The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-03-02

the verdict was read, and expressed
the satisfaction of the family at the
outcome of the trial. He said that,
while the verdict would not return
Marie Wick to the family, there was
a certain amount Of comfort to be
derived from the fact that William
GUNNER would not be permitted to
practice his depredations on any 9TH
err innocent young girls.
There were none of William Cum
mer's family in the courtroom when
the verdict was read.
Yesterday Afternoons Session
In yesterday afternoons session
Judge Barnett resumed his plea to
the jury. He contended that, as the
state had contended that the assault
was committed between IL and"1 O
clock, and that all of the time be-
tween these two hours was account
ed for by the presence of Andy
Brown, with the possible exception Of
10 or II minutes, it would have been
impossible for the accused to have
committed the assault and been doz
ing in his chair behind the desk when
H. ]. Hagan arrived.
Judge Barnett characterized the
crime as worse than murder, 1t was
the assault and rape of an innocent
girl who had no means Of protection,
and could have only been committed
by the most bestial Of men. He drew
attention to the defendant and asked
the jury if they thought it possible
that that young boy could have been
guilty of such a crime.
Judge Barnett said that the state
staked their case on the fact that two
separate crimes had been committed
and at two separate times. He con-
tended that the testimony of witness
es, when first interviewed, did not CO.
incide with the states theory in that
the only two people who heard noises
during the night heard those noises
at two separate times. Taking this
into consideration the state had been
obliged to reconstruct their case to
agree with the statement of these
witnesses.
He suggested that the experiments
had been conducted in. such a way
that the witness, Mrs. Van Worst,
would be sure to bolster up their case.
He contended that May Melaas could
not have heard the noise Of anyone
Jumping on the floor above as the
floor was covered with three thick
nesses Of paper, carpet and a rug,
which would have deadened the sound.
He also maintained that the defend
ant would not have walked down the
hall with sufficient noise to have been
heard by Miss Melaas after commit
ting such a heinous crime.
Judge Barnett contended that the
light in room so would have hone thru
the crack between the door and door
jamb, of the door connecting the two
rooms, directly in the face of Mr..
Hayan and would have awakened him.
This was based on the suppOsitlon
that Mr.. Hagan slept on his right side
Judge Barnett attempted to prove,
by the use of the bedstead produced
in court, that it would have been i'm
possible for the accused to have struck
the wall with the hose nozzle from
across the bed, claiming that the dis
lance was too great. He also con-
tended that the dent in the wall was
not caused by the nozzle as the cres-
cent mark produced by the nozzle
would have been the opposite to the
dent which the photograph showed.
The crescent in the photograph is in
verted
Judge Barnett placed great stress
on the fact that the evidence had
shown that the accused was apparent
ly doing when II. J. Hagan came in
and questioned whether it would have
been possible for him to have COM
mitted the assault and been so COM
posed within the time which had been
unaccounted for.
Judge Barnett completed his ad-
dress at SAB and States Attorney
Green Immediately began his closing
rebuttal argument.
Green Begins Rebuttal AT 3:45
Attorney Green claimed that some
of the statements made by Judge
Barnett and Judge Swenson in their
addresses to the jury were wrong and
stated that he would correct the i'm
preston that they had left.
He said that counsel for the de-
Tense had stated that the evidence did
not show that GUNNER had attempt
ed to throw suspicion on John Myers
by reading from the admissions made