The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-08
UNWRITTEN
LAW To Be
DAYS PLEA
VIII Tell Coroner's Jury
Why He Killed Lt.-Col.
Beck.
BULLETIN.

Conrt House, Okla, April 81
(By the Associated Press.)-
An hour before the time set for
the iuguest into the death OF
lieutenant Colonel Paul Ward
Reck. killed in the fashionable
home here of Jean p. Day early
on Tuesday, every available
seat in the district court room
was taken by spectators ana
the corridors were filled with
iostIing crowds unable TO OBJ
tain standing room in the court
chamber. Three bailiffs at
tempted to preserve order in the
crowded corridors.
oklahoma City, Okla, April s.
pleading the stern code of Okla
homa, the "unwritten law, Jean T.
pay, prepared to go before cor
oner's Jury here today and seek to
he iudicially absolved of the kill
ing of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul
ward Beck on the ground that ne
slew in seIf-defense while attempt
ing to keep inviolate the sanctity
Of his home.
Six men, sitting as a jury, will
hear this afternoon from the lips
Of Day, wealthy attorney and oil
men. and from his wife, their sworn
stories of the staying, and on their
testimony and other evidence,
brought out, will be assigned the
responsibility in the tragedy.
nav declared he will tell the. only
story he knows-the true facts
that he struck Beck down in his
home early last Tuesday morning
when he returned and found the
noted army man attempting to as
sault his faithful wife. In his
heart there was no murder, he will
Mead. The revolver he used as a
club in the belief that he was de-
Tending his life when he warned
Beck to quit his home, fired acci-
dentally as he struck the blow. end
ing the officers life. This is the
testimony he says he will give the
Jurors The immediate provocat1on
will be his allegation that Beck
drew back one hand and that he
feared the army f1ier might. be
armed.
Wife RefuteS ISLANDER.
Supporting her husbands account
Of the Staying, Mrs. Day will go to
his defense, charging that Beck, the
! trusted friend of the family, turned
beast when the two were left alone
in the drawing room of the fash
ionable Day home in the early
morning hours, after a gay mid
night party. Slanderous, she has
termed what she said she knew
gossip had whispered.
For the dead Beck, who lies in
morgue, clad in a new uniform-a
soldiers burial garb-there will be
none to speak his testimony OF
what happened at the Day home
when he was slain. Day and his
wife are the only known witnesses.
There will be present his comrades,
though, who declare they knew him
as gentleman, his superiors and
subordinates, who testify to his
clean, unspotted reputation, his
gallantry in the air and his respect
for women.
County Attorney Forrest Hughes
went to the inquest declaring that
Jean P. Day, thus far had not told
all the truth about the tragedy, and
that Day killed Beck after seeing
something that swept him off his
feet, a thing on which any red
blooded jury would vote an acquit-
tai.
Some Points Unexplained.
A handkerchief in the clutched
hand of the dead aviator, the in
dlcation that Beck had not been
shot from the front, as Day al
leges; the reported exclamation OF
MIS- Day, "Oh, my honor! shortly
after the Staying, were points the
county attorney declared he want
ed explained
An army board of inquiry at
Fort Sill was to attend the inquest.
Eight airplanes we're tuned up
a. Post Field early this morning
70 carry the board members and
other officers to Oklahoma City.
among them, Lieutenant Paul
ward Beck. son of the slain Off
Ger. Lieutenant John Beck, a
nephew, and Major R B. Paddock,
VINO accompanied Lieutenant Col
onel Beck TO Oklahoma City last
Monday.
Prominent local business men,
al aeqaaintances OF Day, make up
tae coroner's jury.
Recall Beck Ms Flyer.
Fandalia, Ill, April S.-The
Seath of Lieutenant Colonel Paul
". Beck, recalls to residents here
ae accident experienced by him on
nus attempted cross-country flight
I4St July Is, while enroute to his
ssnes bedside at Atlantic City,
!. from Fort Sill, Okla. Mrs Beck
was reported critically i'll, at the
tine and he attempted to fly to
ner' Near this city he encountered
storm and was compelled to
h,and On taking off" his plane
secame entangled in a wire fence
ano was wrecked, causing its abb
saaonment. He escaped with min
VI injuries.