The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-06-28
MRS. FELCH
DENIED ALL
Swore Under Oath She Did
Not Visit Sugar House
Night of Mur0 =
CRYING WHEN SHE
MADE DEC ssRATION.
Accused Ais enied Hav-
ing Impi = n Relations
With Otis Williams

Chelsea, June 2S.-One OF the most
dramatic recitals of circumstance ever
heard in Orange county court came yes
terday and to-day from the lips of Mrs.
Anna Felch charged with murder in the
first degree as an alleged accomplice in
the death of her husband, Joseph Felch,
at Waits River on the eve of Easter Sun
day in April, 1915 The accused took the
stand at 4:25 o'clock yesterday after
noon, testified in a clear voice until re-
cess was taken shortly before o'clock,
and in spite of the fact that she broke
down and wept before the first period Of
ordeal was over, she was back on the
stand and continuing her narrative this
forenoon. 1t cannot be said that Mrs.
Felchs testimony exceeded in Importance
the statement OF Otis Williams as intro
duced by the state last week, but there
was measure of interest attaching to
her story which the spectators in the
courtroom did not manifest when the
young farmland was repeating, almost
word for word, his grim version OF the
tragedy as related by him in confession
introduced during his own trial year
| ago.
| Those who have followed the trial of
Mrs. Felch witnessed the spectacle yes
terday OF woman who may have been
testifying for her very life. And before
the comparatively brief interval of her
| first appearance on the stand was over
she had denied emphatieally the two
most discriminating accusations in the
story told by Otis Williams. Without
show of hesitation she denied in sharp
ly pointed words that she had ever acted
improperly with Williams. Her denial
of the allegation that she went to the
sugarhouse was even more sweeping, but
at the latter iuncture her composure van
ished and as she finished her answer to
the question as framed by her counsel,
Attorney Hoar her sobs were audible in
every corner of the courtroom. 1t was
a dramatic moment. But it was near
ing O'Clock. and the Judge thereupon
declared recess, while crowd of un-
usual proportions, as if reluctantly con-
scious that the absorbing recital had
been interrupted for time, slowly filed
out OF the courtroom. Attorney H. X.
Darling hurried down the aisle toward
the witness box and assisted Mrs. Felch
down from her chair.
1t cannot be said that the appearance
of the accused as a witness occasioned
any surprise. Nothing emanating from
bav had rrirau rtza 10 ha
sion that Mrs Felch was to testify, but
there was an undercurrent of feeling that
she would be improved as witness. and
therefore when her name was called as
her brother, Fred Smith, left the stand,
it was taken somewhat as matter of
course. Mrs. Felch walked firmly to the
stand and from first to last she remained
the 'eynosure for all eyes in the court
room. There was an air of confidence
about her that must have confounded
any who expected to see weak and un-
willing witness. and in spite of the fact
that she suceumbed to her emotions
toward the end of the afternoon, her
answers were always clearly given and /
not once did she betray any sign of
faltering in her replies to the examina
tion by Attorney Hosr.
The examining attorney paused mo-
ment while Mrs. Felch was seating her
self comfortably in the witness chair.
'Nour full name?" he asked, and her
was unmistakable. She tes-
titled that she was born in Topsham,
where she resided 20 years, and that
she was married in Bradford nine years
ago next September, adding, in response
10 further questioning, that she had two
Bernice, aged eight, and
Blanche, who is seven months old The
accused testified that she moved to the
Feleh farm in Waits River Immediately
after her marriage to Joseph Fech.
Asked who worked there just before her
death, the witness mentioned
The names Of Otis Williams and Warren
Jurrier, adding that the latter "helped
,ut Otis" As to domestic assistance,
he witness explained that Miss Joseph
ne Pero was in the employ of the Felches,
having come TO the farm four or five
weeks previous to the death OF Mr.. Felch,
The respondent. still answering in full
he questions of her attorney, stated that
Ilr. and Mrs. John Felch, parents of the
murdered farmer. lived on the river road
o East Corinth, a little more than a
nile away Witness testified that her
husband also owned the PAYNE place.
ne quarter of a mile away, adding that
part of the barn and a field on the
lace could be seen from the Felch home
tesd Continuing her testimony about
she said that her husband
wned back pasture. in addition to the
elch and Payne places, but did not own
timber lot on which he numbered in
he winter of l9l5-l6. Alfred Follans-
ee Arthur Wright and Otis Williams.
mong others. worked in the woods that
inter with her husband she said.
Mrs. Felch Helped Husband Lumbering.
on the Friday before Joe's death. she
ent on. she and the Pero girl and little
ernice went to the woods and helped
elch gather sap. Later all tour re-
Irned to the sugarhouse, and the won
. helped Joseph Felch in saving wood
ith a gasoline engine apparatus. Wit
es- testified in detail to the disposition
the workers in the woodlot. saving
,at he tended the lever" that her
1sband tended the saw and that Cur
er took away the blocks. The machine.
,e went on. had been owned by the
rlches for a wear. Witness Identified a
CContinued on eighth page