Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-15
SHOOK KEEPS CALM
IN SHADOW.OF CHAIR.
Doomed Slayer Is Diftident
as Counsel Fights to Beat
Death Sentence.

COLUMBUS, ONO, august 10y
James H. Shook, former Ohio State
University professor ley at ease in
county Jail today awaiting either a SEN
tence OF death In Common Pleas Court
Monday for the murder of Theora Xix,
or favorable ruling on q motion for
new trial.
As the pandemonhim following the
jury's verdict of first degree murder
broke out yesterday afternoon, Trial
Judge Henry l.. Scarlet tentatively set
Monday morning ss the date for a hear
ing on a motion for new trial. If 1t
Is denied. he said he would sentence
Shook Immediately.
Within FIVE days from date of sentence
Shook must be removed to murder
row" in the State penitentiary to await
electrocution. His. attorneys said they
would appeal in the event their motion
for q new trial Is denied.
Shook Ignores Verdict.
The future holds no fear for Shook
II his difiident attitude is to be taken
seriously.
In his cell in the county Jail last night,
six hours after the jury OF ii men and
one woman had found him guilty with
ont mercy, he complacently ignored the
verdict that carries with it the penalty
OF death in the electric chair.
Il never gave the punishment a
thought until you mentioned It," he said
to reporters.
And this expression of his mind was
borne out by the expression on his face,
which was stern and composed.
He was sprawled on cot in his cell
and a heavy blanket covered him. The
newspapermen interrupted his perusal
of a popular magazine. A little while
earlier he had eaten heartily and
amused himself with a game of soli-
tame, his jailers said.
Talks Less Freely In Cell.
But Shook did not talk as freely as
he did on a previous occasion when a
committee OF newspapermen obtained
an interview on the details of the kill
ing, which later was used against him
In the trail. He has left everything to
his attorneys.
Shook admitted that when he took
the witness stand and testified that he
remembered dealing only four hammer
blows on the head of Miss Hix during
the quarrel at q rife range last June
Is he had not told everything he knows.
There is more to the story he said.
But he chung to the assertion that he
remembers nothing about severing the
girls jugular vein, an act which he
once admitted in his alleged confession
and which furnished the foundation for
q charge of premeditated murder.
Twenty-eight minutes after the jury
were sent out with this denial, the
courts simple charge on the law. and
Prosecutor John j. Chester's impas-
stoned plea for conviction. they were
ready to announce their decision.
Their verdict was that DR.. Shook
had been found guilty as charged in the
indictment. His signed confession that
he rained hammer blows on the head
Of the young girl and severed her
jugular vein to put her out OF misery
had been believed.
Jury Disbelieves Defense.
His reputation Of the confession and
his witness stand narrative OF what
happened At the rife range on the
night of June IS had been discounted
and his plea Of self-defense and tenn
porary insanity had been discarded.
The lapse OF memory, which he de-
scribed to the Jurors when he told them
Miss Hix had attacked him, that he
struck her four times with hammer
from his automobile and regained his
senses to find that he had killed her,
apparently made no effect on the jury.
SHOCKS attorneys were displeased at
the suddenness OF the verdict, which
was reached after one ballot, and e. ..
Ricketts,. chief counsel. openly pro-
claimed that the defense had been en-
titled to longer elaboration.
The jury did not have time to go
into the testimony of this case, and 1
am sure that we will have no trouble
reversing the verdict" Ricketts, said.
History Of the Shook Case.
Two months ago yesterday the body
of Miss Xix, Ohio State University
miles northwest of Columbus, where
she had gone, the night before for her
last rendezvous with DR.. Shook.
The next day DR.. Shook was arrest
ed. He at once admitted he had car
ried on an Illicit love affair with the
girl for the last three years, but de-
MED he killed the girl until few days
later. when he signed a confession
necessitated by the chain Of circum-
stances which singled him out as the
only possible slayer.
He was tried for first degree murder,
the indictment alleging he deliberately
cut her jugular vein causing her death.
after beating her unconscious with a
hammer. The professor, who in the
meantime had been discharged from
the university. was quoted In his con-
fession as saying he cut the girls throat
because of sympathy as she lay moan
ing. He said they had quarreled when
Miss Xix warned him not to make his
intended visit that week end to his
mother at Lebanon. Ohio.
DR.. Shook, however, on trial. facing
death In the electric chair. denied the
confession, charging that 1t had been
wrung from him by force.
Drug Use Laid TO Girl.
Then, after q week In selecting jury.
Prosecutor Chester revealed that emo
tional excitsnts had been found In the
girls stomach and accused the pro-
lessor Of giving them to the girl Shook
denied this also and declared that the
girl not only took the narcotics herself
but fed them TO him.
Dr. Snook asserted on the witness
stand that Miss Xix experimental with
various drugs whose action she had
learned as ~ medical student. On this
ground his attorneys claimed the mar
cotics and relations with the girl had
unbalanced his mind and that he was
emotionally insane when he beat the
co.ed to death.
REPORT ON KING GEORGES