The next witness called was Mrs. Ruth Campbell. She said she lived on the McWha place; she had lived there eighteen years, and was very well acquainted with all the peculiarities, customs and ways of the deceased; that she visited them tow or three times weekly, and sometimes oftener. The deceased women were in the habit of placing a tin pan up at the window for the purpose of making an alarm should anyone attempt to get into the house. The pan would fall and make the desired alarm. The custom of the women was to always provide kindling wood for the morning fire and there was none on the morning the murder was discovered in the place where it was always kept.

She saw men at the stable about 11 o’clock. Baker was with them.

She testified to the condition of the windows when the alarm was given, and said that she never in all her acquaintance with the family seen those windows blinded day or night; they always had a short lambrequin covering the upper half of the window.

Mrs. Ruth Campbell was called back to the stand by the defense and said she washed Baker’s clothes. He brought them to her early Monday morning.

Mrs. Mary Sturgeon – I live near Collier’s, and I know the prisoner, and I remember when he returned from the west; I met him at Mrs. McWha’s, where I remained two nights in last April; when I was going to the station, Mr. Baker, who accompanied me, said: “My wife in her will left $500 to the church, and I had said to her, if you want to buy the Lord you had better take a young man and educate him for the ministry.” Mrs. McWha never spoke to Baker while I was there; they ate in the kitchen, and she did not come out until the meal was nearly finished.

A.G. Lee, of Burgettstown, Pa., said: I am related to the dead woman, having married Mrs. McWha’s second daughter. I was at their house on Tuesday after the murder, and made a search of the premises with Mr. Patterson and a witness. We found a pasteboard box in which was the will of Robert McWha, the will of Mrs. McWha and a note for a mortgage; the truck from which they had been taken had been broken open. We found a lot of silverware also. Some days afterwards when Mr. Patterson and myself were making another search we found the bonds under the small marble slab of the bureau in the sitting room. In years before they kept the bonds in a violin box with a false bottom, and we first looked in it but they were not there. We made a search for the will of Mrs. Baker; found in the stove a lot of charred paper, in which in close connection I could discover the words “to” and “the.” And a capital “W.” On the kitchen floor, probably three feet from the door that opened into the little hall, there was a lot of blood that ran under the kitchen stove and formed a pool of blood on the zinc. Witness here described other blood. On the leaf of the kitchen table was blood, which looked as though it had been sponged off, and on the left hand corner of the table were bloody finger marks. On the door frame, between the kitchen and Mrs. McWha’s bed room, were splotches of blood, and the blood had been wiped off his door sill.

Miss Ella Wisner lived at the Cove, near where Mrs. McWha lived; had been making her home temporarily with Mrs. Denny; I know the prisoner; on Monday the 9th of May, Mr. Baker was to get my mail from the post office and I was to call at Baker’s for it; since his return from the West, Baker had been getting the mails from the office, but before that time the arrangement with Mrs. Baker was that I should get the mail every other day and Mrs. Baker every other day; when Mr. Baker came home from the West he would bring the mail; I was looking for a letter on Monday, the 9th, and was to go up to McWha’s after the mail arrived; about ten o’clock of that day Mr. Baker called on me and said I would get no letter that day; that “he” had forgotten to write; and that I need not come up on that day; I afterwards got my mail, later in the day, from the post office; brought to me by two boys.

Cross-examined. – I got my mail about an hour and a half after Mr. Baker told me I would get no mail; two boys brought it to me from the post office; it was not a letter, but a newspaper, from the Eats; sometimes we got western mail off the local train from the East in the forenoon.

Hess Ferrall, conductor on the Pan-handle R. R., testified that his train carried the local mail west from Pittsburgh; the “limited mail” from the West left local mails at Birmingham, opposite Pittsburgh, and they were distributed there and my train would get local mail west back as far as Steubenville; my train was due at the Cove between 8 and 9 o’clock local time.

James Wright, Jr. – I saw Baker Monday morning, the 9th, at Mr. Denny’s between 11:30 and 12 A. M. Baker said to Miss Wisner, “Ella, there’s no mail for you this morning; we will have to get a new postmaster.” Then he spoke to me, he said; “You fellows have not been doing any good since I was here before; d—n it, I will go to town.” I understood that he meant to go to Steubenville.

Wm. Davidson, of Steubenville, was at the Cove on the 9th day of May between twelve and one o’clock; was at Mrs. McWhas to rent a stable; Baker was there and Mrs. McWha and Mrs. Baker; Mrs. Baker was in the hall; the arrangement was closed about renting the stable, within a quarter of an hour, two teamsters were with me; we left there before one o’clock; we were teaming(?) for the railroad company; Baker told us that when we came back in the evening not to go to the house, but to go about our business; he went out with us back of a little building near the gate; we signed a lease for the stable at the door of the house, and that closed the arrangement about the stable; we came back late in the evening, with our horses; we went around the stable and got in at the back door, unlatched the front stable door and took our horses into the stable; Baker had told us we would get in that way, without going to the house; we were there about three-quarters of an hour; we did not notice the house at all; we stopped at Knox’s down over the hill; Wm. Wilson was with me; in the morning after we got up after daylight and went to the stable; Mr. Baker kept the article; we paid no money on the rent that day; we were to pay $5 a month, but not in advance; Mrs. McWha had wanted us to pay in advance, and we said we were not very well fixed and could not do it, and then it was understood that we were to pay the rent at the end of each month – the first payment on the 9th of June.

