FULL
TEXT (Article 1 of 2): Chicago, April 20. – Prosecutor Lloyd Heth to-day served
notice he would demand a woman jury to try Mrs. Cora Orthwein, beautiful
divorcee and affinity slayer.
Mrs. Orthwein,
charged with in the death of Herbert Keigler, one of the executives of the Goodyear
Tire & Rubber Company, was in court to-day for the date of her trial to be set. She collapsed when led into the courtroom by her attorney, Ben Short, and
cried incessantly throughout the proceeding. The case was continued until May
16.
Mrs.
Orthwein, who said following Zeigler’s death, “I loved Herb, and I killed him,”
said she shot him in self-defense when he broke into her “gold coast”
apartment.
“I
will demand a woman jury in this case,” Mr. Heth said. “It is impossible to get
conviction of affinity slayers by men juries. In the last ten years fourteen
women who killed men have been freed. The only two convicted were a woman
seventy-two years old and a negress. It would be interesting to see what a
woman jury would do.”
[“Will
Demand Jury Of Women At Trial Of Mrs. Orthwein - Chicago Prosecutor Says Males Won’t
Convict Female Slayers of Men.” The World (N.Y.), Apr. 20, 1921, p. 12]
The
jury reached its verdict after less than an hour’s deliberation. Mrs. Orthwein,
when she heard it, thanked the judge and jurors and then fell back in her seat,
apparently in a fainting condition. Later she was taken to the home of her
sister.
The
verdict followed the re-enacting in the court room of the tragedy which took
place in Mrs. Orthwein’s apartment on the night of March 1. During the closing
arguments, George Guenther, attorney for the defense, donned the bullet-pierced
overcoat of the dead man to show how he met his death while attacking Mrs.
Orthwein, after having battered his way through two doors to reach her bed
room.
Previously
Lloyd Heth, assistant state’s attorney, had asked that she be sent to prison.
He pictured her as a revengeful woman, who murdered in cold blood because of
the jealousy which she had testified pierced her heart like a dagger. He
declared that Zeigler was shot in the back while sitting down.
“Her
defense is built on lies and lies.” said Heth. “Cora Orthwein violated the laws
of God and man. She must be punished for her crime.
“She
told you that she was trying to reform Zeigler. Does it look as though she were
reforming him when at 8 o'clock the night before Ziegler was killed, she mopped
his brow with a towel, combed his hair and placed a bottle of booze in his
pocket?
“Look
at this woman. The life the she has led has hardened her. She is the ‘I’ll kill
you’ type. You can see it in her eyes. You men have to contemplate her as a
woman of the world – a woman who knew sooner or later that the alleged love of
Zeigler must turn to contempt. She knew the game she was playing.”
Mrs.
Orthwein was the twenty-eighth woman acquitted at trials on charges of murder
in Cook county in the past ten years. During that period only three women have
been convicted.
[“Mrs.
Orthwein Freed By Verdict Of Chicago Jury - “Vampire Slayer” of Herbert Zeigler
Found Not Guilty After One Hour’s Deliberation; Self-Defense Plea Prevails Over
Prosecutor’s Claim of Cold-Blooded Murder - Woman No, 28 To Cheat Law,” Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (In.), Jun. 25, 1921, p. 1]
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[820-3/9/22]
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