Arizona republican., 1919-12-19
MOTHER IF DEAD. GIRL C0NF RONTs
 NEW FROM STAND
Mrs. Lesser Tells of Man Alleged to Have Mur- dered Her Daughter Women Not Passed For Jurors by Either Side
[RepubIican A. P. Leased wIrel

LOS ANGELES. Cal. Dec. 1S- Twelve men, all but two past the meri- dian of life, were sworn late today to try Harry s. New, on the charge that he murdered F'reda Lesser, his sweet heart, last July. Neither state nor de- fense permitted women to pass the peremptory challenges, although sew eral were passed for cause.
 Formal proof of the alleged crime was introduced and then with set face and motionless body New listened while Fred Lesser's mother, Mrs. Alice Les ser, told between intervals of hysteria of her daughters love for New and his for her.
 Mrs. Lesser was taken to the court room from her home in an automobile by county detectives and as she was led toward the court room door she fell in a faint. When she was revived. her piercing, hysterical screams pene- trated throughout the hall of justice in which the court room is situated, and several women in the room becoming hysterical. Superior Judge Gavin w. craig, ordered short recess until quiet had been restored
 Mrs. Lesser testified that her daugh- ter was in her twentieth year at the time of her death and that she had been courted for some months by New. They had been fellow employees in a Los Angeles business house.
 Two days before the alleged mur- der, Mrs. Lesser said, New told her he wished to marry her daughter on the day which proved the last of her life. She urged him to wait, she said, but l he insisted that he desired to marry as quickly as possible
 On The Day Of The Murder On the day after this conversation, assording to the witness, she, her daughter, neighbor woman and New went on an automobile ride, return ing to the Lesser home in the after noon. New and Miss Lesser then left again and that was the last Mrs. Les ser saw of her daughter. she said.
 He seemed to love her and I knew she loved him. said Mrs. Lesser. He said he would bring her back to me but he never did.'
 Under cross examination by Ie- compte Davis, who with Attorney Jud K. Rush and John l.. Richardson is 1 defending New, Mrs. Lesser said New had always been kind to her daughter and also had been very considerate of | the witness.
 l HNNCA seiN d nicer young man. she said. q had every confidence in l him."
 Mrs. Lesser was preceded on ths stand by E. A. Davidson, a police tSet tective. The witness said he was or duty, acting as desk sergeant at cen. 1 tral police station here about o'clocl in the morning of July when tho defendant entered and handed him z revolver. No effort was made to in. troduce at this point confessions New is alleged to have made to Davidson and others, but the prosecution an. nounced it would try to place thes, before the jury later.
 Davidson said he and another polic, officer and two newspaper men wen outside the station and saw within ; closed automobile in which New ha, driven to the station the body of ; young woman he afterward learne,
 was Freda Lesser.
 It is the theory of the prosecutio,
 that New killed his sweetheart ii Topango canyon. few miles from here
 In burst of anger because of her re i. fusal to marry him, and then droy
 with the body beside him to the polio
 station to, surrender.