Alma record., 1918-12-19
BRENNAN CASE
IS POSTPONED
Illness of Jurors Wife Causes
the Judge 10 Lay Case Over
Indefinitely.
PROSECUTION HAS RESTED
Introduction of Evidence by State ~
Finished Late Tuesday and De
fense Started Work.

"Wednesday morning the trlal OF
John +. Brennan was postponed IN
definitely owing TO the serious illness
Of the wife Of one Of the jurors, CIV
ing this widely known case its seconc
setback. When il was first brought
up last summer the court was forced
TO hold it over because of the difficul
" in securing a jury.
If possible the case VIII be resumed
again before Christmas, but there is
now big possibility that it cannot
be resumed before that time
David Beaudry, the French-Cana-
dian woodsman who was very in
strumental in the unraveling of the
Epler murder mystery. bringing
about the arrest Of Albert Eichorn,
John r. Brennan and Mrs. lnez
Johnson, was put on the stand Fri
day in the circuit court at st. Johns
20 tell his story Of the crime.
In his quaint. broken English.
Beaudry told Of the Saturday night
before the crime, when two automo-
bilcs stopped IN front OF the home
OF Mrs Johnson.
Then his story shifted to the fol
lowing Tuesday night when Beatrice
Epler came, 70 her death by strangu
lation.
lie stated that ne was at home en
the nigh, Of the crime, September f.
1917 that he saw the Epler girl at
the store 10 the west Of the Johnson
-
she carried Continuing ne said that
she left the parcels az the store and
went back 70 town and tnat half AZ
hour late! she was back az the store
and then started east. He stated that
she stopped "a, Mrs Johnson's home
and that Mrs. johnson walked out to
the CIR arl taey talked together
after " .rh the kp.er girl continued
90 the east 90 trr r avenue.
In the even rg at 500 he said that
ne saw her 20 tlc Johnson house
again. lie told " seeing an auto
mobile containing two men at the
house. the auto being "a Chevrolet
which be had seen there on Saturday
night lie said that one Of the men
was Al. Eichorn, and that the other
vas man who had been there on
Saturday night. and WHO later in the
week he saw at The show grounds,
and still a,cr az Ithaca. Then he
Identified brennan as the man,
On the cross examination Attorney
William Smith of st. Johns went
after Beaudry with his fighting togs
on Smith wanted to know why Beau
dry Rad not come forward with the
knowledge that he had before the re
ward was offered. evidently seeking
to couple up Beaudry's activities with
a desire for the $4,000 reward offered
by the county. His reply 10 this
question was, "They did not ask me. A"
Asked if he had told any Of the
Gratiot officers or anyone what he
knew before the reward was offered.
Beaudry said that ne had told Pros
ecuting Attorney o. L. Smith
Then when Attorney VIM. Smith
asked him if he did not know he was
telling a lie when he claimed 70 have
told this story 10 o. l. Smith. Beau
dry yelled, Don't call me liar" and
then quieted down sufficiently to,
answer, mo, Sir
Mrs. William Baker of this city,
who has a claim fled with the super
visors for a portion OF the reward
was called 20 the stand The testi-
mony Of the aged woman served 70
connect up Beatrice Epler and Bren-
nan. She told Of having seen Bren-
nan accost Miss Epler on the streets
Of Alma. She also stated that she
had seen Brennan with Mrs. Johnson.
Attorney Charles H. Goggin of AL
ma handled the cross examination Of
Mrs. Baker, and again the attempt to
show that the witnesses thought more
Of the reward than who went to pris-
on was brought 70 the front by the
line Of questioning taken by the Alma
attorney.
Other less important witnesses
were called by the prosecution 10
connect up Eichorn and Brennan as
having been in Ithaca together on the
night following the murder
Mrs. John Bianck of Alma was
called to the stand Saturday. and her
/ testimony promises TO have an i'm
portant bearing on the crime With the
/ iurv. She told Of hearino screams
from the ellison home on the night Of
the murder. told OF getting ont Of
/ bed and going 10 window. where
she saw three men on the Gibson
porch. the three carrving an object.
She stated that two Of them had il
/ by the shoulders and the third hv the
knees. Continuing she tod Of il be-
/ ing carried ont 70 a car IN which il
was placed. She identified the voices
Of Mrs. Johnson and Eichorn.
Mrs. Mary Shift, also on the stand,
brought up some testimony. which
was important in that - rofutes that
offered last week bv William Tom.
who claimed that Brennan slept with
him ~ the show tent. Mrs. Shift
testified that Brennan bod a room
~ her home while the show was in
Alma and that on the night of the
murder. that it was 400 a. m. when
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