The following part of the article continued from the "The Saturday Review" newspaper, East Liverpool & Wellsville, Ohio; July 30, 1887, Vol. 8, No. 42, Page 8.

BAKER’S TRIAL

The Prosecution Rest their Case

The Prisoner Testifies on His Own Behalf

Post office. I did not see him afterward.

John Knox recalled. Live in Holliday’s Cove. I am a boot and shoe maker. On Tuesday, May 10th, heard an alarm of “murder”. Saw Baker first in the room where the bodies lay, he was making much noise. His grief seemed to be unnatural in its manifestation—different from that of persons I had seen in grief. I led him out of the room and out of the yard to the commons. Baker said to me, “They took all of my money too; I found the pocket books out in the yard.” He named $300 as the sum that had been taken. He moaned. I asked him to come with me to my house; but he replied that he didn’t want to go where there was anybody.

Benjamin Buchanan sworn.—I have known the prisoner about 20 years; about one year ago I had talked with the prisoner, at my home in Washington county, Pa.; he said his wife and Mrs. McWha were miserly and stingy; he thought they should be more free with their money; If ever he got their money he would spend it.

Cross-examined.—It was about one year ago that I had this conversation. I had asked him if he was going to the West. He said he could not go that far. He would have to stay in this neighborhood. He did not stay at home that winter.

Larry O’Toole testified as follows: I am a skilled laborer in construction of railroad work. Have been at Holliday’s Cove sine the 7th of April. I am foreman on the work of building railroads. I keep the times for the men. Thos. McClosky and Ed. McPherson, two of my men, were arrested on suspicion of being the murderers. They worked from 7 to 4:20 on the 9th, Eastern time is 21 minutes faster than Steubenville or local time. The whole force quit work about 4:20 on the 9th, on account of rain; on Wednesday the men wanted to quit and left, but I sent for them and had them come back, because they had not given me the usual five days’ notice. They worked six days after that for me. Their home was at Brady’s Bend, Pa.

W. McD. Miller, of Steubenville, an attorney at law, and city solicitor of Steubenville. Mrs. Baker was a full cousin of my mother, and Mrs. McWha an aunt by marriage of my mother. I was at McWha’s on the 10th, between 3 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon.. I entered from the commons, through the side gate. Somebody said “Mr. Baker.” I saw him go in the hall door. I was talking with Samuel McDonald, my uncle. I went into the hall, Baker came out of the room where the bodies were. Somebody introduced Baker to my uncle and myself. Baker sat down between us. He said, “Isn’t this awful.” No reply. He said, “Oh, if I had only remained at home. I wanted to go to my father’s to get some furniture for my son in Steubenville, and I wanted to take some calico to my daughter. Somebody asked him how they were killed. He made no immediate reply. Shortly after he said again, “Oh, if I had staid at home—and it was with our own axe!” He stated either that the axe had been placed or kept in the kitchen. He said nothing about going to see a sick father. On Friday morning following that Tuesday, I was there again and was admitted to the house. Found there Detective Coulson and Shore, from Pittsburgh, Robert Patterson and Albert Lee. I assisted them in making a thorough search for bonds.

We took up carpets and examined beds, etc. Detective Coulson and I were in a bed room west of the kitchen. A window in the northeast corner of the room. Near the window we found two or three men’s collars and some papers and letters beside a satchel. I picked up one of the collars, which was a celluloid collar, No. 16. The other collars were the same number. The top of the collar was broken over or mashed down about three quarters of an inch. Discovered several spots on the collar. It was taken out of my hand by Detective Coulson. We showed it to the others present. Coulson marked the collar with two crosses, applied by a led pencil. (Collar shown by the Sheriff and identified.) The spots have been partially removed. They were a dark brown, almost black. The collar was put into a small satchel, and I did not see it again until last Thursday, when I saw it in Prof. Logan’s office in Pittsburgh. The collars had all been worn, and were all celluloid, No. 16. It was then left in Dr. T. M. T. McKennon’s office. Pittsburgh, Tuesday afternoon, 10th, Baker wore dark woolen pants, with large corded seams at the side. They fit him tightly.

