The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-12-08

! helen McDanlel looked up at tn
face Of her father, in whose lap sh
sat. He looked down at her ant
smiled.
81 find this man defended, gentle
men, by two of the most prominen
criminal attorneys in Northwest Mis-
souri,, men who are always on the side
of guilty criminals. They are the sort
of men criminals must have.
81 have had no winks for jurymen
jurymen had no smiles for me. Had
come here each day, winking at you
men, l would expect you to believe
l thought you fools"
Barker went over the States evil
dence and attacked McDaniel's story
He declared Mcdaniel went to the sa-
loon where be said he was called
and bought drinks and told his name
to impress on the men that he was
there. When he started back home, he
said, he picked up a police officer to
impress on him that he was away from
home at the time. He said Mrs. Nc
Daniel was not found on the floor as
the defendant testified.
The Attorney-General attacked the
defense attorneys and Mcdaniel for
not introducing the threatening letters
the prosecutor said he received. "They
would not have convicted him alone"
said Barker.
Mcdaniel did not attempt to prevent
an inquest to determine the cause of
the death of his wife, Strop told the
jury, in concluding his closing argu-
ment this morning.
It. was grief that caused Mcdaniel to
tell the Coroner ar hour after his wife
had died tina the did not want to talk
Of an inquest then, and it was COM
mon sense, said Strop, attorney for
Mcdaniel.
"McDaniel was in perfect accord
with the Coroner when he finally de-
cided to hold an inquest" Strop said.
The Goroner had testified for the
State that Mcdaniel requested that he
tell the newspapers he had called for
an inquest when finally the Coroner
concluded to hold one.
ImpressiOnable, easily convinced per-
sons, who used their imagination, was
the way Strop characterized the neigh
bors who have testified they heard
Mrs. McDanieps voice in a scream at
1920 o'clock the night of the murder.
Mcdaniel sat, brushing the hair of
his little daughter, Marion, with his
hand for an hour after court opened.
During argument of his counsel about
screams of cats in the Mcdaniel neigh
borhood. humorous situations caused
the defendant to laugh aloud.
"See here" said Strop, holding an
advertising booklet showing Hartley
and his bIoodhounds; "Hartley's eye
doesn't look into yours, does it? No.
1t looks to one side. He can't look
to one side. He can't look straight at
you. But look at the dogs. Why,
men, they've got more honesty in them
than Hartley. They look at YOU
eve don't know who killed Mrs. Nc
Daniel; we can't account for this hoT-
rible crime; neither can you fix the
responsibility" Strop said. "After
this trial is over Oscar d. Mcdaniel
will go out of office and he will do
everything within his power to find
the murderer of his wife. But we must
not try to do it now. We must try
to save this man from the clutches OF
an awful frameup."
Strop tried to show the regret OF
iuries that have in the past convicted
innocent men.
"Great God, gentlemen of the jury
be cautious, be cautious" he said. A
human life is at stake. Do you want
uDOn IlimSN circumstance, VIZ ''-
of known liars and crooks, to send THIS
man to the hangman's moose"
"If Gard told the truth, this prose
cution is ended" Strop declared. He
also said the States theory that an
other woman "was about to break up
the Mcdaniel home" had been proven
false by the evidence adduced.
"Gossiping neighbOrS" were charged
by Strop with having been the cause
in part, of the prosecution of Nc
Daniel.
Strop declared that "if the Moss
family had been allowed to move upon
Mcdaniel after the murder" Miss
Ailene Moss, sister of Mrs. Mcdaniel,
would not have testified against her
accused brother-in-law.