Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1915 — ON TRIAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ON TRIAL

by***"* Charles N. Lurie ghKfcFrom The Great May

by Elmer Reigenstein...

PROLOGUE. Here is one of the most dramatic novels of modern times and a distinctly American product. Based on one of the great theatrical productions of present fame, it unleashes a flood of human emotions which will sweep the reader irresistibly with it. All the elements of a gripping romance are here, and the ordeal of the principal characters is one that will hold the reader intensely interested from beginning to end. Love and death, trial for life, a melodramatic confession wrung from the tortured soul of a wife and mother, combine to make this story a masterpiece which will live long in American fiction.

CHAPTER I. A Human Life at Stake. I /TA 11IE big, gloomy trial room of I J, I the criminal branch of the supreme court, part 1, was crowded to the very doors with a throng of expectant lawyers and law clerks, newspaper reporters and artists, business men attracted by the momentousness of the occasion, court attendants, detectives in plain clothes. And here and there loomed the plumes of femifiine headwear worn by women drawn through morbid curiosity to the arena of the penal law, where a man must face his accusers on the dread charge of “murder in the first degree.” For months the newspapers had displayed the details of the crime. Extra editions galore had carried screaming headlines concerning the new developments in the case of the people of the state of New’ York versus Robert Strickland. Indeed, the cause celebre had been commented on so widely that the attorneys for the defendant had moved for a change of venue, arguing that Strickland could not get a fair trial in New York county because any man picked for the jury would have heard or read something detrimental to the accused. It was well known to David

Arbuckle, chief of the counsel for Strickland, that the friends of the dead man had engaged a press agent who had demonstrated noticeable ability in procuring the printing of stories reflecting on Robert Strickland, nowon trial for his life.

False and libelous though these articles were in the mind of Arbuckle and plainly inspired by malicious motives, he felt assured the time had not arrived wnen Strickland could bring the punitive action he deemed proper. He was under indictment for the greatest of crimes except treason, and that in the eyes of the law is premeditated murder, and not until cleared of that accusation, if it were possible to bring about such an end, would he have any opportunity to press in court what he considered to be his legal grievances.

The prominence of both families concerned, that of the dead man, Gerald Trask, and that of the defendant, Robert Strickland, in addition to the sensational circumstances surrounding the fatal act were responsible for the attention paid to the trial by the always inquisitive public. Strickland, son of a man long identified with the United States diplomatic service in Important relations, had won a creditable position on his own merits In the upper circles of the life of the city, and Trask

Was a member of a family controlling one of the largest life insurance companies in the country. He was a banker of big operations and was generally reputed to be one of the most daring and at the same time successful plungers on the Stock Exchange. His wife’s diamonds had been frequently described hi the society columns of the daily prints on the occasion of her appearances in the gilded, dazzling splurge of the Four Hundred in the “horseshoe" at the Metropolitan Opera House.

And so there were reasons why the multitude should be engrossed in the proceedings destined to determine whether or not Robert Strickland, active business man, should be. sent to the electric chair in that bare, oblong death chamber on the bleak Hudson hillside always yarning for more victims. It was no ordinary sordid or drunken crime participated in by denizens of the vast metropolitan underworld this time. No, indeed. Here was a choice morsel, a dainty tidbit, in the way of a criminal prosecution, a case where two of the best known families of the greatest American city were involved. It was admitted on all sides that no indictment since that accusing United States Senator Jeffrey of poisoning his wife was handed down by the grand jury had caused such stir. The selection of the jury proved, as it usually does in a case where capital punishment is involved, a slowly drawn out affair. Some members of the special panel which had been drawn opposed the death penalty and favored life imprisonment for murder. They forgot that even the Book of Holy Writ had laid down the law in this tragic circumstance, “An eye for ar eye and a tooth for a tooth."

Or perhaps they merely mad_e the assertion as to their belief on the sub ject in order to be excused from serving.

