Ottawa County, OK. - History: Albert Wosson ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Michaels March 22, 2002 ************************************************************************ Miami News Record Dec 6, 1940 page 1, column 1 Wasson’s Fate Deliberated By An 11-Man Jury Own Family Divided for and Against Him in Murder Trial, Aged Farmer Awaits Verdict on Plea He Shot in "Protection of Home"; Death of Juror’s Father Brings Unusual Angle. _______________________ Bulletin A verdict of not guilty was returned by the jury in the Wasson murder trial at 2:45 o’clock this afternoon. Albert Wosson, a 69-year-old farmer, whose own house is divided against itself, gave a district court jury one last look here today, peering from beneath shaggy eyebrows as if asking: Will you send me to the penitentiary for the last years of my life as a murderer or will you decide that my story "of protecting my home and my family" will vindicate me? One Juror Excused An 11-man jury - reduced by one under unusual circumstances at mid-afternoon Thursday received the murder case at 11:50 a.m. today. After eating lunch, the jurors were to enter the room in which they will deliberate the farmer’s fate. R.H. Divine, of near Ottawa, notified yesterday that his elderly father was at the point of death, was excused from the jury upon agreement of both sides. The father died later. Wasson, who shot and killed bill Martin, 48, of Fairland, in November, 1939, did so, according to the defense side of the case, because he was in fear of his life after he had warned Martin several times to leave his home. But certain members of the Wasson family testified against their own father. Stella Wasson, 15, and Susie Wasson Foster, married and then separated from Clyde Foster (now in California) and at one time the housekeeper for Martin, both went to the witness chair in behalf of the state’s case. Susie was near Martin when a blast from a 12-guage shotgun ended his life. Wife Testifies for Him The elderly farmer’s wife and his youngest daughter, 12-year-old Nina, supported the defendant during the proceedings, which got under way before Judge W.M. Thomas Thursday morning. The defense, represented by Perry Porter and Ithamer Tuthill, presented through the lips of witnesses the contentions that Wasson thought Martin had a gun the day he fired upon and killed the Fairland man. The state’s case, conducted by Prosecutor N.C. Barry and Assistant County Attorney A. Clark, did not ask for extreme penalty. Nothing was mentioned about asking for life in the penitentiary or of death for an alleged murder. In his part of the closing argument for the defense, Lawyer Porter declared: "It is my opinion gentlemen of the jury, that this old gentleman has committed no crime." Assistant Prosecutor Clark asserted, however, the opinion that "Wosson shot Bill Martin when he least suspected such a thing would occur. Why, Martin had no gun. If he did, he most certainly would not have stood frozen in his tracks and permit a man with a shotgun to deliberately fire upon him without putting some kind of resistance." The shooting of Martin occurred a short distance from the rural home of the Wosson family, about one mile west of Fairland. Martin was struck in the chest by a charge released as he stood near his own car, parked in the road running north and south in front of the Wasson property. Says He Warned Martin Wasson claimed that he had warned Martin to keep away from his home. Defense witnesses were introduced in an effort to corroborate the farmer’s claim that Martin was a "dangerous man" when "drunk". The defense charged Martin was drunk at the time of the shooting. Susie Wasson Foster, estranged wife of Clyde Foster, and the latter were both at the Wasson home when the shooting incident occurred. The argument which preceded the slaying, the defense said, developed as Martin prepared to drive away from the Wasson property with Susie. Bitter words were exchanged, and the defense claimed the Fairland man cursed the aged farmer. Testimony revealed that Wasson went into his home to get his shotgun and that he returned to a point near the gate as members of the Wasson family were gathered near the parked car. In the first trial, which resulted in a deadlocked jury, Wasson followed about the same line of defense as was introduced for him in the current proceedings. Self-defense and the argument of "protecting the home" obviously were the strongest points on which to substantiate his hopes for acquittal. Prosecutor Barry asserted that the farmer had no provocation whatever for the shooting. In closing, the assistant prosecutor argued that "Bill Martin was shot down in a place where he had a perfect right to be." "Send this old man back to his wife and children, that part of them who" love him, at least," the defense pleaded.