The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-09-30

It was testified earlier in the trial that after the canoe capsiZed in Lake Singletary on the night of July 20, Mrs. Sherman screamed several times before sinking to her death.
 Buckley pictured "a man and a wife struggling, trying at least to save their own lives.'
 "THere she was screaming at the top of her voice. ne said. What a simple thing to reach out and sub merge those screams!" He maintained that Sherman's actions, both in the lake and after he reached shore, were consistent with those of man involved in a drowning accident. Recalling Sherman's actions at that time, Buckely said:
 'Is that the action of a man wht has just committed murder"'
 Buckley described how Sherman directed the search for his wife's body, and asked the jury to con- sidcr the fact that the defendant at the time was slumped over the boat, weeping and moaning
 "Why? because, gentlemen, he had just lost his wife-because he had just lost the mother of his two children"
 Ire lawyer attacked the methods used by state police to obtain the | 4OO-word confession which is the keystone of the governments case. Referring to the alleged statement i of a state trooper to Sherman that he had betler tell the truth be cause Lieutenant Mccarthy is your best friend" Buckley declared:
 "If that was said. there is no confession
 sherman was pictured as q home-loving man, q devoted hus- band and father, q good provider. and "a steady church-goers" who lived by the law of God.' In his closing argument. which followed that of Buckley, District Attorney owen A. Hoban said:
 "The commonwealth has no right to keep Newell P. sherman one minute longer than the end of this | trial unless your verdict makes this possible. You have heavy burden to bear, but valiant men have | borne It before you. "You must not let sympathy or any other generous motives sway your decision, because 1t will be q blow to the commonwealth of Massachusetts and 1t will do the 1 defendant no good. If you let prejudice sway your decision you will do the defend ant an irreparable harm and the commonwealth no good. "You must decide with your heads and not with your hearts. " Referring to the controversial confession, Hoban said:
 He (Sherman) said he did not murder his wife; that his confes- sion was wrung from him by po- lice. When man Is not under ar rest they Estate police) have no obligation to tell him that what he said would be used against him.
 'The defendant was attempting to throw discredit on the officers of the law.
 "This defense stands squarely on the testimony of Newell P. Sher- man and nobody else. All these witnesses contribute nothing to the defense. He is the only living soul who can testify what occurred on that night.
 There was another person who might have had a story to tell. but her lips are sealed in death, smothered in the midnight waters of Lake Singletary."
 At this point Mrs. William Fl. Dudley, mother of the dead woman wept.
 "one witness. that's all the de- fendant has. and that, himself Hoban continued.
 AS had Buckley before him, Ho- ban reviewed Sherman's life and described. step by steps the devel- opment of his clandestine romance with Esther.
 Recalling that Sherman's weekly wage in the machine shop was $23.6G, Hoban contended that money speE. on Esther should have gone to comfort his wife and baby"
 He deliberately broke the mar -s.~. vAWs that bA would love.