The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-29
Noxon Gives Own Version
By JOSEPH NOLAN

NOhweV kEebS StAn COEKGSpOn0entD
 Pittsfield, Mass, June % - (U. P0 - Standing on the witness stand, supported by two canes, At torney John F. Noxon, Jr., calmly related at his murder trial today how the defective infant son he is accused of electrocuting was killed accidentally"
 The socially prominent lawyer hobbled to the witness stand at the outset of today,s session and smil- ingly rejected Superior Judge Abra- ham E. Pinanski's suggestion that he sit in Q chair while testifying.
 There were 200 men and women In the Sweltering courtroom and a shiver of expectation ran through the audience as the tall, sun-tanned defendant began his own story in cultured, measured tones. Mrs. Margaret Noxon, mother of the 6-month-old victim of the al- legged murder, was absent from the courtroom.
 Under direct examination by At- torney Walter J. Donovan, Noxon explained that due to an attack of infantile paralysis, his left leg is virtually helpless and his right leg only 30 per cent normal.
 Beginning with his birth in Pitts field, NoXon, swiftly outlined his school days at Harvard; his World War I experience with the famous Rainbow Division in France, dur Ing which he was gassed, and the infantile paralysis attack suffered in 1922.
 The prosecution has contended that Baby Lawrence Noxon was mentally deficient and had tnsufd- cient muscular control to grasp the wire through which he rece1We6 the fatal shock in his pareuAp NodAs here last September 22.
 Much of Donovan's arly ques- tioning of Noxon related to this is- sue, the defense seeking to show that the baby had the necessary strength to move around.
 Asked to describe the baby's phys ique, Noxon testified:
 Normal
 "FIe seemed to me perfectly nor- nal and well up until last August. Mrs. Noxon didn't have anyone in the house to help her, 50 used to tend the baby and feed him and as- sist whenever I could"
 Noxon said the baby "grew in weight, in height, in activity and strength" and added:
 Lawrence could and did lift his head and move his arms"
 Asked whether the child had no- ton of his arms and hands, Noxon replied that during feelings he would have to hold the infants arms SO he would not push the food away.
 1T was very much disturbed" the defendant said, "when Dr. Hunt (the baby's physician) told me we should take the baby to a specialist in Boston. I asked him if there were anyone better in New York. and he said he didn't know of any, one. So we went to Boston"
 It was at that time that MT. and Mrs. Noxon learned that their baby never could lead a normal life.
 Noxon faced rigid cross-exam- ination by Dist. Atty. Charles R. Alberti who seeks the death penalty for his former Harvard claSsmate.
 Quick Arrest
 Arrested five days after his sons fatal shock, Noxon has been held in Berkshire County jail where he has conferred frequently with his coun- sel in the preparation of his case. It was the lawyer-defendant himself who made the decision to testify at the trial.
 The final opinions of expert witt neSses were written into the court records late yesterday with the tes- timony of stephen E. Whiting of Swampscott, former chairman of the National Safety Councils com mittee on low voltage study: Dr. Charles J. Umberger of New York. professor of chemistry at Pratt In. stitute; and William J. Barrett of Adams, research director of the New England Lime Company. They substantiated Noxon's claim that the, baby died by becoming entan- gied accidentally in an electric trou- ble cord which the father was using to repair a radio.
 Since opening its case last Thurs. oay, the defense has examined eight witnesses and introduced three cx- ntDats: During lS days of prosecu- ton testimony, some 3I witnesses were examined and more than 10