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| Judge Albert H. Sewell. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, March 1, 1900.
TRUCK CASE OPENED.
TAKING OF TESTIMONY BEGAN AT 11:40 THIS MORNING.
The Jury Completed at 6:20 Wednesday Night—Only a Few Names Left in the Jury Box—Mrs. Miller Identifies a Part of Her Son's Clothing—Photographs and Maps of the Locality of the Tragedy.
The matter of securing a jury in the Truck murder case was completed at 6:20 o'clock last night when David Wallace, a farmer of Truxton, was decided upon as the twelfth juror and was sworn in as such. Mr. Wallace was the 285th juror called for examination by the attorneys. He answered his questions in a straightforward way that imparted confidence. Neither side had challenged for cause. For several minutes the four heads of the prosecution and the two heads of the defense who were present were gathered in two separate groups in consultation. There was a breathless wait all over the courtroom.
Finally, "The People are content," came from Mr. Duffey.
"We are satisfied," replied Mr. Miller. "Swear him," said Judge Sewell, and there was a very decorous wave of applause in the rear of the courtroom, of which the court himself did not find it in his heart to take notice, for doubtless he himself was greatly relieved that the jury was obtained, and the panel still not exhausted.
Just thirty-two hours in the aggregate of constant and steady work scattered through five days were required to secure the jury. Of the original panel of 336 jurors four did not appear, some having died, and others having acceptable and legitimate excuses for not coming. Of the 332 who did come 235 were examined by the attorneys and were passed upon; seventy-one were excused by the court without examination for good and sufficient reasons, and twenty-six names were left in the jury box.
THE JURY.
The completed jury as finally made up is as follows:
William Salisbury, mechanic, Cortlandville.
Elias Crampton, farmer. Homer.
Walter Moxie, farmer, Homer.
Wells G. Albro, farmer, Taylor.
Andrew Brooks, farmer, Taylor.
David Ayers, mechanic, Cortland.
E. H. Underwood, farmer, Scott.
F. J. Saunders, farmer, Truxton.
Watts Freer, farmer, Cortlandville.
George S. Cady, farmer, Scott.
James Youngs, farmer, Marathon.
David Wallace, farmer, Truxton.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AFTER 3 O'CLOCK.
E. D. Wright, a cheesemaker of Taylor, was the 209th juror called. Juror said his name was Wight, and not Wright as found in the list in the jury box. Objections to change of name waived and juror examined. Had conscientious scruples against capital punishment. Excused.
H. M. Lane, a hardware dealer of Cortland, was the 210th juror called, would not render a verdict of murder in the first degree unless there were eye witnesses to the crime and direct testimony concerning it. Excused.
Delavan Brazie, a carpenter of Cortland, was the 211th juror called. Had formed a strong opinion in the matter from what he had heard and read. Might and might not affect his verdict. Hypothetical questions by prosecution proved too difficult for juror and he was excused.
Allen Lidell, a farmer of Taylor, was the 212th juror drawn. Read of transaction in Cortland County Sentinel. Had formed an opinion which it would require evidence to change. Excused.
Willard Doty, a farmer of Scott, was the 213th juror called. Read of the matter in the Cortland STANDARD. Had formed and expressed an opinion in regard to the question. Testimony would be required to change present opinion. Excused.
Wilber Youngs, a farmer of Taylor, was the 214th juror called. Read of the affair in the Cortland County Sentinel. Hypothetical questions by prosecution proved his Waterloo and he was excused.
William C. Lewis, a farmer of Homer, was the 215th juror called. Had conscientious scruples against death penalty. Thought it all out carefully and conscientiously after being summoned. Excused.
W. B. Phillips, a farmer of Cuyler, was the 216th juror called. Had conscientious scruples against death penalty. Excused.
Fred Purdy, a farmer of Willet, was the 217th juror called. Had read the account of the transaction in the Cortland STANDARD. Would not convict on circumstantial evidence in a capital case. Excused.
