The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1918-05-31
WISCONSIN News
STATED IN BRIEF
TeIegraphic Chronicle of State
Happenings.
EXTREME PENALTY is ASKED
State Demands Life Term for Grace
Lusk as Critical Pedagogue Shorts
at Prosecutors Faulty Gram
mar-BibIe Quoted.

listened with the deprecating smile OF
q visiting SchOolteacher to Judge" ID.
s. Tullar'S demand to the jury that
she be sent to the penitentiary for life
for the murder of Mrs. Mary Newman
Roberts. The facial antics Of the
SchOOlma'am during this, one OF the
most heralded of all the ''Ordeals," at
tracted the attention Of the jurors.
Her green bottle of smelling salts and
her white silk gloves, placed carefully
on the brown-tOpped table before her,
q long Stemmed red rose bending
gracefully from the tips of her fingers
and caressing the poised tip OF her
nose, Miss LuSk sat like some arrest
ing caricature of "Grief, or the Maid
ems Trial." by Max BeerbOhm. AS
Mr.. Tullar taking his sons place for
the state, proceeded in a straightfor-
ward way to sum up the evidence
against the defendant, Miss LuSk S
mouth dropped into a faint sheer, her
eyes fastened themselves upon the
veteran of law with an emOtiOnleSs
and critical air. And when the at
tOrney said, "Then Mrs. Roberts
come to her." instead of Mrs. Roberts
came to her." the SchOOlma'am emit
ted a dainty snort. Likewise when
the attorney mentioned that "the hull
case showed Miss Lusk was right
there with the superior blue pencil OF
her smile. Invoking the Bible and the
Mosaic law, Acting District Attorney
TulIar demanded of the jury in Judge
Luecks court that it find Grace LuSk
guilty of murder in the first degree for
Staying Mrs Mary Newman Roberts,
wife of the wealthy veterinarian
whose love the schOOlteacher had ac-
cepted. Life Imprisonment is demand
ed for Miss Lusk. This is the maxi
mum penalty in the state of WiScOn-
sin, capital punishment being prOhib-
tied by statute. Next to the impress
sion that Miss Lusk herself produced
when on the witness stand, the clos
ing argument of the acting district at
tOrney proved the most intense and
effective portion of the whole trial. 1t
was the heart-tO-heart speech of one
man to twelve men like him in their
passion for truth, strict morals and
Justice, and was dOubly effective for
it's scrupulOus avoidance of rhetoric
and technicality "'ThOu shalt not
KILL says the Bible. Thou shalt not
cOvet thy neighbours house, and it
saws also. Thou shalt not cOvet they
neighbours Wife or her husband" de-
clared Mr. Tullar. "But Grace Lusk
did cOvet her neighbours husband;
and when she got him she coveted her
neighbours house There she failed,
and. proceeding to break the other
commandment, shot and killed Mrs.
Mary Newman Roberts. The defense
speaks of sympathy for the school
teacher who sits there and freely adj
mits killing Mrs. Roberts. But what
about sympathy for the woman who is
dead? She was called, unprepared, to
her Maker by the bullet from Grace
Lusk's revolver What about SYM
pathy for her, ask? The defense ar
CUES that Grace Lusk was insane
when she fired the shot; that she
could not distinguish between right
and wrong. Yet she could distinguish
that it was wrong, to her mind, for
Mrs. Roberts to call her names; that
it was right to go up for the letters; ;
that it was proper for her to shoot her
self after Staying Mrs. Roberts. Grace
Lusk is not insane"
Attorney Henry LOckner, in his
opening speech in defense of Miss
Lusk, hOtly cenSured Doctor Roberts.
LET us examine this figure, this man
who told you he had been forced by
the woman to sin," said he, rehearsing
q familiar BOccacciO narrative, drag
ging in details of the infatuation and
dwelling sarcastically and Indignantly
on the "caddiShneSs'' of the veterinar-
ian'S blame shifting version. is it
your experience" he demanded of the
Jury, chat women jump at men and
seduce them, OverpOwered by the spell
of their fatal beauty? That is what
Doctor Roberts told you. Think it
over. Think of the kind of woman
Grace Lusk was To believe Doctor
Roberts story is to believe Grace
Lusk unquestiOnably insane. Doctor
Roberts drove Grace Lusk insane
eventually There are two tragedies
in this case. One occurred on June
21, 1917 The other, there it sits,
broken and despairing, the victim of
this INSCRIPTIONS horse doctor. This
second tragedy is the dragging down,
the destruction of all that Grace Lusk
was TO what she is today as she sits
before you. Mr. LOcknen elaborated
this fancy. He traced the history of
Miss Lusk up to the day she met the
doctor, painting her as brilliant, shy,
Writ US home-loving maiden. 'That
story told of her by that man, Doctor
Roberts, say man because in the
language of Shakespeare. God made