New-York tribune., 1918-12-06
Baksa Girl
Acquitted ON
Courts Order
Judge Rosalsky Rules Cir.
cumstantiaI Evidence OF.
fered Is Dangerous Kind,
Convict Is Not Believed
One Juror Suggests Burn.
Came Here to Convey Mes.
sage to Underworld pals

Elizabeth Baksa, nineteen wears Al,
rne youngest woman ever arr.;o,. :.
IN the courts of this county for w..
der, was acquitted yesterday in c..
eral Sessions of the charge Of kili..
her landlady, Mrs. Helen Ham.r :
her boarding house at 5o7 Wext Tw..
ty-third Street, on February ~ L..
For nineteen days the prosecuti,,
fought hard to obtain her convict;.s
on circumstantial evidence. Even ms,s,
on the dead woman's arm, alleesa :.
nave been prints of the girls tes,s =
were introduced as evidence and ta Ista.
were ruled out by the court.
Jimmy" Burns, alias Reeap
notorious burglar and convict -
auburn prison, came forward ana tss..
ned for the defence that he. and .l. ~.
tne girl, committed the crime. Nv. au'
looking this dramatic element a. ~.
case entirely, Judge Rosalsky held tba.
the clrcumstss1tial evidence against To. tb"
defendant was of a "dangerousD t;ss ..s
ano ordered the jury to acquit the c;,i
MISS baksa wept as Assistant n.
trlct Attorney Talley told the jurv bos nv
she had admitted that she had washsi
the bloodstained face of the ss dssS
woman, washed her hands in bss;.
and then fed to her home in FreemsnSs' S'
burg, Penn, later to return undo q,
assumed name. an
PRISONER Becomes HystericaE
She collapsed completely and bec.n.
h;ysterlcal when the foreman Of '1ss tSs
jury said "Not guilty" She was css' sus
rled by court attendants and Thors,
=. mcdonald and Frank Aranov OF he.
counsel to the matron's room. wbsr.
she quickly regained her comnosnre
Ihank God. Judge Rosalskv knew
vas innocent" she said, smiling throupt
her tears. New York is no nlace Ya,l OIs. e.
a country girl. I am going back II, te
Freemanesburg." A y
Meanwhile, Judge Rosatskv was .,t
ing the jury if they would obIiga h;r
ana Assistant Attorney Alfred ]. Tallsy
Dy maklng some recommendation as :.
the disposition of Burns. alias Regsn
Something should be done with this
immoral specimen said the court ''''
AFTER conferring for a few minnts,
IN the Juryroom the jurors reappesrsS
an ana their foreman, Alfred A. Cone ~
1V4o Seventh Avenue, reported to Tndgs
Noodlshy as follows:
Jury Did Not Believe Burns
;. We all agree that we do not bs.
neve any of the statements made bv
Negan on the stand. We don't hel;sve
he ever was in the Hamel hosrJ;rs
mousse, nor do we believe he had snr
tnlng to do with Mrs. Hamel's death
we believe he committed perurv 4.
lar as the defendant is concerned us
would have acquitted her in less time
than 1t took the court to direct the
verdict. The evidence against her was
unconvincing."
Burns" said Judge Rosalsky. "iss
potential murderer II IS a fortunat.
thing that many of the victims Of his
burglaries were not slain. He is a
desperate man and ne did commit ner.
urv on the witness stand"
Juror No. 3, John J. Dougherty. an
efficiency engineer, who had Frequently
lnterrogated Regan, said:
I'm my opinion, Regan's motive in
coming down to New York to testify in
this case wos 10 convey message to
the underworld l believe there is
something doing in the underworld as
a result OF some communication sent
to the crooks Of this city by the con-
victs in Auburn. They sent Regan. the
cleverest Of them all, to do the trick
Regan said himself on the stand to-dsY
that he could get mail into his cell
without its going through the wardens
office"
Some of the other jurors were of the
opinion that Regan had a mania for
claiming responsibility for crimes, anc
that he came here to seek cheap nc
toriety and to get change of scene
Assistant District Attorney Tailey
who Joined with Judge Rosalsky in get
ting the opinion of the jury as TO what
ought to be done with Regan. said he
would decide later whether steps would
be taken to prosecute the convict
Regan is serving a ten-year term for
third-degree burglary as a second Of
fender. He was sentenced last May By
County Judge McDermott. in Brooklyr
There are six other bench warrants
against him on file in Brooklyn.
While this was going on in the couF
room Miss Baksa was holding recst
tion in the anteroom. Many wons'
who had attended court day after ds!
believing in her innocence. congraa'
lated her. She said she had no ressOr
to kill Mrs. Hamel, and. with the es-
ception of the police and Asslstar'
District Attorney Talley, she said she
had been we'll treated. She said she
had Jared well in the Tombs since lss'
March, and had gained fifteen pounds
Judge Rosalsky later entered the
room and gave instructions that the
girl be kept under surveillance unit
she starts for her home in Freemsn''
burg this forenoon. The Rev. Fathsi
Cashin. chaplain of Sing Sing prison.
arranged to have the girl cared for
overnight IN a convent.