Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-11
STATE RESTS IN
FIGHT TO SEND
SHUMAN TO CHAIR
Experts Say 'Pneumo-
Thorax AcutetisSiums"
Caused Death
AIR ESCAPED FROM LUNGS
Collapse of Organ Result of
Blow-Father Begins
His Defense
AIR ESCAPED FROM LUNGS

Pneumo-thorax acutetissimus-the
liltering of air from a rent in the
lungs into the pleural cavity-was the
direct cause of the death of Margaret
L. Shuman.
That opinion was vouchsafed this
morning by DR.. J. Harvey Miller,
medical expert for the Commonwealth,
shortly before the State closed its
prosecution against william Harvey
Shuman, eX-police chauffeur for the
murder of his daughter.
The defense opened this afternoon
after an effort had been made by the
Commonwealth to amend its indict-
ment by changing the time upon
which the kicks and blows, alleged to
have caused the girls death, had been
inflicted.
District Attorney Michael E. Stroup
indicated in his examination of DR..
r. l.. Perkins and DIR. Miller and
Mrs. Sallie j. Bankes that a change
might be suggested as to the time
the wounds were inflicted. Pointed
queries as to the appearance of the
girl shortly before her death and as
to the marks on various parts of the
body as disclosed by the autopsy led
to this belief.
Plan of Defense
show that the girl died-not as a re-
suit of blows inflicted by her father
but from the effects of a diphtheric
condition of the lungs, weakened by
alcoholism was indicated by counsel
for defense in cross examination.
The photographs showing the bruised
and battered body of Margaret Shuman
following the autopsy was finally got
before the jury to-day by District
Attorney Stroup. The court ruled this
evidence out yesterday but Judge
Kunkel permitted 1t this morning to
help the jurors and court to under
stand the physicians descriptions of
the wounds.
Throughout the exhibition of the
photographs Shuman listened intently
with his elbows on the counsel table.
his head bowed in his cupped hands.
Mrs. Shuman, clad in deep mourning.
didn't raise her heavy veil throughout
the morning session as she sat by his
side.
The Emotions of the Jury
Because the low forbids the eXhi-
bition of anything TO the jury that
might tend TO sway the emotions or
otherwise preclude careful and un-
biased consideration of the testimony
only, President Judge Kunkel yester-
day afternoon refused to permit Dis
trict Attorney Stroup to introduce pho
tographs of pretty Margaret Shuman
as she lay I'm bed.
The pictures were taken of the girl
as she lay on the hospital cot and
were snapped in such a way as to show
plainly the ugly wounds. The one in
jury on her chest, which, according to
physicians yesterday caused a collapse
of the lungs, showed plainly as a
furious red blotch against the clear
whiteness of her skin.
To Illustrate the Story
District Attorney Stroup meant to
show the pictures as an aid to the
jury, but after a bitter legal struggle
between the Commonwealth and the
defense the court upheld the defense
Accordingly the story of the injuries
TO the girl had to be recounted i'm
detail by the physicians. Drs. r. l..
Perkins and II. r. Weiner We're the
physicians and they took the stand
during the late afternoon. Both went
into detail as to the probable causes of
the girls death on September a. They
attributed 1t to injuries caused pre-
sumably by the kicks and blows of her
father on August %. And it is because
of the girls death that Shuman is now
fighting bitterly in the shadow of the
electric chair.
In addition to the physicians. Colonel
Joseph B. Hutchson, eX-chief of po-
lice, and Coroner Eckinger were
among the witnesses on the stand yes
tcf0aN lOf tne state.
The Defense Opens
The closing of the commonwealth
testimony, the Introduction of the
photographs of the dead girl as she
lay stretched upon her bed i'm readi-
ness for the autopsy, the sudden
switch in the time upon which the
fatal wounds were alleged to have
been committed. and the opening of
the defense-these were the high
lights of the third dav of the trial
Shuman actually began his battle
to save himself from paying the laws
penalty for the highest crime against
the State, with the opening Of the
afternoon session Whether or not he
would be called TO the stand in his
own defense neither Arthur II. Hull
nor Phillip S. Meyer, of counsel for
the defense, would say.
Wife by Shuman'S Side
The accused man to-day showed the
evidences of the severe strain under
which he is waiting, more noticeably
perhaps than ever before.
Just as she has always done since
the trial began the little mourning
clad. heavily yelled wife of the ac-
cused man this morning stepped
quietly from her seat way back among
the spectators in the courtroom and
took her place by Shuman's side at
the counsel table.
The belief among lawyers is that
the State will obtain a verdict of sec
ond degree" The penalty for murder
in the second degree is from five to
twenty years in the penitentiary
Physicians Testify
Both Drs. Miller and r. l.. Perkins /
who conducted the autopsy testified |
a sto the condition of the dead girls /
Continued on Page 49,