Other talesmen had business engagements out of town or felt that their health would not stand the confinement for days in the stuffy, humid courtroom, but these and similar excuses were brusquely swept aside by the court The worthy citizens felt better, however, when they were reminded that at the finish of each day’s session they would be escorted under guard in an auto to a fashionable hotel uptown and there dined on the choicest viands of the season at the county’s expense. One man appealed to the sympathy of the court when he asked to be excused because his mother had died. The judge was on the point of letting him go when, as though the result of a sudden inspiration, he asked the talesman: \

“.When did your mother die?" The reply finally came with much stammering and trembling:

jTwo years ago, your honor.” “Fined $250 for contempt of court," was the retort of the justice. Gradually, however, the jury box be> gan to fill, and after No. 11 had been accepted by both the prosecutor and Counselor Arbuckle for the defense all heads craned forward as an interesting name was called in the important tones of the clerk of the court. This name was none other than that of John Summers, tme multimillionaire manufacturer, who had devoted a large part of his fortune to philanthropic aud sociological research work. He glowered ominously at several newspaper reporters who he recollected had haunted him in times past, and then with that prelude accomplished thoroughly to his satisfaction he faced the court District Attorney Gray began questioning him. “What’s your name?” “John Summers.” “Mr. Summers, what is your occupation?” “Electrical engineer and manufacturer.” “Are you in business for yourself?” “Yes, sir; at 1 Madison avenue, but I no longer take active charge of my business. In a sense I have retired.” “Mr. Summers, are you opposed to capital punishment?" “No, not at alt” “Do you know Robert Strickland, the defendant in this case? Stand up, Strickland.” commanded the prosecutor. Strickland arose. It was now noted that his right arm was in a sling. “No," came the answer. Strickland resumed his seat. “Do you know any one related to him?” continued Gray. “No.” “Did you know Gerald Trask, for whose murder Strickland is on trial?” pressed Gray. “No; I’ve often read the gentleman’s name in the papers, but I never met him.” "Do you know Mrs. Trask, the widow of the murdered man?” “No.” “Do you know Stanley Glover, who was Mr. Track’s private secretary at the time of his death?” Gray paused thoughtfully. “Glover? I’m not sure." “Call Mr. Glover,” said Gray. An attendant opened a side door and admitted a young man. “Stanley Glover,” he pronounced. “This is Mr. Glover,” explained Gray. “No; I don’t know him,” was the re-

ply. “You may retire, Mr. Glover,” directed the prosecutor. “Do you know any One associated with the district attorney’s office or Mr. Arbuckle, the defendant’s attorney?” “No” . * “Are you familiar with the facts in this case?” “Very slightly. 1 don’t read details of murder cases,” replied Summers. “Have you formed any opinion which would prevent you from rendering a

fair and impartial verdict?” concluded Gray. “No, sir; I have not.” “That’s all. Any questions, Mr. Arbuckle?” asked the prosecutor, turning to the attorney of the accused. “Mr. Summers, are you a married man?” asked Arbuckle, rising before the jury box. “Yes, sir; I am.” “How many years have you been married?” - “Fifteen, next March." “Have you any family?” “I have—two boys and a girl.” “The jury is satisfactory, your honor,” concluded Arbuckle abruptly. “Satisfactory to you. Mr. Gray?” asked Judge Dinsmore. “Yes, sir,” replied Gray.

“Swear them,” Judge Dinsmore directed the clerk. “Rise, gentlemen and raise your right lands,” the official said. As they did so he went on: “You and each of ’you do 'solemnly swear in the presence of the ever living God that you will well and truly try the Indictment found by the peo-; pie of the state of New York against Robert Strickland and give a true verdict rendered therein, according to the evidence, so help you God." Properly sworn, the jurymen resumed their seats. The great battle was now on. “Proceed. Mr. Gray," ordered the judge.

A diminutive Detroit husband whose wife had ha/uled him into court laughed long and loudly once he was safe in the prisoner’s box. “My wife is outside the railing and I figure I can laugh at her now and be safe,” he said w’hen the magistrate asked the cause of his mirth. He also kicked his wife’s toy dog, so there!

Robert Strickland on Trial For His Life.

District Attorney Gray Watches the Proceedings Closely.

Gerald Trask, the Man Who Was Slain,