The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1917-05-19
| fter. delihasatine.la less than an hour


Friday morning. Court had adjourn
ed ten minutes earlier, however, and
the verdict was not made known untll
10 a. M, when the Judicial body re-
convened to learn the result OF the
iurv's deliberations. The outcome OF
the trial was a surprise to those who
had followed the evidence, but there
was no demonstration OF any klnc
when the finding was announced Inc
name of NJ. Paul Leblanc, as foreman
of the jury, was signed beneath the
verdict; . 70 a{sasSs5o.'
Zone of the largest audiences that
has ever assembled in the courtroom
on similar occasion was present
Thursday night to hear the arguments en-
| of the lawyers in The noted case. Inc
flow of oratoTy was started at :oo p
m. and continued without INTERRUPT
ton until 911:15, the jud ge,s charge
following, and the case BENG gwen
to the Jury at exactly 1l:3o O'Clock
District Attorney George 3 dulon
openeds and : closed for the state
Charles T. WORKMAN, of aNapoleon-
Vile, former district judge; GeoTgs
Gullotta, of. New Orleans, and sCaiep
C. Weber. of Donaldsonville, spoke
for the defense in the order named;
The trial was in progress tour fui,
DAYS and half of Thursday night, and
attracted "a great deal of attention.
large audiences being. present
throughout the proceedings -.
|a7l1pon the converting OF court IN
special session atb10go'clock Monday
morning, counsel for accused tlieo
a, motion to quash the jury panel,
on the ground tilat the clerk OF court
had not caused the yenire to be pue.
lished in official form in the of1lclal
iournal of the parish, citing In sup
port of their contention the provisions
Of section a Of Act No. 1875 aof 1898
The motion was overruled, wheteup-
on another motion was filed, asking
for continuance of the case on &C.
count of the absence of materlal
witness, a negro named Newt Clark,
who had been summoned. by the state,
but whose testimony, it was claimed,
would be Of Importance IN establish
ing the case forHthes defense The as
sertion was made in the motion that
knowledge of this fact shad only come
to the attention Of counsel for the de-
tense late. Sunday afternoon. After
an o argument between District At
torneya Guion and the, attorneys tor
the accused, an attachment for Clark
was issued and a recess OF thirty
minutes was taken in order ito per-
nit the sheriff to look up the missing
witness. Efforts to. locate. the negro
were unavailing, and when court re- re-
convened, upon the district attorney
declaring that the state was ready to
proceed to trial, Judge Gilbert over
ruled the motion for a continuance.
The work Of inpan cling jury was
proceeded with, and from the special
ivenire of thirty FIVE jurors were Sc
cured, to-wit: Lucas M. Poche, John
B. Gravois, Joseph A. Pertuit, Felix
Guedry and Sidney Eliser.
ION, Tuesday FIVE more jurors were
impaneled, namely: Frank Diez, NJ.
Paul LEBLANC, Louis Qhlmeyer, Cam
lille Cassard and Alcide Leroy. Two
sets of talesmen, one of fifty and the
other Of thirty, were summoned and
examined, but as many of them were
residents of this community and stat
ed that. they had discussed the case
and formed fixed opinions, they were
excused for cause, A.; .r.az4af.s.9 ss
! The trial reached definite stage
Wednesday forenoon, when the two
men needed to complete the jury were
secured in the persons of Leon Alonzo
and Willie Guedry. s. It :, had been
necessary to draw, the q remaining
nineteen names from the tales box,
making a total Of 100 possible Jurors
summoned, offtwhon perhaps 100
were examined before the tedious
process of filling the jury box was
completed. The state exhausted all
Of its twelve challenges, and the de:
tense, used more than twenty Of the
twenty-four to which it was entitled.
Upon the completion Of the jury the:
state launched at once into the pre-
sentation of it's case. introducing as
witnesses Dr.D.C. Brumfeld, coroner;
Israel Mollere,t aJr.,,. George Gaudin,
Rocco. Savoia, il, Mrs. Joseph F. A.
Matherne, ST., Miss Virginia Savoia
and Mrs. J. W!!'Betz.s Of these, young
Savoia and his sister and Mrs: Betz
offered the strongest testimony, the
two former being especially circum-
in their lucid version of the
killing and the events immediately
preceding it. The substance of their.
evidence was that Joe ySpampinato,
driving an ices delivery wagon, was
proceeding sinE the direction off 1.-THE
store, April, 49, last. when
Bernard Mistrettaaand his 15-year-old-
son, Gaetano, appeared from thearear
of their premises armed with a shot.
gun and revolver, respeetively;i that
Spampinato jumped from his wagon
and started to run, I'M "a direction
away from the 1Mistrettas, when he
was shot down byEB 3 Mistretta.; that
Spampinato felliytoa his. II knees and
faced his assailants, with his hands
up, whereupon the8Mistrettas advanc--c
ed upon him and, when he fell over
10 the ground, continued to fire shots
INTO his PROSTATE body Their testi-
nonyl was not shaken aors altered I'M,
Ter gruelling eross-exan inatiop. I'd
+, Mrs. Matherne, testified that she
vas in, her backyard, when, her at
ention attracted by the sound of the
PASSING ice wagon, she looked up Just
n time to see, the wagon stop opposite
Ter. gate, and spampinato jump from
he vehicle and run back toward
street. She heard a shot, |
nd Immediately afterward saw B.
fistrettal run past in the same direc- |
ion taken by Spampinato. Mrs. Ma
herne's gate is some 7QTodd feet /