Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1916 — State is Dealt Severe Blow In Orpet Case; Witness Lied. [ARTICLE]

State is Dealt Severe Blow In Orpet Case; Witness Lied.

Josephine iDavis, who was expected to be the star witness for the state in the Orpet murder trial at Waukegan, proved yesterday when she took the stand to be the star witness.for the defense. The girl’s testimony, which, is was believed, would mean the prison or gallows for Orpet, is new thought to go toward the freedom of the young collegian. Josephine Davis’s change of front v as a bolt from the blue to the state’s lawyers. They placed her on the stand in the expectation that she would clinch their case. They ber lic-ved that she would testify that Marion Lambert was happy and sunshiny up to her death, and that he had not only sent her a brown bottle but a white- capsule as well. Instead, she 111 -Uile them gasp with astonishment by denying everything essential that she had sworn to before the grand jury. She insisted that Marion was unhappy for several weeks before her death, indicating a suicide. She admitted that her previous statement that the capsule had come from Orpet was only her confusion and was prompted by spite. Miss Davis’s change of heart is not the only blow to the state, for State’s Attorney Dady received word that three witnesses at Madison would refuge to come to Waukegan to testis ’.