The New York herald., 1921-05-22
12-YEAR-0LD SLAYER
MUST GO ON TRIAL
Science and Law Clash in
Case TO BE Heard in In
diana Soon.
ALIENIST FANORS LAD
Prosecutor Says Child Is
Guilty OF Cold Blooded
Murder.
KILLED IN FIGHT. CHARGE
Father Of Victim Says Accused
loungstcr Deliberately
Shot at Boy.
ALIENIST FAVORS LAD
KILLED IN FIGHT. CHARGE

Spcctol Despatch to THE NEW locK HERALD.
LA PORTE. Ind, May 21.-Science and
the Law are al odds over the guilt of
placed on trial for murder in the first
degree in the Circuit Court at Knox
Starke county. within few days. The
prosecutor, pointing to the law and the
evidence. contends that this child is
guilty OF the cold blooded murder of a
playmate. crime deliberately con-
ceivcd to satisfy a cherished grudse;
and that the child must die in the elec-
tric chair.
Science, represented by one OF the
leading alienists of the middle west
Or. Harold y. Meyer. with many years
OF experience in the twists and turns
of the human brain, denies that the
boy could be guilty of shocking
crime and maintains that the ceie-
hrated net-Simon test reveals nm
normal and incapable of murderous
depravity.
on 4 dav last November Cecil BurketI
II vear-old son OF Michael Burkett,
dredge hand, and one OF six chiioreh'
vas playing in an adjoining yard OF INC
Burkett home at Ora. village IeW
miles from Knox, with his brother, Al
ed Benny Slavin, son OF c'othlhs
merchant: his six-year-old sister, lara
ocarl Heinline. another little girl OF the
yiliage. and one or two other children.
Cecil had received a % calibre rifle
Tor a birthday present. lie carried II
~ he PLAYED tag and hide and 80 seek
with his companions.
Suddenly Cecil seemed TO point the
rifle at little Clara Slavin, then turn It
upon Benny and fire. Benny fell TO the
ground screaming, and the children
scattered shouting: Benny is shot.
Cecil shot Benny
boy Dies of Wound Next Day.
When several women who had seen
this affair from distance ran to the
injured boy nc was unconscious, bleed
irg from z wound near the heart. lie
was taken to the hospital at Winamac,
but he died the next day without being
able TO speak Cecil Burkett was ar
.csted and held for the Grand Jury by
the Coroner. Then the Grand Jury re-
turned an Indictment of murder In the
Sirst degree. Eventually the boy was
released in bail OF sl0.ooa
Intense feeling was aroused between
he families most concerned. and this
feeling touched other families that took
the part of either the Rurketts or the
Slavins. Cecils parents and their
friends maintained that the shooting OF
little Benny was an absolute accident.
the statement persisted in by Cecil him
self. Harry Slavin. father of the dead
boy. insists that Cecil shot Benny down
deliberately. and he demands that the
law take its course straight to the
electric chair.
The witnesses at the preliminary hear
ing were the children who had been play
ing with Cecil and Benny and the wou-
en- who had witnessed the shooting from
a distance and who ran to Bennys side
Their statements conflict.
The prosecuting attorney. James A.
Dilts of Winamac. in presenting tho
case to the jury will picture Benny as a
hero, shot down In the defence OF his
little sister. A childish quarrel between
Benny and Cecil three days before the
shooting VIII be held up to the jury as
possible motive. The defence will be
hat Cecil did not know the rifle was
loaded; that he had acted from a child
ish desire to play Soldier or bad
nan; that he and Bennie Slavin had
forgotten their little quarrel and that
he had meant no harm to his playma te
Fair Trial Is Mig Question.
The question agitating the State f..
Can Cecil Buraett receive a fair trial /?
The law gives a prisoner the right OF a
trial by jury OF his peers Strictly
interpreted that would mean trial by
boys OF his own age. But the same
law requires that Jurors be adults
Or. Harold y. Meyer, former Commits
sioner Of Health for Chicago. and a
leading alienist OF the middle West, has
examined Cecil.
Dr.. Meyer is So. a kindly, shrewd man
with the experience of many years
around jails and prisons. courts and