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Show J -' ' I, ' u'Lii.j Oil L....- i JLLlLjL. ' O ' ' I....H1 f 3y Consent of Attorneys am Court Woman Is Permitted -. to Cliange Plea; Hot Roast for VictoriaAlley. 0 I CRlilE TO WHICH WOMAN PLEADED GUIL1Y. I I I Mary Jane Smith was charyel in the Information ith fcaving pols- 0 s) oned one Daniel Ryan In thla city on December 12, 19G2, the crime har ins occurred in the house of the defendant on Victoria alley, where the - deceased, Daniel Ryan was given an overdose of morphine, in a glass of " beer, resulting la his demise. After succumbing to the stupefying' effects of the drug. Ryan's pockets were rifled and b was placed in an outhouse ' to die. t ; , . Mary Jane Smith, , colored, charged with murder In the first degree for the poisoning of Daniel' Ryan, changed, her plea from not 'guilty to guilty of murder mur-der in the second degree and was sentenced sen-tenced to twenty years in the penitentiary, peniten-tiary, by Judge Morse this morning... At the opening of court this morning. District Attorney Eichnor announced that he had been Informed by EVA. Wedgwood and C..E. Marks, who were appointed counsel for the defense, that the defendant wished to enter a plea of guilty to the charge of murder in the second degree. ' This he said would be satisfactory ( to the State, if so to the court. ' - . . i . ' ; ; Woman Pleads Guilty. , V The Jurors subpoenaed for the trial were excused by Judge Morse and- the defendant ordered to stand up. Mary Jane Smith was unruffled. She was attired at-tired in amolet black gown and a hat bedecked" with large" "red roses and green leaves. At the order of the Judge she pleaded guilty to the crime as stated. ',, - ' -' .' Pleaded fsr Leniency. r ;' . . j Attorney" Wedgwood then arose and made a strong plea for leniency. He j contended that he people of this city and the authorities were responsible for DanielRyan's death in permitting such a cesspool of iniquity to exist in the very center of the city. He said in part: ' ' . i .-- "The defendant has entered this plea of guilty under my advice. The punishment punish-ment is for from ten years to life and I ask the court to fix the minimum sen-fence. sen-fence. In advising the defendant to enter en-ter this plea, I realize the full responsibility responsi-bility of my position in the matter." . No Admission of Charges. In entering a plea -of guilty, he said, they did not plead guilty to the defendant's de-fendant's 'having taken the life of the deceased or to " having - administered poison to him. - He said they admitted neither of the charges. " This case, he went on, was a very peculior one, having occurred in the very heart of this city and under, the very shadow of the courthouse and the police authorities. Of what took place in the circumscribed den of the defendant, defend-ant, he said 'there was only the testimony testi-mony of the woman, Madge Ray, against that of Mary Jane Smith. Madge Ray had been addicted to the use of morphine and on the day in question came to the crib of Mary Jane Smith: Daniel Ryan was there at the time. A messenger boy who had been sent for some coal and tobacco, returned re-turned and was then sent for morphine. Nothing, said Mr. Wedgwood, was done about getting morphine until Madge Ray appeared upon the scene. If the defendant had had any idea of committing com-mitting that crime she would not have, sent for the morphine in that open way. w . "The taking of human life," he continued con-tinued "is not punished, but it is the Intent on the part of the responsible Party . , , . . Places Responsibility Higher. "It is common history that this place is the lowest and most disreputable in the city. Men that go there know that robbery, licentiousness and even worse things take place, and In the whole history of the place there have been only two prosecutions. The responsi- billty lies higher than with this poor woman. There is no supervision. Watchmen hear groans of distress, and pay no attention to them, they become so hardened. Where a place is allowed to exist in the very heartcore of this . city such as this it should be under supervision, su-pervision, and the groans of a man in distress should be heeded. Not Morally Responsible. "This defendant led a respectable life up to two years ago. She did housework house-work in houses of Ill-fame and later became party in that vocation herself. How can you hold a woman morally responsible and legally responsible when she knows nothing of law or its methods? She knows it Is unlawful to pursue the vocation of an abandoned woman, but she knows that THE AUTHORITIES AU-THORITIES COME AROUND ONCE A MONTH AND COLLECT A FINE-IN FINE-IN OTHER WORDS THEY ARE LICENSED. LI-CENSED. The people of the Btate and the city are responsible for the crime, and the minimum fentence is far too harsh fo the fitrendant In this faseV Side of the Prosecution. ('. " - District Attorney Eichnor said it could make no difference as to the guilt of this defendant by bringing in the complicity ; of other parties. He reviewed re-viewed the testimony of the preliminary hearing,, bringing out the points in re-' gard to the presence of Ryan in the defendant's de-fendant's house: Madge Ray's conversation conver-sation with the defendant in regard to the giving of the morphine; the taking . , of the deceased out later by Mat Wilson at the request of the defendant, the man then being in a stupor from the effects of the drug. Madge Ray did not testify that she saw Mary Jane Smith administer the poison, he said, and the evidence there is. circumstantial. City i Chemist Harms examined the contents of the deceased's stomach, and his tes- ' tlmony was given at the preliminary trial. In . regard to the penalty he . thought life sentence too severe, but did " not deem 'the minimum punishment sufficient, suf-ficient, , . ; -Ryan Pat Himself In Jeopardy. Attorney Wedgwood then made his closing speech, in which he referred to , tMfe deceased. i '"Far be it from me," he said, "to cast . any odium upon the life of Ryan. He was only a man of a type that, frequents fre-quents these hell-holes and consorts with the Inmates of such dives." He repeated that the law does not punish the taking of life, or, if it did, all punishments would be the same. He said the circumstances were always the . . determining elements. He referred to the case of Dr. Payne and " that of Marion Brasher in illustrating his remarks. re-marks. Judge Morse in pronouncing sentence said: "The court considers the sltua. tion of this defendant in this case as set forth by her counsel. I feel that the sentence ought to be such as to ade-quately ade-quately punish this defendant and at the same time be an example to others." He then, stated that the sentence would be twenty years in the State penitentiary pen-itentiary at hard labor. " Mr. Wedgewood was surprised at the sentence, thinking fifteen years would . . have been rery heavy, taking into consideration con-sideration that the defendant is 40 years of age. . - Mary Jane Smith was then taken from the courtroom by Deputy Sheriff Burbrldge. ' She will be taken to the penitentiary in the morning to begin . her long term. . |