Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-19
HALL-MILLS TRIAL
Continued from Pace Onel

witness in the courtroom followed a
rue In an automobile ambulance
from Jersey City where she has been
a patient in a hospital for ten DAYS
her three hour stay on the court
room bed was ended only after she
mad partially raised herself and
screamed: Il told the truth. so help
me God. and you know it," with a
wave of her hand toward the three
defendants
She apparently suffered no i'll eff
fects from her journey and court APP
pearance
Mrs. Gibson's story was in many
particulars the recital she has given
over period of four years. but there
We're some additional details today
and some changes. In previous test
lmony she had not identified Henry
Stevens as person she saw at the
scene. She had before identified
Henry Carpenter, cousin Of the three
ofendants in the case on trial, which
charges the murder of Mrs. Mills.
Carpenter, a New York broker. is in
Jail here under indictment on the
same charges lis cousins face. He
came to the courtroom today to have
Mrs. Gibson say that she had previ-
ously pointed him out as a person
present.
The direct examination was brief,
less than twenty minutes, while the
cross examination required two hours
and thirty minutes. The trend of the
questioning by defense attorneys at
ter the witness had been led to re-
peat her story of what she saw on
the night of the double killing was
to draw information as to her past
life. She was vague as to many de-
tails and denied that she has had
more than one husband. William
Easton, she laid. is her only hus-
band. She was called as a witness
under the name of Jane Gibson.
explanation of the discrepancy being
that she took the name Gibson"
when she purchased the Gibson
Farm"
The defense clearly indicated in its
cross examination that its efforts TO
discount the identification of the de-
PENDANTS will be an attack on the
credibility of the witness, She was
asked at length as to whether she
had been divorced and If she had
known men whose names were given
to her. Her reply to these questions
was mo-. She could not give the
name of the town or city in which
her marriage to Easton took place.
Il don't remember. was an answer
appearing frequently in the testi-
mony.
During the cross examination Mrs.
Gibson was shown photographs and
asked if they were likenesses of the
witness. She said they We're not, and
that she did not know who they rep
resented She was also asked as to
conversations with detectives and
investigators and asked If she made
statements that she could not identl-
fly anyone she saw the night of the
murder. She denied making such
statements
Mrs Gibson's story Of her obserVa-
lions the night of the Staying of the
minister and choir singer was brief.
She told of riding her mule in pur-
suit of a rafting wagon, suspected
as a vehicle used by thieves to carry
away corn, passing an automobile IN
front of which stood a man and
woman. She said the woman was
Mrs. Hall and although she several
times said that the man was "a col
ored man" she reiterated her ident1-
fication of him as Willie Stevens.
Her story continued that she tied
her mule to a cedar tree and heard
mumbling voices, as If in argument,
a reference to explain these letters,
sounds of a scuffle oaths, shots ana
then she hurredly rode her mule
away. Discovering that she had lost
a mocassin, she said she returned TO
the place where she had tied her
mule and TIM saw Mrs. Hall kneeling
on the ground making 'funny
noise.
The calm of the three defendants
survived again today. Not during
Mrs. Gibson's declaration that she
saw all of them the night Of the
killing did they falter, and they re-
NAMED with unchanged expressions
as she repeated her oath as a VIII
ness before being carried away. Mrs.
Hall and Henry Stevens seemed
slightly less interested than Wine
Stevens. who leans forward when the
unusual is presented in court.
Arrival of the ambulance bearing
the witness from the Jersey Guy
hospital found courtroom packed 10
its doors, waiting for a vgllmpse Oh
tbe sick witness. The ambulance aV-
eraging about eight miles an hour
required nearly four hours Tor the
tourney. 1t was announced tndl sic
had stood the trip well.
The witness was promptly carried
through the crowd. with ponce
clearing the way, and placed on
he'd in the courtroom. a doctor
stood at her head and nurse by her
side as she began her testimony. Her
voice was feeble as she answered the
snecial prosecutors first questions,
h,,t as the examination progressed
she apparently grew stronger and
the tones of her voice were much
louder. At intervals the physician,
Or Charles Snyder, felt her pulse
and the nurse. Miss Beatrice Lock-
wood. administered nourishment in
the form of milk, a glass tube being
used
Most of the testimony was given
as Mrs. Gibson lay fiat on her back.
She was elevated slightly to take
the oath, again to look at the de-
PENDANTS as she made her identifi-
cation, and raised herself on her ell
bow to shout her declaration of
truthfulness
Her stay on the witness bed end
ed. she was quickly taken from the
courtroom, placed in an ambulance,
and the return journey to Jersey
City began. The ambulance left at
a slightly faster pace than marked
it's arrival.
With the high spot of the drama
of the states case reached with the
presentation of Mrs. Gibson. the
prosecution will be closed tomorrow,
Special Prosecutors Alexander