The Omaha guide., 1946-08-03
Ross Processes
| owe For
Slain Wife
Says Not Acquainted
With Burnell .-..-.

WlUIl DUTIl0ll -
23-year-old Oklahoma born VIII
liam Ross who caused a furore on
the near Northside last Tuesday
night with the trench-knife slay-
ing Of his wife Matte Ross and
Levon Burnell at 1929 Franklin st.
now occupies a cell in the County
Jail awaiting his trial on first-de-
gree murder charges. The trial
will come up in the fall term Of
court.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS
STATEMENT
Thomas A. Walsh, deputy county
attorney, in a statement to the
Omaha Guide, said:
I'VE look upon this double
Staying of Matte Ross and Levon
Burnell by William Ross as a ra-
Their cold-blooded proposition. If
Ross and the defense insist upon
their present plea of Not Guilty Of
first-degree murder, the prosecu-
ton will ask for the death pen
atty.
Mr.. Walsh said that according
to witnesses and the information
he had available, Mrs. Matte Ross
was apparently a decent woman.
We have witnesses, atty. Walsh
said, to prove that Ross had pre-
viously beaten and mistreated both
his wife and three-year-old baby.
He said Ross was in violation Of
a court restraining order when he
entered the house. He said that
evidence showed that after Burn
ell dived out of an upstairs win
dow, Ross again pursued Burnell
and that there was evidence of a
terrific scuffle around the garage
and in the rear of 1929 Franklin
st. Burnell later having staggered
or crawled almost to Seward St.
where he died.
ROSS SHOTWELL, DEFENSE
ATTORNEY
Attorney Ross Shotwell, attorney
for the defense, in a statement to
the Omaha Guide said:
The defense plea for William
Ross will be The Unwritten Law
and his wrought up mental state
of mind. From my consultation
with him previously, as his attor-
ney, I am of the opinion that over-
towering grief put him in a
wrought UP state of mind. The fear
that his home was going to be
broken up; that some outside in
fluence was working to separate
him from his family. Ross had
given his family a regular allow
ance during the nearly three years
he spent in the army. Ross work.
ed hard to support his family be-
fore he entered the army and has
been working since his return. I
don't believe he can be classed as
the criminal-minded type. I'm go
ing to do everything within my
power to see that he gets a fair
deal in these proceedings. Circum-
stances surrounding and leading
up to these acts undoubtedly caus-
ed him to see red. I don't believe in
killings, and I believe they should
be stopped but circumstances such
as Ross experienced have often
caused. otherwise normal people
to lose their sense of mental bal
ance."
ROSS STATEMENT
When asked his reason for the
Sayings, Ross replied to report
ers:
II suppose I loved her too much.
No man in the world ever loved a
woman any more than I did my
wife.
Ross, quiet spoken, said he was
born in Oklahoma, coming to
Omaha in 1941. He said while in
the army he served in France and
Germany with the 1928 Engineers
which was attached to the Third
Army.
II asked permission to see my
wife just once more for the last
time before she is buried, but I
don't suppose I will get the chance
Ross seemed visibly disturbed
when I told him that she had been
buried Monday.
But they told me Tuesday, he
repeated twice.
I'VE were getting the house
fixed up. I had bought a washing
machine and a icebox. I wanted
to get a mechanical refrigerator,
but I didn't have enough money
at the time. I bought her a new
brown suit, for a present. lit cost
$751;.
When asked why he happened to
be at the house on the night Of
the Staying, he said he had per-
mission to get his personal belong
ings and that he had took some
of them earlier in the evening and
was to come back that night or
the first thing in the morning to
get the rest.
~ didn't know Burnell per-