Evening star., 1938-05-24

OcCOWS HLOtHST. aS StOTy 70 pO.
lice was that she held the pistol as
he pulled the trigger. and that after
she begged him not to kill himself
he lost courage. litter the girl died
in his arms he. called police.
Parents OF the slain girl are among
the youths strongest defenders.
BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, May 24.-Pale and
solemn, l6-year-old Donald Carroll
jr., today escaped possible death in
the electric chair when the State
called for fair and Just verdict
without meaning the death penalty,
in connection with the staying Of his
stenoNapher sweetheart, Charlotte
Mathiesen, 10.
Prosecutor Joseph v. Loscalzo. in
. 12-minute opening address, told the
all-male jury:
II realize you men are weighed
down by sympathy, and frankly say
to you I am Of the same feeling"
The mother OF the slain girl, sit
ting with Donald's parents in the
courtroom, wept as Mr.. Loscalzo re-
viewed the events OF the night Of
March "a, when he said Donald shot
his sweetheart with his fathers Army
revolver in an unfulfllled suicide pact
because we decided death was the
only way out for us both"
They decided on the death pact, Mr..
Loscalzo said, when they discovered
that Charlotte was pregnant and they
were caught up in despair at their
poverty and youth.
Donald dropped in his chair. lean
ing his head against his hands and
staring at the floor as the prosecutor
after expressing sympathy, continued
in a sterner voice:
The people expect to prove that
the defendant willfully, feloniously
and with forethought shot his sweet
heart"
Mr.. Loscalzo said he assumed from
questions asked by Defense Attorney
Sydney Rosenthal during the selection
Of jurors that the defense would base
its case on temporary insanity, love
insanity or emotional insanity"
In conclusion, he urged the jury to
bring in a verdict without regard to
how it might harm or hurt any one"
Had Suicide Complex.
Defense Attorney Rosenthal, in his
opening address, accused the prose-
cutor Of carefully Withholding" facts
about the tragedy and accused the
dead girl of suicide complex"
We are going to show you that this
girls mind was continually on suicide .
he said.
Her favorite opera was the tragic
Tristan and Isolde her favorite play
was the suicide -climaxed Romeo and
Juliet and she often remarked what
beautiful thing 1t was for lovers to
die together
Early in March, he said. the Mat
thiesen girl talked" Donald into go
ing with her to see the moving pic
ture "Mayerling," with a love suicide
ending in which the prince shoots the
sweetheart he cannot marry.
She told him the only way out Of
their predicament was to jump out
Of a window or under subway train,
and he argued her out of it, telling
her it was a horrible thing to do, y
Mr.. Rosenthal went on.
The defense attorney said that 1t
was in "a stupor or insane delusion
that the young lovers determined to
die.
Tears Stream Down Cheek.
Tears streamed down Donald's
cheeks as Rosenthal read lines from
Charlotte's farewell note to ner
mother. in which the girl said that
she was going to die. mot that I love
you less, but love Donald more"
He ninched when the State dis
played Charlotte's blood stained clothes
and the scarlet-splashed corsage OF
lilies of the valley which Donald
bought for her when they decided to
die together.
Both attorneys agreed that the girl
was holding the gun barrel with one
hand when Donald pressed the trigger
to fire the single shot that climaxed the
tragedy.
Gray-haired Mrs. Fred Matthiesen,
mother of the slain girl. controlled her
sobs long enough to take the stand and
testify that she had identified the body
Of her daughter at the morgue.