The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-26

Christian Endeavor society. You learn
ed it was wrong to take human life
and against the laws of God %
Il don't remember"
Mr.. Deuel. then resumed redirect
exa mination. Waite said his memory
was not perfect, he supposed, because
of drugs. He declared that his mind
is growing clearer. The prisoner
identified several letters he wrote
while in Bellevue and a poem, saying
years. He said that when he wrote
the poem he suspected he was charged
with murder.
Waite told me- testified Dr. NJ K.
Karpas, called as an alienis. for the
defense in the trial of DR.. A. w. Waite
today, that he intended to kill his
wife. He said he had not intended to
stop at anything to gain his ends"
Catherine Peck Takes Stand.
Waite was then excused and Miss
Catherine Peck. sister of John E.
Peck, was called. Waite testified yes
terday that he placed ground glass
and germs OF pneumonia, typhoid,
diphtheria and influenza in her food
in an attempt to kill her. Miss Peck
said she accepted Waite as what he
appeared to be and told of entrustfng
her business matters to him. She
smiled as she recalled her narrow es-
capes from death.
L ate some of the rnarmalade," she
said. when 1 opened the jar again
I found it full of something like sand.
L took it back TO the store and the pro-
prietor apologized."
Waite laughed until his shoulders
shook when Abraham Bass Ford, Jr.,
a tennis player with whom the de-
PENDANT had played, testified that
Waite had blown up" in his game and
had merely smiled when called
down. for errors.
Unparalleled in Crime Annals.
New York, May 26.-Could a sane
man commit the series of crimes con-
fessed by DR.. Arthur Warren Waite
This question confronted the jury
today in the Peck murder case. The
young dentist left the witness stand
last night after five hours and forty
five minutes crowded with horrors I'M
paralleled in the history of New York
criminal trials. Every detail of his
story was noted by the alienists en-
gagged by the defense for use in franz
in gthe hypothetical question they will
be called to answer before Yates at
torneys ask the jury to decide whether
ne was mentally responsible when he
Killed his father-in-law John E. Peck
Waite's testimony left the prosecu-
tons attorneys today nothing more to
do toward proving that he committed
murder. Their problem was to show
that monster of crime such as the
defendant confessed himself might
have been mentally normal and there
fore fit subject for the electric chair.
Admitted Plot to Kill Three.
Counsel for the defense said today
that they had few if any more cues
tons to ask their client. 1t was ex-
| pected that the alienists would take
the stand soon after the state finished
cross examining the defendant The
supreme moment of Waite's tale came
last night when the young witness de-
clared in calm converse tional tones:
why, I wanted those bacteria to
Kill those three persons-Mr. Peck
Mrs. Peck and Miss Peck I wanted
| their money"
Waite told of a long career of crime.
without change of voice or express
sion to indicate that he recognized
the enormity of his confession, he de-
scribed infinitely how he gave his vic
Tins arsenic, powdered glass, chloro-
form, disease germs and overdoses OF
medicine; how he burned fly paper
and gave the residue which he ha6
read contained arsenic to Mr.. Peck
how he generated chlorine gas in the
father-in-law's room to make his
throat more sensitive to the germ cul-
lures; how he dampened the sheets in
his bed and raised the windows of his
room in midwinter in an unsuccessful
effort to give him pneumonia
Thief While in College.
Waite admitted thefts from fellow
students while at Michigan university
and described them in detail
81 heard the dispositions about my
theft of plates and of 500 from stu
dents and they were all true" he said
Waite's narrative virtually became
a story of thievery. He admitted tina
during his freshman vacation, which
he spent working at Ann Arbor, hi.
thefts amounted to $500, resulting il
his expulsion from his fraternity al
though he was reinstated in his senior
year.
Waite detailed virtually his entir,
life history. He admitted that while
in Canada he made his living by play
ing pool and cheated. He admitted
taking a course at Edinburgh uni
versity, Scotland. gaining admission
through his graduation papers at AM
Arbor, but which he said he doctor
ed" for the purpose.
Stole From Employers.
From Scotland Waite said he wen
to South Africa and worked for firm
of dentists He said he stole $3.50
from the concern the first year an,
; increased the amount each year 70
the next four years
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