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| Judge Albert H. Sewell |
Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, March 5, 1900.
AUTOPSY REVIEWED.
PHYSICIANS TELL OF THE CONDITION OF MILLER'S BODY.
Marks of Violence Found—Skull Fractured in Four Places—Hemorrhages Resulting from the Injuries Filled the Windpipe with Blood and Produced Strangulation—Other Facts Disclosed by the Autopsy.
MONDAY MORNING.
At 7:30 o'clock Monday morning spectators began to arrive at the courthouse and to take their places in the courtroom. By 9:30 o'clock, to which time court had adjourned, nearly every seat was occupied, but it was 10:20 o'clock when court opened. Judge Sewell was delayed by the fact that the D., L, & W. 9:20 train was fifty minutes late. After his arrival, however, matters were pushed forward rapidly.
FLOYD WOODWARD.
Floyd Woodward testified: I reside in Virgil and in March, 1899, resided on the road just above John Patten's. On the evening of March 14, 1899, I attended meeting at the East Virgil church. I started for home at about 9 o'clock. I went by the schoolhouse below Frank Miller's. It was a little past 10 o'clock when I passed Mr. Patten's. It is about 1 1/4 miles from Mr. Patten's to my house. It was 10:30^o'clock when I got home. I did not see any fire at Miller's that night as I passed. I looked in that direction, turning around near schoolhouse to See if Mr. Patten was behind me. I thought he would be. I saw John Truck that afternoon going from Con Turner's to Ed Blose's. I spoke to him, inquiring if it was not John Truck. He said it was. He inquired if Blose had any horses to sell. I said yes, some good ones, and some not so good. It was between 4 and 5 o'clock when I saw him.
MRS. ELIZABETH A. MILLER.
Mrs. Elizabeth A. Miller was recalled and testified: My son always had a good deal of hair on his breast. My son was in pretty fair health before his death. Had not known of his being sick in bed for a long time.
LILLIS D. MILLER.
Lillis D. Miller testified: I reside in Cortland village. I am a brother of the late Frank W. Miller. My brother had very good health for some years prior to his death. His breast was quite heavily covered with hair.
DR. MARION R. SMITH.
Dr. Marion R. Smith testified: I am a practicing physician and surgeon of Cortlandville. I knew Miller. He was at my office a year before. He had shown me his foot a year before. He had injured his foot with an axe. He asked me if anything could be put on to remove the soreness and lameness. There was a large scar, about 5 inches in length through instep. Ax had gone down through to break scar on under side of foot. Bone callous had been formed. Callous was raised above usual surface. Groove was formed at top of callous. I was coroner in March, 1899. Saw body after fire. Saw bones of Miller's foot and recognized it by the callous. Miller had a shaggy breast.
DR. F. W. HIGG1NS.
Dr. Higgins testified: I have resided in Cortland since 1887. Am a physician and surgeon. On March 16, 1899, went to Virgil with district attorney, Mr. Blodgett of Cortland STANDARD and a driver. Started at about 10:30. Had dinner at Virgil. After dinner went to Harmon Sheerar's. In parlor was Miller's corpse. Burned body was wrapped in a sheet. We found exterior entirely blackened except portion of skin on breast between nipples and from top to bottom of breast bone. Skin natural, very hairy, no blisters. No red line which always occurs between burned portions of skin if burned during life. This indicated death before burning. Living body burned forms blisters on skin with serum inside. No blisters found. Examined head next. Top gone as far as eyes in front; portion of skull remaining was that below big bunch at back of head. Brain exposed. Was shriveled, cooked and contracted. Lips stretched tightly over mouth. Tongue protruding through teeth and bitten tightly between them. Eyes there, but burned. Chest had been opened up and down. Right arm pretty much gone. Lacking below middle and upper third of arm. Left arm lacking below middle and upper third of forearm. Right leg gone from a little above knee. Left leg gone from a little below knee. Chest, breast and abdomen practically preserved, between ninth and twelfth rib on the right side fire had eaten through walls of abdomen. Liver charred and blackened on outside and cooked inside two inches. Several organs remained enough to prove male. All muscles in a state of contraction as a result of fire.
