Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-03-17
MRS. 0bENCHA|N.
IS PICTURED AS
DECE|V|NC vAMP
Her Letters Contrasted
to Her Innocent Mien
in Witness Chair.
Eyes Suffuse as Her At
torney Talks Of Her
Soul Joining Kennedy.

| Los Angeles. March 16.-Asa Keyes
deputy district attorney, was nearing
the close of the final argument in the
trial of Mrs. Madalynne Obenchain.
charged with tthe murder Of j. Bolton
Kennedy, when adjournment was de-
cIared by Judge Sidney n. Reeve late
Thursday. Indications were Keyes
would complete his address Friday
morning and the jury would retire at
noon.
Keyes replied to defense arguments
that sno motive had been shown for
Mrs. Obenchain to conspire with Ar
thur G.. Burch to slay Kennedy. by de-
claring it had been shown she had been
spurned by Kennedy. He reviewed the
relations between the defendant and
the slain man from 1917 to August 5.
1921, the date of the shooting, and read
from the letters which passed between
them. 1t was the fifth time during
the trial that these missives had been
read.
Three Times Scorned, He laid
Kennedy turned her down, it once,
but three times" the prosee tor de-
clared.
keyes said that Mrs. c ,enchain's
letters "speak more truthfully than her
lips and argued to the jury that the
letters showed the motive for the
crime in Kennedys refusal to marry
her.
The jury-wss told that Mrs. Oben-
chain , 20 kentn-., Burch and Ralph
c. ~liain lin her grasp and turned
every one of them into love slaves
Speaking of Mrs Obenchain's testi-
mony, keyes said:
"When Madalynne Obenchain tells
you she never was in Burch's room in
Los Angeles except on one occasion,
she is telling you deliberate false
hood, and if she will lie about that she
will lie about anything in this case
Indifferent to Prosecution
In opening his argument Mr.. Keyes
told the jury that there was sufficient
evidence to convict Mrs Obenchain of
the crime of murder and said they
would be false to their oaths' if they
let the fact that the defendant was
woman affect the verdict
Mrs. Obenchain watched Keyes in
tently as he argued, but it was not ap-
parent that his statements concerning
her actions or her testimony affected
her. She occasionally toyed with a
small silver pencil.
Jud Rush. senior counsel for the
defense, completed his argument in an
eloquent plea that brought tears to
Mrs Obenchains S eyes as she sat be-
side him. He asked the jury TO return
n verdict that would open the barred
doors for this woman who has suffered
SO much"
Wants Free to Do Good
He pleaded that she be turned
back to freedom where she could grow
old in doing good in the world, and
when her time should come her soul
sould join that Of her lover. j. BeIton
Kennedy"
Telling the jury that Mrs. Oben- |
roughly dressed men run from the |
scene of the shooting, stood undisput-
I'd. Rush said:
Il am sure you do not hold human ,
ife so cheap and human rights SO in
Instinct. that you can find her testi !
nony false and the mere theory of
he state true
Kennedy Lived in Fear
Rush told the jury that he was not
defending Burch and that he was not
.equired to answer the prosecutions
question as to who killed Kennedy
lie said it was Il significant fact that
feared some one long before
le became engaged to Mrs. Obenchain,
md before Burch came to Los Angeles
n July. 1921. To show that Kennedy
ealized this fear. Mr.. Rush pointed
ut that the testimony showed Ken
edy at one time had been beaten
p;'' that he always took some one
With him when going out at night. and
hat he always carried revolver.
1t was humanly impossible for Mrs
)benchain to have brought about
death, Rush said. regardless
f the malice she may have had against
i'm. He said:
"Madalynne Obenchain loved Ken
edy better than life, and if she had
noWn that there was a man with a
un waiting to slay him as he walked
own those steps she would have cried,
Oh, Bolton. come back'.'