Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-26

l
other clothes on.
No Powder Burns.
Alva Rogers, former sheriff, who
has served Nemaha county four
years, testified that he examined the
wound in Meals neck with a mag
nifying glass. During his term as
sheriff he had examined the wounds
of four suicides who had died by
gunshot wounds. He said Jhat he
had turned the body to the light and
taken the sharp blade of knife to
probe the wound for powder stains
| and found none. He used a mag
nifying glass provided by Hans Mel
sen, Bertillion expert OF the state bu-
reau of criminal investigation. He
based his contention that there were
no powder burns on the theory that
there are always grains of burnt
powder in the flesh when the gun is
fired at short range. There were
no burnt grains of powder in the
wound in Meals flesh.
]. c. Woodie, village marshal OF
Peru, was called next. He testified
that he was called by the Peru CEN
trail at II 80; that he had gotten out
of bed and looked at his watch. Cen
trail said that someone was in trouble
but she did not know who. Later
she called and told him. He went
out of Peru with DR.. Vance, Harry
Patterson and Tom Railback and
went to Bucks, where he stayed 10
minutes, then went to Meals.
Mrs. Lucy Neal, charged with first
degree murder in connection with
the fatal shooting of her husband,
Ben Neal, the night OF August IL,
appeared in court for her prelimi-
nary hearing today, dressed in
mourning and accompanied by her
daughter. Ava. 16. wearing a white
middle blouse with black tie and
black skirt.
Confronted as she was with 4
charge of killing her husband. she
faced the densely packed court room
and glanced at friends, neighbors,
acquaintances and strangers with re-
markable composure.
Friends Beside Her.
Seated close to Mrs. Neal was her
aged mother, Mrs. Dodd. who came
from her home in Missouri to be
with her daughter in trouble. Also
close by were other close women
friends of the accusd but to these
she gave no heed during the long
minutes which were taken up i'll pre-
paration for the trial.
Charles Buck, the neighbor to
whose home Mrs. Neal and her
daughter fled on the night of the
tragedy. was the first witness.
DR.. Vance. ]. c. Woodie. Arch
Railsback and Bert Patterson came
20 his house together, Buck testified.
and then all six persons went to the
Neal home. The time was fixed
about ! a. m.
DR.. Vance of Peru was the next
witness called. He testified he has
practieed medicine and surgery for
Is years, and that he formerly was
police surgeon in Omaha.
No Lights Burning.
DR.. Vance called Tom Fisher drug
gist, to prepare dressings and also
called Tom Railsback, ]. C. Woodie
and Bert Patterson to help. While
waiting. the electric lights in Peru
went out as customary at midnight,
by which he filed the time. 1t took
80 minutes to run to the Neal place.
No lights were burning in the Neal
home, the doctor testified. The party
went through the dining room, and
the small kitchen to the bedroom,
which is about 10 feet square. "
The witness described he loca-
ton of the bed with its head to the
northeast. He found the body of
Neal on the south side of the room
with the feet extending under the
bed, the right leg slightly outside
and cramped. The head was about |
two feet inside the door and to the
south, he said.
Right Hand on Chest.
He described the location of the
wound in the left side of the neck.
The left hand was lying on the floor. |
The right hand was lying across |
the dead mans chest, loosely clutch
ing .32 caliber pistol, nickle plated, |
with black hard rubber handle.
The wound in the neck was slight
ly swollen. The doctor probed for
the bullet until he struck the under
side of the jaw bone. The face was
bloody and the place around the bull
let wound was dark. Sheriff Davis
washed all the blood and stains off
the neck, the doctor said. He also
testified there was no powder stains
except narrow margin around the
wound. One finger Of the left hand
had small blood stain. The right
hand was bloody.
Blood on Carpet.
Asked what, in his opinion, caused
the death of Neal, he answered,
'Gunshct wound"
On cross-examination by the de-
fense the doctor stated there was
quite a pool of blood under the
head, staining the carpet. In the
northeast corner of the room, near
the head of the bed, there were .:rops
CT blood on the carpet.
Meals clothing was on the chair.
The body was clothed in a night
gown. The witness testified he
made no autopsy to find where the
bullet went. Indications were that
some of the larger blood vessels had
been severed. The wound was close
to the external aortic artery.
The wound was small and circu-
lar, with clean edges. The doctor
said he examined the revolver held
in the dead mans hand. The cham
bers contained two exploded shells,
two unexploded shells and two of
the chambers were empty. The left