Dell Corl, a farmer of Homer, was the 218th juror called. Knows Truck. Truck ran steam engine for a day in filling silo for him over a year ego. Had read of the affair in Cortland STANDARD. Had talked with one of the witnesses before being summoned as juror. Had formed definite opinion which would influence verdict. [Excused.]
Norman Pickert, a farmer of Freetown, was the 219th juror called. Had a very strong opinion in the matter and has had it ever since reading the account of the coroner's inquest in the Cortland STANDARD. Would be afraid to risk a verdict, because he believed he would be influenced by opinion. Excused.
Devillo Hathaway, a farmer of Cuyler, was the 220th juror called. Had conscientious scruples against the death penalty. Excused.
John Highmoor, a farmer of Truxton, was the 221st juror called. Used to know Truck fifteen or sixteen years ago in Tully Valley. He was in my neighborhood with a threshing machine. Had conscientious scruples against circumstantial evidence as a means of conviction of murder in the first degree. Would want defense of insanity shown pretty positively in order to give defendant benefit of doubt. Excused.
C. C. Clarke, a merchant of Scott, was the 222nd juror called. Had conscientious scruples against death penalty except on evidence of eye witnesses. Excused.
Norman Bailey, a farmer of Virgil, was the 223rd juror called. Read of the affair in the Cortland STANDARD. Had formed an opinion that would prevent an unbiased verdict. Would require sufficient evidence to over balance his opinion before he could give unprejudiced verdict. Excused.
James Stafford a farmer of Virgil, was the 224th juror called. Read of the affair in the Cortland STANDARD. Had formed a definite opinion. Has talked with some who are to be witnesses. Excused.
Allen W. Tyler, a farmer of Harford, was the 225th juror called. Had formed a definite opinion and could not give an unbiased verdict. Excused.
X. Cutler, a farmer of Scott, was the 226th juror drawn. H. A. Dickinson of prosecution is counsel for this juror in another matter. Excused.
Ed Phelps, a farmer of Cortland, was the 227th juror called. Conscientious scruples against convicting of murder in the first degree on circumstantial evidence. Excused.
William Martin, a coal dealer of Cortland, was the 228th juror called. Has talked with people who were on coroner's jury. Has formed an opinion in the matter. Could not render unbiased verdict. Excused.
James Youngs, a farmer of Marathon, was 229th juror called. Was away from home from March to June of last year, and read nothing about it in the paper. Have prejudice against a sham defense of insanity, but would listen to evidence and give due weight to evidence submitted. The juror was satisfactory to both sides and at 5:30 P. M. was accepted and sworn as the eleventh juror in the case.
B. D. Greenman, a farmer of Solon, was the 230th juror drawn. Read the account of the matter in the Cortland STANDARD. Had formed no opinion in the matter. Peremptory challenge by defense.
George Swift, a merchant of Marathon, was the 231st juror drawn. Read the account of the matter in the Cortland STANDARD. Had formed and expressed an opinion in the matter. Verdict would be biased by opinion. Excused.
Wayland Parks, a farmer of Lapeer, was the 232nd juror called. Had formed an opinion that would bias verdict. Excused.
Rodolph Price, a farmer of Virgil and postmaster, was the 233d juror called. Was a member of the coroner's jury. Excused.
Charles E. Carson, a farmer of Virgil, was the 234th juror called. Heard matter talked about in Virgil, but formed no opinion or impression in the matter. Hypothetical questions were asked by defense, and a challenge was submitted by the defense on the ground of general disqualification. Overruled by court, more hypothetical questions by defense, pretty fairly answered by juror. Challenge of defense renewed. Overruled by court. Exception taken by defense. Peremptory challenge by defense. Excused.
