Direct examination by Mr. Vigg... 

Under direct examination by Mr. Vigg we learned that I. B. Lawhon was sworn to testify on behalf of the State as their third witness. 

Judge Lawhon was a 74 year-old man -- a Police Judge and a Justice of the Peace in the City of Alva. Judge Lawhon had resided in Alva, Oklahoma, Woods County prior to 9 November 1910. Judge Lawhon had also lived on his farm, homestead, out northeast of Curtiss, in Woodward County, before moving to Alva. He had lived in Woodward County ever since the state was opened. 

Judge Lawhon had known Miller ever since Lawhon had moved to Alva, about 1904. Judge Lawhon had known Oakes ever since Oakes moved to Alva, about 1909. 

Mr Vigg asked Judge Lawhon to state to the jury whether or not he had seen Miller on the 9th of November 1910. Judge Lawhon replied that he had seen Miller on that day.

Judge Lawhon stated, "I saw him in his place of business in his office. I think it was between three and four o'clock. It is the southeast corner of the square, it likes one lot of being on the corner."

Mr. Vigg asked Lawhon what Mr. Miller said to him at that time, when he went to his office?

Judge Lawhon responded, "When I first went there no one was present but him and me, there was no one there but him in the office when I went in. He was standing in his office, I suppose that is a diagram from the looks of it (pointing to paper). I went in, this is the outside door here, I went in and sat down in a chair about there and he was standing about here, this is the partition wall, with his back to the door and his face up against this wall and his face down in his hands with his face up against the railing."

Mr. Vigg asked, "What was he doing?"

Judge Lawhon replied, "Well he was just standing there when I went in. He thought a little bit and I sat down, I had already sat down when he come around and he came up to me, he came up within about three feet or perhaps four feet of me and made a remark that he never had anything to affect him so much as the thing that had just happened, the death of this girl of --"

Mr.Vigg then asked Lawhon what was the occasion of your going to that office at that time?

Judge Lawhon's response, "Well I was going home from the City Hall, I went along by that old opera house. It is adjoining lots to the lots I live on and here is the alley back here and there is a pathway between the old hall and his offices and sometimes I would go through that way to go home. The path is on the west side, and I had started home when Oakes was standing there in front of Miller's office. Oakes, the father of the girl, motioned to me to come on, I was about a hundred feet of the corner where I would turn in and he motioned to me to come back there and I walked on back. Oakes hollered at me then to come on quick, he said 'My daughter is in here dead,' and I went in and took this chair right in about there."

Judge Lawhon continues, "There was no one in there except Miller when I went in, Oakes went on down, he had gone to hunt the county attorney, the county attorney wasn't there and the sheriff wasn't there and there was no one there but him and Miller when I first got there, then I went in and set down and when Miller turned around and begun to talk to me, he said, 'Judge, there is no use to hold an inquest here, there is nothing to this anyhow.' and he said, 'You don't have to hold an inquest' and he insisted that I should go with him back into that little room where the girl lay. That was about in substance what he said to me at that time."

Mr. Vigg asked Lawhon to describe the condition of the defendant at that time?

Judge Lawhon responded, "Well he was apparently excited and greatly in trouble, rubbing his hands and his face and he said that he never had anything to affect him so much as that that had just happened, as the girl's death, then he said -- I told him to go ahead and sit down. He was standing in front of me and I said 'Sit down Miller, there is no use to get so much excited about this,' and he stepped back here and took a seat and began to talk to me and he said the girl had been in there and had been complaining a little that morning, not feeling well and that she had come down there to collect a claim. He said he owed her thirty dollars and she had come after the money or something to that effect and he said 'I told her I would take her home with my horse and buggy and she said no, she wouldn't go home then' and he said just then his wife passed along on the sidewalk and he pointed out and said it was just dinner time and he said, 'I went with my wife and we went to dinner, went home' and he said, 'When I came back, to my surprise, the little card,' that he had in his door marked, Gone to dinner, etc. ' was on the door.' He pulled the card out and handed it to me and it was marked, 'Gone to dinner' or something to that effect."

Mr. Vigg asked what, if anything, relative to sending Mabel Oakes, the deceased, to the back room before he went to dinner and about finding her when he returned?"

Judge Lawhon responded, "Well he said that he left her there in the office when he went to dinner and when he came back and saw this card, he didn't see her anywhere and he went to examining the building and found her back here in this little place in the condition that we found her in."

What happened next... Judge Lawhon continues, "Well I suppose we was there maybe eight to ten minutes and the sheriff came, Hugh Martin and Jim Channell and Judge Bickel, he was acting as Assistant County attorney. They got him to act as County Attorney, then when Hugh came, the sheriff, Hugh Martin, I ordered him to close the door and to let no one in."

Mr. Swindall objected to as immaterial.

Mr. Vigg asked, "Just tell what you and the defendant said, whom did you order to close the door?"

Judge Lawhon replied, "Hugh Martin, The sheriff. Well I ordered him to close the door and to keep everybody out if he could and to make a selection of six good men for jurymen."

