The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-04-10
Attorney Baker In Open
ing Defense of Anna Aus
ter Tells Lurid Details of
Domestic Tangle.
LITTLE '1zzY" FORGETS
Isadors Auster, When Brought To the
Witness Stand, Fails To Remember
Many Details of shootdng-Attorney
fisher Charges Premeditated Murdar..

Bar1ng the Iur1d details OF the
tangled domestic life OF the Austers,
Attorney Verne Baker, counsel for Mrs.
Anna Auster, now on trial for the mnr-
der of her husband, Harry Austen, IN
making ths opening address for the
defense today, gave a recital Of the
long list of wrongs done to the de-
PENDANT which the defense claimed had
temporarily dethroned her reason and
caused her TO fire the shot which caus-
ed the death of her husband. This
impassionef appeal, which was the out
standing feature of the third day of the
trial, followed the opening OF the case
by District Attorney Peter Fisher Jr.,
which in convincing terms charged the
defendent with premeditated murder.
Tbs jury and the large crowd which
attended the trial today were first
taken by Attorney Baker back to the
time IN the life o. the Austers when
together tley had started from New
Z ork to make their fortune in the new
VOID. He told how Mrs. Aus sr had
to witA her husband ID up
the home and happiness which once was
theirs in Kenosha, after they had pass
ed through years of ,ardships. He re-
minded the jury that the defense would
show that for years the enc object of
Mrs. Auster had been for the happiness
of her home and the care of her children.
s'The Siren from the City,
9'Then after they had labored to-
gether to build up this home," con-
tinued Attorney Baker In abiding to
the relations between Harry Auster
and Fanny Koplan, the third member
of the "eternaI triangle, ftthere came
this siren from the city and Anna Aus
ter was cast aside like rag. Instead
of supplying food for his family, her
husband kept Fanny Koplan in fat
in Chicago. The money which she had
helped to accumulate was being lavished
on more beautiful woman and after
such abuse is there any wonder that her
mind was shattered and that for the mo-
ment she lost control of her senses. -
The attorney did not stop with mere
mention of the affair in Chicago. He
recalled the time when his client found
her husband and Miss Koplan together
in Chicago, when he alleged that she
was attacked by both of them be-
cause she asserted her right to claim
her husband.
ffStill all she wanted continued
Attorney Baker, twas for her husband
to return to be the father of their
children and still he wished no more
of her, but wanted the other woman.
With he- home lost, her health
gone and her happiness destroyed,
everything became desolate anu every
where she went that same SORROW was
with her preying ON her mind"
Sam Auste~ to restify.
One of the sensational announce
men+s made by Attorney Baker In out
lining the defense, was that Sam Aus
ter, the brother of Harry Auster, who
attempted On last FrI2ay to aYcnge the
death of his brother by opening fire on
his sister-in-law, would be brought to
the witness stand by the defense. At
torney Baker declared that Harry
Auster had made many attacks ON the
person of the defendant, all Of which
had helped to tear d-1sp her mental
condition and Lead to the tragedy of
January. IT viii prove even by Sam
Auster," said the attorney, "that he
was once forced to separate his brother
and sister-in-law In order to keep Harry
from killing his wife. AS stand here
as attorney, I will force him to the
witness stand to tell this story"
Tried to Forget.
In dealing with the story of the
shooting itself, Attorney Baker declar-
ed that the defense would show that
Anna Auster had been SO mentally de-
ranged by the incidents preceding the
shooting that she was not accountable
for the deed. He retold how after
Harry Ausber had left his family In a
house in Kenosha, Mrs. Auster in an
attempt to forget her life tragedy, had
gone to New York to visit her sister
and had even attempted to run
grocery store on Peoria street in Chi
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