Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-02-12

ments as given from the witness stand
and the law as presented by the court,
is not known, although it is intimated
that at an early hour this morning
vote was taken showing to 5 for life
sentence
Some of the jury insisted on the
death penalty, others wanted life
| sentence given, few favored IA years
in the penitentiary, and it is intimated
! that number were inclined to accept
the theory of self-defense as advanced
! by the defendant, so that at 7:40, when
| the u men voted for the minimum SEN
tence of IA years for murder, it was
compromise.
| As soon as an agreement was reach
] ed the men were given their break
| fasts and at 800 came into court.
| The verdict was handed by P. H. Ed
wards, foreman of the jury, to Judge
Church, who stated that the finding
! was not in proper form, and the jury
returned to insert the words Sin the
penitentiary"
| Chasteen Is Cool.
When this had been done the jury
| filed back and the verdict was read.
The court room was about half full at
the time The defendant was the
least concerned person in the room.
He continued to smile quietly to him
self, as he had done since his arrest
on the murder charge. There was no
demonstration of any kind. Neither
the defendant nor his counsel thanked
the jurors and there was nothing in
the whole proceeding that gave any in
dication of it differing in interest
from Sunday school convention.
/ The court thanked the jurors and
4 excused them from further service and
| the defendant was remanded to county
! Jail to await sentence, which will prob
ably be done some time next week.
There was a great crowd present
when the court read his instructions
to the jury last evening. Deputy sher-
ifs had difficulty in restraining the
pushing and jostling mob that filed
through the court room doors when
they were opened at o'clock. 1t was
:03 before the work Of going over the
instructions by the court had been
completed, and few minutes later the
court started to read, completing the
task at 9:45.
Eye-Witnesses Lacking.
The verdict is regarded in some cir
cles as a distinct victory for the de-
Tense. The fact that the state had no
eye-witnesses to the shooting and
| Chasteen's own story Of the ARRAY
was all the evidence introduced as to
just what transpired after the detec-
| tive crawled over the wire fence into
the sand pit, made it difficult for the
state to prove its case, except for
strong circumstantial evidence, both
| before and after the shooting, the de-
| PENDANTS conduct when arrested and
since, and his past reputation as
peaceable and law-abiding citizen.
The jurors compromised on the YER
dict, but evidently did not believe the
! theory of self-defense as advanced by
Chasteen, for under the court instruc-
lions, II they were convinced beyond
a reasonable doubt that Chasteen kill
| ed Alvine when his own life was in
! jeopardy, then he was innocent of the
crime of murder and should have been
| liberated.
The case was bitterly fought every
| inch of the way States Attorney F.
E. Thompson and A. c. Edwards, his
assistant, appeared for the prosecu-
ton. and H. NJ. McCaskrin and B. A.
I Stewart for the defense.
Under the statutes, Chasteen for good
| behavior may have his sentence cut
down from IA years to s years and
months.