Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-01-27

LEGAL,
BATTLE AT HAM AN
Little Mountain Town Scene oil
Trial of DR.. WINES Charged
With Brutal Murder
Ey Associated Press)

Harlan. Ky. Jan. 2z-Hemmed
Cumberland Mountains and with
the Cumberland river flowing
Through its. confines. this little
molntaih city this week is the
center Of one of the most sensa-
Itional murder trials in the history
;of Kentucky. Fighting for his
lille before a jury selected from
ttheim0untaineers of the. Kentuc-I
llly-Nirginia border, is DR.. II. c.
WINES, formerly 4 member of
The state veterinarian force, and
;prior to that time an official in the
Icity OF Cincinnati, O.. charged.
with the murder of Miss Lura
Parsons, Pine Mountain settle
mcnt school teacher. I
In the little court room from
(which on one side may be seen
Ii'lack Mountain. its peaks tipped
with coal tipples. and on the other
Pine Mountain. the best legal tai
cent obtainable is fighting for and
against DR.. Winnes The prose-
icution. besides Grant Forester
!. b. Forester, county attorney
81 Harlan county. has on its side
"A. Floyd Byrd, OF Lexington: the
man who prosecuted the Breathitt
county fcudiSt several wears ago
sending Curt Jett. Beach Hargis.
and Tom White to the penitenti-.
airy for lie. For Dir. WINES. for
iner Circuit Judge W. {. Hall, OF
. Harlan, is leading the fight With
the assistance of his partners. B
/ c. Jones and L. Lee. and the fam
Gus Col. Bob Franklin. of Frank
tort - >sxaHs
Sitting with the attorneys fol
the prosecution is Walter Parsons
iof Berea father OF the slain teach
cr, and Mrs Ethel belong Zande,
principal of the Pine Mountain
Settlement School. Besides DR..
IWinnes is his wife and his daugh-
tiers. Ethel and Mildred. and his
brother. /. WINES, of Cincinnati.
i When the trial opened senti-
ment in the community was wide
:ly divided. Many persons openly
depressed their belief that DIR.
Winncs did not commit the crime,
while others took the opposite
view. go
For the evidence i'll the case is
wholly circumstantial. The body
Ioi Miss Parsons was found at the
Ioi bluff. beside the trail from
Dillon. Ky. TO the school, fifteen
minutes walk from state convict
lcamp. Her skull was cushed and
the body mutilated by the slayer.
Miss Parsons had been at her
her home III Rerea and left Dillon
on September !, 1920. for the
school 4 few minutes before DR.
lWinnes. She was on foot and. DIR.
WINES road a mule. Miss Par
Isons was seen to pass the convict
Icamp. This was the last seen of
Iher until her body was found two
DAYS later by searching party.
! With the finding of the body an
investigation was started. This
frcsulted in several guards at the
convict camp being discharged
for alleged laxtiy, assertions be-
ling made that convicts were al
flowed to roam about the noun
tainside at will and unguarded.. 1t
was asserted that two convicts
followed Miss Parsons up the
trail but this was never definitely
established.
The investigation apparently
was tagging but Mrs. Zande, prin-
cipal Of the school insisted that
the SLAYER be found. The Sep
TENDER grand jury failed to return
any indictments but later DR..
WINES and a convict We're arrest
ed and an examining trial held
THE grand Jury on January II in
dicted DR.. WINES. the charge be
ING based entirely on circumstan-
tial evidence.
DR., WINES has steadfastly de
MED committing the crime and as
serts that he became confused re.
earding the course of the trai
and that this accounts for time
during which the prosecution
! maintains the crime was commit
! tied