Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-01-26


about twenty minutes"
Sure it was not two hours"
Sure Of It,"
you say you found in the ruins Of the
shack several metal objects, q knife, a
| steel tape, a watch with the plaintiffs
! baby picture In the case. You did not
testify at the inquest to finding these
things Why"
| Il had not found them at that time"
| Huh! did not find them the morning
after the 1re?"
No"
| When was the inquest 7"
1.-TWO days after the fire."
when did you find these things?"
| The day after the inquest"
| Huh! had time to plant them then,
chr"
No answer and very decided Objec-
! ton to the remark.
How did you come to find them at
| that time 2"
| Il had made a superficial examination
when l first went there. Thinking It
over 1t seemed strange to me that
could not find anything, so three days
later l made q very thorough examina-
ton, sitting all the ashes and opening
the kiln. / found the tiles and the statu-
+
jects IN the ashes"
Three days after the fre7"
Three days after the fire"
| Abner was allowed to depart The de-
Tense seemed to have laid the founda-
ton for proof that the witness had hired
an automobile that night and presum-
ably driven to the shack and carried Ben
away and also that the metal objects
had not been in the shack when the
body was there, but had been planted
three days later as evidence that the
cadaver was the physicians brother
Myra's lawyers now put forward three
physicians who had examined the body
in the grave. They thought II might
have been that of Benjamin Campion,
but on cross examination admitted hat
It was only possible to say that 1t was
the body Of a man. They testified very
positively. az experts, that a cadayer,
body prepared for a medical college,
would not bleed.
! A grave, dig7ihed, white haired law
yer made the opening address for the
defense. He used the ugllest, most Of
fensiye words IN the dictionary, culed
them. but delivered them In soft. !ow
voice, without a shade OF feeling, i'm
plying that duty. and duty alone COM
4 PEELED him to call spade dung fork,
I we shall present" he said. the proof
Of a conspiracy to rob a number OF life
insurance companies Of two hundred
thousand dollars. conspiracy formed
by drunkard, a Quack and china
town couutesan-"
Then the storm broke. protests. OBJ
iections calls to the Judge for order.
even threat OF personal violence Warn
Cd to moderate bis language he con
tinued. sadly:
AZ most humbIy apologize 70 this court
II / have used improper language. The
three nouns I employed are descriptive
nouns, descriptive because based on the
plaintiffs witnesses descriptions Of
themselves / could have used stronger
nouns, even more descriptive; the jury
can supply those synonyms from their
Bible and Shakespeare"
! AS the testimony uurolls, you viii see
the parts each was to play. The dip
somaniac, Benjamin. was to take out the
policies for 100000. provide the place
ana material for n fire in which he was,
apparently. to lose his own life; the
I srondence school physician, the head
and brains Of the conspiracy was TO pro-
vide the money for the premiums and q
cadoyer, q body 10 he cremated in Ben
tamin's stead the-the-the-the woman.
! l suppose I must call her that. was to
throw herself on the Chnrred flesh. dead
a second time press her lips to the cal
cined corpse and cry Ny husband! my
husband""
! He went on to tell again the story Of
! how these "ghouls" had traded on
Myra's patriotism and then said he
would prove that Abner swore falsely as
TO his movements on the night Of the
fire, that he was no. In his boarding
house at the hours mentioned and that be
did hire an automobile and return it the
same night
'All was now ready for tina woman TO
play her part" he continued "She
played II we'll at the shack and on the
+ witness stand. Better acting there never
was on any stage. You have heard d
rae OF love and redemption-all twaddIe.
gentlemen, all drivel. We will show you
nat Benjamin Campion remained
1runkard to the day OF his fight from
his own simulated corpse He was
treated for excessive drinking only few
weeks before he disappeared He and
the woman were two outcasts when they
/ met and they were two outcasts when
/ they separated at the shack
/ but gentlemen, we do not need to
prove anything. Not one of the plain
/ tin's witnesses had identified the BODY
found In .he shack as abe body Of Ben
jamin Camplon. There is no evidence
before this court that Benjamin Cam
/ pion is dead"
/ The defense began by calling physi-
clans who had examined the body taken
from the grave. They did not think 1t
was at all like BenJamin's body. but
admitted on cross examination that II
was impossible to Judge what the buried
man looked like when he was alive They
also testified as experts, that water
/ thrown on a cut or mangled cadaver
would show signs of blood, bloody wa
/ ter" Honors were even on both sides.
The body from the grave might have
! been and 1t might not have been that Of
Ben Campion.
william Acker, a dentist, told about
the teeth OF the body from the grave
very bad teeth-much worn-two moIars
missing--lost long before death.