The cross-examination of this witness developed nothing of value to either side of the case, and at its conclusion court took a recess for dinner.

The expert testimony will be introduced by the State this afternoon.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

Court convened with Sheriff Lindsay on the stand. The witness brought in the pantaloons found on the prisoner when arrested. I took the pantaloons and put them in my room. They were sent to Pittsburgh by Deputy Chapman. I don’t know how long I had the celluloid collar.

Cross-examined.—It has been some two or three weeks since they were taken to Pittsburgh. They were in my exclusive possession except from day to day that they were in Clerk Marshall’s office. They were never handled by anyone except in my presence. Mr. Brown, Mr. Hutchison and Mr. Lee were in to see them. I delivered them to the Deputy Sheriff at the instance of the State. No one had access to the room except myself, Mr. Coulson and Mr. Shore examined the pantaloons before I got them. After they were examined they returned them to Mr. Baker. Don’t think any one could have tampered with them, while they were in the Clerk’s office. They are the same pants in which he was arrested.

EXPERT TESTIMONY.

Prof. M. T. M. McKennon was sworn and testified: I am a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Have been practicing medicine five years. Took a special course in microscopy. After graduation I spent three years practicing in the hospital. I am now connected with the Western Pennsylvania Medical College. Have had experience with the microscope. Have used it to examine blood stains. I think I am thoroughly acquainted with the application of the microscope to examine blood. The pants were shown and identified by the witness. They were delivered to witness for examination last Thursday. I took out several pieces for microscopic examination. I examined them for a day and a half in company with Dr. James McCann. Used two kinds of tests—a microscopic and a chemical.

Q.—Tell the jury what, by a microscopic examination, you found the spot to be.

Question objected to by the defense.

Mr. Cook, for the defense, said: “We ought to have had notice of this examination. How will we meet it? How can we have any facilities for meeting it: I claim that the defendant should have known of this test. The clothing was taken form his body in the jail; interested parties have had it; then it was taken to Pittsburgh and examined. It that is the theory of law and that theory can be carried out, no man’s life can be in safety. There has been a difference of opinion upon this question whether we should have received it or not, but the rule of law laid down by Wharton is: The examination of blood stains to be entitled to weight must be done upon goods untampered with and upon due notification proved to the opposite party, and by public officers. For two reasons then we object to this testimony, no notice was given and the examination was not by a public officer. Every man has rights. A man upon trial for his life should have those rights in the fullest extent. For the State of West Virginia to take and handle those clothes and have them privately examined without notice being given is unfair and unjust, subvesive to the principals of law and reason.

Judge Boyd said it would be more fair that both sides have notice in a case like this, if it be not done it can only have effect as to the weight of the evidence. The same remark applies as to the handling of the clothes. The objection is therefore overruled.

The witness continued: On examination by the microscope, I found the spots to be evidences of blood. I examined five on one side and four on the other. Two of the smaller spots gave no evidences of blood. The spots were very dim and spread over some extent of surface. The blood was mammalian blood, but I can’t state positively that it was human blood. The celluloid collar was shown the witness. I applied a test to the spots on his collar. Examined five of them. Found blood corpuscles on four of the spots. It is the same as the blood on the trousers. I examined some of the spots by the Schombunes chemical test. I found that the stains examined were blood stains. The microscopic examination is considered the best. I used a microscope magnifying 1,000 diameters. Applied the same chemical test to the stains on the collar with the same result. Most of the spots were on the front of the collar close to the collar button.

