254

NEARING THE END

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

-------------------------------------------

WHAT WILL THE VERDICT BE?

------------------------------------------

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 caused by the rupture of a blood vessel, and the blood pouring out upson the [?].

Was Detective Malone Forgetful?

On Monday Detective Malone testified that he went to Walstrom's room after the arrest of that fellow and found there some socks, neckties and night shirts which he showed to certain clerks at Herpolsheimer's and Schwab's, and they identified them as the ones sold to Mrs. Sheedy. On the day of the arrest the witness was with Marshal Melick when that officer whowed McFarland his own cane and asked him whether he had bought such a cane as that at Goldwater's. McFarland said he had bought a cane like that from a man from the Black Hills. When the witness started to take McFarland to the police station a person near by remarked, "Ah, there, I thought that they'd get you." It was one of the barbers in the shop who said this. The witness continued:

"I showed McFarland the cane found on the porch after the assault on John Sheedy January 11. Monday identified the case. I asked him where he was the evening of the assault and his answers were such that I charged him with being at John Sheedy's between eight minutes after 7 and 7:30 the evening that John Sheedy was struck. We then locked him up."

The witness then testified that he was present at the time the first confession was made. This was on the Sunday morning following the arrest. The witness then detailed the confession.

Mr. Strode examined the witness rigidly upon his testimony before the coroner's jury, wherein he appears to have stated that he had had a conversation with John Sheedy on the night after the assault and that the latter had said that he thought his assailant was Frank Williams. Malone said he didn't say it.

"Didn't you tell me that Sunday night," said Colonel Philpott, the darkey's attorney, "in the corridor of the city jail as you passed, you going towards Monday's cell and I going in the opposite direction, that Monday was in a desperate condition and would commit suicide before morning?"

"No, sir."

"Did you see me in the jail that night at all?"

"No, sir."

"Will you swear I was not there?"

"No, sir; you might have been there while I was not."

"Do you mean to say, Mr. Malone," said Mr. Strode, "that you did not tell me that night in the office of the police station, leaning over the railing and talking in low tones, that you scared the confession out of Monday McFarland?"

"Yes, sir; I never told you that."

"Do you remember saying anything?"

"I might have said something, but I never said that."

Malone said he did not know of his own knowledge that any reward was offered, but Marshal Melick had informed him there was a reward of $1,000. He had been supplied with funds up to the amount of $75 to assist in securing the evidence.

"Wasn't Mr. Philpott down to the jail the night Monday was arrested, prowling around trying to get at the prisoner?" asked Mr. Lambertson.

"Couldn't say that he was."

"Wasn't about half the bar of Lincoln down there trying to get at the prisoner?"

"Not that I know of, sir."

"Wasn't Mr. Strode down there to see the prisoner?"

"Not that I know of, sir."

A Bit of Revolting Evidence.

Marshal Melick testified that the socks, neckties and night shirts presented at the coroner's jury were the same that were found in Walstrom's trunk.

"Mr. Melick, have you the box of hair heretofore referred to in this case?" asked Mr. Lambertson, of the prosecution.

Mr. Melick took from his pocket a silver match box which he handed to Mr. Lambertson.

"Where did you get this?"

"In a drawer in Monday McFarland's shop."

The box was opened and two white paper packages not much larger than a physician's powder were taken out. They each contained a ringlet of hair.

Mrs. Sheedy sat with eyes cast down and lips compressed during this discussion; as might have been expected during a trying ordeal.

John Sheedy's Enemies.

D. G. Gourtnay, a warm personal friend of John Sheedy, was near Eleventh and P on the night of the assault; heard the shots and was at the house inside of ten minutes; when he went in Dr. Hart and Dr. Everett were dressing the wound; stayed there about an hour; went away and returned again in an hour or an hour and a half; the doctor said when he first arrived that the would was slight; it appeared to witness to be a slight wound; witness, Dr. Hart and Mrs. Sheedy put him to bed; she wasn't crying, but was agitated.

Witness conversed with him after he had gone to bed; asked him to describe the person who struck the blow; Sheedy said it was a thickest person and had on a short coat; before Sheedy went to bed he was shown the cane and asked if he could identify it; he said there were many canes like that. Sheedy asked if any of the shots he had fired had taken effect; witness remarked that the policeman had said that they had found blood on the sidewalk; at that Sheedy had said, "I'll go down." Dr. Hart and Mrs. Sheedy assured him that he needed rest and he went to bed.

