Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-11-13
Marked Improvement
In New England Industry
JURY DEADLOCKED,
BLAZER RELEASED
IN KILLING OF CHILD

Lttleton, Colo, Nov. 12.-(By The
Associated Press)-With the legal
status of murder for love" I'M
determined, DR.. Harold Elmer Blaz-
er tonight stood free Of the charge
of numbering his 81 year old daugh-
ter, Hazel. the human husk."
Less than an hour after a jury
failed to agree on verdict, the legal
stigma of murder was removed when
Judge Samuel Johnson granted a
motion of dismissal by Prosecuting
Attorney Joel E. Stone. The jury
was out less than fourteen hours.
The defendant received tho deci-
sion with comparative calm.
The jury should have acquitted
me, but this last move is the equiv
alent of acquittal." he said.
II do not wish to prosecute any
one" Stone said in making his mo-
ton for dismissal. II don't believe
this jury or any other one we might
obtain could arrive at a verdict and.
in fairness both to the defendant
and the state, move that all
charges be dropped and the defend
ant be SCI free"
Mrs. Frances Bishop, daughter of
the physician. was not in the court
room when the jury was dismissed.
"Oh. they should have acquitted
him-they should have acquitted
him!" she told an Associated Press
representative who carried the news
to her in the corridor outside.
This has been a victory for
humanity; for humanity was on
trial, side by side with DIR. Blazer, :"
Lewis Mowry, chief defense counsel
said. Even the hung jury was as
good as an acquittal; for it shows
that on this jury were men who
dealt not alone with the cold facts of
law. I am informed that the vote at
any time was never more than three
for conviction and that 1t simmered
down towards the end to a point
where a single juror was holding out
to convict"
Prosecutor Stone saw in the action
Of the hung Jury victory flor law
and order"
These men as body declined to
put the stamp of approval on this
sort of crime; they declined to state
that Colorado would countenance
thes types of killings and 1t will
serve as a warning in the future"
he declared. IT move for a dismissal
of charges because I do not believe
any jury could agree on verdict
and because I believe the peoples
will has been accomplished without
the further expenditure of Their
money for another trial."
several of the jurors, however,
took issue with the statement that 1t
was a3''victory for the prosecution. :"
IF they had left US alone half an
hour lon Nr, we would have acquit-
ted" declared one of them-the faith
err OF an invalid daughter.
Review of Case
Littleton, Colo, Nov. 12-(By the
Associated Press -One of the strang-
est murder trials in the history of
American criminal jurisprudence
involving the question Of an imbe-
Giles right to- live-was enacted in
Littleton's plainly appointed court
room.
The body Of Hazel Ingrit Blazer,
"a year old daughter of DR.. Harold
K. Blazer, retired country physician.
was found in the Blazer home ON the
evening of February "a. when Blaz-
er's married daughter. Mrs. Francis
Bishop and her husband, returned
from Denver.
The elderly physician, in an ap-
parent stupor, was on q bed in the
same room with the body of his
daughter Child -woman"-hope-
less imbecjle and crippled from child
hood. Later that night he attempted
suicide by slashing hts throat with a
razor. Tho self-infiicted wound, al
though serious, did~*not prove fatal,
and he was released from the hospi-
tai after several weeks.
A coroner's jury held DR.. Blazer
for his daughters death and he was
held in Jail nearly two months before
his release on $4,000 bail. furnished
by friends from his old home. Monte
vista, Colo.