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SENTENCED 103 LIFEHARRY HIATT, WIFE MURDERER, IS FOUND GUILTY.DEFENDANT REMAINS SILENTThirty Ballots Required Before Punishment it Agreed Upon—Insanity Plea Did Not Go—Other News of the State.XoblnsviHe.—After being out fifteen hours, the jury in the case of Harry Hiatt, charged with the murder of his wife, returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and fixing his punishment at imprisonment for life.It required only a few ballots for the 1 jury to brush aside the defendant's J plea of insanity and decide that he was (guilty of murder in the first degree. *I but the question of Ills punishment * was more of a stumbling block. fThirty ballots were taken before the : sentence of life imprisonment was 1 fixed. The first ballot stood five for c a life sentence and seven for the * death penalty. There was no material \ change until the twenty-sixth ballot c when nine voted for the death penalty * and three for imprisonment for life. * On the thirtieth ballot all agreed on a life sentence.Hiatt occupied a seat behind his attorney when Otis Brattain handed the the verdict to Judge Vestal. His head was buried in his hands when the court announced the result of the deliberations of the jury, and he did not become Interested sufficiently to look up even after- the verdict was rwead.The crime for which Hialt was convicted took place June r, at the home of Albert Voss, father of Mrs. Hiatt, one mile west of Cicero. Hiatt spent the night in Cicero and at S '/’dock walked into the front gate, saw bis two children, age four and two years, on the veranda, and stopped to talk to them. He picked both of them up, kissed them and then started into the house, when he saw his wife running In the direction of the barn lot. He dragged her into a shed and holding ' her with his left hand, drew a rev.u- f ver from his pocket with his right hand and shot her three times. Mrs a Hiatt died instantly. aHiatt reloaded his weapon, ran n across a field and attempted suicide by shooting himself In the head twice. He recovered, and in September lie escaped from jail by unlocking the door with a key, hut surrendered later. c
Newspaper Details
Fremont Eagle
Fremont, Indiana, US
Thu, Feb 01, 1912
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Boone C.
KY, USA 11 Jan 2025
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Fremont Eagle
