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SUCH WILL BE CLAIM OF PROSE CUTION IN MURDER CASE, CON TINUED FROM YESTERDAY UN TIL TODAY—TRIAL WENT OVER BECAUSE WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENSE FAILED TO APPEAR The trial of Joseph M. Frazier, a laborer of the Island Ford neighbor hood, under indictment for wife mur der, which was to have begun yester day in Circuit court, was postponed until today, owing to the absence of several material witnesses for the de fense. Many witnesses from East Rockingham, the home of the ac cused, were in court yesterday and remained in town last night in order to be promptly in attendance today. The theory of the prosecution is that Mrs. Frazier, while still in bed, following the birth of the couple's youngest child, was so severely beat en by her husband, when she was unable to arise and do the household work, that she died as the result of his brutality. The State bases its claim in large part, it is understood, on the dying declaration of the dead woman. The defense, which will be conduct ed by C. A. Hammer and J. B. Steph enson, lawyers of Harrisonburg,main tains that Mrs. Frazier's oath rest ed from natural causes, not natured, causes only. In proof of this they will cite the facet, it is understood, that three days after Mrs. Frazier's death her body was exhumed at the instance of Dr. J. M. Biedler, the county coroner and by him and others examined, and that it bore no marks of violence. The county coroner dug up the wrong body, according to the theory of the prosecution, if reports are true, and inspected a corpse buried within a few feet of that of Mrs. Frazier. The two bodies, both those of Tre males, were buried at almost the same time and side by side. The prosecution claims, it is understood, that the grave markers, or head boards, were exchanged at night, by a person or persons unknown, and that when Dr. Biedler, assisted by W. F. Fultz, an undertaker of Harrison burg, and others, came to exhume the body of Mrs. Frazier, for purposes of an autopsy, they took up the wrong corpse. That the skin peeled smooth ly from the body when taken up by them is not to be wondered at, it is said, since the body examined had not been bruised. Had it been bruised, as it is alleged was the case with Mrs. Frazier, the skin would have clung to the bruised spots. Those who exhumed the supposed body of Mrs. Frazier and examined it critically, are said not to have been familiar with the face and features of the dead woman.
Newspaper Details
Harrisonburg Rockingham Daily Record
Harrisonburg, Virginia, US
Fri, Dec 06, 1912
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 25 Jul 2026
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