New Britain herald., 1930-04-01
Sorcery Now Record

buHalo, N. 1., April l P}-Ihe sorcery and evil spells brewed by the witches of vanishing race to- day had become only cold legal evil dence prepared for a jury of 12 business men and Erie county farm CTS trying an Indian woman for murder.
 The mysticism that led old Nancy Bowen to the graves of tribesmen in an Indian reservation burying ground in the black of November night to bury dolls to the dead" bore 6 page number in the thick volume of testimony entitled "The Case of the People Against Lila Jimerson, Defendant
 The F jurors came to the county court today prepared 10 decide whether the Indian Lila Emerson had desired Henri Marchand for the white husband to which she aspired, and, so desiring, had brought about the death of his wife that she might fulfill her ambition.
 The jurors were not directly con- 
 witch In Buffalo' which the state said Lila had implanted in the su- perstitious mind of her tribeswom- an, withered old Nancy Bowen, by the use of fictitiously signed letters. . They were concerned mainly with the question of whether Lila con ceived and wrote those letters. She is charged with conspiracy to mur- der Mrs. Marchand. Nancy, by her own statement on the witness stand, killed the little French woman.
 Trial Nearly Over
 The jury awaited only the brief summations of defense and prescott ton and the charge of Judge F, Bret Thorn before beginning their deliberation of the guilt of Lila Jimerson, when the case halted.
 Behind this summation of the case lay record strange in the annals of modern American Jurisprudence Tn mid-afternoon of March 6 Gothide Marchand,a mother of five children and the wife of an artist famous for his Indian museum groups, was found dead in her home by her F year old son, Henri, ir Her head had been battered witf a. heavy weapon. The direct cause of death, coroner found, was suf. location caused by wad of chloro formed paper crammed into hcl throat.
 The Buffalo police investigated and arrested in their home on the Cattaraugus reservation, south O the city, Lila Jim erson, S5 year ol( consumptive Indian, and Nanc! Bowen, wrinkled and copper skin ned Cayuga. They procured state ments from both women; that mad, by Nancy admitted she had slain ; woman known to her as Clotild; Brown, a witch who had caused tn death, by sorcery, of Nancy's hus band, Sassafras Charlie Bowen Both women were charged witl murder. first degree, and the hus band of the victim, Henry Mar chand, held as a material witness
 State Moves Swiftly
 Moving swiftly, the state placed Lila on trial t3 days after thu death of Mrs. Marchand. The prose cutor. District Attorney Guy B Moore, placed in evidence letter written Nancy, telling her of tn power of the witch in Buffalo ant advising her, even instructing in dc tail, how she should kill this witch The letters were signed Mrs. Doo ley" Moore told the jury there ex isted marked similarity betweer the Mrs. Doolcy" letters and let ters written by Lila to Henri Mar chand and to verify his contention placed several Of the latter in cvi dence.
 The motive for Lila's rarticipa tion in the murder. the district at torney said, was simple. Narchand to induce her to pose for his worl as sculptor, the district attorne contended had become ntimat with the Indian woman; the inti macy suggested and finally induce Lila to realize an ambition to rls above the social level of her peopl and become the wife Of 2 white ma of prominence. One obstacle stoo in her way, the prosecution brough out, the obstacle Of Ciothi1de Mar chand, the artists wife, and Iil plotted, successfully the state dc clared, to rid herself of this barrie to her ambition.
 Niarchand On stand
 Marchand himself was brought { the witness stand, once by the pros ecutlon and once by the defense II freely admitted the intimacy wit the Indian woman, asserting it ha it's sourse in two reasons, first, th professional necessity" Of gcttiu her to pose for him: second. th feeling of pity and compassion he illness aroused in him. He told, u der the probing of the attorneys, ( other affairs of a similar natur dating back 10 his student days the Latin quarter of Paris.
 With the motive established. th prosecutor marshalled before tn jury a long string of witnesses an from them brought an account , what he declared was the Commu sion Of the crime by the consuml tive Lila and the ancient Nancy.
 He depicted. through the wi nesses, the two women coming Buffalo first on February - to k' Clothildc Marchand, but finding q youngest boy home ill, their Tc;u to the reservation. On the mornI of March 6, his witnesses sto