Mr. Vigg asked if they held an inquest?

Lawhon responded, "We did after we got six men, we marched up there through this door and through that door and through that door and through this way and went back to that door there. Mabel Oakes lay right here, just about there."

Judge Lawhon was asked to describe that room where they found Mabel -- how high up was that window -- what the condition of that window at the time they found Mabel?

Judge Lawhon said, "There it is right out there, there is a window right up about here. I expect it is four feet. There was an old curtain hanging up there pretty near pulled down to the bottom of the window."

Mr. Vigg asked what did Miller say at that time, if anything?

Lawhon replied, "He didn't say anything then, I didn't pay any attention to Miller at that time, I told the marshall --"

Mr. Swindall jumps in, "Object to what he told the marshall."

The Court, "Was the defendant there at that time?"

Lawhon responded, "Yes sir."

Mr.Swindall, "We still object if the court please, that the sheriff was present and he wasn't under arrest at that time."

The Court overruled the objection. To which the defendant then and there duly excepted.

Mr.Vigg asks Judge Lawhon to continue and Lawhon responded, "Well, I we all, the sheriff, the county attorney and myself, started through this door and that is a very small room there and they couldn't but a very few get inside of it, this part of this building here is raised where the stage is, about four feet higher than this floor here and the steps from this little room come up to the stage. That was about four feet higher than that little room and the steps came up here, Miller came in and set down on these steps right about here. He set there for awhile and by and by, he said to me, 'Judge, do you hold me?' or something to that effect, and I said, 'Yes sir.' and he says, 'I am entitled to bond or to go to jail?' and I told him that he was entitled to go to jail as far as I was concerned and told the marshall to take him to jail."

Judge Lawhon was acting coroner at that time. He held the inquest over the dead body of Mabel Oakes. 

Judge Lawhon described to the jury the position of the body of the deceased, at the time he and Miller and the other men entered that little room," She lay there with her head within two feet, I think , of that wall and her feet off a little angling a little nearer angling to the northeast. She was lying on her back with her head turned a little bit to the left, both hands just about in this position, on her breast. Something to this effect (put his hand on his breast but not crossed)."

Mr Vigg asked Lawhon to state to the jury whether or not as Miss Oakes was lying on her back, if the right hand was near the right nipple and the left hand under the left nipple or near it?"

Mr Swindall objected to Mr. Vigg's leading question as suggestive and the witness has already stated.

The Court sustained and asked Judge Lawhon to tell the jury how he found the body, in his own words?

Judge Lawhon replied, "Well I stated that as near as I can, I cannot state perfectly and I cannot tell exactly about her dress, her dress and clothes were all in perfect shape and her hands up, something like this position, I never noticed as to one being higher than the other. Her mouth was closed, her eyes closed and her tongue was clasped in her teeth and her lips closed until Dr. Bilby opened her mouth, with her hands on her breasts as I stated before." 

Mr. Vigg continues his questioning, "Now Judge, you may state to the jury whether or not at the time you and the defendant were in his office, whether or not he said to you that about twelve o'clock as he was going to dinner, the deceased complained of not feeling well and that he told the deceased, Mabel Oakes, to go back here where she was found dead, and lie down?"

Mr. Swindall, "Objected to as leading and suggestive and for the reason the witness has already stated the conversation that occurred between him and the defendant."

The Court, "It is a little irregular, you ought to have ascertained whether that was all the conversation."

Mr. Vigg asks, "For the purpose of refreshing your memory, I will ask you the question just asked you?"

Mr. Swindall jumps in again, "Objected to as leading and suggestive."

The Court overruled. To which the defendant then and there duly excepted at the time.

Judge Lawhon continued to answer, "Well he stated, of course they had quite a conversation about taking her home in the buggy and she had refused to go and he told me that he told her to stay there or she could go back in here and lie down somewhere and he didn't say where, there was a whole lot of junk in here, looked like bed clothes or one thing another in this room. There was no bed that I seen and I don't know where he meant by saying, 'Go back and lie down.' I don't know where he meant for her to go but he did say that."

As to where did Miller say that he found the deceased after he returned from dinner... Lawhon replied, "Well after he come back and found this little card on the door he then went to looking for her. He said he found her in this position, condition and that was the way we found her. Of course he wanted to go back that time, I said, 'No, we will go when the sheriff comes.' He told me that she was back there." 

Judge Lawhon was asked to state to the jury about the size of this old opera house, the main room?

Judge Lawhon responded, "Well it is fifty-five by sixty feet square, about as near as I can guess."

Cross-Examination by Wilson...

Mr. Wilson did the cross-examination by asking Judge Lawhon, "About what time was it when you arrived at Miller's opera house?"

Judge Lawhon replied, "I couldn't say exactly, somewhere about between three and four o'clock. I think."

Judge Lawhon testified again in cross-examination that Miller seemed to him to be in great grief over something. That the girl had died or was dead.

