Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 272, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1911 — POOLE JURY SECURED; STATE OPENS ITS CASE. [ARTICLE]

POOLE JURY SECURED; STATE OPENS ITS CASE.

Prosecutor Stated What He Proposes to Prove—Adjournment Taken Until This Morning. The jury was selected at Lafayette in the Poole murder case Thursday noon. The jurymen are: ' Irwin S. Peters, Pierre Kenny, Joh.i Cunningham, W. A., Coyner, W. S. Alexander, J. P. DeLong, Harry Gladden, George A. Wray, Aaron Rice, W. W. Campbell, William Smith George W. Bringham. It required three days and a half to secure the jury and during that time upward of a hundred men were examined. - ’ '

It was then after 12 o'clock and the court excused the jury until 1 o’clock when the prosecution made its opening statement. The attorneys for sta.e and defense agreed on the procedure on the ease, and Attorney Barce, for the defense, said he would reserve his opening statement until the state had presented its case. The defense will then begin introducing its evidence in an effort to show that Poole was of unsound mind when he killed Kemper, and also, that the killing was accidental. Poole will make a double defense. The state will then Introduce evidence to rebut the claim of insanity and accident, and then will follow the closing chapters of the case. Just how long it will last can not be foretold, but it may require several weeks to get all the testimony in.

In his opening statement Attorney Hall concisely summarized the state’s case. He began talking at 1 o'clock and completed his address to the jury at 2, taking just an hour for bis talk. Mr. Hall began by reading the indictment charging Poole with the murder of Joe Kemper, on December 12, 1909. He described Kemper as a .young German of mild disposition who first came to the Poole farm in the spring of 1907, and worked for .a few months, quitting because Poole would not pay him what he owed him. In 1908 Kemper returned, he said, to get his money and again Poole put him off. In the fall of 1909 Kemper came back a third time to get his money, and was induced to go to work again. It was this step that cost him his life. Attorney Hall then related the happenings of December 12, 1909, when Kemper met his tragic death. He told of the events of that day, of the fact that Poole and Kemper were alone at the term most of the day and of Emory’s arrival there in the afternoon and finding blood spots on the walls and kitchen furniture and indications of the kitchen wall paper and the floor having been scrubbed. Poole, said Mr. Hall, explained to his sod, Emory, and to Mrs. Poole that Kemper bad gone to Fowler and taken a train to Chicago. The next day was hog butchering day at the Poole term. Boon after Mrs. Poole and Grace discovered

the blood spots In the bouse, Mr. Hall told of the son Emory’s suspicions that murder had been done and of the unsuccessful attempt to find Kemper b body in March, 1911, when Poole was arrested and later released. He also told of the discovery by Edgar Mills, a farm hand employed by Poole, of a grave having been dug in the corn field. Then attorney Hall told of the digging up of Kemper's body on May 2, 1911, the son first discovering the grave and calling on the authorities to assist him in exhuming the body. He also told of Poole’s arrest and of bis conduct thereafter.

Mr. Hall took up the theory of insanity and said that the state would prove conclusively that Poole was sane when the crime was committed, that he was a "Shrewd and cunning trader and had a good head for business. He had a bad temper, Mr. Hall said. The counsel tor the state said the state would show that the day before Poole killed Kemper he drew a check and performed other acts that showed him of sound mind. In clos-

ing he asked the jury to give all the evidence careful consideration. When Mr. Hall concluded the court asked the state if any witnesses were readv, and the state asked the court to allow them until Friday morning to begin introducing evidence. Court was then adjourned until 10 o’clock Friday morning at which time the stat/' put Its first witness on the stand.