Looked at lung. Found it more than usually red—dark red, overfilled with blood. Heart had been opened previously. Of normal size, No blood in heart. Heart was intact, Little puddle of blood in cavity where heart and lungs lie—dark in color. Found soft clots of blood in chest cavity.
Opened abdomen. Contents undisturbed. Not injured by flames, except liver as described. Right kidney had blood in interior partially cooked. Other kidney normal.
Coils of intestines lay as normal except upper whitened as by heat. Bladder in normal position, opened it, contained one tablespoonful of urine in normal condition. Stomach pretty well filled. Tied upper and lower ends so could cut and contents not spill. Cut it out. Placed on table. Examined exteriorly. No abnormal appearance. Got fruit jar, poured contents into jar for preservation. Nearly one pint in stomach. Cut stomach open and examined. Found it normal. Brought contents home. Examined contents and convinced what they were. Sealed up can, delivered to sheriff and put in cold storage. Intestines normal. Appeared empty.
Tried to determine age of dead man. Cut open knee joint. No cartilage between upper epiphysis and shaft of tibia, This becomes bone at 20 years of age. Therefore the man was over 20 years of age. Upper part and middle part of sternum were still united by cartilage and not by bone, which shows that the man was not 60 years of age.
Examined jaws. Tongue indented by teeth, protruding between teeth. Upper jaw had quite perfect teeth, except front tooth at center on left side gone, and portion of right tooth. Lower jaw had crooked teeth in front, no teeth missing. I took these jaws from the body and have them now. Have kept them in my safe till this morning. Witness here produced for jury the jaws.
Examined food pipe. Found nothing in it. Examined wind pipe. Found clotted blood filling upper two inches entirely; in next one and one-half inches there was some clotted blood, but not enough to fill wind pipe. Below that no blood. Blood seemed cooked. Removed and preserved the clotted blood. That was turned over to Prof. Orndorff. No traces of soot or smoke in the blood or in the windpipe. No traces of these in other passages leading to lungs.
Examined body again on March 21. Dr. Smith and Dr. Emery were present. We examined intestines just below stomach for a foot down. Entirely empty. Examined head with more care. Cut away burned muscles at back of head. Cleaned away brain. At back of head found bone broken. Two broken pieces of bone remained held by fibrous tissue. Cracked edges were smoked. Found at front of head at root of nose two fractures, marked one on left side, liner on right side. On left side bone little out of place. Looked into nose itself. Found it filled with clotted blood, dark, crumbly, some still sticky, though affected by heat. Witness here exhibited a normal skull to jury and showed upon it where the fractures were found. Removed head and have it here. Witness here exhibited it to jury. I kept it till through examination and then delivered it to the sheriff under seal to be kept in cold storage.
During these exhibitions of specimens of Miller's body, Truck shifted uneasily in his seat, casting furtive glances from time to time at the witness explaining the specimens to the jury. His face was partly covered by his left hand a good portion of the time, but his cheeks were pretty highly colored.
Examined contents of stomach. Looked like vomited matter. Chunks of potato and chunks of pickle plainly manifest. Whole mass was sticky, gelatinous. Examined fresh cucumber, and a fresh cooked potato and examined under microscope. Cells corresponded to these specimens. Found some semi-fluid, saw grains in them. Examined under microscope; found they corresponded to grains of wheat and grains of tapioca. Found oil globules, showed fatty substance eaten. Found one specimen of meat fiber. Wheat grains indicate something made from wheat flour.
