Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 296, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1911 — MAY NOT GO TO JURY UNTIL NEXT MONDAY. [ARTICLE]

MAY NOT GO TO JURY UNTIL NEXT MONDAY.

; > Progress of Poole Argument Not as Rgpld as Has Been Eepected— Rjrrr Wan Eloquent Special to The Republican. Lafayette, Ind., Dec. 16th—Attorney Grant Hall had not completed his closing argument for the state at noon today, and Judge .DeHart adjourned until Monday morning at 10 o’clock tfhen he wip again take up the channel of his argument He spent all this mornipg talking against the defense’s theory of insanity and made a strong argument for the state. If he is able to finish by Monday noon, as he expects, then Judge DeHart will give his instructions to the jury in the afternoon and the jury will retire, for the purpose of reaching an agreement immediately. Elmore Barce, the attorney who is defending John W. Poole, occupied all of Friday morning in completing the argument he began the day before. Thus, Attorney Grant Hall, for the state, did not begin his closing argument until the noon recess Friday. In making bis argument, Attorney Barce talked seven hours and closed with a very eloquent appeal. He brought all his ability as an orator to the fore and his word painting was brilliant and powerful. He asked the jury to deal with John Poole in a spirit of Christianity, and said: “The state calls for vengeaiyle, but I call for pity. I rest this/ case now in your hands. Under the guidance of Clod’s eternal providence we are fast reaching that stage in our civilization when truth And justice shall prevail and passion and "prejudice lie dead. Let the spirit of the Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary direct you in your verdict.” Grant Hall began his argument with the statement that. Kemper was a good natured, ignorant German, who tolerated Poole’s ill treatment and deception. He said that the money Poole owed Kemper and the $22 Kem per had on his person when he was killed constituted the motive for the murder. Mr. Hall described vividly his theory of how Kemper was killed. He said that on the fatal Sunday afternoon Poole and Kemper were sitting in the dining room alone, all the other members of the family being art ay from the farm. Kemper, he said, was probably preparing to leave Pooles employment and was sitting at the writing desk figuring what was owing tp him. Poole, grasping the psychological slipped out of the room to.the hallway, got the shotgun and stole quietly back into the room, up behind the unsuspecting Kemper, leveled the gun at his bead and fired, foully murdering him. Mr. Hall took up the evidence of the defense’s expert witnesses and picked fiaws in it to the testimony of the state’s medical experts. Against the defense’s theory that Poole carried Kemper into the house after he shot him, and washed the head, leaving the blood stains on'the floor, Mr. Hall said to wash it, he would have had to turn the body on its chest and that in that case the water would have run down both sides of the head and the spot on the floor would not have been uniform and solid. “The defense says that Poole went to meet his son on that fatal day,” Mr. Hall said, "to tell him of the accidental shooting, but that Emory rebuked him. Poole went to meet his son and to follow him to see if he would discover anything. If he had, he would probably be today occupying the grave with Joe Kemper, and no one would have discovered them.” M!r. Hall went over many other points in the case,‘denying the evidence and giving his proofs. At the afternoon session the crowd was so great that the doors of the court room were dosed. Mr. Hall did not complete his argument and resumed agpln this Saturday morning. It was thought probable that the court would adjourn until Monday after Mr. Hall had. completed, and that the court would give its instructions to the jury at that time.