Evening star., 1925-08-07
Jury SAVES SCOTT;
FINDS HIM INSANE
"CelI Shock" Verdict TO Send
Slayer of Drug Clerk
to an Asylum.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, August In an insane
asylum instead Of on the gallows. Rus.
sell Scott erstwhile Canadian fInan-
cisr. will expiate the murder of drug
clerk In a holdup.
Cell shock" ~ insanity resulting
from Is months in Jail and the ordeals
NJ two narrow escapes from the moose
was the verdict Of a jury last night
in sanity test which saved him.
The tury's finding and Scott's re.
moval to the Chester Insane Asylum
today ended flight for life that prob
ably was the most desperate in Cook
County criminal annals. Seven bal
lots and hours and 40 minutes de
liberia ton were necessary before the
jury agreed.
Twice Reprieved.
Two times since Joseph Maurer was
killed in a drug store opposite the
City Hall in April, 1924. Scott has
faced death. Within the last three
weeks. few hours before the death
march. Scott was saved. once by A
weeks reprieve and again by q stay
of execution issued at 2 o'clock in the
morning by Judge Joseph David on a
Had he been found sane Judge
David would have imposed = death
sentence once more. Even in the
asylum Scott faces death on the gal
lows should he ever he found to have
reasined his sanity.
Warned against a demonstrat ton.
spectators and principals greeted the
verdict with dramatic silence.
Scott's eyes never left the slip Of
paper the jury foreman passed to q
hailiff. who gave it 10 the clerk. His
mouth twitched nervously and he
hdEeted. Judgment entered he was
hurried away by guards.
His relatives heard the verdict with
expressions of emotion. His wife.
Catherine. whose untirins efforts
brought funds after the defense fight
left the family penniless. leaned for
ward in an attitude Of prayer. His
mother wept and his aged and Grip
pied father Thomas. on whose sixty
third birthday Scott was sentenced.
STAYED by his son.
Wife Is Relieved.
Thank God for the verdict" the
poor boy needs. is to he sent down
there
Il knew il would happen. the wife
exclaimed. II have worked and pray
ed for this and have not had a night s
sleep in weeks.
Jacob Maurer father Of the slain
youth. who attended each day of the
sanity hearing. was disappointed.
Its the law. But I didn't expect
Justice MY boy is gone. | find no
consola ton in the verdict"
It's a shameful and diseraceful
verdict" said Assistant States Attor-
ney Harry F. Pritzker. Scott is no
more insane than any man in the
room The verdict ia victory for
the criminal element. They can take
life and get away with it, The jurors
in this case did not know the first
principle of the law involved. They
are too ignorant"
Seven Ballots Taken.
A ma iority of the jurors favored
insa nifty from the start. the first bal
lot being to 5. Seven ballots were
taken. The jury began deliberating
after Ave alienists testified that the
prisoner had become insane since
sentenced and other alienists and If
teen lay witnesses for the. STATE sa Id
he was mentally normal.
Scott. rated three years ago as a
millionaire and promoter of a bridge
enterprise in Windsor, Ontario. a. one
>
hut changed his plea when the judge
indicated death sentence would fol-
low. Later, at his trail he mainta lined
his brother. Robert, never found, was
the actual slayer
Convicted and sentenced to hang in
April. Scott was sra nted a 90-dsy re-
prieve. Little interest had heen
manifested publicly in the case until
this time. when his wife and father
interested Detroit and Windsor. On
tario. friends and appeals were made
TO Gov. Small and President Coolidge
Message Was Hoax.
Six hours before he was to die July
II Scott was granted another reprieve
when a MESA ge. signed Robert Scott.
was sent from Detroit to Gov. Small
contessink guilt and promising sur
render The MESA &c was found to he
a hoax
A week later the governor refused
further action. Less than four hours
before the march TO the scaffold viii
liam Scott Stewart newly retained
ss Scott's counsel, obtained a stay Of
execution from Judge David at 2
O'Clock in the morning. pending the
"a nifty test.
Attorney Stewart, in obtaining the
insa nifty verdict for his client. won
the distinction of having won both
sides OF an insan nifty proceeding to halt
execution. While an assistant prose
cutor several years ago Stewart sue
cessfully opposed an effort Of a man
sentenced 70 die 10 escap pc the gallows
on an insa nifty plea.