Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1919 — STATE SEEKS TO SHOW THAT NEW IS INSANE. [ARTICLE]

STATE SEEKS TO SHOW THAT NEW IS INSANE.

Los Angeles, CaL, Dec. 22. Efforts today to prove that Harry S. New, on trial charged with the murder of his fiancee, Freda Lesser, was insane and that Miss Lesser shortly before the alleged murder jn Topango canyon, near here, July 5, was despondent and expressed the wish to die, marked the opening of the case of the defense. As long agp as 1910 New was known to his associates as “nutty” New, according to a deposition read to the jury. The defense then read numerous depositions in an attempt to show New had been considered mentally unsound for many years. Most of these depositions were from residents of Indianapolis and Oklahoma City. Some of the statements recited that New had brooded considerably over “the unfortunate circumstances of his birth,” had a poor memory and showed a bad temper at times. Mrs. Laura Corder, of Oklahoma City, in her deposition, said New frequently told her he was the son of Senator Harry S. New, of Indiana, and did not have a fair chance in life because of prejudice against him on account of his alleged illegitimate birth. The defendants then was working as a street sweeper, it was said in the deposition. James W. Davenport, Theodore Taylor, Glenn D. Lloyd and Mrs. E. O. Cochran, were among Indianapolis residents who gave depositions as to New’s mental condition. Taylor, who served with New in the Indiana national guard, on the Mexican border in 1916,*. expressed the opinion that New was unsound •of mind because of his alleged sullenness' and because of his fondness for hunting and killing rattlesnakes.