David Wallace, a farmer of Truxton, was the 235th juror called. Had read of affair in the Cortland STANDARD, Had formed a strong opinion that probably could not be laid aside by juror in rendering a verdict. The juror was satisfactory and at 6:20 P. M. the juror was accepted and sworn in as the twelfth juror in the case.
All other jurors were then excused and permitted to go home, and court recessed till Thursday morning at 9:30 o'clock.
The jury is now consigned to the care of Deputy Sheriff Almeron Metzgar of Freetown and, M. C. Flint of Willet, who will be their constant attendants. Fourteen cots will be made up each night in the courtroom for the use of the twelve jurors and the two officers, and the courtroom will be their abiding place till the case is ended. If they go out to walk for exercise it will be under the escort of these officers. Their meals will be served from the sheriff's table.
Among the humors of the examination of the jurors were the hypothetical questions asked by attorneys of jurors as knockout drops and the answers to the questions.
The following question and answer are taken from the stenographer's notes and are official and are typical of the hypothetical questions asked, and of the answers.
Question—If the court should charge you that an insane person is not excused from criminal responsibility except upon proof that at the time he committed the alleged criminal act he was laboring under such a defect of reason that he did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or that the act was wrong, what would you understand by that?
Answer—I should understand that he didn't know what he was doing.
It may be noted for the information of readers that hypothetical questions are asked as a basis for a challenge upon general disqualifications of the juror when the attorney does not care to waste a peremptory challenge, and at the same time does not wish for some reason to accept the juror. In the majority of cases this is nothing to the discredit of the juror, but the attorney feels that he may be subject to some internal influence, perhaps not even realized by the juror himself, by which his prejudice or feeling would be against his side, or would be for the other side, and he decides that he doesn't want him. Then he resorts to knock-out drops. Some of them were very funny, all were complicated, and many would bear study. In the main they abound in big words and technical legal terms, and are usually effective.
THURSDAY MORNING.
Court convened at 10:23 this morning. Owing to the almost unprecedented inclemency of the weather there were many vacant seats in the courtroom. Promptly on time the prisoner was brought up. At about the same time the sheriff came in with a quantity of articles, some of which were taken from Truck's house, some of which were found in his possession, some of which were claimed to be identified by friends of Frank Miller as belonging to the deceased. They were laid upon and beside the counsel table at a distance of ten or fifteen feet from the defendant and he regarded them with a fixed look, but it was noticeable that there was a very perceptible twitching of his face as he looked. The articles included the suit of clothes Truck was wearing when arrested, a lantern, a water pail, a clock, a rifle, a wallet, some money, a knife, a whip, a pair of boots, a watch and some other things.
At 10:25 District Attorney Duffey arose and began his opening of the case. Truck sat back in his chair with his face resting on his left hand, and throughout listened with the closest attention, a dark color gradually creeping ever his face. He was now hearing all the facts of the discovery of Miller's body and of the fire for the first time, for he has seen no papers since arrested and has not been permitted to speak with anyone on this part of the subject. During the district attorney's opening the eyes of all the jurymen were fixed closely upon him except as they turned from time to time to look at Truck and to see the effect of the words upon him.
Mr. Duffey began by referring to the seriousness of the case, the care that had been manifested by both sides in selecting a jury, and the responsibility that rests upon the shoulders of the jury selected. On the night of March 14, 1899, some one committed a murder in the town of Virgil which the district attorney characterized as the most wanton and dastardly ever known within the confines of Cortland county. The act carried terror to all people of the county living in lonely and secluded places. If such an act could go unpunished who would be safe and where? It is for the jury to pass upon the facts and to render a verdict without fear or favor. The main facts as alleged and which it is proposed to prove were then revealed quite in detail. The district attorney said that evidence would be produced to show that Miller was struck down by a blow that fractured his skull; that he was choked till hemorrhage was produced; and that coagulated blood was found in the trachea and all air passages; that he died by 8 o'clock of that night; that the fire did not break out till between 10 and 11 o'clock. Truck's connection of the affair was then set forth. As the district attorney proceeded the lines about Truck's face grew hard, the color in his face grew deeper, marked wrinkles appeared in his forehead, and his hands now locked closely together tightened in their grasp.