In recounting the occurrences of the day following the assault the witness related the symptoms as heretofore described and said that he had then remarked that they reminded him of morphine poison. He had seen two cases of death from that cause.

The witness saw McFarland when he came to the house on Monday. He then related how Mrs. Sheedy had employed him to look after her affairs. Mr. Lambertson wanted to ask him about what she had said to him after that, but Mr. Courtnay declined on the ground that, as they were said to him as her attorney, he didn't wish to testify to what was said, but didn't leave the impression that there was anything damaging to her.

He had advised Mrs. Sheedy to have herself appointed administratrix of a part of the estate to preserve her interest, as his impression was at that time that Dennis Sheedy wanted to gobble the whole business. Mrs. Sheedy informed him that Dennis proposed that Mr. Fitzgerald should be made administrator of the whole estate, but be advised her that there was likely to be a big lawsuit in the matter and for her own safety she had better be appointed administratrix.

Some $550 was found to be available. Of this $500 was found in the shape of checks for rent and $50 was found in an inside pocket of Sheedy's vest. Mrs. Sheedy had the coat and was washing the blood from it when he cautioned her that she had better not do that. She said that she had found no money in it. Witness knew that it had formerly been Sheedy's custom to carry about him in his pockets several hundred dollars. That was some time before.

Upon cross examination witness stated that Sheedy had told him during the night after the assault that he suspected George Bradeen, Mose Smith, Alex Jetes and Frank Williams.

He also testified that Sheedy had employed detectives to watch him and preserve him from a possible assault by his enemies.

Ghoulish Work on Sheedy's Body.

On cross examination Dr. Winnet said the opinion of the doctors at the Sheedy house on Monday after the assault, possibly with the exceptions of Dr. Woodward, was that death was due to pressure of the brain was present at the autopsy; the examination comprised the brain, the organs of the chest, the liver, the kidneys and other organs and the stomach was taken out; saw Mr. Strode there and remember that an effort was made to exclude him or any one representing Mrs. Sheedy.

Witness saw no superfluous moisture in the brain. He described the old bullet wound found in the back of the head and some bleeding of the brain around it, owing, he thought, to the removal of the brain from the skull; also described an old and slight depression in the forehead.

Questions brought out the fact that Sheedy's body had been taken up about four weeks ago under orders of County Attorney Snell and parts removed to Robert's undertaking shop. It was at that time that the head was cut off, and subsequently the flesh was removed to show the grinning skull.

"Who were present?" asked Mr. Strode.

"Prof. Haines of Chicago, Dr. Everett, Mr. Roberts, a gentleman I supposed to be his partner and the sexton at the cemetery."

"Who took any of the organs besides the parts you took?"

"Prof. Haines."

"What did he take?"

"The liver and the bladder."

"You have kept this a profound secret, have you not doctor, according to instructions?"

"Don't know as I had any instructions, but did keep it more or less a secret."

"Under whose instructions was this done?"

"Mr. Snell's."

Confusing a Doctor.

Dr. Winnett gave at his opinion that morphine poison would not show its symptoms until thirty to fifty minutes had passed. Mr. Strode quoted from a book saying the symptoms should be manifest in from five to twenty minutes. He continued:

"Doctor will you give me a single authority which says it requires from thirty to fifty minutes?"

"I attained that impression from reading a tabulated statement of 200 cases of morphine poisoning."

"What was that statement published in?"

"In the half-yearly abstract of medical science."

"Have you that table with you?"

The book was produced and Mr. Strode asked the witness to show him where it was stated that from thirty to fifty minutes was required for the manifestations, and the witness failed to find it.

He said that his impressions from his own practice were to that effect; he had noticed no symptoms in Sheedy's case which might not have been attributed to compression of the brain; the blow administered to Sheedy was sufficient to produce either compression or concussion.

The cadaver was then produced and the witness explained the various fractures in the bones of the face, none of which were through the skull, and explained that it took a very severe blow to inflict them. He thought that the blow was sufficient to produce death, but he didn't think that it produced death in this instance.

Witness said he knew of no post-mortem evidence of morphine poisoning to the brain except that the blood is congested in the brain more than at other times.

"I noticed no special evidence of morphine poisoning in the examination of the brain, as I was merely an observer.

