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The case of the Commonwealth against James A. Trefethen and William H. Smith, charged with the murder of Tena Davis, consumed the entire time of the sessions of the Superior Criminal Court at Cambridge yesterday.

The government evidence was presented tin good form by the witnesses called to the stand, and was wholly circumstantial.

The case has been remarkably well prepared by Att.-Gen. A. E. Pillsbury and Dist.-Atty. Cooney.

The first witness called to the stand in the morning was Charles j. Mills, a civil engineer, who occupied the court's attention a part of Monday afternoon.

His evidence pertained to measurements of the distances between points of importance that were to be brought up in trial. Though not particularly interesting, it was essential for a clear understanding of the facts by the jury, and it proved to be the formation of the very substantial case that the government has commenced to build up against the prisoners. He described a series of experiments made at the ebb and flow of the tide to ascertain the direction in which a body would move immersed in the river at the Wellington bridge, when the current was similar in direction and speed to its flow on the night of the tragedy, about the hour when the girl is supposed to have met her death.

Mrs. Mary J. Davis, mother of the deceased, was the next witness called. The main portion of her testimony, viewed from the present, is not particularly strengthening to the prosecution. She was under examination four hours, a greater part of which time was taken by Mr. Cooney.

In reply to his questions in the last half hour of her direct examination, Mrs. Davis made a statement that manifestly injured Trefethen. She said that upon the occasion of her first interview with him on the day after her daughter's disappearance, that she charged him with being responsible both for her condition and her absence, and said she was going to report the fact that she had disappeared to the police. While she was waiting on a customer in the front part of the store, Trefethen, it appears, entered the sitting room in the rear, and there burst into tears, where she soon after joined him, and also began to cry. It was then that he asked her in talking with the police to say nothing about him, and to withhold from Chief Emerton's knowledge the fact that the ill-fated girl had gone from her house on the night of her death to meet him.

On the other hand, Mr. Long, for his cross-examination, developed much that tends to disprove any great intimacy between the couple, in the sense of indicating an existing engagement between them.

Mrs. Davis admitted that during the four years that the young people had known each other only twice to her knowledge had her daughter ridden with Trefethen. The first time was in June, 1883, between 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when he called at the house, driving his horse in a buggy, and asked her if she would like to take a short outing.

She Rode with Him

to her relatives' home in Malden and returned with him as far as the Everett spring, where she took a car home to Charlestown, and he went to his own house.

She said the second drive was in September last, soon after supper, and consumed about an hour or two.

[picture in article — “ON TRIAL FOR THEIR LIVES”]

She admitted that Trefethen never ate a meal at her house, and to her knowledge was not invited so to do; that he never took Tena to Boston, or to any place of amusement, and the only gifts that she ever received from him was the bouquet, and afterwards the ring.

Mrs. Davis said she did not know the value of the flowers, and was not aware they were grown in his own gardenin Everett, and that it was frequently his custom to give flowers to his customers.

She said she never knew of Tena's receiving a letter from him, and could only recall one night when for any length of time the young people were left alone in the house. The night that she did recall, she said that Mr. Trefethen came about 8 o'clock, that she went to bed about 9 leaving them playing checkers. She did not know when Trefethen left the house that night.

She admitted that the $300 advanced by Tena to Trefethen on his note was taken up when due, and that interest was paid at the rate of 6 per cent. She said that so far as she knew every transaction between Trefethen, her daughter and herself was conducted in a business way, so far as the advancement and payment of moneys was concerned.

Mrs. Davis said that she never called at Trefethen's house, and never met his mother during all the time that she alleged the young folks were so intimate. She said, however, that Tena called at the store four or five times for goods.

At this point in his cross-examination Mr. Long introduced a matter to which he referred delicately and in no way in detail. He asked Mrs. Davis about a certain piano-tuner who had been in the habit of frequently calling at her house in Charlestown, and who was at the Everett home several times about Aug. 13. Mr. Long asked if the witness, knew that the aforesaid piano tuner had trouble with his wife, and was not happily married. Mrs. Davis replied that she did not. She admitted that of personal knowledge she did not know with whom Tena walked in December. In concluding she said that Tena was not sick, was of vigorous physique and of quick temperament, and that she weighed about 108 pounds a short time previous to her death.

Mrs. Davis stood the ordeal with composure, and was deferentially treated by both sides. She was apparently desirious (sic) of telling the truth without the least exaggeration; and she exhibited a charity in her references to the prisoner that was more than Christianlike. The bulk of her

[picture insert: “THE SITUATION IN WHICH OFFICER TUFTS SAW SMITH.

