Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1899 — MRS. GEORGE IS FREE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MRS. GEORGE IS FREE.

I DISC'D RL At Canton, Ohio, tbe jury in the case of lira- George, charged with the murder of George D. Saxton, brother of Mrs. McKinley, brought in a verdict of acquittal at 10:43 o’clock Friday morning. The jury bad been out since 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon. Before the verdict WS» read the court cautioned the audience that there must be no demonstration, in spite* oi that order there were loud cheers as tbe clerk rend tbe verdict of “Not guilty.” A score •f women rushed to Mrs. George and •book her hand. Congratulations were also extended to her attorneys*. Mrs. George worked her way to the jury box* took each juryman by tbe band, and gave them a word and a nod of thanks. Then tbe court said she was discharged and released the jury. For ten years no,murder trial baa excited such intense interest throughout the country as that of Mrs. George. The high standing of the family to which tbe murdered man belonged, his own peculiar reputation in the community where he lived, tbe loyalty with which his weaknesses were shielded by his neighbors, and the visitation upon him of a punishment which many of his close friends believed to be juat sufficed to give the trial a melodramatic effect. Crowds were drawn to the conrt room of daily drawn to the modest court room of the little Ohio city for three weeks, and the circumstances centered the attention of all reading Americans upon the woman there battling for her life. Mrs. George passed through the hardest ordeal of the trial during the summing up

by James J. Grant,' assistant prosecutor. Mr. Grant was Saxton's lifelong friend. He went into tbe case because be deemed It bis duty. He has known Mrs. George for years and she dreaded him. For five hours he leaned against the table,, beside which she sat, and pat all the bitterness at his soul, into his eloquent and stinging plea. He is of massive frame and has a ponderous voice and. It is no wonder that Mrs. George trembled as he spoke ever her bowed head. Once he shook in her face the revolver with which- she wan said to have shot Saxton aud dangled the bloody cent of the dead man in the other. She sat unmoved and showed no emotion, even when he turned to her, ids taee ablaze with wrath*, and called her a murderess. But at night* when she reached her cell, she- broke down and had to have medical add. Prosecutor Pomereue closed bis argument in the case shortly before aeon Thursday* It was one of the oratorical and logical efforts of the-triat He claimed that tbe defendant was simply a Resigning woman* who had played for high

stakes and lost and who killed the object she used to gratify her ambition. Defense Cleverly Conducted. Mrs. George’s counsel had early forced the State to exhaust all but one of its challenges. She had twelve remaining at that time. A little later the State exhausted its last challenge. She still had eleven. The power was in her hands to pick almost a new Jury. Then she grew more careful yet. Juror H. A. Smith once lost a brother. His neighbor killed him ted. h That* wmTjns? after*the but the defendant thought he might yet retain a notion that acquittal in a case of homicide was not proper, v Throughout the trial Mra. George was an aid and support to her counsel* She suggested Questions oit cf oas-cx a minatiou a»d decided what defense should be at-I-Uenth! the h hlnd*s“f shrewd ari^eja

ton several years. Her husband, Samplo C. George, was a carpenter, and <*<*" •»» a country bred girl. bbe had wariied young and was tbe mother of two boys when she came to Canton. Still a young woman, she at once attracted the notice of George D. Saxton. Up to this time Mrs. George’s life bad been one of rectitude. Saxton was one of tbe wealthiest man in Canton. It waa not long before his persistent attentions to Mrs. Go«*ge P co ‘ i voked scandal. Sample €. George left ‘ Ms wife, took his children from her, said sued Saxton Tor alienating her affections. Mrs* George went to South Dakota and ; obtained a divorce. Saxton, she saya, bad I promised to marry her. On her retain to Canton quarrel followed quarrel* until at last Saxton had the woman ejected from her apartments in a building owned by him. An. order of conrt was also obtained prohibiting her from visiting Saxton or entering the Saxton block. Finally Sax- ! ton refused to in aery the- woiian and rimthreatened to kill him. Two days later he wao shot. In support of its theory that Met* George waa the murderer the- prosecution introduced a witness*. Mrs* Eckroate, who said she saw the shots fired at Saxton and recognized Mrs. George as the woman who fired them. This was tbe only witness of the crime* and her testimony was vigorously attacked by the defense* which showed that the woman had been for years a confirmed morphine eater, and therefore was not a capable or reliable witness. It Was further shown- by the defense that at the time of the shooting it

was too dark to distinguish even, at short distance the features of a person, and that the neighbors who hurried to the seene us the tragedy could not identify even the murdered, man until they stfuck a matchand held, it to his facet It had. rained, on the day of the murder, and the woman, seen walking away after Saxton’s shooting was obliged to travel over muddy roads. Yet Mrs, George when arrested, at 7:30' o’clock, had on. slippers that were unsoiled, her clothing waxfret- from, mod, and close examination of her apparel in the house failed to reveal mud-stained articles. When taken to the. police station several burs were found on her dress, and the State offered these as evidence, aa the ground around the scene of the murder was thick with the plants bearing them. The defense demolished this evidence by showing that the route over which Mrs. George walked to the police station was in one place thick with the same plants. A revolver also figured In the case. It was found concealed some distance from the scene of the shooting, with three discharged cartridges in it. The prosecution offered it in evidence m the weapon used by Mrs, George, but had no evidence to show that she ever owned it or thot it had been in her possession. Mrs. George when arrested was enfan and self-possessed. She maintained the same bearing during her trinL When arrested the fingers and naila of one band had dark stains on them. These, the prosecution claimed, were powder stains, and it had her nails scraped and the scrapings submitted to analysis. When a chemical expert appeared daring the trial to testify as to the result of this analysis the defense objected to the introduction of bin testimony, and the court sustained the objection. The prosecution added little information on the most vital print, the murder Itself, to that given the day after the commission of the crime. The prosecution was conducted on the theory of motive and intention—the jealous fury of a woman rained and cast aside, while another occupied her place.

MRS. ANNA E. GRORGE.

GEORGE D. SAXTON.

MRS. GEORGE IN COURT.