Cross-examination.—I took a course in microscopy under a skilled professor; made use of the microscope every day; I examined about half a dozen spots on the collar chemically; purchased the chemicals for the test of a reliable drug store; it is possible that the chemicals might produce an illusion; the microscope test corroborated te chemical test, of these spots I was speaking; they are the ones I rely upon in my testimony here; can‘t say whether the spots were sprinklings or smears; think it provable they were smears because of their dimness. Taylor’s medical jurisprudence is considered good authority. Prof. Richardson is authority on microscopy. There remains enough spots on the collar to submit them to the same test I made.

W. B. MILLER

Recalled: I saw Dr. Logan deliver the trousers and collar to Prof. McKennon.

Cross-examined—Do not know how Dr. Logan got the trousers and collar. They had been left with Logan requesting that he deliver them to some expert. I went up to see them at the request of one of the county commissioners

RANDOLPH GILMORE

Said: Live about one hundred yards from the McWha property; know how the window sashes to the house were fashioned. I was at the place the day after the murder, remember of seeing Baker and Herman Campbell there. Baker went back into the house with me after we came out. He took hold of me and seemed very shaky, said, “look there.” Pointing towards the broken shutter. I know where the cistern is, it is covered with a small wooden lid.

SQUIRE LEE

Recalled, said: Don’t know who were in the house when I got there. Did not see anything disturbed about the house. I think the paper had fallen off the chair onto the floor. Saw it there Wednesday. I appointed guards with instructions to permit no one to enter the house or back yard.

Cross examination.—Do not remember what Mr. Baker said about losing any stock. There was some talk about it, but I have forgotten what. Have no recollection of asking whether his name was on the stock. He said there were three men came there sometime after dinner to rent a lot. He and his wife and the three men went out to look at the lot; Mrs. Baker asked $15 a month; they finally agreed on $10 a month; either he or his wife remarked they must pay the rent in advance, they offered $50; he said he could change it; Mrs. Baker took it and got her mother to change it; then they went in the house and Mrs. McWha said someone had been there while they were in the orchard and she slammed the door on them. He told me about his taking the trip; when he was at his father’s he became uneasy about the folks at home, there being so many men about there, and got his goods and told his mother he would start back in the morning; on returning home he went up to the kitchen door and found it locked. He then turned and went around to the front of the house.

Re-direct examination—He showed me a pocketbook from which he said he had had some money taken out; it was in the bedroom. He never told me that he had found it out in the yard. He spoke of his wife as being very near crazy; he received very peculiar letters from her; he had prepared an article once before for renting the stable and he now changed it for this time. He said he was to write an article for renting the lot and they would be back on Friday. He became uneasy about his wife and mother-in-law on Monday evening.

Cross-examined—He said he was detained by the men who came to rent the lot and therefore did not go over to Steubenville. The State objected to Baker’s testimony before the Coroner’s jury being offered and the objection was sustained.

MISS FLORA GILMORE

Sworn—Live at Holliday’s Cove; know Baker; saw him on Wednesday at the dinner table; he spoke about the tub of water; said the greatest mystery to him was how it got into the room.

The wills of Robert McWha and Mrs. McWha were introduced and read in evidence. The provisions of these wills have been already published.

The State offered the apron and paper found over the kitchen window in evidence; the defense objected and the objection was overruled; the paper was a copy of the Steubenville Herald, and by a singular coincidence the printed date showed that the subscription expired May 9th, 1987, the day of the murder.

DEPUTY CHAPMAN

Called said: When the prisoner was brought to jail he had on a dark pair of pants; think they were taken from him on Saturday; noticed a red spot on them when the detectives examined them on Friday; did not see the spot the next morning; the spot was about the size of a quarter dollar; about three weeks ago I took the pants to Pittsburgh and left them with a man there to examine them. The witness recognized Dr. Logan as the man to whom he gave the pants. The spot on them looked like iron rust; there is no piece cut out where the spot was.

The prosecution then asked the court to adjourn until this morning, station that one of their witnesses was detained and it would be impossible for them to proceed. Counsel for the defense submitted a list of names of witnesses they desired to be present.

