Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-18
Describes Events LEADING Up
to Crime as Witness for
Prosecution.
WITNESSES UNABLE
TO IDENTIFY NEGROES
Reveal Presence of Ozark Complex
Toned Men" in Vicinity
of Killing.

| PROVIDENCE, r. T., January IS
The prosecution in the Mohr trial to-
day put forward a witness who was
characterized in the opening address
| for the state as of great Importance.
This witness. George W. Heals, a
| negro. was asked to tell what he knew
| of the events leading up to the death
of DIR. c. Franklin Mohr, for whose
| murder. last August. the physicians
widow and two negroes, c. Victor
Brown and Henry H. Spellman, are on
trial.
Heals. DR.. Mohr's chauffeur, stopped
the doctors automobile at the spot on
a country road where DR.. Mohr was
fatally shot and his secretary, Miss
He was indicted for murder. but plead
ed nolo contendre to manslaughter,
and is awaiting sentence.
Identification Fails,
Albert ). D"charmr. " no was fishing
with Samuel Sel1ey at Echo lake on
the night of the murder, was the first
witness called today. He corroborat-
ed the testimony of Selley and Miss
Mary Gardner. who testified yesterday
to having seen two ark-skinned men"
in the vicinity of the crime on the
night of the shooting. He heard five
shots and saw two men pushing
motor cycle without lights. He would
not swear that they were Brown and
Counsel for the negroes asked to
nave the testimony of Ducharme, Sell
ley and Miss Gardner stricken from
the record because they could not iden-
TRY the defendants as the men de-
Al
Tell Of Seeing Men.
Efforts to identify Brown and Spell
man as the two dark complexioned
men seen walking on the hyatt road
near where DR.. Mohr was killed failed
yesterday afternoon. The state in
troduced two witnesses who were un-
able to say whether Brown and SPELL
man were the ones they had seen. The
Witnesses were Mrs. Mary Gardner and
Selley. Mrs. Gardner testified that on
the night in question she had heard
five shots, followed after an in
terval by single shot and shortly
afterward by four more in rapid sue
cession. She was then walking along
the road where it bends around Echo
lake, and five or ten minutes later she
saw a little dark-complexioned man"
coming toward her. He passed so close
to her. she said. that he touched her
sleeve. She thought she saw the
shadow Of another man going into the
Gardner. who admitted under cross-ex-
animation by Mr.. Lewis that she was
near-sighted, could not say whether
either of the two defendants was the
man she had seen.
Fisherman Saw Men.
Selley. who said he was fishing off
the banks of the lake. also claimed to
have heard shots. although his descrip-
ton of the way the sounds came diff
fered from that given by Mrs. Gardner
Later. he said. he saw two very dark
skinned men, pushing a motor cycle
along the road. A week after the
shooting he was taken to the Bristol
Jail, where Brown and Spellman were
confined, and he stated that while the
men looked like the ones he had seen
he could not swear that they were the
same.
The state also failed in it's efforts to
show that Mrs. Mohr bought for them
the motor cycle on which the prosecu-
ton contends that Brown and SPELL
man fed after the shooting: Under
Lewis, counsel for the Defense Samuel
U. Bryant. a motor cycle dealer, said
that DR.. Mohr himself had agreed that
he would see that Bryant got his
money from Brown. who was in the
physicians employ.
That Brown and Spellman were to-
gether on the day of the murder, and
that they had had talk with Healis
was brought out in the testimony of
Mrs. Ida Irene Brown. Victor Browns
aunt.
Another witness, William F. Halli-
day OF Boston, motor cycle salesman,
stated that at 7:25 O'Clock on the night
of the shooting Brown. accompanied
by a taller negro. was in Providence.
Dr. Mohr was shot nearly an hour and
a half later.