Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-19
SOBS
CAUSE RECESS
IN NEW TRIAL
Judge Halts Proceedings as
Mother Tells of Events Pre-
ceding Daughters Death.

Los Angeles, Dec. 1S.-Twelve
men, all but two past the meridian
of life, were sworn late today, to try
Harry S. New, on the charge that
he murdered Freda Lesser, his
sweetheart, last July. Neither state
nor defense permitted women to
pass peremptory challenges. al
though several were passed Tor cause.
Formal proof of the alleged crime
was introduced and then with set
face and motionless body New lis
tened while Freda Lesser's\ mother,
Mrs. Alice Lesser, told between in
tervals of hysteria, of her daughters
love for New and his actions.
Mrs. Lesser was taken to the
court room from her home, in an
automobile by the county detectives
and as she was led toward the court
room door, she fell in faint. When
she arrived, her piercing, hysterical
screams penetrated throughout the
hall of justice in which the court
room is situated, and several women
in the court room, becoming hyster-
ieal, Superior Judge Gavin w. Craig
ordered a short recess till quiet had
been restored. u
Courted by New.
Mrs. Lesser testified that her
daughter was in her 10th year at
the time Of her death and that she
had been courted for some months
by New. They had been fellow-em-
ployes in a Los Angeles business
house.
Two days before the alleged MUIR
der. Miss 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 he insisted that he desired
to marry as quickly as possible.
On the day after this conversa-
ton, according to the witness, she
and her daughter and neighbor
womaH and New went on an auto
mobile ride, returning to the Lesser
home in the afternoon.
New and Miss Lesser then left
again and that was the last Mrs.
Lesser saw of her daughter, she said.
Loved Each Other.
"He seemed to love her and
know she loved him." said Mrs.
Lesser. "He said he would bring
her back to me, but he never did,"
Under cross-examination by Le-
compte Davis, who, with Attorneys
Jud R. Rush and John L. Richard
son, is defending New, Mrs. Lesser
said New had always been kind to
her daughter and also had been very
considerate of the witness.
Il never saw nicer young man" !"
she said. II had every confidence
in him.
Mrs. Lesser was preceded on the
stand by E. A. Davidson, a police
detective. The witness said he was
on duty, acting as desk sergeant at
central police station here about 3
o'clock on the morning of July S.
when the defendant entered and
handed him a revolver. No effort
was made to introduce at this point
confessions New is alleged to have
made to Davidson and others, but
the prosecution announced it would
try to place these before the jury
later.
Saw Lady in Auto.
Davidson said he and another po-
lice officer and two newspaper men
went outside the station and saw
within a closed automobile in which
New had driven to the station the
body of young woman he after
ward learned was Freda Lesser.
1t is the theory of the prosecution
that New killed his sweetheart in
Topango canyon, a few miles from
here. in burst Of anger because of
her refusal to marry him and then
drove with the body beside him to
the police station to surrender.