The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 24, 1901, Page 1

E e *——:... 5 §‘ai§§§\:flfii ST R i W i This Paper not ! te be taken from i Library.++++ 1§ r* 7 VOLUME XC—NO . A186. SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER. 24, PRICE FIVE CENTS. WHEN HE IS PLAGED ON TRIAL FOR HIS MOST HEINOUS CRIME Little Time Is Lost in Preliminaries, a Jury Is Selected and the Taking of Testimony of Witnesses to the Terrible Tragedy in the Temple of Music at the Buffalo Exposition Is Commenced---Prosecuting Attorney Briefly Outlines the Story of Czolgosz’s Acts and Asks That He Be Con- victed of Murder in the First Degree---Defense Will ‘Probably Not Offer Any Evidence, the Anarchist's Sanity Not Being Doubted | TAE MC KINLEY o CANMTON OHIO “AT THE RECETVING: VAULT EENERAL MILES. AMD ESCORT ON THE RIGHT MS KINLEY G.AR. BAND ‘ CLOSING SCENES IN THE TRAGEDY THAT COST PRESIDENT McKINLEY HIS LIFE—FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN FOR THE CALL AT CANTON. | : . £ d on trial with th Willilam a plea of y changed rection of the court. d that th rt convened at 10 subsequ. rors ities g counsel, put who man inion in the Distri Attorney. ged that they had tated they tted that their that e changed by evidence, C. 'White Judges, was on the of the r had pleaded ning Lewis, senior counsel ed that, togeth- Rob- Ladd, they of the pris- Assassin’s Attorneys Explain. *1 thought it ST “for my ny'self that I should say rding our presence here e flefendant. At the time ested I was out of the of what was trans- e to the selection at. When the ion were told to he said, colleagues mething re city and kne piring here with of counsel for the fief circumstances of m3 ) ré were | of the | bench. | But the duty has been imposed and I con- sidered it my duty, in the light of all the circumstances, to defend this man. I ask that no evidence be presented here—that { the court will not permit the acceptance | of any evidence, unless it would be ac- | cepted at the trial of the most meager criminal in the land.” “I am familiar with the circumstances, said Justice White in reply, “and I wish | to say E: I will give you every assurance t the prisoner will have a fair and im- | p: trial and that during the progress ]nf the trial he will receive such treat- | ment as the law demands in any criminal case.” Jurors Promptly Selected. .‘ The work of securing the jurors was then undertaken with a celerity that was | amazing. Before the day was over the vanel had been sworn, the jurors ned to a description of the Tem- le of Music, where the crime occurred; had seen phofographs of the interior of | that structure, and had been told by three surgeons what caused the death of the | President and the effect of the a: shot upon the various organs of the body. They arned why the fatal wound had not been located. | The presentation of the Government's case began shortly before 3 o'clock, when Assistant District Attorney Haller began, with much deliberation, to dddress the jury. He spoke very briefly. “We shall show,” said he, “that for some days prior to the shooting this de- fendant had premeditated the shooting of the President. He knew that on the 6th of September the President wouldl receive assin's had also 1 23.—Leon |me I was extremely reluctant to accept. | the populace in the Temple of Music; that on that day he went to the exposition, got into line with the people and ap- proached the President; that he had a weapon concealed in his hand and as the President extended his hand in kindly greeting he fired the fatal shot. He fired two shots in fact. One of them took ef- fect in the abdomen and caused the mor- tal wound which resulted in the Presi- dent's death. That, in brief, is the story we shall show you. Witnesses will tell you this story, and I am sure that when vou have heard the evidence you will have no difficulty in reaching a verdict of murder in the first degree.” ‘Witnesses Are Called. The first witness, Samuel J. Fields, chief engineer of the Pan-American Ex- position, described the ground floor plan of the Temple of Music and was followed by Perry A. Bliss, a photographer, who presented views of the interior of the building. The remainder of the afternoon was ta- ken up with the testimony of three physi- cians, two of whom had attended the President during his last days, while the other performed the autopsy. The latter, Dr. Harvey Gaylord, was the last of the three to be called. He described the lo- cation of the wound in the stomach and the direction of the bullet. The cause of death was attributed to the gunshot wound, but fundamentally he said it was due to the changes back of the stomach, in the pancreas, caused by the “breaking down” of the material pancreas as a re. sult of the passage of the bullet. Dr. Herman Mynter followed, and his testimony was of importance, inasmuch as it brought out the fact that the reason «why the fatal bullet had not been located at the autopsy was because of the un- willingness of the President’s relatives to have the body further mutilated by their instruments. Dr. Mynter and Dr. Mann, who followed him, both testified that the primary cause of death was the gunshot wound in the stomach. One effect of this wound was, they sald, to cause gan- grene to form in the pancreas and the spot of poisoned tissue was as large as a silver dollar. Conduct of Czolgosz. The prisoner, Czolgosz, during the morn- ing evinced no interest whatever in the proceedings, but as the testimony was in- troduced he paid more