The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-25

before the woman met her death which the coroner's jury decided resulted from the accidental discharge of a pistol in her own hands.
 OUTSIDE AID
 Representatives of Cook county and New York officials came here and aided in preparation of the states case, two of them testifying as expert witnesses. C. B. Ambrose of the federal depart ment of justice, also was present with the prosecution as was Attorney Gen eral J. Ross Manning of North Caro- lima Means was represented by eight attorneys, headed by Frank l. Osborne of Charlotte.
 It was crowded courtroom that heard witnesses for the state describe the tar get shooting trip, which carried Gaston Means, his brother. Alton Means, Capt. w. S. Bingham of Concord and Mrs. King to little spring in Cabarrus coun- ty, where the woman was shot. Stand ing shoulder to shoulder even in the aisles of the courtroom, townspeople and many from all over the county followed every feature. as it was developed, and once when E. T. Canser of counsel for Means, unsuccessfully sought to draw an admission from Dr. Otto Schultze, medi- cal assistant to District Attorney Swann of New York, the New Yorker was given a round of applause.
 They did that when the Savior was crucified," Cansler cried out. The Savior
 is not on trial" said the solicitor. No, but this defendant is as innocent" re- piled the defending attorney.
 Magistrate Pitts announced further ap- plause would be followed by fines.
 MANY WITNESSES
 Testimony offered by the state in- cluded that of seven witnesses begin ming with l.. A. Washington, local undertaken who prepared the body for burial and accompanied 1t to Chicago with Gaston Means and Mrs Mazie Melvin. The latter, a sister of Mrs. King, has protested her belief in Means innocence and sat in court with him today.
 pr. William H. Burmeister, chief cor oners physician of Cook county, Illi- nois, then took the stand and. after qualifying as an expert on pistol wounds, described the course the bullet took from the place where 1t entered the back of the womans head. Dr.. Burmeister declared in answer to a question by the solicitor that in his opinion it would have been impossible for the woman to have held in her hand the pistol which inflicted the wound. She was right-handed, he said, and could not have placed her right hand back of her head in such a manner as to have fired the shot. He also de- clared the muzzle of the pistol must have been more than 10 inches away from her head when it was fired, as- serting that he found no powder stains or marks and no burned or singed hair on her head On cross-examination he described experiments which he said proved this.
 SECOND EXPERT
 pr. Otto Schultze, professor of path ology at Cornell university and medical assistant to the district attorney of New York county, when he took the |stand later, agreed with Dr. Burmeis- ters statements and added that firing an automatic pistol, such as Mrs. King used, required that one finger pull the trigger and that the safety clutch must be pressed simultaneously by that part of the palm between the thumb and forefnger.
 "A person could not bend the hand and arm around the shoulder in such a way as to make that wound" he said, land at the same time be able to press the trigger and safety clutch" On cross examination Dr. Schultze was asked by Attorney Cansler, If anything would make you change your belief that Mrs. King did not kill her self" The pathologist replied that he was positive she did not infiict the wound.
 Attorney Cansler asked pr. Schultze as he previously had asked Dr. Bur- meister, if he was being paid fee to come to North Carolina and aid the prosecution. Both said they were get | ting no more than their usual salary and that their expenses were being borne by county authorities in their respective states.
 SOLD MEANS PISTOL M F. Ritchie local hardware dealer, | told of selling Means the automatic pistol with which Mrs. King was killed, and C. w. Andrews, hotel clerk at Sails