Wm. S. Miller resides about two and a half miles from the McWha homestead; was on the coroner’s jury Tuesday, May 10th; saw blood spots on the front window, before going into the house. The witness here described the positions in which the bodies were found, the blood on the floor, both of the sitting room and the kitchen; both ticks of the bed had been thrown up from the foot toward the head, but the upper portion of the bed did not appear as thought it had been occupied; saw the tub in the room, containing some clothing, a coupling pin, a bolt, an axe, and a pair of stockings; also a pair of shoes with a pair of stockings stuck in them under the bed in the same room; also, a pair of shoes in Mrs. Baker’s room, under the bed; the shoes had blood on them; on the clothing in the tub there was blood; the sleeves of the garment had been turned wrongside out, and the stocking were turned wrongside out; the tub was about half full of water; the bolt had on it blood and hair; there were bloody finger-marks on the window blinds.

FRIDAY
At nine o’clock court opened promptly. It was difficult to get a witness, all seemed to be absent.

Wm. A. Crawford testified. Live at Holliday’s Cove; saw Mrs. McWha the night before the death of Mrs. Baker’s baby; was one of the Coroner’s Jury; I saw a trunk in parlor bedroom; saw a trunk in Mr. and Mrs. Baker’s bedroom; also one in another room; examined lock of trunk Mr. Baker designated as his; the trunk was inside of room; when I saw the trunk it was not locked; got key from Baker and tried to lock and unlock the trunk which could be done easily; the hasp was broken loose from the trunk; no part of the lock proper was broken; I examined the contents of the trunk; the contents in the bottom of the trunk were undisturbed.

Cross examined – Found hasp near the trunk towards the school house; it was broken off the trunk; pocket book was lying near trunks; don’t know that they were open; nothing else on the floor; the contents of the trunks were visible; got the key of trunk from Baker; Baker, when asked for the key, said nothing about the contents of the pocket books.

James Patterson testified as follows: Have the deeds and papers taken from the parlor trunk. This is the trunk from which the papers were taken. (Trunk shown to jury.) These are the papers delivered to me by Mr. Lee, viz., deed’s, note and mortgage. (Papers handed to counsel to examine.) These papers were given me by Mr. Lee on Friday or Saturday of the week of the murder. The trunk was in the same condition now when I first saw it.

Albert Lee testifies. (Trunk shown witness.) I know the trunk by the way it is broken; it was in the parlor bed room; these are the papers I found in the trunk and gave to Mr. Patterson; found them in a pasteboard box in the lower part of the trunk; the box was tied with a string; the will of Mrs. McWha was among the papers; the detectives were present when the papers were found; we examined them as soon as we could get together and gave the papers to Mr. Patterson; the trunk is in the same condition now as when found.

Mrs. Lucy Swearingen sworn – I live three miles from Steubenville; I formerly lived at Holliday’s Cove; I remember day of murder; Mrs. Brown is my aunt; I visited her first week in May; my son Harry and baby were with me; we all visited at Brown’s; on 9th of May made a visit to Baker’s house, we agreed at dinner table to make the visit at two o’clock but were delayed until half past two; myself, baby and Mrs. Brown got in the buggy; Mrs. Brown drove; we drove to fence of house on the commons west of house; could see through the orchard from the fence; at this time foliage was not heavy on trees; my aunt removed something from around the buggy wheel; went to west end of the house, then up on the porch in front of the house; rang the front door bell twice; after waiting a few minutes, I gave Mrs. Brown the baby, and went around west end of the house, passed windows to back kitchen door; I noticed that the parlor window shutters were closed; saw four windows on north side of the house, all closed; I turned the knob of the kitchen door; it was instantly pushed back on me forcibly; it closed the door fastening I had turned; I then returned to the front of the house the same way I came; Mrs. Brown was waiting in front of house; when the door was slammed I said, Eliza, it is me, let me in; I said this when I opened the door, before the door was pushed back; no answer was made; we waited a few minutes longer in front of the house, I holding the child; Mrs. B. and I were there one-half hour talking; waited ten minutes after the door was pushed shut in my face; I went and gathered some flowers in the yard; we then got in the buggy and drove home; we met Mr. Denning and talked ten minutes; It was ten minutes past three when we got home; went to my own home on May 10th, at 9 o’clock A. M.; saw Baker pass the house that forenoon; he went down the pike towards Mrs. McWha’s house; ten minutes before 2 I left for home; went down the pike past the McWha property; at the gate leading to Mrs. McWha’s I saw Baker standing inside facing the road. I said to him “I called to see your wife yesterday, but did not find her at home.” He said likely they were in the orchard; he asked me who he would tell his wife was there; I have often seen Baker, but had no acquaintance with him; he did not ask me to call; he asked me if I was Mr. Dan Swearingen’s wife; he did not ask me the time I called; Mrs. Baker’s father’s farm joined my father’s farm; Mrs. B. and I went to school together; we were always intimate and kept up on our acquaintance; there was no interruption of our friendship; I visited them but once in two years. (Photographs of the McWha residence shown the witness and the different views of the house explained.)

Mrs. Margaret Brown testifies: Have lived at Hollidays Cove all my life; Mrs. Swearingen is my brother’s daughter; on May 9th Mrs. Swearingen and I visited Mrs. McWha’s, at half past two in the afternoon. We hitched our horse to the fence at the commons; went to the porch and I sat down while Mrs. Swearingen rang the bell; waited for an answer, I rang the bell more vigorously, but still there was no response; we sat several minutes waiting, then Mrs. Swearingen went around to the north end of the house and came back and made a report; I said we would wait awhile. We left by the same gate at which we had entered, and went home. When we got home it was ten minutes past three; I knew Mrs. McWha all my life; knew Mrs. Baker all her life; that is the whole of the history of that day; I noticed some yeast spread out on the porch to dry; the yeast was exposed; saw a brood of chickens with hen running at large; washing was hanging on the line in the garden; noticed shutters on front windows were closed; I noticed windows were down in sitting room with blinds down entirely; house is on quite a steep bluff; could not see sitting room windows from the road.