Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1921-11-18
Prosecution
at
Neal Trial
Scene of Alleged Murder
Vividly Re-Enacted for Jurys
Benefit With Sheriff as
Star Witness for State.
Defendant Is Unmoved

leReQ lnurQct OF ncT HusDeliu, Dill-
ington Neal, August II, revived
freshly, in the minds Of those pres
ent the discovery OF Neal on that
fatal night.
Mrs. Neal maintained the same
composure and almost indifferent at
titude she has kept throughout the
trial during the dramatic portrayal.
This afternoon, with her head
turned and her eyes closed, she shut
from her vision a reconstruction of
the scene of the finding of the body
of her dead husband, Ben Neal, in
the bedroom Of their home on the
night Of August IL.
Carpet Is Presented.
1t was dramatic prologue to the
verbal test that was to be given by
Sheriff Charles Davis of Nemaha
county, whom the attorneys for the
defense describe as one who is en-
acting the role OF her prosecutor.
Davis, when called to the stand,
was asked by Judge Jessen, assist
ing in the prosecution, to bring with
him a number Of grewsome relics
of the tragedy, which were to be
identified and entered as exhibits of
evidence for the state.
He spread the bloody carpets that
covered the floor of the death room,
in a curved space in front of the
jury box, Immediately opposite the
Judges bench.
Sheriff Enacts Scene.
He then arranged a table so that
it would stimulate the bed and
placed over this the blood-stained
sheet that had been taken from the
bed at the conclusion Of the coro-
ner's inquest.
After identifying the gun that had
been found in Meals right hand,
he was directed to lie on the floor
in approximately the same position
he found Neal.
As he took the pistol, Nord But
terfield, a juror, exclaimed, Don't
point that gun this way, if you have
to point it, point it at a lawyer"
The sheriff with the gun in his right
hand laid down on the carpet with
his head in CORY blood spot a4id
placed his body in approximately the
position as that of Meals lifeless
form.
Oe then placed his right arm and
the weapon in the same position as
they lay on Meals chest and neck,
when he arrived at the little bunga-
low on that fateful night.
Members of the jury crowded
around. while spectators stood on
seats and craned their necks over
the heads of others to see the bet
ter. the dramatic spectacle.
While the sheriff lay on the floor,
he answered the questions put to him
by Judge Jessen as to the position of
the body as it related to the dis
tances from the walls, the doorway
and the bed of the death chamber.
All the while Mrs. Neal kept her
eyes closed and her face turned, but
her countenance kept the same in
scrutable calm which it has possessed
all through the proceedings.
Defendant Shows Strain.
1t seemed as though the dramati-
zatlon was merely distasteful spec
tacle to her, $50 far as its effects on.
her emotions were concerned.
Her intimate women friends say
she is showing the strain of the
trial and is weak, but her outward
does not seem to show
any physical deterioration.
The members of the jury examined
the bloodstained carpet as the sheriff
lay upon it, and traced with his
hand the trail of blood that ran from
near the head of the bed to where
the body was found.
They examined the blood-spotted
sheet still creased and aImos, un-
Wrlnkled, and noticed carefully, dia-
grams that were made on the sheet
TO indicate depressions on the left
and right centers of the bed as
though made by persons sitting
thereon.
Repeats Same Story.
The sheriff testified to the same
facts as regarded the bloody right
hand of Neal and the almost blood
less lett hand, the appearance of the
wound in the neck without powder
STAINS or burns, the bloody imprint
OF the human hand on Meals chest
and also the imprint of the bloody
hand on the wallpaper and casing
of the south partition wall, as he
described at the coroner's inquest.
He showed how impossible il
would be for Mrs. Neal to run from
the room in the darkness without
stepping across or stumbling over
the llfeless body of her husband as
sne ned from the room, as she de-
scrioed In her conversation with him
on the morning of the tragedy.
Gives New Testimony.
New evidence introduced by him,
TO the effect that after he had sent
tor Hans Nelson, Lincoln. state
bertlllion expert, Mrs. Neal called
tor him to ask him to go to her
Brownville home and see if he could
flnd a revolver which she claims was
the property of her first husband.
lohn Wright, and which she said she
had concealed in a black walnut
chest and which he would lind in
the attic of her home.
She expressed the fear that if the
gun found in Meals hand was the
Wright pistol, it might have her
finger marks on it as she had
handled the weapon few weeks be-
fore.
The sheriff obtained the keys to
the house and said he made an in
tensive search. but could not find the
revolver. Later, after the finger
print expert had arrived and had