The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1920-12-23
gree Murder

L C1AIIA Il 1Ct1OS ACCtI1ClIis VIII
stabbed Maud Latham to death
at the home OF her mother, Mrs.
Charlotte Hagley, 1IO Ward
street, High Point, on the night
Of July 1916, 1920, was permit
ted Thursday afternoon through
his attorney, H. L. Koontz, to en-
ter a plea OF murder in the Sec
ond degree by Judg J. Bis Ray,
presiding over the criminal term
Of Superior court. The court
sentenced the defendant to a
period OF 80 years at hard labor
in the state penitentiary at Raj
eign.
Pietro, stockily built, between
35 anu 40 years Of age, wept
copiously after sentence was
passed. He spent six or. seven
verE anxious hours during the
day, and when the judgment was
read 20 him he was unable to
restrain himself longer. He
stated that he was born in Pan
ma, state Of Naples, Italy, and
had been living in the United
States for the past II years,
mos u the time in Philadelphia,
p. 10 las unable 70 1nder-
stand Or SPEAK English, necessi7
tating an interpreter, Mrs. Gus
PaDpas.
It required an hour and a
half TO select a jury out Of the
regular Jurors and a special We
nire o. SO men; many Of those
su11I:.>,llou were excused on the
glo>.nd .nat they were not in
faycr Of capital punishment.
The state introduced five wit
nesses, Mrs. Charlotte FIagley,
Walter EIagley, DR.. w. NJ. Jones,
county physician, who talked
with the defendant following the
homicide. Deputy Sheriff J. E..
Wagner, who made the arrest at
J .s-z.:.31oNn, and L. F. Honey
CO.. 4.1-2ut lied on the night Of
t. = ling. Pietro testified in
his . II beha1, consuming most
Of the afternoon session.
Judge Ray made it plain to
the jury that he was Ioath TO
perm, the defendant to plead
guilty of murder in the second
degree on his own testimony,
but owing to the fact that he
was a foreigner and obviously
not versed in the customs of
America, and moreover, due to
the extreme difficulty in get
ting an intelligent account of the
murder from Pietro, he would
lean to the side Of mercy rather
than place the responsibility up
on the shoulders of the jurors.
Pietro testified that he knew
Maud Latham in Philadelphia as
Clara Dickler, and that she de-
MED being married. He said he
@,7,7rlio5 her with money and
that when she left Philadelphia
u1la.e vyas an understanding be-
tween them that he was to fol-
low her to High Point. She
wrote him letter telling him
to come to High Point, said the
defendant.
He gave an outline Of his So
journ in High Point. He was
there seven days before the kill
ing took place. During the sew
en- days, he testified, he and
Maud Latham occupied the same
roo12c, t5!lo dining room. me
night before the killing, Pietrc
testified, he and Maud Latham
engaged in a fuss. On the night
Of the homicide, he declared
another man visited the Hagley
home and Maud Latham walked
a short distance in the yard
with the unknown man. lie
said he told her to come into the
house and that she replied 1T Is
none of your business" :" After
she entered the house, he said,
they went to bed together, and
after he had gone to sleep she
wakd him up and wanted tc
know why he had called her into
the house. He testified that she
had a knife and declared her IN
tention Of killing him, and that
he snatched the knife away from
her. "What did you do?' asked
Mr.. Koontz. "She," said Pie
tro, wanted to kill me and l
killed her."
Mrs. Hagley, in deep mourn
ing garments, stated that she
and her family lived in -Phlla,
delphia about six months and