Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1911 — CASE MAY CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL WEEKS [ARTICLE]

CASE MAY CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL WEEKS

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From the progress being made at present it is possible that the murder trial of John W. Poole may continue for several weeks. "The defense at Lafayette Wednesday introducing several witnesses. The testimony in the main was much like that of other witnesses but each brought o£it some new "stunt” that plainly shows the moral depravity of the defendant. If being a regular “«on-of-a-gun on wheels” constitutes insanity, then Poole was insane. Court adjourned at 3 o’clock Wednesday afternooivto permit all to get trains to their homes to spend Thanksgiving. The following account of Wednesday’s proceedings is taken from the Lafayette Morning Journal: At thp opening of court Wednesday, morning Judge Richart P. DeHart nounced that he was ready to hear the attorney’s arguments on the admissability of the records of Poole’s committment to the insane asylum. Mt. Barce, attorney for the defense, attempted to present the records ar evidence Tuesday, the state objected and the court said that he wouldn’t take the time then to discuss the question, so it was passed over. For forty minutes, while the jury was exteT e id the flnX rn judge r Mai? ruled the objection and the records were presented by the defense as eviThe state’s, principal objection was that the papers did not show the time when Poole was released from the Insane hospital on furlough and that they were not complete. Poole was in the hospital seven months the first time, and as he improved under the treatment, he was released on furlough. Suffering with recurrent mania, Poole was returned to the asylum in 1397. He was homicidal and was suffering with hallucinations and delusions. In 1899 he was again released on a furlough. After Judge DeHart made his ruling the jury was called to the box and the records were presented as evidence. Frank Wetzel, superintendent of the Union Mission of Lafayette, was the first witness called to

years, having worked for three months in 1887 or 1888 selling fruit <rees lor him in Newton county. At that time Poole was a good business man, he said. Wetzel conducts religious services in the jail each Sunday mining, and he said it was not until .Poole Was brought here and placed in jail .that he again daw him. Pool" told him then tbit he was getting along alright except that his head bothered Idin and that he was forgetful. ... 7 On one Sunday morning, he said, Poole participated in the jail services and made a talk which he stated that the ministers could accomplish more by using the new dispensation and teaching the doctrine of brotherly love. The witness stated tha\ he is .of the opinion that Poole is Insane. Mrs, Belle Fay, of Rensselaer, was next summoned to the stand by the defense. She stated -that she first, met Poole in 1905 at the home of her father. She and her husband were later tenants on Poole’s Jasper county farm near Rensselaer. While they were there Poole stayed at the farm much of the time. They were they.’ from March until July, 1905. The property, she said, was du a delupldated condition for . Poole never accomplished anything. He would start to do something, she stated,* and then before it was finished, he would switch over to something ‘telse. In a conversation with him, the wit ness testified, Poole told her that his wife was very delicate and that he wasn’t going home. Referring to his son Emory, he told her that “he is a lazy pup whose back always hurts him when tttbrq is any work to do.” He also spoke-.disparagingly wife, the witness said. When Poole was suffering from h<s frequent headaches, Mrs. Fay said, he would become livid and later extremely nervous and would curse the Fay baby. He continually swore at me .1 times, she said. Mrs. Fay said ’that she had driven some nails in the walls of the hbuse to hang clothes on and that Pbole would come in, tear out the nails and throw the clothet) on the floor. • He had a habit of pacing the floor terminates at a time, gesticulating and talking to himself, she said. In the fields he would stop suddenly, turn his head and listen in a terrified manner. Mrs. Fay stated that she and her husband left the farm just as soon as she was able to go after giving birth to a child.

One day, ahe said, Poole wanted dinner served at 10:30 o’clock in the morning and threatened Mr * Fay’s sister when she fold Mm to go out of doors and wait until she called him, when R was ready. Poole drew his knife and cried, “■? you, I’ll kill you” JC .-• “Hit him with the rolling pin if he eomes near you,” Mrs. Fay told her Meter. Poole didn’t go near. When the Fay baby was two days old, Poole came into the house and wanted to take it for a walk, becoming angry when he was refused permission. Mrs. Fay said that the day Poole threatened her sister they left the farm. The cross-examination by the -state was conducted by Mr. Hall and was in progress when the noon recess was tak<n. Mrs, Belle Fay was on the witness stand .for cross-examination by the state at the beginning of the afternoon session. She said that Boole was very profane and that her “man" didn’t swear like he did. Mrs. Fay said that Poole would swear at the diety. Mr. Hall questioned her on her testimony given in the morning and she was excused. Edward Fay; of Rensselaer, was then called to the stand by the defense. He said that he worked for Poole at the Jasper county farm in! 1905 about four iqonths. The witness said that Poole was\>n the farm most of that time, and that at times, he worked with him in the fields. He Skid that Poole would start at someMtfng, get part way through, and go do e |Mß*i. 1 thing else. Poole would plan the’ day’s work on the farm at night and tell a man to do more than OOpd be done in three days, the witness said. In tlie morning, he would. do something .different from what he had planned. i Poole was a very profane man, Fay said. He said that he told him that' he would have to quit swearing in' the house, and Poole said that he did not realize what he was saying, that he would stop, but he never did, the witness said. Poole couldn’t hold a conversation, he said, for he would ramble from one subject to another. / FUy said that he often came up on Poole and* he wcu’d be t liking to himself. Poole complained constantly of having headaches. At these times he would break out in a sweat; his hands would tremble and his eyes take on a glassy glare. The headaches cam * on him at irregular intervals. “Once we were plowing and Poole was scattering straw with a pitchfork. I was plowing with a little mare, which sank in quicksand and refused to get up. Poole beat her with the pitchfork, and stuck the prongs of the fork Into her hip until the blood -came. He beat the mare until he was exhausted,*’ the witness said. Fay said that he thought Poole’s mind unsound. The witness was then taken by the state for cross-examination and after a few minutes was excused. The next witness called by the defense was Chester Wickwire, of Fowler, a civil engineer and formerly county surveyor of Benton county. He stated that he knew John W. Poole, first meeting him * in 1902. He said that he was painting in Swanington at the time. Poole appeared to be nervous, the witness said, and he wandered around aimlessly. In the fall of 1905 he met Poole again and every fall since that when Poole delivered peaches. The witness said th •*. he had had several conversations with him and that he couldn’t carry the thread of the talk for long. He always had a peculiar expression in his eyes and was usually smiling. Poole was always careless in his dress. Dr. Whicker said. He thinks Poole to be of unsound ifilnd. The state cross-ex-amined the witness and he held to his former testimony. At 3 o’clock Judge DeHart adjourned court until 10 o’clock Friday moruing, giving one day for Thanksgiving — T .«.—.„a> George W. Marshall was down from Fair Oaks Thanksgiving day and reports that his household goods arc packed ready for shipment to Loxley, Ala., and that ho expected to get a car today. He purchased a far*u (Here and at£o took an option on other land. He thinks the opportuniti 3< there are even better than where Winifred Pullin located. He will be accompanied to Loxley by his broth-er-in-law, Wesley Wjeidel, who has bean living at Davenport. lowa. * Saturday will bo a. Mg bargain day what George Robinson has to sell.