Another scene was enacted In the Chittenango mystery yesterday. At one o'clock
Frances was greatly agitated and when the
charges were read to her she
nearly
broke down. In reply to Justice Bettinger’s question as to whether she pleaded
guilty or not guilty, she said in a tremulous voice, "Not guilty. I am as
innocent as you are."
Her counsel in her behalf waived
examination.
Shrouder presented a most abject picture of
misery and despair. In a firm voice he entered a plea of not guilty, and, like Frances, waived
examination. Justice Bettinger committed the two to Morrisvllle jail to await
the action of the grand Jury.
Constable Marshall drove a democrat wagon
up in front of the court room at two
o'clock,
and Shrouder, with a pair of handcuffs encircling his wrists, was seated on the
front seat. Frances was assisted to a place in the rear end of the wagon. Part of the seat was already
occupied by a young fellow named Stevens, who had been previously sentenced to jail
for the period of thirty days for assault and battery.
Frances was the possessor of a small yellow
dog, and she asked to take that with her. She said she "should be lonely
without it." She was finally induced to leave it, and gave it in charge of
her mother-in-law. Before she left she kissed the animal and with tears In her
eyes bade it good-bye. A large crowd assembled to see the prisoners off, and
several of the more youthful portion of the population followed the vehicle to
the outskirts of the town.
Before she was arraigned Frances said to
Justice Bettinger, "It is an awful thing, but I can prove that I am innocent."
She brought a box of silverware from the house, and sent it to the First
National Bank for safe keeping. The authorities asked her to sign a certificate
in regard to the valuables. This she refused to do, and her attorney took the
silverware and deposited it in a safe In his office.
Mrs.Hines, Shrouder's mother, said,
"George was a good boy, and never gave her any trouble." She
presented the prisoner with a half a pound of chewing tobacco to exercise his dental
organs upon while in jail.
Frances retired Tuesday night at half past
nine o'clock, in charge of Mrs. Daybash, the wife of Mr. Barnard's brother.
Constable Merwin, who was in charge of Frances’ appearance, remained in the
house. Frances arose at seven o’clock the next
morning,
and when asked by Merwin how she felt
said, " Not very well. I did not sleep much last night." She drank a
cup of tea but ate scarcely anything. To
all with whom she talked she protested her innocence.
"Fainting is characteristic of her,"
remarked a person yesterday afternoon to a Courier reporter. "Yes," added another, "she can
faint whenever she wants to." From the statements the reporter concluded
that Frances had reduced fainting to a science.
George Merwin, the officer who was
detailed to guard Frances, was asked If she had made a confession to him,
"No," he hesitatingly replied.
“Did she make any
admissions?"
"Well," responded Mr.
Merwin, "I got hold of some things that the prosecution requested me to keep.”
No amount of pumping would induce him to divulge
anything, he was with her constantly after her arrest, and it is not Improbable
that he obtained some important point.
Ex-Senator Kellogg who appeared for the
county at the examination, when questioned as to new
developments evaded a direct answer. Chauncey Cowden, the man who was employed
by Mrs. Barnard to drive the team was found sitting on the steps of one of the
village stores yesterday afternoon by the reporter. He is a large, frank,
intelligent looking man and answered all questions rapidly.
"Did you notice anything suspicious
about Mrs. Barnard's sickness and death?"
"He said that when Mrs. Barnard was taken
sick she complained of violent pains in the stomach and could eat nothing,"
"Did you ever hear Frances threaten the
old woman?"
"Until within a few days before Mrs.
Barnard's death Frances had not spoken to me in a long time. She told her
mother a short time ago that when she spoke to me I would know it. I said I did
not care to have her [talk]. A week ago Monday, Frances came out into the
garden where I was hitching up the team, and said, 'It won't be a great while
before things will change here and we will have the horses when we want
them!’ Last Wednesday she remarked, 'We'll have the house to ourselves pretty
soon.’”
"What occasioned this remark?"
"She had dinner on a server which she
was taking up stairs for herself and George.
The hall
door was not open and she had to return to the kitchen and put the victuals on
the table and go back and open the door. It was then that she said we'll soon
have the house to ourselves."
A week ago last Sunday morning George went
to the barn while Cowden was down street, and when the latter returned he found
Shrouder with one of the horses hitched up; Shrouder said he was going somewhere;
Cowden said the horse had worked hard all the week and he
could just as well walk; Shrouder insisted on taking the horse and Cowden
compelled him to put it back in the barn. Shrouder went off swearing and
threatening.
Cowden continued: "Last Monday
morning he told me he wanted me to leave the barn unlocked. I said, all right,
and shut the door and locked it. Those were the last words he
spoke to
me. I have not seen him since. Frances slapped her mother's mouth some time ago on
account of something about the team, George never struck the old lady, but jawed
her when things did not go to suit him. Frances used to come home when she was
stopping at her mother-in-law's, and jaw her mother. One day I asked Mrs.
Barnard why she did not come when I was there, and call her a liar and a damned
old fool.”
"Did Frances swear at her
mother?"
"Swear, why, she'd swear at her and at me.
While I was attending to the laying out of Mrs. Barnard, George and Frances
went out into the kitchen, and when I went she had one hand on his shoulder and
he one on hers, and they were talking very earnestly. I went down street afterward
and when I came back she and George were watering the flowers and laughing and giggling.
They stopped when I went in."
The house where Mrs. Barnard died is
locked and will remain closed until some disposition is made of the property,
which is controlled by Dr. Billington, who is the administrator of old man
Barnard's estate. Public opinion has not changed. People think that if Shrouder
and his wife are guilty, they will make a confession. An indictment will
probably be found against them by the grand jury, which will sit on Monday.
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