Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-03-31 | Page 24 | Housekeeper Tells of Youth's Killing

HOUIWEH US" OF 10018 KILLING Clash of Counsel Feature of Trial of Jedediah Wood-ard Wood-ard for Son's Death. Pointed personal clashes occurred between be-tween District Attorney Wilson McCarthy Mc-Carthy and Barnard J. Stewart, counsel coun-sel for the defense, at yesterday afternoon's after-noon's proceedings in the trial of Jedediah Jede-diah Woodard, charged with murder in the second decree for the killing of his son. Wilfred Woodard, on May 2, 1017. Mrs. May Taylor, housekeeper for Woodard at the time of the killing and first witness for the defense, was under cross examination. The district attorney attor-ney had drawn from the witness that she had been a widow for twelve years, her husband dying in England before she came herej that she had given up the conduct of a rooming house on Second Sec-ond Fast street to become housekeeper for the defendant and. that she lived at the home of the defendant iu that capacity. Counsel for the defense made strenuous stren-uous objection charging that the district dis-trict attorney was endeavoring to prejudice prej-udice the ease of the defendant by insinuating in-sinuating the existence of improper relations re-lations between the defendant and his housekeeper. The court ordered a recess, during which a consultation resulted in discontinuance dis-continuance of the protested line of examination. ex-amination. Mrs. Taylor said the father kept motioning at the boy to take the horses back in the barn, holding the rifle in bis riuht hand as he did so and saving: "Take them back, take them back." The rifle with which the killing was done was placed in the hands of the witness for her to illustiate how the defendant held it. She held it with the muzzle in the air. at about an anle of 4.j degrees, insisting that she never mp inu-..ie itiHci ru uuriu;; llie quarrel and with the gun and her uplifted up-lifted left hand motioned as she declared de-clared she saw Woodard do to his son. At the morning's proceedings Mrs. Minnie Woodard. wife of the slain man and daughter in-law of the slaver, testified testi-fied that the father tried to justify the killing immediately after it occurred. oc-curred. She testified that she asked. "Grandpa, why did you do it,"' anil that the sipyer had answered, "I had to, I could not be run off my own place by one of my own boys." The dauchter-in-law further testified that she had upbraided the old man with a denial that he had to kill his son. reminding him that the son had a right to the team of horses, that the father owed him $s:-m an, that the family had borne with his temper and protected him overlong. but that the end to such protection had come.