attention to what was sald and looked at the various wit- nesses closely. The probable duration %t the trial, it is believed, can be placed at two full days. When District Attorney Penney was asked by Justice White at noon as to the time he would talk in the presentation of his case he declared that he would conclude by Tuesday noon. Titus, for the defense, was non-committal, however, and replied: “That depends upon the turn things take.” It is not probable that any defense will be put in, owing to the character of the prisoner and his refusal to help his attor- neys in any way to secure evidence which they could use in his favor. The idea of an attempt to enter the question of his sanity is not thought of in view of the re- ports of the two allenists who have re- cently examined him, and there is ground for the belief that the trial will be can- cluded with a session of but one day more. COURT IS CLOSELY GUARDED. Heavy Force of Police on Duty, and Visitors Only Admitted on Passes. BUFFALO, Sapt. 23.—The trial of Czol- gosz began at 1¢ o'clock, but long before that hour the streets in the vicinity of the City Hall were the objective of many cu- rious persons. The various entrances to the great building, with the exception of that on Franklin street, were closed and guarded. Squads of police were stationed on every landing and in a double line far inside the place of entrance to keep back the crowds, while in a station not far away reserves were ready to reinforce the detail on duty should the feelings of the people be aroused to the extent of riot- ing. Mounted officers paced slowly around every side of the structure and no one was allowed to stand on the sidewalk for a moment, so that at no time was the crowd large, Taken Through the Tunnel. No one outside of the building saw the prisoner as he was taken from his cell to the courtroom. His guards made use of the “tunnel of sobs” under the street of the City Hall, and Czolgosz was brought into the courtroom only a few moments before the hour set for the opening of his trial. No person was admitted to the building without a pass signed by the Chief of Police, and it was necessary to show this to every policeman on every landing and in every corridor. The of- ficer at the door of the courtroom was especially vigilant, and not only examined the passes but scrutinized the bearers critically before admitting them to the room. The .interior of the City Hall, asy well as the outside, still bore the somber | draperies of mourning, and quiet was en- forced, as befitting the occasion. Counsel for Czolgosz saw him again this morning before the time for the opening of the court, but he had no more to say to them than on the previous occasions when they have visited him. In view of the meagerness of the opportunity for a defense and the fact that the prisoner re- fuses absolutely to aid them, it is not im- probable that the enure proceedings may | be completed within two days. “The mental condition of the assassin will absolutely be the only defense to be | offered,” are the words of ex-Judge Titus, and there is no little expectation that the counsel will nublicly abandon the case and merely represent Czolgosz formally during the trial. As a result of the examination of two alienists, Dr. Carlos T. McDonald and Dr. Allan McLean Hamilton of New York, the question of insanity is eliminated from the -subjects on which the defense can rely for support. Part 3 of the Supreme Court of Erie County is a small roonr on the south side of the second floor of the City Hall. The inclosure for the bench and bar occuples over one-half of the floor space, while the remainder is given over to seats for the general public. Not over 130 of the latter could be accommodated, and these seats to-day were mainly occupied by the men summoned to serve upon the jury. Czolgosz with his counsel occupied seats directly in front of the Justice’s bench. The prisoner’s chair was just back of that of Titus, and deputy sheriffs with their staffs of office were vlaced at various | points in the room and quiet was enforced upon all. ‘The spectators’ seats were filled very slowly ‘owing the extreme care shown by the officers in the corridors in admitting those who applied, and it was not until “court” ounced that the last one was o At 10 o'clock the formal c court was announced. J tered through the center als toolk his seat on the bench. The t business of the session had no relation to the case of Czolgosz. It consisted merely of ing the roll of grand jurers for the com- ing session, and they were then excused until October 1. Clerk Fisher, after a pre- liminary “Hear ye, hear ve,” by the erler, proceeded with the calling of the jurors summoned for the trial of the Czolgosz case. Of the thirty-s 1 jurors called only one asked to be excused At 10:16 there was a bustle in the cor dor and a squad of police brought in the prisoner. He was handcuffed to an offi- cer on each side, while in front and be- hind kim walked other uniformed police. The prisoner was attired in a 1 dark gray, a white sh blue tie. His face w his hair combed. He counsel, with two officers in plain cl immediately in his re District Attorney Penney at on en- and ec cleanly sat down b rthes Hegan the reading of the indictment spok to Czolgosz in a low voice; in fact, so low that when the prisoner was asked to plead he seemed not to understand what had been said. Justice White you to say There was a moment's hesitation. Then Continued on Page Two. asked him, “What have