Evening star., 1937-05-26
HATCHET Staying
DEFENSE RESTS
Youth Denies Strikinq
Blows, but Admits Hold
ing Girls Mother.
3y the Associated Press

b the Associated Press
JERSEY CITY, N. j., May 2e.-The
defense rested today in the murder
trial Of Donald Wightman and Gladys
MacKnight with each of them accus-
ing the other Of striking the hatchet
blows which killed the 17-year- old
girls mother
The action came after long and
sharp cross-examination of 19-year-
old Wightman had ended without
shaking materially his story that
Gladys killed Mrs. Helen MacKnight
= while he held the woman's arms.
Gladys similarly had accused him
OF the actual Staying which she as
serted occurred as she struggled with
her mother for possession of a kitchen
knife after Mrs. MacKnight had sur
pr1sed the young couple in love-
making scene in the kitchen.
Unable to Explain Blows.
Donald told the jury and prosecutor
during cross-examination that he
couldn't explain why hatchet struck
the girls mother five times in the
same spot, but denied he held the
woman's head steady for the fatal
blows
The lanky, red-haired youth averted
his face from gruesome picture of
the slain woman's body and answered
loudly, mo. sir" to Prosecutor Daniel
T. ORegan's accusations of his part
In the crime.
The 19-year-old former choir singer
had contradicted the story told by his
oo-defendant, Gladys MacKnight, II,
and accused her of the actual hatchet
Staying of Mrs. Helen MacKnight
while she had testified he struck the
hatchet blows.
You didn't do anything to prevent
Gladys from striking her mother?'
the prosecutor asked.
mo, sir"
"You held her mother while the
blows were struck?"
"Yes. SIR
"And you held her still, so she
couldn't move, didn't you?"
mo, sir"
Gives Picture a Glance.
Then the picture was placed before
him and he was told to look at it.
He gave one glance, then turned
away
You heard the doctor testify about
that wound?"
"Yes, SIR
"You heard him say that that
wound was made by five hatchet
blows?'
"Yes, sir"
You must have held the head
steady so those five blows could be
delivered in one spot?"
; mo, sir, didn't"
How do you explain how those five
blows came to be struck in that one
spot if you didn't hold her still?"
II can't explain it"
Prosecutor Grows Harsh.
The prosecutors voice rose and grew
steadily harsher, as his cross-exami-
nation Of the accused youth pro-
gressed.
At one point, after Donald expressed
uncertainty over something that hap
pened, O'Regan shouted:
You're getting hay now, aren't
you? Everything's been clear up to
here. But it's getting too close now
too close to home.
mo SIR" Donald replied.
Donald testified the 17-year-old
girl persuaded him to take the blame
for the Staying and trusted to his Sin
ventive genius" to embroider tale of
"petting" party that led the mother
to attack them with a knife in her
Bayonne kitchen last July 81.
Girl Has Mocking Smile.
Gladys listened with a mocking
smile on her face as her counsel, r.
Lewis Kennedy, questioned Donald:
"You said Gladys snuggled up to
you in the side road and said 1t would
be nice-it would prove your love-if
you went back and took the blame?"
Il wouldn't say those were the ex-
act words, but that was the gist Of it."
You agreed to say that her mother
caught you petting and came at you
with the knife?"
"Yes, sir"
what was the whole agreement you
made-that you were petting when
her mother came at you?"
"No, sir, not all, but that was the
foundation Of It,"