The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1921-12-01
J. J. BAKER BEING
TRIED FOR MURDER
OF RALPH R0ZELL

tne front room OF the law OFFICES OF
Robson & Hendricks; Mr.. Robson
was seated at his desk in the middle
office. Shortly after J. J. Baker
came in and said "hello," and with
out stopping walked on to the door
where Rozell was seated in the front
office; the next thing that happened
was the firing of five shots in rapid
succession; that he (Rolfson) got in
to the front office in time to see the
last shot fired, Baker standing over
Rozell, the latter being in crouch
| cd position in the northeast corner of
the room; that after the shooting
Baker did not seem to be unduly ex-
cited; that Baker said Here's the
gun, suppose they will want it."
Mr.. Robson further stated that he
| (Rolfson) then went for doctor, and
DR.. Hart not being in his office
across the hall. he called DR.. Dutton;
that both doctors arrived soon after
ward. Mr.. Robson described the po-
| sition of the body as he saw it after
the shooting.
E. J. Frederick testified to being
in the room at the time of the shoot
| ing, having been in the office previ-
| ously on business matters with Mr..
Hendricks. He said he saw Mr.. Ro-
| zell come in and just short time af-
| ter that the shooting occurred; that
| he rushed down on the street for the
| officers.
f. G. E. Hendricks testified as to be-
/, ire an eyewitness to the shooting;
| that he was seated at the table in
the front office of the Robson &
Hendricks law offices on Wednesday
morning, July 18th; that he was fac
ing the west and across the table was
seated E. j. Frederick; that Ralph ,Ro-
zell came in and he (Hendricks)
beckoned him to have a seat; that Ro-
zell sat down in a chair on the left
hand side of the door between the
front and center rooms; that within
only a few minutes j. j. Baker en-
tered and while mumbling something
Mr.. Hendricks was unable to remem-
Der, began to shoot at Mr.. Rozell,
! firing five shots in rapid succession
into his body Mr.. Hendricks illus
trated the position of Baker and RO-
zell as best he could remember while
the shooting was in progress, stating
ter the first shot and staggered to-
ward the northeast corner OF the
room, the last shots being fired while
Mr.. Rozell was in crouchlng posi-
ton on the floor. The witness stat
ed that he grabbed the arm of Mr..
Baker after the fifth shot had been
fired and prevented the sixth cart
ridge in the gun from being exploded
by breaking the gun; that Baker then
gave him the gun; that Baker appear
ed to be cool and deliberate and they
left the office together, Mr.. Hen
bricks in quest of the officers. Upon
Mr.. Hendricks return to the office
he stated that the position of the body
had been changed, that'i had moved
from the northeast corner OF the
room to the west wall near the door
leading into the middle office.
Witnesses Clarence Rozell, Deputy
sheriffs Ed Lowe and H. c. kinsman,
G. H. Austin and sheriff Humber
stone were put on the stand Wednes-
day morning to identify the 32-call-
bre revolver used by the defendant
and articles of wearing apparel such
as shoes, shirt, pants, etc. worn by
the deceased at the time of the shoot
ing. These were offered in evidence
by the prosecution.
DR.. F. G. Dutton testified as to
having arrived at the scene OF the
shooting and upon his arrival found
that life was extinct. He further
testified as to the position of the body
and the location of the various wounds
| from the five bullets, this being de-
termined at the autopsy held that at
ternoon. He stated that the first
shot only incurred a flesh wound on
the breast; that the second shot
pierced the heart and that the re-
naming shots were in the back. He
stated that in his opinion Mr.. Rozell
possibly lived about two or three min
utes after the shots were fired.
At 1920 o'clock Wednesday morn
ing the attorneys for the People an
nounced that the People rests.
Attorneys George Hastings, one OF
the counsel for the defense, then
summoned Mrs. Dollie Baker, wife of
the defendant, to the stand as the
first witness for the defense. Mrs.
Baker testified as follows: 81 met
Jesse J. Baker in the year 1908 and
we were married in 1904 at Alexan-
dra. Ill. We have four children. We