Mr. Wilson then asks, "And he said or did nothing to indicate that he had committed the crime?"

Lawhon said, "No sir, he did not."

Lawhon was asked where he was when his attention was first called by Oakes?... Lawhon responded, "I was going home at the time. You know where my house is. I was there, -- well from that street, -- I was there before that street was paved and there was a crossing right down in front of the fire house and I had crossed on that crossing and was going up just about in front of that little building there that used to be a printing shop. I went up there to the office when Oakes called me. It was just Miller and Oakes met me. Oakes met me thirty feet from the door I guess and I went on in."

Lawhon testified that while Oakes had gone to get the county attorney, Squire Miller invited him to go back and see Mabel Oakes. Lawhon declined the courtesy. We held the inquest."

Mr. Wilson asked Lawhon, "Now Miller made no effort to conceal anything that occurred there did he? On the other hand he tried to show you what had occurred didn't he?"

Lawhon replied, "He didn't' seem to. Yes sir."

Mr. Wilson asks, "When the inquest was held Miller was in Jail wasn't he?"

Judge Lawhon responded, "No sir, the next day I believe he was." Lawhon testified that he had ordered Miller sent to jail. Lawhon stated, "Yes sir. I ordered him held right there and that was when he demanded to go to jail or give bond."

Lawhon testified that Miller would be accused of this offense. 

Mr. Tincher jumps in about this time to object to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.

Mr. Wilson asks, "And then you didn't give him any opportunity to be present at that inquest did you, and protect his rights?"

Again Mr. Tincher objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.

The Court sustained. To which ruling of the court the defendant then and there duly excepted at the time.

Judge Lawhon testified that Miller was not present when the inquest was held.

Mr. Tincher objected again and the court overruled.

Mr. Wilson continues, "And you ordered him held without bail before any evidence and ever been taken in the case? You did that as coroner?"

Lawhon replied, "Yes sir."

Mr. Wilson asks, "As a matter of fact when -- Is it not a fact that he said to you, and has it not been discussed, that there was no such office as coroner, and that you had no right to hold an inquest? Isn't that what he said to you?"

Mr. Tincher object to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.

The Court, "Ask the witness what he said. Do not lead the witness."

Mr. Wilson responded, "Why your honor this is cross-examination and we have a right to lead him."

The Court, "No sir, you do not. Ask him what he said."

To which the defendant then and there duly excepted at the time.

Mr. Wilson asks the question, "What was said, if anything, about there being no such office as coroner?"

Judge Lawhon replied, "Not a word of that kind was said."

Mr. Wilson then asks, "Did you say on direct examination that Miller told you that he went home to dinner with his wife?"

Judge Lawhon responded, "Yes sir."

Judge Lawhon did not remember whether Miller's horse and buggy was there at the time Lawhon came there. Lawhon did not know positively. Judge Lawhon testified that the horse and buggy usually stood there in front of the office. 

Mr. Wilson asks Lawhon, "Did he state what time he returned to the office after getting his dinner?" 

Judge Lawhon replied, "No, I don't believe he did. He said when he came back from dinner, 'To my surprise I found this card, saying gone to dinner.' And he hadn't done it himself he said and that was what made him mention it."

Mr. Wilson asks, "You say that Mabel Oakes mouth was closed when you first saw her?"

Lawhon replied, "Yes sir. It might not have been perfectly tight, but it was closed, I would call it closed."

Mr. Wilson then asks, "Isn't it a fact that her upper teeth were somewhat large and projecting?"

Lawhon replied, "Yes sir, they were, a little bit." Lawhon also testified that her eyes were closed. He also testified about the window and curtains... that it did have glass and the curtains were pulled down so that there was not much space that light could shine through. 

Mr. Wilson asked the judge to tell the jury whether or not this is a solid substantial wall, or an old shell?

Lawhon replied, "Well it is a board building made out of board lumber, boards up and down, that side of it." He testified that it was just one thickness and was not plastered. Judge Lawhon did not go into the little room until the jury was gathered, and the sheriff and the county attorney were there. They all went in together. The floor was covered with dust and tracks around in the dust. Lawhon did not know whose they were. 

Mr. Wilson then asks, "You heard the evidence at the coroners inquest and the universal testimony of the witnesses was that there was no disturbance of the dust -- wasn't it, Judge?"

Mr. Vigg jumps in with an objection to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.

The Court sustained. To which ruling of the court the defendant then and there duly excepted at the time.

Judge Lawhon continued to testify that Miss Oakes eyes were closed and her tongue protruded very little beyond her upper teeth. Enough that her lips showed a little punched out. Lawhon's testimony, "Yes sir, a very little, Enough that her lips showed a little punched out. About so. They might have not been perfectly closed but there was very little space between them. That is pretty hard to describe particularly."

Judge Lawhon testified that being the coroner, he tried to notice those things closely.

The Court took a ten minute recess before the next witness for the State.

Sheriff Hugh Martin Testimony 

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