Beebe Murder Trial, 1907
From the New Jersey Mirror 20 Nov 1907
Judge Horner held a session of court this morning and sentenced Caleb Rogers, convicted of manslaughter, to the Rahway Reformatory, and Theodore Wells, convicted of atrocious assault, to three months in the county jail and to pay a fine of $200.
After a series of postponements, the trial of Caleb Rogers, Theodore Wells and Walter Simons, of Tabernacle, under an indictment charging them with manslaughter in connection with the death of David Beebe, at Chairville, on April 27, was begun on Thursday and ended on Friday afternoon, with the result that after about twenty hours of deliberation, terminating at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon, a verdict was rendered convicting Rogers of manslaughter, Wells of atrocious assault and battery, and acquitting Simons. The jury was confronted with a difficult task, as the case was more or less complicated in view of some of the testimony that was surprisingly contradictory. The crime that resulted in the serious charge preferred by the State was committed in front of the house of Irvin Mathis, at Chairville, where a party had been in progress during the evening and at which the participants in the fights were attendants.
Wells and Simons were at the Mathis house all the evening, but Rogers did not arrive until on his way home from Medford, where he had been drinking. Beebe and Wells were among those present who did not take kindly to what they considered an intrusion, the result being that no encouragement was needed to a start a fight. Rogers and Wells were engaged in a scuffle when Beebe walked up to separate them, which course Rogers resented and let loose his wrath on Beebe. After the open air had been reached Beebe and Rogers soon became engaged in a fight. First they clenched, neither striking any blows, but after their separation and Beebe had started to walk away Rogers struck him a fierce blow on the side of the head that knocked him down. From the position in which he lay when he dropped he never moved. After that Rogers sat on the victim and pounded him and Wells and Simons were charged with kicking him in the head. There were many witnesses of the conflict and during the taking of testimony numerous versions of the affair were given. So far as the defendants were concerned there was no denial of the fact that Beebe was killed during the fight, but their testimony was on the tell-tale order. Rogers desired to fix upon Theodore Wells as much responsibility for the crime as possible, but he was not very successful in shifting the heavy burden from his own shoulders .
The eye witnesses of the fight were positive that Beebe did not move after he was struck by Rogers. As to responsibility for the kicking of Beebe in the head as he lay on the ground the testimony was contradictory, but it was shown that Wells used his foot during the mix-up and probably under belief that he was kicking Rogers he struck Beebe. The kicking charge against Simons seemed to be without the support need to warrant a conviction. Dr. Alexander Small, of Riverside, who conducted the postmortem examination of Beebe's body, practically settled the case in view of the fact that Rogers did not deny having struck Beebe. He stated that the body contained no external injuries that were of importance, but when the scalp was laid open and the temporal muscle exposed the cause of death was apparent, as this muscle was "pulpified." Going further into the seat of the cause Dr. Small discovered that the arteries of the brain had been burst and an apoplectic condition produced, from the effects of which there could be only one result. It was the physician's opinion that Beebe received his injuries before he fell to the ground and life must have been almost extinct at that time, as the action of the heart was the only thing that supported life in the body after the bursting of the brain's arteries.
Judge Horner held a session of court this morning and sentenced Caleb Rogers, convicted of manslaughter, to the Rahway Reformatory, and Theodore Wells, convicted of atrocious assault, to three months in the county jail and to pay a fine of $200.
After a series of postponements, the trial of Caleb Rogers, Theodore Wells and Walter Simons, of Tabernacle, under an indictment charging them with manslaughter in connection with the death of David Beebe, at Chairville, on April 27, was begun on Thursday and ended on Friday afternoon, with the result that after about twenty hours of deliberation, terminating at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon, a verdict was rendered convicting Rogers of manslaughter, Wells of atrocious assault and battery, and acquitting Simons. The jury was confronted with a difficult task, as the case was more or less complicated in view of some of the testimony that was surprisingly contradictory. The crime that resulted in the serious charge preferred by the State was committed in front of the house of Irvin Mathis, at Chairville, where a party had been in progress during the evening and at which the participants in the fights were attendants.
Wells and Simons were at the Mathis house all the evening, but Rogers did not arrive until on his way home from Medford, where he had been drinking. Beebe and Wells were among those present who did not take kindly to what they considered an intrusion, the result being that no encouragement was needed to a start a fight. Rogers and Wells were engaged in a scuffle when Beebe walked up to separate them, which course Rogers resented and let loose his wrath on Beebe. After the open air had been reached Beebe and Rogers soon became engaged in a fight. First they clenched, neither striking any blows, but after their separation and Beebe had started to walk away Rogers struck him a fierce blow on the side of the head that knocked him down. From the position in which he lay when he dropped he never moved. After that Rogers sat on the victim and pounded him and Wells and Simons were charged with kicking him in the head. There were many witnesses of the conflict and during the taking of testimony numerous versions of the affair were given. So far as the defendants were concerned there was no denial of the fact that Beebe was killed during the fight, but their testimony was on the tell-tale order. Rogers desired to fix upon Theodore Wells as much responsibility for the crime as possible, but he was not very successful in shifting the heavy burden from his own shoulders .
The eye witnesses of the fight were positive that Beebe did not move after he was struck by Rogers. As to responsibility for the kicking of Beebe in the head as he lay on the ground the testimony was contradictory, but it was shown that Wells used his foot during the mix-up and probably under belief that he was kicking Rogers he struck Beebe. The kicking charge against Simons seemed to be without the support need to warrant a conviction. Dr. Alexander Small, of Riverside, who conducted the postmortem examination of Beebe's body, practically settled the case in view of the fact that Rogers did not deny having struck Beebe. He stated that the body contained no external injuries that were of importance, but when the scalp was laid open and the temporal muscle exposed the cause of death was apparent, as this muscle was "pulpified." Going further into the seat of the cause Dr. Small discovered that the arteries of the brain had been burst and an apoplectic condition produced, from the effects of which there could be only one result. It was the physician's opinion that Beebe received his injuries before he fell to the ground and life must have been almost extinct at that time, as the action of the heart was the only thing that supported life in the body after the bursting of the brain's arteries.
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