254

NEARING THE END

The Long Drawn Sheedy Case Will Soon go to the Jury.

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WHAT WILL THE VERDICT BE?

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Medical Experts Differ, But the Chemists Who Made the Analysis of the Organs Report No Poison Found--Attorney Hall Visits Chicago--The Interest Keeps Up.

HARDLY any case in the history of the state, and surely none in the history of Lancaster county, has attracted the interest that has attached to the Sheedy murder case. John Sheedy was a gambler. Late in life he married a young and handsome woman. They lived together for nine years. One Sunday evening last January he started to go down town and as he stepped on the porch was struck over the head with a cane. He pulled his revolver and fired a number of shots and went back into the house where his injuries were dressed. The blow was not considered fatal, but at four o'clock next morning he was found to be completely paralyzed and he gradually sunk until evening when he died. Next day he was buried. Later in the week a negro barber named Monday McFarland, who had been employed more or less about the house, was run through the "sweat box" and confessed that he struck the blow, and stated that he had been hired by Mrs. Sheedy to kill him. He also told disgusting stories of his alleged intimacy with her, and exhibited a number of bunches of hair as mementos of his conquest. Mrs. Sheedy and the negro were arrested and she was charged with having instigated the negro to strike the blow and with having administered poison to hasten Sheedy's demise. John Sheedy left a large property and there were no children. Under the law if she had assisted in the bloody work, she could take none of this property. It was a large stake, but many believe that it is being played for. Mrs. Sheedy must be convicted so that this money could pass to his heirs. She was appointed administratrix of the estate along with John Fitzgerald, but she has had nothing to do with the management of the affairs, and not a cent of money from the estate. John Fitzgerald hired Attorney F. M. Hall, ostensibly to represent the estate, and the Sheedy heirs hired G. M. Lambertson to assist in the prosecution. But Hall has been as zealous and as prominent in the prosecution as either County Attorney Snell or Mr. Lambertson. In fact most of the time he has been more prominent. John Sheedy's body was dug up the Sunday following his death and a post mortem examination held. The stomach was sent to Ann Arbor, Michigan for analysis, and it is said that the heirs paid for the work. No poison was found. Later, the prosecution serreptitiousaly exhumed what little of the body was left and the liver, kidneys and bladder were given to Prof. Haines of Chicago, for analysis. It is said that Mr. Hall paid for this work. It is certainly true that he was in Chicago Saturday, Sunday and Monday last, consulting with the leading chemists of that city to ascertain if it were possible to prove that Sheedy had been poisoned, even if no poison was found in the body. Prof. Haines found no poison. The state has rested its case, and the general verdict is that it has but little foundation to stand upon. The people are watching the outcome with interest; some arrayed on one side, some on the other, but all are asking themselves, "Will they win?"

The prosecution undertook to show by the doctors who made the autopay on John Sheedy that death resulted from morphine poisoning. Dr. Hart gave it as his opinion that death resulted from the blow of the cane. Dr. Beachly testified that Sheedy exhibited the symptoms of poisoning. Dr. Casbeeer ventured the same opinion. The defense brought out the testimony that with the stomach in normal condition the effects of morphine poisoning whould be perceptible in a few minutes. With the stomach full of food or beer or whisky the symptoms might be delayed two hours or more. It had been shown that Sheedy vomited twice bfore the giving of the coffee which was supposed to contain morphine, and that four hours passed before he exhibited the symptoms which the prosecution is trying to prove were those of morphine poisoning. Dr. Winnett testified in a similar strain, but the following question was put to him.

"State from the examination you have made of the skull of John Sheedy, whether or not in your opinion the blow that was administered at that time was sufficient to produce death."

"I think so."

All these physicians testified that quite a number of the symptoms of morphine poison would be the same as the symptoms of compression of the brain resulting from a blow on the head.

During Dr. Winnett's testimony a dramatic scene occurred. Attorney Lambertson handed him a skull with which to make his explanations. The top of it had been cut off and there were fractures about the left eye. During the examination the lawyer asked:

"Doctor, whose skull are you holding in your hand?"

"It is the skull of John Sheedy."

Mrs. Sheedy's eyes filled with tears and she hid her face in her handkerchief, but she soon recovered her composure and bravely followed the ghastly evidence offered by the state.

Albert Katzenstein and James Gatchell, clerks at Herpolsheimer & James Gatchell, clerks at Herpolsheimer & Co.'s, identified some night shirts and socks as some that Mrs. Sheedy had bought at their store. They were found in Walstrom's room. J. Smith, a clerk at Schwab's, in like manner identified a necktie.

Harry Shafer, grand keeper of the records and seal of the Knights of [Pythian?] in Nebraska, testified that on the day following the assault he called to see the wounded man, who was a brother knight. While there Mrs. Sheedy remaked:

"I believe that Mr. Sheedy is dying, not from the effects of the blow, but I think they have given him something to kill him."

Dr. Casebeer explained that the symptoms of compression of the brain are nearly the same as those in morphine poisoning except in the breathing, it is not so slow; where you find one breathing heavily and only five or six times a minute, it would indicate morphine poisoning; where the breathing is equally heavy but at the rate of fifteen or twenty times a minute, it would indicate compression, where the rate fluctuated it would indicate morphine. Compression would would be apt to dilate the pupils; would not expect dilation from sulfonal. Compression of the brain is