WEDNESDAY FORENOON

The winding up of the evidence on the part of the State this morning developed no new facts, but some facts previously brought out were brought more vividly to the minds of the jury and the spectators than on their earlier presentation. And there was evidently a bringing out some points as a result in a clearer light. The attendance to-day is not so large as on several days past. The prisoner wears a weary, nervous expression which plainly betokens loss of sleep and increasing uneasiness as to the result. Prof. James H. Logan, of Pittsburgh, was the first witness, and identified the pantaloons and collar which had passed through his hands into those of Dr. McKennon.

E. G. Richardson started that he had been at the McWha house on Tuesday, the 10th; saw prisoner there; first saw him on the porch; Baker came in and sat opposite me; saw a spot on his pantaloons, and I mentioned it to somebody at the time; saw spots like finger marks up the hip pocket; they looked like blood.

Oliver G. Lee—Saw prisoner in jail on Friday after the murder; saw him rubbing his pants. The pants he was rubbing he had across his knee; he was rubbing them about the left pocket. When he saw I was watching him he threw the pants back on him on the couch, and drew out a paper and began to reading.

A. W. Brown testified that he could not find the copy of the Independent which contained the report of the interview with Baker, but he produced a paper in it had been re-published. The prisoner said my account of the affair was as fair as it could be made. Baker said he had gone home to see his father who was sick, but when he reached there his father was better. He said he had found a pocketbook on the floor after the murder, and that $350 of his money had been taken.

W. S. Miller was recalled and the shoes offered in evidence shown to him. He pointed out to the jury what he considered blood stains and where he had seen what looked like blood.

Robert Patterson identified skirt, over skirt, waist and dolman, which he had obtained from the trunk in the back bedroom in the McWha house; I recognized the dolman as having been the property of Mrs. Baker; there was other clothing in the trunk. (The articles of jewelry found in the trunk and the bureau drawer at the McWha house were shown witness and identified. A silver watch found in the bureau drawer in the sitting room; a cross and a breastpin found in the trunk in the back bed room; a shawl pin and another breast pin found in the bureau; gold watch, chain and pin, and a locket, found in the bureau in the sitting room; also four rings, three pairs of earrings, cuff buttons, another breast pin and a mother-of-pearl button.) Those were all the articles of jewelry that I obtained at the house; all were found in the bureau drawer in the sitting room, except the cross, necklace and one breast pin which were found in the trunk in the back bedroom.

A. G. Lee identified the clothing found in the trunk; found this dress ands over skirt in the trunk, also the breast pin, cross and necklace, also saw a roll of calico which had been in the satchel; at the suggestion of Mr. Brown, we put some other articles in the trunk, but the dress was in the before any other articles were put in.

Mrs. Daniel McCloud stated that she had been at Mrs. McWha’s as much as two weeks at a time, in the capacity of dress-maker. (Witness identified the silk suit and dolman in evidence as having been the property of Mrs. Baker)

Lysander Patterson, the surveyor who had made the measurements about the McWha premises, testified that the route which Baker took to the Cove station, across the fields to the new railroad, across that to the Panhandle track, and along that track to the Cove station, was 945 feet, or nearly one-fifth of a mile further than that by the pike direct to the station; the distance from the kitchen door around the southwest corner of the house to the steps of the front porch, was 61 feet; from the kitchen door to the same steps, around the northwest corner of the house, the distance would be 145 feet; from the porch, by the path, down the bluff to the front gate, is 86 feet; from the kitchen door to the gate opening on the commons, down a path to the pike, and along the pike to the front gate, is 330 feet.

(The point brought out by this testimony was that the route taken by Baker on the afternoon of the murder, to the station, was nearly or quite a quarter of a mile farther than would have been the distance by the more direct and natural route by the pike.)

At this point the sate rested its case, and a noon recess was taken.