Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1911 — STATE WRING STRONG CASE AGAINST POOLE [ARTICLE]

STATE WRING STRONG CASE AGAINST POOLE

Expert Witnesses Hold that-Gun Must Have Been Within Two Feet of Head When Discharged.

murdef despite all the defense, both scientific men held to their theories that the shotgun I which inflicted the wound in the skull displayed in court, supposed to be-that of Joseph Kemper, was held very close the head when discharged. Dr t Wetherill was on the stand again all Thursday morning, being cross examined- by the defense, which subjected him to exhausive questioning. Many books considered as authorities on medical jurisprudence were produced by the defense in an effort to make Dr. Wetherill modify his testimony, but to no avail. The physician went Into detail to explain his reasons for believing that the skull was injured by the load of shot being fired very, close to it ‘ Dr. Cook’s testimony, given in ‘tfiA afternoon, was practically the same that of Dr. WetheriH, except' tiiat he herd that when the shot, was fired the mpzzle of the gun was tower than the head, because the charge of ‘shot took an upward course and lodged over the left eye.*Dr. Cook’s direct and cross examination consumed stand until half past twelve a half hour later than the usual time. Just before the recess a hypothetical question was asked by the defense that revealed tile fact that the defense will endeavor to convince the jury that IPoole killed Kemper accidentally in the barn yard at the Poole farm. Mr Barce asked Dr. Wetherlll if, from the nature of the wound in the skull. lt would not be possible to inflict it by the accidental discharge Of a shotgun held on the arm of a man climbing over a fence three feet nine inches high; the victini' Heing a few feet ahead. The witness stated that this might be possible if the victim’s head were tipped back parallel to the direction the charge took in crashing through the head, as tkere was no indication that the shot took an upward course through the sknll: In his question Mr. Barce assumed that there were two men out hunting rabbits and that the gun had no trigger guard on it As he did not know the exact height of the fence Mr. Bared said teat he would call on Dr. Wetherill as a witness later and ask him the hypothetical question again. All records for attendance since the beginning of the Poole trial a week ago Monday were broken Thursday. At both the morning and afternoon sessions the court room was jammed, hundreds of men and women standing through the long proceedings. Even in the corridor outside of the circuit court room many people waited, now and then getting a view of the inside. The large majority of thq spectators are women, many of whom gfe attending every session. When the court opened at .10 ofelock Thursday morning Mr. Barce proceeded with' the cross examination ot Dr. Wetherill. He asked the witness If it Was possible' for him to approxiIt u IKI ♦ ♦ n fJTsL • ’ '' * I.' JU’S w QIuCiIII uiAt tuA iioio was

tag room at the Poole farm, which Emory Poole described as being round, and said that if the spots were round they must have struck perpendicular to‘the wall. The witness said that in his experience he always found that blood coagulated instantaneously whether in- warm or cold weather and that he considered his experience with such matters as valuable as that of the authorities the defense quoted. Dr. Wetherill was then questioned; by Mr. Barce about the blood stains which Mrs. Lewis testified to seeing on the floor of the Poole dining room a few months after Kemper disappeared. He was asked if water mixed with coagulated blood would not i spread the blood around much the J same as unadulterated blood and ans- | wered that the coloring matter of the blood would be spread and would give an -appearance of a blood stain. Tbs detense indicated ill its questioning that Poole - may claim that the stains on the dining room floor came from washing the body after it was carried into the house. With a crowd: that'far outnumbered any that had been there before, the trial was continued at 1:30 o’clock. Every seat and every available foot of standing room was occupied in the court room, and outside the door the jam of people reached to the elevator. ’■■■’ Dr. Arthur LeSage. corOnef df Benton county, was the first withess calle? by the state in the afternoon. He said that he was called* to the Foofe farm on May 2 and when he gbt there he found the partly dug grave. At the south end of it rested part of a human sjrall, he said. He examined the skull then. He identified the skull in front of him as the fine he found at the farm and tbld of the condition of the skull He then told of finding the body about four inches below Where the skull was found. He testified to the mutilation of the corpse. Dr. CeSage said that he telephoned for a rig, put the corpse ta a wooden box and took it to Knickerbocker’s undertaking parlors at Fowler. At this point the crowd outside the doors got beyond the bailiff’s control and tried to push its way into the court room. Judge DeHart ordered rhe sheriff to put some one in charge of Poole and quiet the crowd. Anyone raising a disturbance the court ordered arrested. Quiet was soon restored.

The witness then testified to wiring the skull together and said that it was in the condition he left it after wiring. The body, he said, was taken up bn May 11 nnd he told of placing the lower limbs, the left arm and the stull In boiling water and of scraping the meat off of them. The body was then replaced In the caqket and buried On May 11, he said, they found a little earth in skull and with a knife picked out everything they couht Over the left eye, Dr. LeSage said, he found eighteen shot He then turned the parte over to Mr. Knickerbocker and saw him put then In a box. He testified that the fractures in the skull and bones were air old breaks. Mr. Barce started to read to the witness from a book of medical jurisprudence when Mr. Hall objected, saying that he hadn't qualified the coroner as an expert. The court overruled the objection and the defense read a paragraph relating to the difficulty of ascertaining the age of a corpse. The State objected and the court sustained the objection. Mr. Barce read another passage

shot marks and to cause the many fractures. He explained the two forces, that of the missile and the explosion, necessary to make the<rac ; tures. The head must have been lower j said, to damage the ekull as it is damaged. He said that if spots were found on the wall, it was probably portions ot brain tissues thrown by the force of the explosion. The brain would be disintegrated by such an (Explosion, he said, and stained and saturated with bipod, as the brain is ft-eely supplied with blood. Dr. Cook said that if a blood spot a foot and a half long and half a foot wide was found on the floor and such blood had come from a wound such 'as that the skull showed, the wound would have to be' made at the spot where the blood wap found. He said that if the spot, which was dark brown, was scrubbedd, it would return to the natural red of the blood. Louis E. Lewis, of Fowler, a farmer, was the next witness called by the state. He testified that he had known Poole about twenty years. stated that after Poole’s first arrest in March Poole-asked him if he thought he was sane and the witness answered him in the affirmative. He asked Lewis if he thought he had killed anyone, and Lewis said he hoofed not The witness stated that he had a conversation with Poole concerning Joe Kemper, and that he said that he didn’t know the man. Poole told him that he had been informed that Lewis had accused Mm of wearing Kemper s clothing, and he denied the accusation. William Baismore, of Fulton county, who formerly lived near the Poole j farm, was next called by the state. On December 12, IfiOfl, fie stated that he went to the Poole farm with Emory | in the evening and stayed over night I The witness Said that on December 13 he helped Poole butcher hogs. They finished with the hogs about 1 o’clock, he said, and after dinner they cut them up and the meat was taken into the house by himself, but not any into the dining room. He sald that' there was. no blood dripping from the meat when he carried it in. The witness stated that he did not get any blood on the walls of the dining room or on the kitchen. Balsmore stated that Poole’s little son Russell carried a, few small pieces of the meat into the house.

The witness stated that he walked home about 4 o’clock that Monday afternoon. The defense asked him If he was a personal friend of Emory Poole and he said that he was. He asked if Emory made any complaint to him that night, the state objected and was sustained. During the cross examination the witness admitted that his memory was vague as to many things he had testified to. It was then ten minutes of five o’clock and court adjourned until 10 o’clock Friday morning.