Did Slipper Or Axe Cause Wise County Man’s Death? Sunday June 28, 1959 It was a hot July night almost 24 years ago when a 22-year-old Pound, Va., schoolteacher returned home from a date. A short while later her 52-year-old father collapsed on the front porch and died. What happened on that fateful night of July 21, 1935? Edith Maxwell, the attractive brunette defendant, had two different versions – one at her first trial, another at the second. During her first trial Edith Maxwell contended that she struck her father in self-defense. She told a jury she hit her father over the head with a slipper, contending that he was “roaring drunk” and was advancing upon her. The defense claimed the slipper blow was not fatal that Miss Maxwell’s father died when he hit his head against a meat block. That was the story in the first version of the sensational trial that rocked the nation. Found Guilty But a jury found Edith guilty, sentenced her to 25 years in the penitentiary. Later, however, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the trial evidence was insufficient, ordered a new trial. This time the defense had a different version of the slaying. Defense attorneys tried to prove that Maxwell died of natural causes after falling in a drunken rage. The defense charged Maxwell resented his daughter taking a trip to Wise with a cousin. But the state claimed that Maxwell was struck over the head and killed with a blunt instrument. Doctors swore the head wound caused death. The prosecution contended that a hand axe was the murder weapon, but the instrument was not produced. A neighboring couple testified that their axe was “often borrowed” by the Maxwells. They told the jury that the night Trigg Maxwell died, the axe was missing from the tool shed at their home. Edith’s cousin testified that while they were attending Radford College, she heard Miss Maxwell threaten to “kill her father.” A neighbor told the jury she had heard Miss Maxwell tell how she had “laid out” her father with a poker. Sister Testified A star witness for the defense was Miss Maxwell’s 13-year-old sister. The sister testified that the night of the slaying she saw her father advancing on Edith with a butcher knife and that he grabbed her by the hair. The sister went on to say she didn’t see a single blow struck, either by her father or her sister. The sensational murder trial drew representatives of newspapers, press services, and magazines from throughout the country. The little town of Wise was a teeming metropolis for sensational-minded newspapers. But Miss Maxwell was not fighting the battle alone. Various organizations came to her defense. The National Women’s Party sent Miss Gail Laughlin, a member of the Maine State Senate, to assist in the defense. After a second trial was ordered, the defense petitioned for a change of venue, contending that Miss Maxwell could not receive a fair trial in the locality of the first hearing. The petition said that at the funeral services for Maxwell, his relatives made threatening moves. Press Accused It was further charged that some of the newspaper and magazine stories about the case had contained so much unfavorable criticism of the people of Wise County, that hostility and prejudice was created against the schoolteacher. But the move for a change of venue was denied. The first trial judge, H.A.W. Skeen, disqualified himself from further participation. He said he had learned of distant relationship with the Maxwell family. The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia appointed judge Ezra Carter of Gate City to preside at the second trial. On a cold December day in 1938 a Wise County Circuit Court jury came in with another verdict. The verdict was guilty. The sentence was 20 years in the penitentiary.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 11:57:06 +0000
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