The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-01-26
n the morning Of June 7th by Fred

When he arrived Mrs. Lawrence and 8
police officer were in the lobby Of the
hotel and accompanied him to room
30 where he saw young lady bounc
to the bed, her face covered with
bloody bandages. The witness statee
that he felt Of her pulse and found
that life was extinct. This was as fal
as his examination of the body went
He stated however, that he did not
notice that rigor norris had set in
He further stated that violent strug.
gle just prior to death would hurry
the action of rigor morris and that in
his experience in the service showed
him that rigor morris might set in
within half an hour after death. There
was no cross examination of the wit
ness and he was excused.
Dr.. Paul H. Button, surgeon of Far
go, was called to the stand and stated
as he had practiced his profession for
twenty-one years, that he was called
to the Prescott Hotel on June 7th
and arrived there about 8 o'clock, and
went directly to room 30 and exam
med the body of Marie Wick. He stat
ed that to the best of his knowledge
Judging from his experience as sur
geon, the deceased had been dead from
four to six hours, this opinion being
based principally on the fact that
rigor mortis had set in and that this
condition ordinarily required four to
six hours after death, but that vio-
lent struggle might vary the time
somewhat, but not to any great ex-
tent. He stated that the examination
in room 80 as to the condition of the
body was cursory. The witness stat
! cd that a more detailed examination
was made by him at the morgue
where he examined the wounds in the
head Of the corpse and noted that
! most Of them extended to the bone. He
found a fracture Of the skull above
the left ear and finger marks on the
throat, and stated that the face show
ed signs of suffocation. The witness
estimated that the condition of the
body and his examination of room sc
that the deceased had lost about d
quart Of blood. He further stated
that in his opinion death had beer
caused through the combined results
of suffocation, hemorrhage and frac.
ture of the skull. He stated that the
gag would have had to be far back
in the throat to stop passage of al,
to the lungs and cause suffocation
He also stated that the bruises left
by the fingers of the assailant on the
throat would Indicate that there hao
been enough pressure used to cause
Inconsistencies. He stated that ii
his examination he found the proge
initial organs badly ruptured, that the
vaginal was full of blood and that the
examination showed the deceased tc
have been virgin prior to the as
sault. He stated that he found nc
marks below the throat which woulc
| indicate that the deceased had beer
bitten or torn about the breasts. He
stated that the wounds around the
head had been caused by blunt in
strument and when referred to the
nozzle entered in evidence stated that
it could have caused the wound. Un.
der cross examination the counsel fol
defense spent considerable time or
the question of how long it would re.
quire after death for rigor mortis to
set in, but the witness reiterated his
statement that to the best of his judg-
ment four to six hours was the mini
mum time required, but admitted that
the time of death was merely a guess
based on his past experience in cases
of this nature. The witness STATED
that temperature had very little tt
do with the portion of time required
for rgor mortis to set in. Attorney
Swenson asked a question as to the
possibility of suffocation being caused
by the insertion of the pillow case II
the mouth and throat, but this ques
ton was objected to on the groune
that it introduced question not sup
ported by testimony previously, ant
the objection was sustained. Attor
ney Barnett asked the witness if If
his experience he had any recollection
of having seen person with a mouth
large enough to hold the pillow cast
without extending far enough into the
throat to cause suffocation. The wit
ness answered that in his opinion
there were any number of men in thu
courtroom into whose mouths he coult
place a pillow case without causing
suffocation, but added that the pillow
case inserted in the mouth as prevlou!
testimony had indicated, with TIN
blood soaked norton outside tn,