The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-12-24
NOT GUILTY
OF MURDER
EDW. R. TURNER, 16, SLEW HIS
NEGRO FATHER JULY 5TH AT
NACEVILLE

DO1LESTOWN - Monday after
noon it took over two hours to draw
jury for the trial of Edw. R. Tur-
ner, IT,, a mulatto boy who slew his
father, Edw. G. Turner, 40, a negro.
who was brutalizing his white wife,
Mrs. Annie Turner, As, formerly of
New Yor/.
One panel of the jury was exhausted
before twelve men could be secured.
Most of those rejected claimed to be
opposed to capital punishment. The
twelve men finally secured are:
.Alva Vandoren, clerk, Tullytown
(foreman).
Lewis Devoe, laborer, Bristol.
Grover c. Yeagle, clerk, Bristol.
John Nice, retired, Bridgeton.
Oliver Bauder, farmer, Springfield.
Frank Lear, laborer, New Hope.
j. Howell Curtis, no occupation,
Bristol.
j. Monroe Fellman, auctioneer,
Quakertown.
j. Sacket Lear, laborer, Doylestown.
Elmer G. Reigle, carpenter, Bed
minister.
Edw. Baily, florist, Doylestown.
Erwin M Lands, farmer, Richland-
town.
Judge William C. Ryan, whose
father. John Ryan, died week ago,
is presiding. Thirty-two of the jurors
were examined before the twelve were
secured. Twenty of them were chal-
lenged by District Attorney Hiram
H. Keller, and seven by Grim & Grim,
counsel for the defence. Sheriff
Harvey D. Hunsberger was forced to
secure ten extra jurors from spec
tators in the court room. Only one
of them was selected.
Mrs. Turner TODD the stand during
the evening and cody told of the muir
der and the incidents leading to it.
She was on the stand nearly an hour
and severely cross-examined. How
ever, her testimony was clear and
conclusive.
On the night of July 4th, Mrs. Tur-
ner said she had gone for a visit to
the home of a neighbor. Her husband
sent for her to come home. She re-
sented it, as she seldom left home,
and felt that she had been embar-
raised. On the morning of July 9TH
there was quarrel because she had
given the boy, Edward, suit Of his
fathers underwear and so cents. The
argument enraged the father at the
breakfast table, and he began an at
tack on Mrs. Turner. When he had
caught her by the throat and forced
her into the corner of the room and
struck her twice with a chair, Mrs.
Turner called for help. Then she says
she tainted. When she came to her
husband had been shot. She claimed
not to know that the son had fired the
fatal shot.
The son took the mother from the
house and left her in the woods nearby
with the rifle for protection while he
went for doctor. Later he returned
and said that the father was dead
Plans and photographs of the scene
were presented by Oscar S. Leidy,
architect, of Doylestown, and ex-
planned.
DR.. William C. Wilkinson, chief
surgeon of the Grand View Hospi-
tai, Ssllersville, related that the boy,
Turner, came to the hospital on the
morning of July 9Th asking for doc
tor. He could not go Immediately,
and did not arrive until the after
noon. Then he found the elder Tur-
ner lying face downward near the
front of the house, only partly dress
ed, and in bathrobe. However, Dr.
Norman H. Rain, of Souderton, was
reached in the morning and saw the
body before DR.. Wilkinson. He re-
ported the murder to the authorities
in Doylestown.
On Tuesday morning Mrs. Turner
was recalled to the witness stand and
exhibited scars on her body made by
blows of the chair with which her
husband had struck her. A younger
son, Sharon, aged Is, was called to
the stand. He said that he had been
sent to creamery at the time of the
murder and did not hear the quarrel
or see the shooting. He returned to
find his father dead.
George S. Hotchkiss, newspaper
man of Doylestown, was called as
witness. Constable Joseph A. Wood
cock, of Doylestown, claims he cut
a piece of screen from the window
thru which the bullet passed when
Turner was killed. Mrs. Lille Stout,
of Naceville, told how the boy, Ed
ward, had lived at her house sfor four
days at one time when the father had
driven him from home.
Evidence was concluded on Tuesday
afternoon and pleas were made by the
prosecuting attorney for the defence.
Judge Ryan charged the jury at 5
o'clock. They were out four hours
and fiftv ,ooinutaS and ret1rned q vnr-