JURY TO TRY SHARPS
IS NOW BEING DRAWN.
APPLICATION FOR CHANGE OF
VENUE DENIED.
Severance Is Granted by Court
and the Two Fanatics Will Be
Given a Separate Trial.
JAMES SHARP AND MRS. SHARP.
(Sketched in criminal court room.)
QUESTIONS ASKED THE JURORS:
Are you married?
How many children have you?
To what church do you belong?
Are you prejudiced against street preachers or against the doctrine propounded by the Sharps?If the evidence should show that tat the time of the commission of the crime, Sharp was so insane that he did not know right from wrong, would you hesitate to bring a verdict acquitting on that ground?
Of the forty-seven men from whom a jury will be chosen to try James Sharp on a charge of murder, ten were selected yesterday afternoon in the criminal court. In all, twenty-six who had been summoned were questioned and sixteen excused for cause. Of the ten, several may yet be excused because they are opposed to capital punishment.
At the present rate of progress, it seems likely that the forty-seven men required will have been secured by this noon or afternoon. Twenty-four hours will be allowed for challenges. The taking of testimony would thus be begun Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.
Sharp will be tried alone for the killing of Michael Mullane, a city patrolman, in the city hall riot, December 8, last year. Sharp and Melissa Sharp, his wife, who called themselves Adam and Eve, were jointly charged with the crime. The court yesterday granted them a severance, and the state elected to try Sharp first.
FAIR TRIAL POSSIBLE.
The severance was taken after Judge Ralph S. Latshaw had denied the application of Sharp's attorneys for a change of venue to another county. A day was spent in the introduction of evidence by both sides as to whether prejudice existed in Jackson county which would make it impossible for Sharp to have a fair trial here.
Inasmuch as nearly every witness spoke for the Sharps as "religious fanatics" and the defense is to be insanity, the court ruled that a fair trial could be had. The selection of the jury from the 200 men who had been summoned was at once begun.
Sharp did not create any commotion in the court room , as he had on Monday. He sat quietly talking to his wife, who may not be his companion in court after this, as she is not now on trial. The two talked and laughed together and sometimes he wiped his eyes. Both seemed to take great interest in the selection of the jury.
John P. Mullane, an insurance man, brother of the dead officer, sat at the table with the states' attorneys. Virgil Conkling, prosecutor, and W. S. Garbriel and Harry Friedberg, assistants, conducted the examination of the jurors for the state.
AMUSING INCIDENTS.
As always in the selection of a jury, there were amusing incidents in plenty. One prospective juror, who works for an afternoon newspaper, testified that he seldom read anything in his paper except the headlines. The fact that he is the brother of the business manager caused much suppressed mirth. Another juror was excused because he declared himself absolutely opposed to a defense of insanity. Still another, who had attended Mullane's wake, was excused on motion of the state, after having been challenged by the defense.
To combat the defense of insanity, the state will be prepared to show that Adam God, from the very beginning of his career of religious leader, was the very shrewdest of men. The prosecution will attempt to show that his record fully bears out this contention and that Sharp never was, nor is he now, insane.
