The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1917-09-29
CELESTE Mccoy
Is ACQUITTED ON
MURDER CHARGE
Jury Found Verdict After
Less Than an Hours
DeliberatiOn.
DEFENSE BLAMES THE
TRIBUNE FOR THE TRIAL
Testimony Of Witnesses is Con.
flicting-Boy II Years Old il
States Chief Witness.

| Celeste Mccoy on trial for killing
her husband last April was acquitted
by jury in the Jackson Circuit Court
yesterday evening after the jury ha(
been out about an hour. During theil
elaboration the jurors asked to ex
anime the coat of the slain man. which
was used as evidence in the trial.
Three witnesses were introduced by
the State to prove that the defendant
had shot her husband from a distance
and not during a scuffle over the pos
session of the revolver, as was told by
Mrs. Mccoy.
Robert Steinborn, II years old, was
the chief witness for the State. He
told the jury he was standing in the
backyard and could see Mccoy stand
ing in front Of his home talking to
someone in loud voice. He could not
see who the person was he was con-
versing with.
Suddenly, he testified, he heard a
shot and then saw Mrs. Mccoy run
ming out into the street and kneeling
down beside her husband. The little
boy was put through a rigid cross
examination by A. II. Spradling, at
torney for the defendant, who, in the
course of the trial, used some Hawk
shaw characteristics to shake the wit
nesses in their testimony. His efforts
to have the boy admit that he was in
fuenced by a newspapers reporter or
that he had instigated the prosecution
of Mrs. Mccoy also failed.
Mrs. Leona Runnels, a colored wo-
man, and her brother, Everett Bush,
were the other witnesses for the State.
They testified they saw Mccoy run
ming down the street while his wife |
was standing on the front porch and |
that she fired the shot from that posi-
ton.
The attorney for the defendant |
showed that if that were the ease, Ne |
Coy would have been shot in the right !.
side, whereas. however, the bullet en-
tered below his heart and emerged
under the right arm. The fact that no
bullet hole was found in the coat under
the right arm, the attorney pointed |
out, proved that it was physically i'm
possible for the shot to have entered
on the right side.
In cross-e1aminins these witnesses,
Mr.. Spreading attempted to exact from
them the admission that their testi-
mony was the result Of an interview
with w. C. Guempel, q reporter of The
Tribune, who has been charged with
the instigation of the prosecution Of
Mrs. Mccoy. They denied emphatieal-
ly that they had ever seen him or talk
ed to the reporter.
The defendant herself was placed on
the witness stand to repeat the story
she told to the coroner's jury advanc-
ing the theory that the weapon vas
during q scuffle between
herself and her husband. She said
her husband had threatened to kill her,
and she wrestled with him to disarm
him.
During his address to the jury
Prosecuting Attorney Caruthers show
ed the blood-stained coat Of the slain |
man, which had been brought into
court as evidence. He pointed to the |
fact that nc powder burns were to be |
found on the coat, indicating that the |
shot could not have been fired from |
a close range as would have been the
case had the revolver been discharged |
during a scuffle. He further demon
strated to the jury that it would have
been impossible to get the revolver in
such a position as to give the bullet |
the course it took, had the revolver
been in the hands Of Mccoy and had
the two been scuffling over the pos
session of the revolver.
The testimony Of the defendant was
told in such Straightforward way
that the impression on the jury could
be plainly noticed. She, too, was put
through severe cross-examination,
but always repeated the same story.
Several character witnesses were
heard to testify as to the unblemished
reputation Of the defendant. Among
them was Mrs. Gus Cooper Of the
cape by whom Mrs. Mccoy has been
employed since childhood. Chief of
Police Whitener, Policemen Stone and
Constable Seivally and Fred
who arrived at the Mccoy
ome shortly after the shooting, were
he other witnesses. /