OCR Text |
Show I Joseph A. Checkoffs Is Exonerated Exon-erated for Shooting His Father. INQUEST REVEALED SHOCKING BRUTALITY Fiendish Husband Abused and Beat Frail Wife Twenty-Five Twenty-Five Years. .'" Special to Tho Tribune. OGDEN, March Z "Wo find th.it Jo-soph Jo-soph A. Chccketts came to hie death by a gunshot wound In the loft temple saitl gun being- In tbo hand of hln son, Frank Chcckctts, In dofenoo of his mother's life, hence Justifiable, In our opinion. Wo also recommend hln release from custody and his acquittal." The above was the verdict returned by a Jury of throo representative business men after tho tnklns of the testimony In tho Coroner's Inquest on the matter of the killing- of Joseph A. Chccketts by his nlRhtecn-yoar-old son early Wednesday mornlnp. when the boy shot and killed his father to Bave hla mother's life. Witnesses Charged Brutality. The inquiry, which began this morning and In.Htprl Into thn nflnrnnnn. wns nini I of the most distressing that ever appeared ap-peared In such an inquiry. The wife ot t'heckette, though still a comparatively young: woman, looks aged and feeble as a result of the brutal treatment Bhe was subjected to. Sho was one of the witnesses, wit-nesses, and gave damning teaUmony j atpiluBt her late husband. His two daugh ters did the same and his father, his sister, sis-ter, his brother, his brother-in-law and two sisters-in-law, each In detail, testl-llcd testl-llcd to his continuous brutality. Abused Wife for Years. The Jury waa composed of S. H. Urowno, J. H. Thomas and James Har-rop Har-rop After they and the witnesses were sworn, they went to the morguo and viewed the remains. They saw tho body of a big, powerful, muscular man, who was physically IHted to enter the prize ring, and when later they saw tho little, frail woman ho hed abused for twenty-live twenty-live yean?, they were llko other human ieoplo. They conoluded that his killing v.ms Justifiable, however deplorable the circumstances. County Attorney Hulanlskl represented the State and Attorney M. D. Lessenger ivprcBcnted the defendant boy charged with murder. Woman's Distress Pitiable. After witnesses had proven the death and the cause, and related the details, lira. CheckettP. the widow of the dead man and the mother of tho boy who shot his father In her defense, was called to the stand. Her grief and distress were I Itlable, and the sleepless nights and mental distress from the attacks of the dead brute affected the entire court, the jury and the spectators. Sho was aided to the witness chair by her son, Joseph Checkctts, now an engineer In Salt Lake. I Detailed Her Life. She detailed her life with Chccketts and told In detail of his brutal treatment f herself and children, but In the beginning begin-ning of her narrative was overcome by her emotions and her physical weakness. Those who had seen the body or knew Chccketts In life felt tho full Importance and the brutality of that line physical specimen of the genus homo assaulting the little woman. Choked to Unconsciousness. When she regained her composure she told of how, on the morning of the killing, kill-ing, he was choking her to death and threatening to kill the whole famllv. That she was unconscious and her last thought was that she was being mur-i mur-i dered and her children would meet a similar fate, and then a pistol shot awoke hir. The details of the treatment sho had been subjected to were revolting, but she knew nothing of tho Incidents of the shooting. Sho was followed by a friend of the family, Mrs. Alice Collins, who had frequently fre-quently aided the glrJs when their father tried to abuse them. Mrs. Collins waa the first to arrive on the scene of the iragedy. and related the advent of the aged father after the killing. She was asked to state what the elder Mr. Check-etts Check-etts had to say. "Thank God; He's Dead." I "When he came Into the room he asked: I 'How Is Joo?' I replied that Joe waa 9 dead, and the old man said 'Thank God I he's dead.' " ' Mrs. Collins further testified that the language of Checketts, deceased, and. his general conduct wn the "worst that could be said of man," Nellie Checkett, the twenty-two-year-old daughter of the dead man, was the next witnesa. The girl was exhausted phyaicallv by hor Iouk vigil guarding hor mother, and when sho related her story on tho stand not a dry eyo waB In tht courtroom. In detail sho told how sho, her olstcr, Eva, and her brother, Frank, had sat In the hallway listening to their father'a threat) and abuse of thoir mother. moth-er. Finally they realized ho was trying to kill her. and thoy approached and opened op-ened the door. There thoy saw the mother moth-er In tho t,'rasp of tho brute and ho was choking her to death. Endurance Was Exhausted. Frank exclaimed: ".My God, I can stand thl3 no more." He ran back Into tho parlor and got his gun and returned to tho bedroom. He approached his father and mother In tho bed and told the former for-mer to let go and not kill his mother. The Mend did not let loose of his hold on the delicate woman, but with his free hand reached up and grabbed the muzzle of tho nun. In the scuffle It was discharged, while the man was still In the bed, and the bullet pierced the left temple. Brutality of Father. In the aftornoon Miss Eva Checketts testified to her father's brutality. He had struck her mother ever since she could remember and had been brutal with his children. Alox. Baxter, a brother-in-law, related that Checketts, on the night of a party at his house, February 3, nad pushed his wife out of the parlor Into tho bedroom and had struck her with his list. The same was given by Baxter's Bax-ter's wife and by Ileber Chccketts, a brother of the man. and by their wives. Had Always Been a Brute. Charles Checkctts, the father of tho brute, eighty-five years of ae, had also witnessed this and other assaults by Checketts on his wife, and related that he had always been a brute; that nineteen nine-teen years ago he had assaulted his own father, knocked him out of a bugy and Inflicted such bodily Injuries as to disable dis-able him for the remainder of his life. The Killing Waa Justified. Under this testimony the Jury ha J noth- I Ing to do but brlntr the verdict as above. There Is general relief that the brute Is gone. The family Is composed of decent and Industrious people. The boys and girls ore all good and Industrious, and are admirers of their stricken mother. They have supported her and their father, fath-er, and now will have a chance to do It without his brutal attacks. |