Progress of digestion showed death occurred in neighborhood of two hours after meal eaten; possibly a latitude of one hour could be given either way. Surely eaten at outside figures from one to three hours before death. Food hadn't passed out of stomach into intestines. Food always begins to pass into intestines from three to four hours after eating. Stomach digestion not yet complete shows couldn't have been later than three hours. Interior of chunks of potato, were just as eaten, therefore couldn't have been later than three hours. Fact that meat fiber so well preserved shows same thing. As digestion becomes nearly finished contents of stomach becomes very thin like gruel. In this case thick, pasty. Odor of contents like vomited matter; no other foreign odor perceptible like alcohol.
In my opinion death occurred before the fire. Evidences of violence are broken bones, hemorrhages. The clot of blood in wind pipe must have produced death very soon after it got there because man couldn't breathe with it there. Dark of lungs color showed death caused by suffocation. Blood dammed up in lungs. Hemorrhage into kidney shows violence. Looks as though blood dammed back in system and broke back in there. If he died in fire and then a blood vessel broke blood would not have run out of vessel and clotted. If blood found outside of vessel, it shows life in body when blood went out there; shows wound during life and before fire. Burning does not cause hemorrhage. Blood is simply cooked in the blood vessels. Congested lung and hemorrhage into kidney, air passage closed into body, all point to strangulation. Tongue bitten between teeth is an indication of same, though not an infallible sign. Blood found in wind pipe could not have gone there after death. Must have been drawn in there in effort to breath. No blood could have gone in there without some violence before death. Want of blisters and lack of red [hue] between burned and unburned skin is another indication of death before fire. Break in bone would have broken blood vessels just inside bone. Fractures on forward side of skull would not alone have proved fatal at once. Think the cause of death was the blood getting into wind pipe and caused strangulation. Such injuries as found would have produced insensibility at once in my opinion. No soot in clotted blood shows death before fire. If fire was burning smoke and soot would have been drawn in with every breath. Absence of it shows death before fire. Usually people dying in fire have thin blood and very bright color from inhaling carbon monoxide of flames. This blood was dark in color and some portions thickened and clotted. Want of water in bladder shows urine passed within a half hour before death. Think an ordinary fall could not cause such fractures as found. Fractures at back of skull were through hardest and thickest part of skull. Fractures in forward part of skull could have been caused by a blow on opposite side of skull. Blood goes like a wave through skull. Forward fractures are in weakest part of skull. They were not caused by blows struck right at that point of skull.
This concluded the direct testimony and before cross examination court recessed till 2 o'clock.
A COMMUN1CATION.
B. L. Webb States His Objections to the Proposed City Charter.
To the Editor of the Standard:
SIR—As my name was one of those put in nomination at a meeting recently held to place a citizens ticket in the field it may not be amiss for me to state in what attitude this ticket stands in relation to the proposed city charter.
Several weeks ago before any mention had been made of any such charter, some of the citizens of the village representing the Republican, Democratic and Prohibition parties met to discuss the advisability of nominating men for the various village offices to be filled at the annual village election, who should be pledged to enforce the law. The idea which animated the meeting was non-partisanship in village matters. The platform upon which they stood was enforcement of law. Immediately preceding the nomination of such a ticket it was learned that our village fathers had had prepared a city charter for the village; that it had been acted upon by that body; and that it was about to be sent to Albany for action upon it by the legislature. It was then freely stated by the friends of the bill that it would become a law any way; that there was no use in opposing it, etc. I was reminded of the familiar quotation: ''Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." We were to have greatness thrust upon us, nolens volens.
Now I am not afraid of the words, "City Charter." I have been looking forward for several years past to the time when we could hang up or give away our short pantaloons and put on a man's size. I believe in progress, not in standing still. While a member of the board of trustees of the village, I thought there were several instances where additional power in the hands of its trustees would be beneficial to the village, or such additional power as would naturally be vested in a city government. I am not averse, therefore, to a city charter, and should be glad to see the name "Cortland" among the names of the other cities of the state, if the changes incident to such a charter will be a benefit to us, not a hurt.
