Omaha daily bee., 1921-12-09
King Murder Case
Goes to Jury: Early
Verdict Unlikely
Courts Instructions Covers
80 Pages; Conflicting Evi-
dence Expected to Delay
Men Reaching Decision.

The Eva King murder case was
given to the jury iii Judge George
w. Cullison's section of the district
court at Council Bluffs at GAS last
evening. The courts instructions
covered nearly 80 pages and its read
ing occupied the last IS minutes OF
court.
The length of the instructions and
the mass of startlingly conflicting
evidence make it probable that the
verdict may not he reached Tor many
hours.
Every available inch Of the court
room was occupied all day yesterday
by the crowds, Of women and men,
who almost fought their way inside.
Many OF those who had seats did
not surrender them at the noon hour
except to seek better ones. Many
had taken lunches to the courtroom.
Welcomed Tierney's Testimony.
The opening arguments OF Assist
ant County Attorney Northrup con-
sumed the greater part of the fore
noon. He laid particular emphasis
upon the fact that the only WITNESSES
for the defense testifying as to the
real actions of the woman at the time
Robert Murray was killed in the
bandit cottage was Mrs. King and
Frank Tierney, indicted with her for
first degree murder. He expressed
his gratitude for the presence OF
Tierney on the stand, and described
him as a seasoned criminal and yegg-
gunman of widespread reputation,
and thought it Of great advantage to
the state as it gave the jury chance
to see the mug" of the type OF crim-
irals that occupied the bandit farm,
and he paused to emphasize the fact
that Eva King was a member of the
gang.
The remainder of his talk dealt en-
tirely with Mrs. King and the bandit
gang. He painted her as being
thoroughly familiar with all the oper-
ations of the men with whom she
was associatng, and declared that
she was more familiar with the use
OF ammunition and guns than most
women were with dishpans. He ridi-
culed the idea of her sickness and
could easily see in it a part of a
shrewd plan to help her husband and
which later led to the murder Of
Murray. A description Of the charac-
ter OF the band and the arsenal Of
arms and ammunition they kept were
featured strongly i'll his arguments.
Emphasizes Lack Of Evidence.
| ]. J. Hess, counsel for Mrs. King,
began his argument shortly after II
a. m. and concluded at 3. He criti-
cally analysed the evidence of the
state, emphasizing the fact that they
! were unable TO produce single syl-
liable OF evidence that Mrs. King ever
had a gun or wa sin a position to
take part in the affray. He dwelt
upon her own testimony that she had
only gone to the farm two days be-
fore the tragedy. because she was
sick and needed the care of her hus-
band, who had never visited her at
lIlS vi dhu IOtSl, NIClS { SIG IGSlSttIGu
three weeks earlier as Mrs. Carson
after coming from her mothers home
at Boise, Idaho, to get her husband
10 quit his bootlegging business.
He quoted the testimony of City
Physician Kelly, who examined her
the day before the shooting. and who
found her to be very i'll and gave
her the prescription for the medicine
she was using and which was taken
from her at the police station.
Mrs. King, he said. was so i'll that
she did not leave the bedroom all
of the time she was in the house and
could not have known the presence of
the stolen goods in the house, taken
there in her absence. He begged the
jury TO give the greatest considcra-
ton 20 the appearance and manner OF
tie young woman. not only while on
! the witness stand telling her simple
and straight story. but for every mo-
n1ent OF the terrible ordeal to which
she had been subjected throughout
the long trial
Only woman absolutely innocent
OF doing great wrong could sustain
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