New Britain herald., 1929-08-08
.DR. SHOOK BREAKS
 DOWN TELLING 0F
 SHAVING 0N STAND
Insists First Blow Was Struck in Self Defense When Girl
 Threatened Life
COURT ORDERS RECESS
 WHEN DEFENDANT SOBS

Denies He Meant to Kill Girl at
 Any Point During Fight-Tense
 Throng Drinks in Recital.
 Court Room, Columbus, O., Aug s P}-The steel nerve snapped and Dr. James H. Shook wept on the witness stand as he told the jury in his first degree murder trial to- day how he killed Theora Hix
 As he approached the telling of the fatal minute when he struck the first hammer blow on the girls head, the steady voice faltered, his eyes filled with tears and he cried openly.
 For more than full minute he sat there struggling for speech and dabbing at his eyes with his hand kerchief
 Claims Self Defense
 Dr. Shook testified that he struck the first blow to protect himself from an attack by the girl as they sat in his car parked on lonely rife range.
 The blow stopped her, he said, and she jumped from the car shouting: Damn you, I'll kill you, too."
 Her purse was in her hand, and the defendant, fighting for his life from the witness chair. declared he thought she had pistol in the purse and was leaving the car to shoot him.
 T was sure she was going to shoot me. My only thought was to stop her. I sprang after her and struck her again.
 'Dr. Shook, at any time that night when you struck the first, second or third blow. did you in- tend to kill Theora Hix?" Max Seyfert. defense attorney asked.
 Heavens no! She was a good friend of mine. I never thought she would do it.'' .......-..
 Breaks Down Again
 As he answered the question, Dr. Snook's voice broke again. He pull ed off his nose glasses and rested his head in his hand while he wiped the tears from his eyes.
 His voice was so low that attor- neys on both sides asked for the reply to be read by the court re- porter, and no one knew what it was until the reporters voice car- ried it to the tense court room.
 As the ex-professor sat shaken and trying to go on. Prosecutor John J. Chester. jr., suggested recess. which the court allowed. The story was the climax to Dr. Snook's account of his three-year love affair with the medic coed.
 It had carried them to the New York Central Rifle range where they sat in his parked car arguing because he intended to leave town to visit his mother at Lebanon. o.
 Says Girl Made Attack
 The girl attacked him. he said. cs the quarrel grew in intensity.
 T tried to shove her off and reached back to get something to hit her I got. hammer lying on the shelf back of the car seat. The first blow was light one.
 "She started to get out of the car, yelling Damn you. I'll kill you came to my senses and realized she was grabbing for her purse. I snatched at her shoulder but. she pulled away" .....
 Then I grabbed her by the face and drew hnr back into the car. She was still struggling. I hit her a second blow and she slid out of the car onto the ground. I hit her again but that blow was no heavier thrn the others,
 "I am sure I didn't hit her more than three times in tic car and once, after I got out. The last, ] remembered was when I was sitting on the running board holding my head in my hands.
 Recollection Gone "I have no recollection of how long a time passed after the first blow until I found myself sitting on the running board. I don't remem- Der thing after the fourth blow"
 There was not one word in the testimony about his cutting the girls throat. which he included in
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