Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-01-17
LIFE Term FOR
THE MURDERER
OF ". H. SMITH
VerTict Returned After Deliber-
Grating Little More Than Six
Hours Over Evidence in
Murder Case.
DEFENDANT SITS MOTIoNLEss
No Word or Change of Expression
Shows Disappointment or
Satisfaction.
WIFE CALLS HIM INNOCENT


Arthur Hauser was found guilty
of murder in the first degree and
the penalty was fixed at life i'm
prisonment by the jury which tried
him on a charge of Staying w. H.
Smith, Woodmen Of the World
cashier, at Thirty-first and Dodge
streets, the night of October 16. The
case went to the jury at S:4O Sat
urday afternoon. A verdict was
reached at 1904, six hours and
twenty-four minutes later.
Hauser. who had scanned eagerly
the faces of the jurors as they filed
into their seats. sat motionless after
the reading of the verdict, until
sheriff's deputies led him away. No
word or change of expression indi-
Gated either disappointment or sat
isfaction.
In his cell few moments later,
after he had changed his neat blue
serge suit which he wore at the trial.
for the khaki garb Of a prisoner, he
declared: at was not fair ver-
dict"
says Judge Was Fair.
Asked if he believed he had had
a fair trial, he said: 81 certainly
did have a fair trial before the
Judge" He would say nothing more.
The anxiety and mingled hope
and fear which had possessed him
during the last days of the trial
were gone and the cold defiance of
the man whose hand is against So
ciety again ruled him. Have you
any complaint" he was asked. II
have nothing to say" he replied.
II was Hauser who broke down when
his wife, dry-eyed, was doing the utmost
in her power to free him by her testi-
mony. but it was his wife and mother
who wept when the verdict of guilty had
been returned.
Mrs. May Hauser, 27-year-old wife of
the bandit. received the news while wait
ing on a train to return to her home in
Wichita The aged mother sat opposite
a double seat. While the two women
wept. the s-year-old child, Ida, slept on
the cushioned seat.
wiz Calls Him Innocent
They've convicted an innocent man."
sobbed the wife. Il thought twelve men
would be fair. He is innocent Of that
crime
1t was the first time her tears had
flowed since she came to Omaha to testify
TO an alibi for her husband.
The mother said she longed for death.
III you know how a mother feels" she
said, you know I would be better off
il l were dead. I wish I were dying
low."
= In contrast, a woman across the river
said: 81 am glad. That is right" 1t
was the wife OF the murdered man. With
her We're two young children whose
father Hauser had shot to death BY a
bullet fired into his back. In Council
Bluffs also lives the aged mother OF the
dead man. who experienced the first thrill
of pleasure she has known since the night
of the murder.
Interest IL Keen.
These two women rejoiced that the laws
just vengeance had been visited on the
slayer of Smith. Many friends and ac-
quaintances OF the dead man expressed
satisfaction. Interest in Council Bluffs.
his home during his lifetime. was no less
keen than in Omaha.
.>iss Grace slater. whom Mr.. Smith
was accompanying to her home, when
he was shot, had no statement 70 make.
she had previously expressed confidence
that Hauser would he convicted. She
was the principal states witness
When the verdict was returned only
District Judge English, Hauser and his
attorneys. Richard Horton and Edward
f. Rooney of Topeka, Kan, court officers
and a few spectators who had drifted in
were present, Hausers wife and mother.
who had intended to go home early In
the afternoon. had waited until night by
HIS request, but had left for the railway
station before the jury came in. They
sshad waited at the home of a friend at
1900 Missouri avenue, Albright.
1t was learned during the evening that
CONTINUED on Pase Two, Column Two. }