Verdict Returned by the Jury as to Death of Tena Davis.
Result of the Second Trial of Famous “Murder” Case.
Prosecutor Pillsbury Ended This Noon and Judge Dunbar Read Charge.
The Trefethen jury returned a verdict of not guilty at 5.15 p m.
LAST DAY OF TRIAL.
At its Conclusion Trefethen Declares His Innocence of Murder.
Trefethen’s appearance this morning indicated that the suspense is telling on him, for he looked more worn that usual, his pinched features looking as though he had passed a restless night.
He spoke an occasional word to his guards, Deputies Fiske and Tidsbury, who sit continually on either side of the dock.
Deputies Tidd and Fairbairn who have charge of the jury, say that the 12 men in whose hands trefethen’s fate rests are the least troublesome jury they have ever had in charge.
Deputy Tidd has had charge of the juries who tried Nowlin, Mrs Robinson and Trefethen at the former trial.
When the judges had taken their seats
Atty Gen Pillsbury
Resumed his argument at the point where he had broken off last evening
He took up first the deposition of Eugene Whorf, and asked the jury how they could believe that he had sat silent while the newspapers were full for weeks with the disappearance of Tena Davis, and he never said a word.
He said it was not credible that Whorf could have told that the woman disappeared from the Malden bridge, and Whorf not let his old schoolfellow, Mr Coggan, whom he knew to be counsel in the case, know of it, as well as he did a year later, after Trefethen had been convicted of the crime.
“There is not one fact in this case, so far as we have gone, on which you can stand, gentlemen, with your two feet, or even with one, in support of the theory that Tena Davis committed suicide,” said the attorney general, with impressive gesture.
The attorney general then went on to deal with he evidence given by Mrs Pierce, the medium, in regard to the alleged visit of Trefethen to her office.
“My brother referred to the evidence of Mrs. Pierce,” said Mr Pillsbury, “as a stench in this case.
“But he has since brought Mrs Hubert and Dr ‘John’ Therrien here to purify the atmosphere polluted by Mrs Pierce.”
Atty Gen Pillsbury said that he would not ask that a case of that magnitude should be decided on the evidence of any medium, although he asked the jury to give it the weight to which they considered it was entitled.
They should also remember that it was not the government which selected Mrs Pierce, it was Trefethen
At 12.30 Atty Pillsbury concluded his argument.
Judge Sherman then asked the prisoner if he had anything to say to the court or jury.
Trefethen arose and said: “I am an innocent man.”
This was all he said, and after a few moments conversation with his associates, Judge Dunbar began his charge to the jury.
PILLSBURY’S WORDS.
Continuation Today of His Argument for conviction of Trefethen.
Mr Foreman and gentlemen of the jury—It must have become evident to you early in the trial that the only question, the only real question upon which the defense rests, is whether Tena Davis did not commit suicide; and they rest on that much more than on the question whether, if she died by the hand of another, it was the hand of Trefethen.
I ask you if it is not true that on this branch of the case, as on others, we have on the one side facts proved, and on the other the mere suggestion of a possibility. Gentlemen, is not that so?
On the one hand is the evidence; on the other, “It might have been otherwise,” “It is possible that it was not so.” That is the position in which most of the questions in this case present themselves to you, as it appears to me.
Now, gentlemen, take all you know of Tena Davis down to the time of her disappearance on the night of Dec 23, take every fact which is proved in the case concerning her from the time when we first know of her in Bethel, Me, or in the Charlestown store, down to the time when she is last seen at the corner of Ferry st and Broadway on the night of Dec 23, and tell me if in all that evidence there is one single fact which points toward suicide.
This is the way to test it, gentlemen, or this is one way, and a good way.
Has one single thing been proved of that girl which, if you had not known that she disappeared and died on the night of Dec 23, would have suggested to your minds that she was liable to destroy herself—one single thing?
It is said that she had a motive to suicide in her condition. But we know, gentlemen, that that which is a motive to suicide with one is no motive to suicide with another; and it was a much
Stronger Motive to Marriage
than to suicide, and marriage was what she sought, and marriage was what she hoped, and when we last see her expected to attain. Isn’t that so, gentlemen, upon the evidence?
It is possible to conjecture all sorts of things, but the verdict of a jury does not rest upon conjecture. You must plant your verdict on the facts proved in the case.
Another thing. Perhaps this has already occurred to you, how many women in her situation commit suicide? What proportion of women in her situation do you suppose commit suicide? One in a hundred. No. One in a thousand. Perhaps so, although I should doubt even that.
And, as I said before, while this might be in one mind a motive to suicide, it would be in every mind, in the mind of every woman in her situation, a motive to be united in lawful and honorable wedlock to the author of her misfortune; and when we last see Tena Davis she supposed that she was on the way to the altar.
And the evidence in the case on that point, gentlemen, as I have had occasion to say to you before of other evidence, and indeed of most of the other evidence, is uncontradicted, uncontradicted.
There it is. It is in the case and you must deal with it, and my friend, with all his eloquence and with all his ingenuity, cannot brush it out of sight. On the one hand are the facts, on the other the suggestion of a possibility that the case might have been otherwise, and of course it might.
There is always a possibility that the case might have been otherwise.
Nothing is ever proved in a court of justice or elsewhere with absolute certainty, and if absolute certainty were required the administration of justice would stop.
Why, my friend himself has described Tena Davis, when he was directing his attention toward another end, and when it was not fixed on the question of suicide—my friend himself has asked you to believe that Tena Davis was a
Bright, Cheerful and Healthy Girl.
That is his expression. And so she was, so far as she has been described to us.
And much more than this. We know what had happened on the 23d of December.
We know she had been visited that day by he man who had enlisted her affections as well as conquered her virtue, and whom she hoped and desired to marry.
And we find her after that visit on that day—and it is undisputed, the evidence is uncontradicted—we find her cheerful and happy, more so than usual.
We find her with the expectation that she is to meet Trefethen that night for the purpose of talking about a time for marriage.
We find her going out to meet him on the corner of Ferry st and Broadway at 7 o’clock that night for that purpose, not expecting to be gone long leaving her mother with a smile. Is there anything suicidal in that?
What is it, gentlemen, that my friend stands on when he argues about suicide? What is there about Tena Davis, in her character, in her manner, or under the circumstances in her condition, on which that argument can rest? Nothing, nothing.
Take her where we last saw her. There she is, out there on the corner of the street, not on her way to suicide, not seeking a place where she might destroy herself, but lingering there to meet the man whom she had there appointed to meet for the purpose which she knew. And when she saw that team com The Boston Globe – Sept 29 1893 – page 1