The matter of a defense of insanity was referred to by the district attorney and the legal phases of it as a legal defense were set forth very clearly, that the defendant if he committed the crime with which he was charged must have been not only insane, but so insane that he did not know at the time the nature and quality of the act which he was committing and that he was wrong.
Had it not been for the fact, said the district attorney, that Mr. and Mrs. Patten were returning that night from church at East Virgil the fire would not have been discovered; the body of Frank W. Miller would not have been saved and preserved in a condition in which it could have been identified; no charge of murder could be brought under the law against any one if the body could not be identified; one more mystery as to what had become of a resident would have arisen; and one more crime would have gone undetected in Cortland county.
The district attorney spoke for an hour and ten minutes and was listened to with the closest attention by all.
MRS. ELIZABETH MILLER.
The first witness in the case was Mrs. Elisabeth Miller, the mother of the deceased. On March 14, 1899, witness resided in Virgil. Frank W. Miller was her son. His age was 40 years. Frank had resided for about twelve years about a quarter of a mile from witness' home, around a bend of the road, over a hill and out of sight. Frank lived alone with hired help. Was entirely alone at that time. Last saw Frank alive at about 6 o'clock P. M. on March 14, 1899 at her house. He was then starting home. He was then wearing a pair of blue overalls with bib and straps over shoulders fastened to bib with buckles; a wrapper shirt of cotton with laced front; a dark colored under coat; had watch with him. Mrs. Miller was shown remnants of shirt and said it was the color of shirt he wore except that it was smoked. Lacing was same. Frank wore gray wrapper undershirt at time he left witness' home. Identified the shirt by its color and also particularly by a particular button which she bad sewed on for him. It was one of three buttons she had had in the house for a long time.
Frank had one upper tooth on left aide broken off. Frank once had his right foot badly cut. Scar left near ankle, was always lame. There was a bunch there.
Mr. Patten's house was in sight from Frank's. There was also another house in sight, one owned by Henry Bays, but unoccupied then. The Lampher house was also just in sight.
Witness remembers defendant John Truck; had seen him a number of times when he lived on the Winters farm in the vicinity.
No cross examination as witness is to be recalled at a later time.
A number of photographs of the Miller place and its vicinity were offered in evidence.
J. D. F. WOOLSTON.
J. D. F. Woolston, the civil engineer of Cortland was the second witness called. Witness testified to making certain surveys and maps around the Miller place, and exhibited them. Distance from Miller house to Allen house is .85 mile; from Miller house to Irving Homer's house .75 miles; from Miller house east past Mr. Patten's to Mr. Blose's home is 1.14 miles; from the woodpile in the woods to Mr. Blose's house .75 mile; from woodpile to Miller's house .81 mile; from Blose's house to Lanpher house .49 mile; from the Lanpher house to the Miller house .64 mile. All of these is a straight line.
At 12:30 court recessed till 2 o'clock.
CORTLAND SNOWBOUND.
STREETS BLOCKED, TROLLEY CARS AT A STANDSTILL.
The Heaviest Snowfall of the Season —Eighteen Inches on the Ground This Morning—Trains Delayed.
The heavy snowfall predicted for a couple of days by the weather bureau came last night. And so quietly did it come down that people this morning were surprised to find the ground covered nearly eighteen inches deep. Before morning the snow turned to rain and the mass of snow became so heavy that traffic was hindered this morning, and getting about the streets in any way was a very difficult matter.
The trolley cars were completely tied up this morning and not a single car was able to get over the Homer and Cortland division until this afternoon. No attempt has been made to open the McGraw division. The 6:50 train on the D., L. & W. was on time this morning but all other trains have been from one to three hours late on both D., L. & W. and Lehigh Valley roads. The only railroad that has been able to run trains on schedule time has been the Erie & Central New York.
