The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1920-11-12
x,.

IOf me, tnerc mad re-
Gently been a wave OF public criticism
OF the courts for the long delays In
bringing criminal cases to trial, and
the district attorney was moving with
all celebrity to bring my case to q con-
clusion. An indictment against me
for the murder Of Daisy Lutan had
been quickly found and the date had
been already set for the trial-one
week hence-so that the period of my
incarceration and doubt as to my ulfi-
mate fate seemed likely to be very
brief.
Utterly absurd as the situation was,
accused Of numbering a woman whom
I had seen and hardly had
heard Of until l saw her lying dead in
her apartments, conscious as / was Of
my entire innocence In the matter,
still, al in the solitude of my cell I
reviewed the case, l found myself foe
ing the ordeal Of a trial for murder
with considerable apprehension.
Circumstances certainly looked
much against me. There was absO-
lutely no way In which I could refute
the testimony Of the two detectives
that they had found the revolver with
n chamber discharged in the drawer
of my dresser. l myself had seen
them find it. While German still held
that there was a possibility that they
themselves had put 1t there. l knew
that neither of them had been near
the dresser after I had admitted them
to my rooms. The only person whom
l had the slightest ground for sus-
pecting was Claire Bradford, yet what
motive could she have had?
Wick undoubtedly would testify
that he had me me at the door Of the
Lutan apartment directly after he had
heard the shot. He might say that l
appeared to be greatly excited. This
would be the exact truth. There was
eve the possibility that he might
swear that he had found me coming
out of Miss Lutan's apartment. Even
II he did not make the statement d.
rect, shrewd questioning on the part
of the district attorney could easily
make it appear that l had just left
the Lutan apartment. How could We
possibly controvert his testimony?
Then. In addition. there were the
damaging statements that would be
offered by Nellie Kelly. She would
swear that the evening before l had
taken her out to dinner and had been
questioning her about the other ten
ants In the house. Even though we
knew that she was a tool Of Wick and
was the wife Of Lefty Moore. the bur
glar, unless German. was able to dis
cover that she herself had a criminal
record. It seemed utterly hopeless to
attempt to confute her statements.
It would also initiate against me
that at the time OF the murder I was
ont OF 4 job and almost without funds.
They were likely. too. to bring out the
fact that l had been ~discreditably
discharged from the only position l
had held In New York. The only man
who knew anything about the matter,
Mr.. Wood. the head of the firm, had
been suddenly called to France in con-
nection with an order for munitions.
and was not expected to return for
several months. The fact would
weigh against me. too. that I would
be unable to offer the testimony of
any character witnesses. Birge and
Roller. my classmates with whom I had
roomed ever since l had come to New
York. were somewhere in France"
with the American troops and could
not possibly aid me.
All Of this was pointed out to me
by John McGregor. q young attorney
whom German had employed for me.
While German and I had. l think. sue
ceeded IN convincing him of my inno-
cence. the fact that he was continu-
ally citing the d~ificulties In the way
Of our proving II made me realize
he was very dubious a. to the
outcome.