The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-03-11
JURY TO GET
TORCH CASE
BEFORE NIGHT
Closing Arguments Start in
Schroeder Trial for
Murder.
DEFENDANT is FLAYED
Prosecutor Bitter in His
Attack; Holmes Pounds
States Evidence.
Continued from Page one)

Continued from Page One)
bama killer That's the first tins
in Stark's life he ever got out Of
bed that early"
by God, it isn't safe to take a
mans life on circumstantial evil
dence," Holmes calculated, refer
ring to the states demand for the
death penalty.
Tonnes elaborated on irrelevancies
in the testimony of state witnesses.
and declared the state never had
proved the venue of the crime.
Holmes attacked the indictment as
''fiimsy."
1T was inherited by Wilson and
his staff. They can't be held re-
sponsible for the way the case was
handed to them he declared.
Recalling testimony of authorities
and their offer to take Schroeder
to the Illinois scene Of the alleged
accident. Holmes said:
They didn't dare take him there.
and they know it. They we're afraid
Tide be on them with a writ Of ha-
beaS corpus for taking this man out
of the state"
Spectators Get Laughs
Many points in Holmes argu-
mentS included stories that drew
laughter from spectators.
Defense cases ended abruptly be-
fore noon Tuesday. after only three
defense witnesses testified.
They we're his father, Ernest
Schroeder, II, of Clarion, Ia, and
two men who told of conditions of
bitches On the National road thirty
five miles west of Terre Haute.
where Schroeder says his hitch
hiker passenger died of a broken
neck as the car plunged into a
ditch.
The accused mans father testi-
fed as to the one-time insanity Of
his wife, Mrs. Laura King Schroed-
er, and Schroeder's grandmother.
Schroeder had filed a special plea
Of insanity to the grand jury in
dictment charging him with first
degree murder.
AIienists Tell Story
Alienists who testified were DR..
Charles D. HumeS and DR.. E. Rog-
erS Smith. Their examination was
made at city hospital, where
Schroeder was confined for the
weekend while his trial was re-
cessed.
Baker questioned the alienists on
the stand Tuesday afternoon.
Holmes spent a greater part of the
afternoon session ross-examining
them.
Holmes attempted to show that
Schroeder was temporarily insane
at the time of the purported ac-
cident and when he set fire to the
car and its cargo. Both physicians
declared that such insanity would
last for period of months or years.
They testified that Schroeder's
only complaint after being captured
was Of stomach trouble
No "MOmentary Insanity
Both DR.. Smith and DR.. Humes
declared there is no such thing as
momentary insanity, and that
Schroeder's story bore the stamp of
defense of himself rather than
being the remarks Of an insane
man."
Holmes tried to show that shock
and fright of the accident could
have produced state of temporary
insanity. Both alienists denied this.
Schroeder at the most was only
emotionally upset" DR.. Smith testi-
fed
If a person picked up a hitch
mixer and later ran his automobile
into a ditch after falling asleep I
suffering shock to himself, and on
awakening, found that his COM
panlon was dead, and then, labor
ing under an uncomfortable i'm
pulse, set fire to the automobile. and
burned the body of a man. would
you say he was responsible for his
acts?" Holmes asked DR.. Smith.
Of Sound Mind
Yes. would say he was was
the answer.
Would q person who had a his
tory OF insanity on his mater1a1
side be more susceptible to impulses
than one who had no ancestral
traces Of Insanity" Holmes asked
He would not" DR.. Smith re-
Sponded.
Would such an accident causa
mental delusions?"
Not necessarily. TIE person
might have other reasons for doing
what he did afterward."
"Unquestionably, this man was of
sound mind the day of this crime
DR.. Smith added. '-'e'
Dr. Humes testified that schroe-
morals :" o@AN