No progress could be made on the Traction Co.'s lines with the snow plow as the snow was so wet and heavy that it could not be pushed from the track. The roadscraper was put to work and the first car reached the railroad crossing about 10 o'clock. About 3 o'clock this afternoon the car got as far as the Cortland House and it is thought that the Homer & Cortland division will be running before the close of the afternoon.
The sidewalks all over town are in an almost impassable condition.
Milkmen and deliverymen were delayed in making their trips and the continued rain of to-day has filled the gutters to overflowing. The Lehigh Valley tracks at South Main-st. are covered with water this afternoon.
LADYSMITH RELIEVED.
GENERAL DUNDONALD ENTERS THE CITY.
Country Reported Clear of the Enemy—Gen. Buller is Moving on Nelthorpe—The News from South Africa.
LONDON, March 1, 9:25 A. M.—The war office has received the following dispatch from General Buller: ''Lyttleton's Head Quarters, March. 1, 9:05, morning. Gen. Dundonald with the Natal carbineers and a composite regiment entered Ladysmith last night. The country between me and Ladysmith is reported clear of the enemy. I am moving on Nelthorpe."
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THE NEWS IN LONDON.
Great Rejoicing over Relief of Ladysmith.
LONDON, March 1.—When the news of the relief of Ladysmith became generally known London literally went mad with joy and throughout England the scenes witnessed have no parallel in the memories of this generation. The pent up jubilation at the relief of Kimberley and the defeat of Cronje could no longer be controlled and with to-day's crowning triumph the national trait of self restraint was thrown to the winds. The lord mayor of London immediately telegraphed his congratulations to Generals Whits and Buller and when the queen received the news at Windsor the bells on the curfew tower of the castle were rung in honor of the event.
REV. ROBERT CLEMENTS
Accepts the Call to be Pastor of the Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Robert Clements has accepted the call of the Presbyterian church of Cortland to be its pastor. His resignation was presented to the Presbyterian church of Cuba, N. Y., last Sunday. It takes effect upon the last Sunday of March, and he will begin his pastorate in Cortland on the first Sunday in April. That is communion Sunday in this church and the preparatory service will be held upon the previous Thursday evening. Mr. Clements will be present to conduct it.
It is now expected that Mr. Clements will preach in Cortland on Sunday, March 11, and will from the pulpit announce to the church his formal acceptance of the call.
Mr. Clements stopped off in Cortland this morning between the 6:55 and the 9:20 trains on his way to Syracuse and was seen by a few friends. His acceptance is a matter of deep gratification on the part of all the church.
BREVITIES.
—Be sure to exchange your tickets for the postponed entertainment in the Hospital course at Rood's before Saturday evening.
—New display advertisements to-day are—F. D. Smith, Red Cross stoves, page 6; Warren Tanner &Co., Tailor made suits, page 6; Model Clothing Co., Scarcity of wool, page 8.
—A Sempronius farmer lost a fine gold watch last fall, and a few days ago found it mixed in with his ensilage. The case was as good as ever but the works were ruined.—Dryden Herald.
—A correspondent of the New York Farmer claims more hens are kept in the town of Groton than in any other in the state. In a radius of one mile, more than 1,000 hens are kept for egg production, which average a dollar a year each, clean profit.
—Rev. John McVey, D. D., this week completes twenty-five years as pastor of the North Presbyterian church of Binghamton. His people give him a large reception at the church parlors to-night in honor of the event. Binghamton is a city where they have long pastorates.
—About twenty-five members of Cortlandville lodge, No. 470, F. and A. M., will go by special Lehigh Valley train at 6:1 5 to-night to attend a regular conclave of the Ithaca lodge. Sir John Little, eminent grand warden, makes his annual visit there to-night. Representatives from other cities will be in attendance.
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