The Indianapolis times., 1926-11-06
WILL DEATH CHEAT
HER DAWN COURT?
Real Issue of Hall Trial
Being Fought Out in
Hospital.
BIZ United Press

BIZ United Press
SOMERVILLE, N. j., Nov. e.
Court went ahead in the Hall-Mill5
murder case today with all serious
ness, but lawyers, judge and jury
knew that the real issue was being
fought out not in the courtroom but
in Somerville hospital.
There. gathered at the bedside OF
Jane Gibson, three doctors, a corps
of nurses and attendants were fight
| ing to restore to health the famous
pig woman"
II they succeed sufficiently to per-
NIT her to be questioned, then the
Hall Mills case can go through with
feeling that all the evidence has
been offered.
May Be Weeks
DR.. A. A. Lawton, her local ply.
sician, said that Mrs. Gibson's re.
covery is a matter of weeks, not
days" and this view met the approx.
al Of DR.. +. l.. Keyes, New York
specialist i'm kidney diseases. who
was called in as consultant.
| l iit COuIl dlTcduy mas IeluSeu OIiCt
to allow the trial to move to the bed
side of Mrs. Gibson in the Somerset
hospital and DIR. Keyes said he would
be opposed to such course.
An Empty Shell
But should the pig woman" fade
from the picture, all the State would
have left--unless some hitherto un-
known person comes forward to fill
her place-would be much of an
empty shell.
For four years Jane Gibson has
been the outstanding figure in this
most battling of all modern romantic
murders. She was the only person
who claimed to have seen any part
of the tragic events which took
place when the Rev. Edward w.
Hall and Mrs. Eleanor Mills were
murdered.
other persons heard shots: saw
people come or go hours before or
after the crime; but Mrs. Gibson
alone said she was there.
She identified Willie Stevens and
Mrs. Hall as two of the persons she
saw scurrying around the crab
apple tree where the murdered bod
les were found
The States entire case has been
wound up in her-and for four years
she has stood ready to tell her story.
Her history has been bizarre-in
keeping with this bizarre criminal
case. She is a woman of some so
yenrs, who started life as a circus
rider: retired from the sawdust ring
to raise pigs; lived in obscurity; until
suddenly one night she rode her
mule, Jenny. over the the Philips
farm in the moonlight.
On that night, she maintains. she
saw the murder
And she rode her mule into a light
of fame as brilliant as any that ever
played upon her when she rode bare
back in the circus.
She became known the country
over. Everywhere THE Pig Wom-
an" was spoken of. Her fame has
| lasted during the years the Hall-Mills
case was all but abandoned as an
unsolved puzzle.
! Finally. however. new evidence
came out. The case was brought to
trial.
Her Day Arrives
At last the Pig Woman" was to
have her day in court; the day which
| for years had been awaited.
Wednesday she was able to be at
the courthouse. She talked with the
! United Press correspondent while
she waited the summons to the wit
ness stand. But other witnesses had
to lay a groundwork for her recital,
| She couldn't be called then.
And when Thursday brought the
hour for her recital-illness had
gripped her. She was I'm a hospital.
Her fever was at 1O4. Doctors ruled
she could not be disturbed.
Collapse of Mrs. Gibson at the very
hour of the trial. contains many pos
sibilities. Some say she can not re-
cover. Others fear that the excite
ment of questioning might be such
that for months It would be danger
Gus to permit her examination to
take place. Others have reports
that her mind already is falling
something as dangerous as her death
would be to the prosecutions case.
So II is that while the evidence
goes on in the court room. the real
issue was being decided today in a
white-walled hospital room.