The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-07-16
Story Of Staying OF Wife's
Suitor Is ToldBy Dentist
Temporary Insanity
Claimed By Defense
In Murder Trial

ALLEGAN, Mich. H-"There l
was standing in room. saw my
wife in shorts. There was Jules
Lack. There was a gun going off.
He was all bloody. There were
people screaming. -. ] guess I
shot him. / don't remember. /
must have"
Thus in terse, vivid sentences
DR.. Kenneth B. Small, 81, a De-
troit dentist, described yesterday
before a packed courtroom all ne
remembered of the May 20 shoot
ing of his wife's sutton.
DIR. Small claims he was tenn
porarily insane when Lack, IS,
New York Observation-Disclosures,
was shot and killed in q south
western Michigan rendezvous with
Mrs. Edith Small. He was expect
ed to take the stand again today
at his first-degree murder trial.
Tell OF Scene
The dentist, his voice quavering
with emotion, described the scene
when his wife, returning from q
vacation alone in Florida, told Of
meeting Lack and asked for . di-
vorce.
DR.. Small said: -.
81 asked her if this man had SAID
he loved her.
"She said she did not know but
she loved him.
"'He has two kids nicer than
ours she told me.
81 said: DO you mean to sit
there and tell me another mans
children are dearer to you than
your own?'
"She said again that they were
nicer than our children"
Mrs. Small, 80, a dark-eyed bru-
nette, is the mother of three young
sons.
DIR. Small said his wife, who
left the courtroom while he was
on the stand, also told him:
"You don't know how to live. !
want to live big now"
Shooting Told
The dentist told of tracing his
wife to the plush summer home
near Douglas, Mich, where the
shooting occurred, through phone
cali she made home. She had said
she planned to spend the ill-starred
Memorial Day weekend with n |
former college roommate in Chi
cago.
DR.. Small told of tracing the
call to Fennville, Mich, and 81
started to drive. There was rain
and storm that night. / had to see
for myself if she was with Lack.
-. I prayed she wouldn't be
there. -. It was like you get
some place but don't know how
you get there, or what way you
went or how many red lights you
went through"
The dentists stay on the stand
was interrupted late in the day
when Defense Atty. Leo Hoffman
called the first of three psychia-
trists who win testify for the de-
tense.
Doctor Testifiss
DR.. Harry August, chairman of
the Michigan Mental Health Com
mission, said DR.. Small was in
sane when he killed Lack.
Hoffman asked him when did the
dentist become insane to the point
Of being unable to restrain i'm
pulses?"
sit was when he received the
phone call from Fennville," DR..
August said. "The mental turmoil
had mounted to the point where
his restraint was nullified. He was
unable to restrain himself when he
saw his wife and Lack together"
Before he left the stand. DR..
Small told Of trying to commit
suicide ''but I couldn't pull the
trigger. I thought Of the boys. I
wanted them to grow up to know
their dad"
Hoffman introduced four suicide
notes which he claimed DR.. Small
had written after his wife had
asked for the divorce. One to Mrs.
Small said, 81 wish you had given
me a second chance. -. I have
no weapons and M defensa and