Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1919 — WOMAN JURORS BALK AT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. [ARTICLE]

WOMAN JURORS BALK AT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 17. Harry New went into his second day of the trial for the murder of his sweetheart, Freda Lesser, visibly haggard and worn. Compelled to pass abreast of the entire crowd in the little court room, he avoided their stares and barely dropped his eyes as he passed his devoted mother, Mrs. Lillian Berger, who sits hour after hour staring ahead at her son. Thus far, Mrs. Lesser, mother of the murdered girl, has not appeared at the trial. It is believed she is conserving her feeble strength in order to appear at a crucial period in the trial when, by her dramatic entry, she will exert a subtle but powerful influence on the jury. Six women out of eight have been rejected by both sides because of conscientious objections to sitting at a trial which may mean the hanging of New. One woman caused a stir when she stated from the jury box that she believed capital punishment a crime equal to that of the murder of which New is accused. > Women who may dominate in the jury which will decide Harry New’s fate also dominated in numbers of spectators at the trial. Of the 300 who over-filled the court room, 185 were of the weaker sex. Attorney C. W. Claypool, of Indianapolis, known to have represented Mrs. Berger in her “paternity litigation with U. S. Senator New” thirty years ago, had not arrived here today. Rumors have been in circulation for a week that he was coming to Los Angeles quietly to represent the senator’s interests in the trial.