Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-15
HALL-MILLS TRIAL
Continued from Page One)

three bailiffs, went to Raritan today
to attend the funeral of q brother,
who died Friday. The other jurors
remained in seclusion most of the
day.
The three defendants, Mrs Francis
Stevens Hall and her brothers, Henry
and Willie Stevens have apparently
maintained their mental and physical
equilibrium, as they have sat for nine
days and heard themselves charged
| with the murder of Mrs. Mills
The state has been charged by the
defense with proceeding on a catch
as-catch-can basis. Alexander Snmp-
son, special prosecutor. has defended
| his more or less haphazard presenta :
ton on the ground that his plans
/ have been disarranged by the illness
Of the states star witness, and by
other circumstances.
As the case has been presented
thus far, it could not have been pro-
/ duced by even the most expert stage
carpenters. The action has fitted
without even an intermission, from
Derussey's Lane to Broadway, from
the Hall home in New Brunswick to
q vacation place in Maine, has been
but a step and the highway between
with its parked and moving automo-
biles on the night of September IA,
1922, has often been part of the
scenery.
The case has been amply illustrate
ed. Photographs have been introduce
ed of the slain couple, the place where
the bodies We're found. exterior and
interior views of the church, where
Mr.. Hall was rector and Mrs. Mills.
choir singer, and a dozen copies of
finserprint photographs.
Other exhibits include calling
card on which the state claims fin
gerprint of Willie Stevens appears,
and letters from the minister to the
soprano and a diary in the hand
! writing of Hall found with the let
ters in Mrs. Mills home after her
death. A razor has also been shown
two witnesses but its status remains
somewhat vague.
If the prosecution reaches the end
of its availa BILE witnesses, believed
| likely in the next day or two. and
Mrs. Gibson is still unable to be
| present for questioning, it was said
here today that the state will have
several alternatives. The court
might be asked to grant an adjourn
meme pending the recovery of the
witness, or a nolle PROSE- could be
entered in the present case with an
! other indictment leaving an avenue
| open to another trial.
Members of defense council insist
that it is their wish that Mrs. Glib
| son be placed on the witness stand,
promising a very searching cross
examination TO follow her direct
testimony, which the states repre-
sentative has said will be brief.
A states witness whose testimony
| was regarded as decidedly favorable
to the defense was Louis Giest Riehl,
also maid in the Hall home, who
told of leaving Mrs. Hall playing
| solitaire in the library the night of
! the killing, when the maid retired
! between 8 and 10 o'clock.
! The state has stressed the pres
| ence of parked automobiles, includ-
| ing one of a make owned by Mr..
Hall on road near Derussey's Lane
on the night of September II. 1t
| was shown that when the minister
| left his home for the last time, in
| the early evening, he walked
| Crowds fiocking to the scene of
| the crime now a New Brunswick
| real estate development were
thwarted today by state police, who
kept the curious at a distance, The
crab apple tree. figuring largely in
| court as identifying the spot where
| the bodies were found, disappeared
| long ago in rush of souvenir
| hunters.