The witness concluded in reply to Mr. Strode's question that he was impressed with the idea that Sheedy died of morphine poisoning.

The witness explained that his last examination had revealed to him the fractures pointed out, which were not shown at the autopsy, and he was convinced that the blow was much heavier than he had supposed at the time of the autopsy. He had assisted at the request of Dr. Everett and expected pay, but did not know from whom.

The Blow Sufficient to Cause Death.

Dr. M. H. Everett was quite positive that Sheedy was not suffering from concussion of the brain when he saw him. He was at the autopsy; assisted Dr Casebeer some. Witness described the organs; had found the brain with a larger amount of fluid than normal, with no gross lesions; it was abnormally wet.

"What was your judgment at the time of the autopsy, doctor, as to the death of John Sheedy?"

"I thought it was due to an injury to the brain, caused by the blow; didn't think his death was hastened by the weakness of his heart; thought that the blow could have killed him."

NEARING THE END

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

-------------------------------------------

WHAT WILL THE VERDICT BE?

------------------------------------------

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 caused by the rupture of a blood vessel, and the blood pouring out upson the [?].

Was Detective Malone Forgetful?

On Monday Detective Malone testified that he went to Walstrom's room after the arrest of that fellow and found there some socks, neckties and night shirts which he showed to certain clerks at Herpolsheimer's and Schwab's, and they identified them as the ones sold to Mrs. Sheedy. On the day of the arrest the witness was with Marshal Melick when that officer whowed McFarland his own cane and asked him whether he had bought such a cane as that at Goldwater's. McFarland said he had bought a cane like that from a man from the Black Hills. When the witness started to take McFarland to the police station a person near by remarked, "Ah, there, I thought that they'd get you." It was one of the barbers in the shop who said this. The witness continued:

"I showed McFarland the cane found on the porch after the assault on John Sheedy January 11. Monday identified the case. I asked him where he was the evening of the assault and his answers were such that I charged him with being at John Sheedy's between eight minutes after 7 and 7:30 the evening that John Sheedy was struck. We then locked him up."

The witness then testified that he was present at the time the first confession was made. This was on the Sunday morning following the arrest. The witness then detailed the confession.

Mr. Strode examined the witness rigidly upon his testimony before the coroner's jury, wherein he appears to have stated that he had had a conversation with John Sheedy on the night after the assault and that the latter had said that he thought his assailant was Frank Williams. Malone said he didn't say it.

"Didn't you tell me that Sunday night," said Colonel Philpott, the darkey's attorney, "in the corridor of the city jail as you passed, you going towards Monday's cell and I going in the opposite direction, that Monday was in a desperate condition and would commit suicide before morning?"

"No, sir."

"Did you see me in the jail that night at all?"

"No, sir."

"Will you swear I was not there?"

"No, sir; you might have been there while I was not."

"Do you mean to say, Mr. Malone," said Mr. Strode, "that you did not tell me that night in the office of the police station, leaning over the railing and talking in low tones, that you scared the confession out of Monday McFarland?"

"Yes, sir; I never told you that."

"Do you remember saying anything?"

"I might have said something, but I never said that."

Malone said he did not know of his own knowledge that any reward was offered, but Marshal Melick had informed him there was a reward of $1,000. He had been supplied with funds up to the amount of $75 to assist in securing the evidence.

"Wasn't Mr. Philpott down to the jail the night Monday was arrested, prowling around trying to get at the prisoner?" asked Mr. Lambertson.

"Couldn't say that he was."

"Wasn't about half the bar of Lincoln down there trying to get at the prisoner?"

"Not that I know of, sir."

"Wasn't Mr. Strode down there to see the prisoner?"

"Not that I know of, sir."

A Bit of Revolting Evidence.

Marshal Melick testified that the socks, neckties and night shirts presented at the coroner's jury were the same that were found in Walstrom's trunk.

"Mr. Melick, have you the box of hair heretofore referred to in this case?" asked Mr. Lambertson, of the prosecution.

Mr. Melick took from his pocket a silver match box which he handed to Mr. Lambertson.

"Where did you get this?"

"In a drawer in Monday McFarland's shop."

The box was opened and two white paper packages not much larger than a physician's powder were taken out. They each contained a ringlet of hair.

Mrs. Sheedy sat with eyes cast down and lips compressed during this discussion; as might have been expected during a trying ordeal.

John Sheedy's Enemies.