The Lamoni Chronicle
Lamoni, Iowa
April 20, 1905

DR. CROFFORD GIVEN SENTENCE

TWELVE YEARS IN PENITENTIARY - APPEAL BOND FILED - CASE GOES TO SUPREME COURT.

Dr. CROFFORD was sentenced to twelve years in the penitentiary by Judge EVANS at Osceola, Monday. The case of Mr. CROFFORD, as is well known, has been twice tried, the first trial having been at Leon in 1901. He was at the first trial given a sentence of thirteen years. The case was appealed and reversed for a rehearing. Dr. CROFFORD again appeals to the supreme court. The Register and Leader of Tuesday, in speaking of the case, says:

OSCEOLA, IOWA, April 17 - Dr. CROFFORD, convicted at the recent trail in this place of murder in the second degree for causing the death of Maud STONE through a criminal operation at his sanitarium in Lamoni, was today sentenced by Judge EVANS to a term of twelve years in the penitentiary. The sentence came after a motion for a new trial, presented by the attorneys for Dr. CROFFORD, had been overruled by the court. CROFFORD heard his sentence without comment and apparently unmoved.

An appeal bond for $12,500 was at once filed, signed by the men who have already given bail for Dr. CROFFORD, and he has returned to his home in Lamoni, pending the decision of the supreme court upon his case.

The defense bases its appeal upon the admission of the two letters which have already played so important a part in the case. The attorneys for the defense contend that the letter from Maud STONE to Ira HAMMOND, in which she mentions her plans for such an operation, is not material as evidence, on the ground that Maud STONE, not being liable to prosecution in the case, could not be regarded as a coconspirator, and hence that her letter should not be allowed upon the court records.

Judge EVANS, on the other hand, has ruled that the letter is admissible in order to show the intimacy which existed between the dead girl and HAMMOND.

Copied by Stacey McDowell Dietiker
June 13, 2003