New Britain herald., 1930-03-18
Aged Indian Woman's Story Will Be Strongest Testimony Against
 Murder Defendant In Buffalo
State Alleges Young Red
 skin Friend of Famous
 Artist Was Brains of Plot to Dispose of His / Wife.

 Jimerson, S5-year-old Indian wom- an, will go on trial for murder to- morrow without having been able to enlist the aid of the United States government in her defense Inf1u- ential tribesmen of the Cattaraugus reservation appealed to Washington to lend legal support on the ground that the Indians are wards of the government, but word received from the white mans capital is to the ef- feet that the Senecas on the Cattar- augus reservation originally signed their treaties with the state of New York, and. unlike Indians in other states of the union, really are not wards of Uncle Sam. However, the state already has assigned the res ovation attorney to act with two other attorneys appointed by the court and assures that the rights of the dark-skinned maid will be fully respected and protected.
 Brains Behind Plot
 Miss Jimerson is supposed to have been the brains behind the hammer u ltoSCuy III NIilAl -hl .. Henri Marchand of Buffalo, wife of a renowned artist. was beaten to death by the utensil purchased in a store near the Marchand residence only few minutes before the mur- der was committed. Nancy Bowen, an elderly woman, who employed witchcraft with little success, is ac- nf fbn aptno1 Sl1, ,Finc Nanrvl case will remain dormant. However, until after disposition is made of that of Lila, whose love for Mar thand is said to have been back of the influence which the young wom- an yielded on the beshawlcd and ~rinkled Nancy.
 Nancy Bowen, according to Dis trict Attorney Guy B. Moore, will be the states star witness in the prose cution of Lila. She will tell, accord ing to the prosecution, how Lila moved around the planchette of the Ouija board and how Lila told her that the spirit of Nancy's dead hus- band. Chief Sassafras Charlie, de- creed that Mrs. Marchand was a witch and that she should be killed.
 Then the elderly Indian woman will tell, if the prosecutors plans do not go awry, how, after being in spired by Lila for nearly three months to do away with the white witch woman," she went to the home of Mrs. Marchand, struc,- tho artists wife on the heA. with a hammer, and, after she had fallen unconscious, stuffed a wad of paper saturated with chloroform, down the victims throat.
 To Tell of Weird Rites
 Not the most uninterestinG part of old Nancy's recital will be her de- scription of the weird rites at the graves of dead Indian warriors on the reservation, when dolls repre- senting the form of Mrs. Marchand were buried and the spirits were called upon to terminate the earthly career of the white witch" Nancy says she was of the belief that Mrs. Marchand was heXing her and that if she was not put out of the way at once, the old Indian woman would lose her own life. This belief. she contends, was substan- tiated by messages which came over the Ouija board.
 She could not read and she took Lila's word, she says, for the trans lations of Ouija's messages from the spirit of Sassafras Charlie.
 There is possibility that an insan- fly plea will be offered for Lila, If the defense alienist, who is eNamin- ing her at the present time, files report indicating she is mentally un- balanced. In that event the defense aienist will be placed on the stand. The defense attorneys are awaiting the alienist's formal report It was said today preliminary tests tend to show that Lila is sane.
 Marchand Changes Attitude
 In the meantime, Henri Marchand, husband of the slain woman, re- mains in jail, held as a witness. He said today he would make no effort to raise the s25,000 bail required for his release. Marchand was in a bet ter frame of mind than at any pre- Nious time since his incarceration and although he admitted intimate relations with Lila. denied he knew anything of the well-conceived plan to kill his wife. He also said he had abandoned his plan to commit sui eide at the first opportunity.
 The deer bot-fy can travel S15 miles an hour-almost the speed of . rifle bullet.