Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1915 — DARNELL IS GUILTY [ARTICLE]

DARNELL IS GUILTY

MUST ANSWER FOR “WHITE SLAVERY” CHARGE. Whole Contention Rests on Defendant ancf the Young Woman Were Married. Milwaukee, Wis., May 14.—Ruth Soper is not the wife of Rev. James Morrison Darnell, wherefore he is guilty of violating the Mann act in taking her from her home in Owatonna, Minn., to Kenosha. That was the verdict returned by the jury which had been listening to the minister’s trial in the United States district court. the jury went out at 12:45 o'clock and its finding was read before Judge Geiger at 3:55. While waiting to learn his fate Darnell said 5 to Marshal H. A. Weil: “Some people say we are descended trom monkeys. I know I’m not descended from a monkey. I am a lineal descendant of Balaam’s ass—of that very one.” , Ten years in the penitentiary and a fine of SIO,OOO is the maximum penalty that may be inflicted. Darnell was tried on eight counts, diftdad into two groups covering two charges. Upon Ruth Soper’s wifehood Darnell’s case depended. The court made that plain in his instructions. Ruth herself had made valiant efforts on the witness stand to prove her status as Mrs. Darnell, and Darnell’s lawyers strove hard to build upon her story a legal connubial structure. But the jury, composed principally of farmers and men from small towns, refused to accept the former Univer eity of Chicago co-ed as the minister’s wife. i.