has been summoned by the defense
and will appear early in the week. The
I list of witnesses will also probably in
cludc number of newsrapermen.
Mrs. A. A. Wright TO Be Called
Another witness. whose advent in
court is locked forward to with inter
est is Mrs. a. A. Wright Of Easton
| Center. Mass, whose name has been
mentioned once CT twice before in con-
! nectior with the case. Mrs. Wright,
VINO was visiting her married brother.
Lucius Wright, at 357 Smith street,
! Cranston, in the latter part of last Au.
gust. happened on August - to ride
| downtown from Edgewood in a Broad
street car.
! At q stopping place that she has since
identified as the junction of Prairie
avenue ard Broad street, three Negroes
boarded the car and stood in the aisle
| near her. One of them she believes was
Cecil Victor Brown and another Harry
! Spellman, the two former employees OF
/ DR.. Mohr. who are on trial with Mrs.
Mohr as principals in the murder. TIE
| third man she has so far been unable
| to identify.
Heard Plan Discussed
The man whom she afterwards came
to believe was Spellman stepped on her
foot and failed TO apologize for his
carelessnesS. According to her story,
| which she first told to Asst. -Atty-Gen.
| Branch. the three We're engaged i'll an
! excited conversation. From fragments
of it that she could hear. it was obvious
| to her that the men We're planning to
hold somebody up with the object OF
robbery They got off the car at Trim
! ity square.
| A curious element in the incident was
| that, though ordinarily Mrs. Wright is
! quite deaf, she hears well when there is
! vibration about her of a kind that a
| street car furnishes. Mr.. Branch was
! not impressed with the importance of
her story to the prosecution, and thus
| the state did not call her as a witness
| though there was no doubt of her sim
! Cerity.
| Mrs Wright was in the city yesterday
and as the result of talk with her Mrs.
Mohr's lawyers had Constable Herman
serve her with a summons to appear as
witness for the defence 1t seemed
significant to them that the negroes
should have got on the car and left it
at the places fixed in Mrs Wright's MEM
| ory Spellman lived on Gadsden street.
which is near the junction of Prairie ave-
nue. and Broad street, and if the trio hao
| come from his house that would have
been the natural place for them to take
the street car.
| Moreover, George Heals and his three
brothers lived on Getting street, which
Is just off Trinity square, SO that if the
three negroes were bound for the Heals
| house, that would have been the loeica,
place for them to get off. Besides the
proximity of Coffin street, there is the
TACT that Brown kept his motorcycle in
the Trinity Square Garage.
| Said to Have Recognized Man