(From a photograph in which Chief Emmerton posed as Smith.)]

story, as given, was identical with her original statement as published in THE GLOBE at the time Tena's body was found.

Officer O.W. Tufts of the Everett police next took the stand, and he related his story with moderate corroboration of his former testimony.

Mr. Tufts was the officer who saw a team resembling Trefethen's standing on the side of the road about 7.40, near the corner of Ferry st. and Broadway.

Mr. Tufts Identified the Man standing beside the team positively as the defendant Smith, whom he admitted he had never before seen. He was not certain of the man's identity in the lower court.

Aside from the matter of identification, however, his testimony was corroborated by Mrs. Matilda Dares, whose evidence was the sensation of the day.

Mrs. Dares is a middle-aged woman who wears spectacles and speaks with a Scotch accent. She said, among other things, that upon the night in question, Dec. 23, about the time stated by Officer Tufts, she saw a team of the same description standing in the same locality, and on the sidewalk, moving in the direction of the street, at no great distance from the buggy, she recognized Tena Davis, whom she had known four years, attired in her long plush outer garment, and her blue toque bonnet, with a long feather. She said she did not stop to speak with her, as she was in a hurry to get to the church, where rehearsal of Christmas exercises was to be held.

Her testimony throughout was convincingly stated, especially her description of the team she saw and the points wherein it resembled the one that she understood was owned by Trefethen.

In concluding her testimony she said that she was present in the Malden court room when the preliminary examination was being held, and that she was looked at by the prisoners, who seemed to be aware of her presence there.

Mrs. Hannah A. Campbell of Everett, who was accompanying her at the trial, also took the stand to prove that both of the ladies were severely looked at by the defendants, who seemed to be discussing the matter of their presence with a show of uneasiness.

John M. Kelly of the Malden police force was next called to the stand. While unable to swear positively as regards the identification of either of the defendants or the Trefethen team, his testimony was important, connecting as it does a link in the chain of testimony leading, as the government asserts, to the Wellington bridge where the crime was committed.

Mr. Kelly testified that on the night of Dec. 23, which date he fixed positively, while on his beat in Edgeworth about 8 o'clock in the evening he heard voices as of a woman and man engaged in a dispute. He was at the corner of Highland av. and Medford st., about 1600 feet from the Mystic river. He saw a team, which he could but partially describe. The buggy was unusually low and the horse moved

With a Peculiar Gait.

He could not distinguish what was said, as he watched them go down to Avon st. Moreover he could not identify the inmates of the carriage, and under cross-examination he admitted that he was not certain that the team he saw was Trefethen's, which he had recently viewed in a stable at Everett. He would say, however, it answered the general appearance of the team.

The testimony of the bridge-tender, who saw the tracks on the foot walk of the bridge, was next commenced, and at 5 o'clock adjournment was taken until 9 o'clock this morning.

Mr. Coggan, associate counsel for the defence, to a GLOBE man said: “Mr. Long and I both agree that the government has produced but little new evidence thus far. The testimony of Mrs. Dares is the only thing that is new. My clients are standing the trial well. I do not think they are at all worried as to the result. The defence is well satisfied wit the jury, and with its ability to present a defence that will satisfactorily explain away the government's case.

“All I can say is we have a complete alibi for Smith that can positively not be broken down. Mr. Trefethen, as you see him, is calm and confident. The only inconvenience the young men experience is their inability to hear. I am not at liberty at present to outline the defence for publication.”

Attorney-General Pillsbury, whose long experience and unvarying success at the bar is recognized, did not care to express his opinion regarding the government's case. He said: “You have seen a portion of it today, and you can form your own opinion as to its strength. Further than this I do not care to be quoted.”

Owing to the interest manifested in the trial the attendance at the court room was very large, scores being unable to obtain admission.

The court officials neglected to provide suitable accommodation for the numerous press representatives, and as a result they were in everybody's way. The chief justice is said to have given orders that other arrangements be made, which may possibly exclude all but one representative of the daily papers, in which event the press will be seriously handicapped in obtaining a full report of the proceedings.

TESTIMONY AGAINST THEM.

Government Witnesses' Evidence of a Circumstantial Nature.

Just before 9 o'clock yesterday morning Trefethen and Smith, handcuffed together, were brought from the jail to court by Deputy Sheriffs Fiske and Sherwin, and placed in the dock.

Both looked exceedingly neat and clean; in fact, to one unacquainted with the terrible ordeal through which they were passing, it would seem as though they had dressed for a ball, rather than for trial on a charge of murder.

Trefethen, however, looked anxious, and

Continued on the eleventh page

The Boston Globe — Apr 27 1892 — page 1

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