The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-02-25
STATE BEGINS
ITS EVIDENCE
IN GIN TRIAL
Boys Ran When Told Girl
Was Dead, Opening
Witness Says.
COURTROOM is TANNED
Ten Farmers, Professional
Man and Contractor
Form Jury.


VALPARAISO, Ind. Feb. %. -
Story of the tragic night when Ar
lene braves died unfolded, climax
first, before jury Of ten farmers,
a contracting mason and profess
sional man. as trial Of Virgil Kirk
land for murder of the girl con-
tinued in Porter circuit court here
this morning.
The climax was the discovery that
Arlene, II, Gary high school girl
whom Kirkland and four COM
panions, the state declares, thought
only conscious from liquor or re-
peated attacks. had died.
It was related by DR.. r. o. Whar-
ton, to whose home the boys took
the girl when they found they could
not arouse her.
Kirkland and two companions
appeared at my home at 3 a. m,
Dr. Wharton said on the witness
stand They had the body of Miss
braves. They believed she was I'M
conscious. I told them she was
dead, and they ran away he deA
clared
Athlete to Take Stand
John Underwood, chief deputy
prosecutor, in outlining the states
case, told the jury the state will
present an eyewitness account Of
q gin party and said Richard
Sturtridge, former all-star athlete
at De Paw. would tell of fall
the defense claims was responsible
for the girls death.
we will show that Miss braves
body was found bruised and wound
ed, with a blood clot on the head.
This was not a skull fracture, and
was not responsible for her death.
Her death was due directly to the
treatment she received at the hands
Of Kirkland and his four compan-
ions Underwood said.
After Wharton, Chief Deputy
Coroner Chester S. Owen and Coro-
ner's Physician j. B. Burcharn, who
will present medical reports of their
examination of the body, waited to
testify.
Jury COmpleIeu puuuSHly
The jury which is to determine
whether Kirkland or youths jazz
age morals must bear responsibility
for the girls death following al
legged attacks at a gin party in Gary
Nov. 30, was completed suddenly
after counsel and the state bickered
day and a half with men drawn
from a venire of sixty-five talesmen
The jury is: Michael Cast, Val
paraiso, grocer; Roscoe Durham
farmer; James L. Riggs, farmer;
John A. Carlson, contracting ma
son: A. L. Upp farmer; John Cuson
farmer; Frank Graves, farmer;
John Trede, bachelor farmer; Ed
Esserman, farmer, and father OF
eleven children; George Pomeroy
farmer; Delhert Anderson. farmer
and Leo McNefT. farmer.
Before Judge Grant Crumpacker
swore the jury, each man in the box
had promised that, in their hearts
they held no prejudice against a
genertion of youth whose moral
standards fell piteously short OF
their own. Prohibition violations
will not influence them in deciding
whether Kirkland is guilty OF muir
der. they said. None of the jurors
is father of daughters.
Outlined Step by Step
Before the Jury was completed the
defense had exercised eight and the
prosecution five peremptory chal-
lenges.
In its opening argument and II
evidence elected from its witnesses
the state is attempting to show that
while a drinking party ragged inside
the home of David Thompson the
fateful night of Nov. 90, kirkland
took Miss braves to the front porch
and there attacked her, int1lctlne
injuries that were at least partly
responsible for her death.
Later the state, as the otherS
Thompson. Harry Shirk, Leon Stan
ford and Don Barton ARE tried, vii
attempt to show that they, too, as
saulted and beat her.
Countering this, the defense vii
show that the party was an orgy
of which the girls death was moi
an unreasonable result. Kirkland
ATTORNEYS, John Crumpacker, Oscar
Thiel and Barrett O'Hara, will say
and attempt TO prove that Mis-
braves fell, causing a cerebral hem
orrhage from which she died.
They will demand that the state
prove a definite act by kirkland
that was responsible for the girls
death.