The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-07-23

Judge Stanley NJ. Wilson, who is
presiding at Manchester at the trial
iof Byron NJ. Pettibone of Bennington,
charged with the murder of his wife
by poisoning on the night of April 6,
retired at noon today with his associ-
Iates, Judges Edmond Lafranchise of
bennington and NJ. b. Roberts of Ru-
pert TO decide whether or not the al.
legged confession made by the accus-
ed man should be admitted as evi,
dence.
The entire morning was consumed
in the examination of the detectives,
James r, Wood and r. G, Brown and
Miss Lena Eyers, stenographer for
the Wood agency who was present
during what has been frequently re.
ferred to as the long session" in the
bennington county court house on
June Is.
An unexpected feature of the trial
came to the surface during the ex.
Iaminatlons. According to the testi
mony of the detectives no actual con.
fessiCn was obtained from Pettihone
by them II would appear from the
Testimony of the two operatives that
they questioned the accused man un
til they believed he was ready to con
fess and then took him before States
Attorney Graves ..
Miss Evers, who testified yester.
day, was recalled to the. stand today
and asked If she had conversation
with Pettibone after the respondent
had made the alleged confession to
Attorney Graves. She replied that
Pettibone had remarked to her that
wha ever he had said he had said OF
his own free will.
Detective Brown gave a complete
story Of his Connection with the case
He testified that he came to Benning
on from Boston on April 80 and re.
mained for one day that he was in
Bennington from May to May g.
again on May 26 when he remained
for two days and on June IS for the
long session" The detective testi-
! fed that his examination of Pettibone
lccntinued from about 1130 in the
forenoon until O'Clock in the after.
noon when he sent for States Attor.
lney Graves. The detective explained
that no actual confession was made
! by Pettibone during the examination
that no threats or methods Of intimida
ton were used and that when Petit
bone appeared to be on the point OF
lconfessing he was taken to Mr.
Graves.
Attorney n G. Jones for the defence
Inquired of the detective how he
knew Pettibone was on the point OF
confessing and the witness replied by
the nature of his answers to quest
ions and by his attitude.
In reply to questions by Attorney
Jones the witness stated that Miss
Eyers was absent from the room for
about 80 minutes around o'clock in
the afternoon and that no record OF
the examination was kept during heI
absence. The Attorney discussed
this statement at some length.
The detective was questioned con
corning the third degree" and answ
cred that he did not know what was
meant by the term. He had read
about it in the newspapers
Asker how he knew Pettibone was
ready to make a confession, the de
tective replied, q can't explain it.
was confident he had something OF
Ihis mind that he wanted to tell"
Detective James R. Wood wher
placed upon the stand ocrroborateC
the testimony of Mr.. Brown. ASKED
why he had not secured the presence
of some state official during the eX
Iamination of Pettibone he replied
tina. he always preferred to worl
alone He corroborated the state
ment of the previous witness tina
Petibone had made no statement il
the nature of a confession before AT
torney Graves came into the room
He was convinced that the respon
dent was ready to confess because 0
his actions and the fact that he hat
crossed himself several times in hi
ANSWERS.
The state then rested and the dc
fence argued against the admission
of the alleged confession on tn
ground that the respondent had n