Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1901 — BARKER FOUND GUILTY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BARKER FOUND GUILTY.

New Jersey Man Convicted of Attempting to Kill a Preacher. The jury before which Thomas G. Barker of Arlington, N. J., was tried for shooting, with intent to kill, the Rev. John Keller of the same town, took one ballot and returned with 1 a verdict of guilty. Under the charge of the court they could do little else. The jurors were told they must set aside all else and decide only if Barker, with intent, fired

at Keller. That was the law and they must obey it. Notice of appeal was given by Barker’s counsel. Mrs. Barker was not in the court room to hear the verdict. When told of the verdict she sobbed bitterly. Keller was also absent, and showed no emotion when told of the verdict. Barker had expected an He based his hopes upon the strong plea of his counsel when he dwelt upon the unwritten law that a man has a right to kill where the sanctity of his home is assailed. Whatever the effect of this line of pleading upon the jury, it was swept away by the cold charge of Judge Blair that “the story of the alleged outrage, or the assault itself, if true, was no justification of the defendant’s assault.” In his closing Prosecutor Erwin asked the. jurors if the woman’s course was the natural one. He said her story was improbable because Mrs. Barker would in the natural course have told her husband of the assault at once, and failing that, would have made a confidant of u woman and not of another man. The jury’s only ballot was unanimous for guilty and a unit for the highest degree charged. Keller as soon as the trial was completed issued a brief statement in which, he absolutely denied the truth of the allegations that have been made and published by Mrs. Barker.

PRINCIPALS IN THE TRIAL.