Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1885 — Echoes of the Trial and other Matters therewith Connected. [ARTICLE]

Echoes of the Trial and other Matters therewith Connected.

The jurors who tried the case .decline to state how they stood at ' the first ballots, but it is generally understood that they at first stood 8 for the death penalty and 4 for life imprisonment. From the time the jury brought in their verdict on Sunday, the prisoner did not taste food for several days, but finally began to gather heart and appetite, though still eating very little. Peter Dextra, of Goodland, who. .acted as interpreter when sentence was prounced, is a fellow-country man of jVartena’s and a very estimable man. He had never heard of Wartena except in connection with this crime, and when became to talk with him was surprised to find that they not only had mutual acquaintainces in Holland but that by marriage they were distantly related, having a common uncle. Since the trial it has become known that Wartena’s parents -sought to give him a good education, and even tried to make a doctor of him and that he studied •medicine for three years, and was then obliged to abandon the study “because his head would not stand it.” Mrs. Wartena, who seems to lie a very intelligent women —as she certainly is a faithful wife - -is and certainly writes a very neat hand. She went to Goodlnud with Mr. Dextra, last week, to obtain a little rest after the cares and anxieties of the trial. . On her return last evening the prisoner was so much agitated at sight of her that heagain fainted. He is. a good deal broke up over his situation.