As to the expenses of a city government compared with that of our village at the present time I shall assume that the figures given at the Opera House last week, Saturday evening, are correct, although they were a surprise to me, for I have confidence in the man who prepared them, but let us see what the adoption of any city charter at present means along another line. For several years many of the voters of the town of Cortlandville have been fighting the granting of licenses for the sale of liquor. No liquor can at this time be sold in the town legally, except on a physician's prescription. About three-fourths of the people of the town live in the village of Cortland, yet our present board of trustees sworn to protect the interests of its citizens agree upon and forward to Albany for enactment into a law a proposed charter which by the operation of the Raines law takes away from our citizens the right to vote upon this question of local option. Now I have no wish nor intention of impugning the [motion or motive] of any member of the board. We do not all view matters from the same standpoint, nor can we all think alike. The fact, however, remains that it was not intended to give the voters who favored local option a chance to further express themselves on that point for the very act of adopting any city charter at this time precluded any such chance. It may be urged that a bill has been introduced into the legislature providing for local option in cities. This, however, is by wards only and the bill is not yet a law and may not become so and if I am correctly informed was not introduced even until after our village trustees had decided upon the introduction of the city charter.
There is a decided opposition also on the part of some against the proposed change in the appointment by the mayor of the members of the school board rather than their election by the people.
These last two points are vital ones to the minds of many of our citizens. Our trustees have, however, refused to allow the people to vote upon the adoption of a city charter and they must confine their protests, if any, to the legislature or the governor.
Admitting for the sake of the argument that most of the provisions of the proposed charter are beneficial, was it just the fair thing for the village board to try to force upon the people who elected them to office, a charter, some of the provisions of which many are opposed to without giving them a chance to be first heard on the subject?
While some individuals who may support the Citizens' ticket may be opposed to a city charter of any kind, I feel assured that if the one at present proposed can be amended as to provide against certain features which seem to be objectionable and also to retain the right of local option, the majority of its supporters will be in sympathy with the movement to create the "City of Cortland. '' BENJ. L. WEBB.
BOERS IN FULL RETREAT.
Summary of the Situation in South Africa.
NEW YORK, March 5—Specials from London to the morning papers thus summarize the South African war situation as gleaned from the correspondence at the front:
"The Boers are in full retreat from Cape Colony to Orange river. General Clements has driven the rear guard of the enemy across Colesberg bridge, and is preparing to invade the Free State. The Boers are in force at Norval's Pont. General Brabant attacked a force of Dutch rebels in an entrenched position near Jamestown after a night march. Stormberg is still held by a small Boer force, which is dwindling daily, and General Gatacre is gradually rendering their position untenable. British reinforcements have been received and it is probable that the entire district south of Orange river will be cleared of the enemy and pacified in the course of a few weeks."
BREVITIES.
—Regular meeting of G. A. R. at 7:30 to-night.
—The regular meeting of Grover Relief corps, No 96, will occur to-morrow, March 6, at 2:30 o'clock.
—Miss Mary Williams of Rickard-st. entertained a few friends Friday evening at progressive euchre. Two tables were played and a pleasant evening passed.
—The Seneca Falls Reveille announces that Rev. Amos Watkins of Cortland will preach a Lenten sermon in the Episcopal church in that place on Wednesday, March, 14.
—The regular meeting of the local visiting committee to the Cortland, county poorhouse will be held to-morrow, Tuesday afternoon, at 2:30 o'clock at the residence of Mrs. Shankland, 30 Tompkins-st.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Stowell, Sale ends Saturday, page 7; Bingham & Miller, Nothing can stop the tide, page 7; A. S. Burgess, New spring derbies, page 8; C. F. Brown's Pharmacy, Our carnation pink, page 6; Palmer & Co., Best goods, page 4.
—One of the handsomest mirrors ever brought to Cortland is a new one of French plate glass 4 feet by 6 ft. 3 in. in size with a 4-inch frame of gilt, obtained by Robert Otto for Dr. H. T. Dana for his new house. It is to go over a mantel.
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