12 A
Til'LHSDAY. OCTOBER 31. 1963
MEDFOKD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORO. OREGON
.Thompson, "Lawyer, On Trial For Murder
.police said. ' 1:30 a. m. on June 21 at his'est Lake. He has been free on1 Anderson, a marine corps vet-1 erackerjack roofing salesman I Mastrian who has a college I police record, remain in jail ii
Thompson was arrested at summer home in suburban For- S100.000 bond. leran of the Korean war and a I between drinking bouts, and journalism degree and a long lieu of $100,000 bond.
THIS SALE STARTS FRIDAY AT 9:00 A.M.
O.N TRIAL FOR MURDER Lawyer T. Eugene Thompson, a
veteran lawyer at 35, went on trial Monday as a defendant.
He is charged with the first degree murder of his wife, Carol
an heiress whose life was insured for more than $1 million.
Thompson is accused of ordering the assassination of his wife,
shown in this photo. (UP1)
By RICHARD McFARLAND , to a good start and tossed law
United Press International business his way.
MINNEAPOLIS (UPD Law-1 Thompson became an active
yer T. Eugene Thompson, at 35 ; member of the Minnesota Bar
a veteran of courtrooms and I Association. At the associa-
murder trials, stars in Minne
sota's courtroom drama of the
decade.
Not as a lawyer. Tilmer Eu
gene Thompson is on trial on
a charge of first degree murder.
The state of Minnesota will
ask a jury to believe that
Thompson plotted, mastermind
ed and ordered the assassina
tion of his wife, Carol, an
tion's convention at Duluth last
summer a criminal law com
mittee report was read urging
greater support of the state
crime bureau. 11 was signed 1.
Eugene Thompson."
Thompson wasn't at the con
vention. He had been arrested 1
on a murder charge a short
time earlier.
The setting for Thompson's
heiress whose life 'was insured lria' is a sma11. mohagany-pan
for more than $1 million.
Thompson, one of Minneso
ta's rising young experts on
criminal law, will face his ac
cusers in a small Hennepin
County courtroom in Minneapo
lis' towering, 57-year red gran
ite courthouse. He will plead
innocent.
His battle for vindication
and the state's battle to prove
him guilty could rank with
Ohio's Sheppard case and Cali
fornia's Finch-Tregoff trial as a
classic of courtioom suspense.
Slain In Hume
On March 6, Carol Thomp
son, 34, attractive mother of
four children, was beaten and
stabbed to death in her home.
eled courtroom seating only
about 60 persons. One hundred
newspapers and radio and tele
vision stations have asked for
seats to cover the trial, but there
are only about 15 seats avail
able for reporters.
Change of Venue
The trial originally was sched
uled to be held in St. Paul. But
Thompson's attorneys demanded
a change of venue. They con
tended that publicity of the case
in St. Paul made a fair trial
there impossible. The state su
reme court ordered it be moved
to Minneapolis.
Key persons in the trial be
sides Thompson:
County attorney William Ran
dall of St. Paul 47, a tall, slen-
Thompson is one of three der "Lincolncsque" prosecutor
persons charged with murder j regarded as one of the Uepubli
in the case. The stale charged can party's chief prospects for
Thompson asked Norman Mas-1 state effice in Minnesota. He has
trian, 39. his college classmate ; been Ramsey County attorney
and a former prize fighter, to : five years. When the trial was
line up a killer. Mastrian. it is
charged, hired heavy-drinking
salesman Dick VV. C. Anderson,
35, to do the job
Thompson, then main figure
in the case, is boyish - looking
and has his blond hair trim
med in a crew cut. He had
been making up to $40,000 a
year.
' He met his wife and Mastri
an when he was going to St.
Paul's MacAlesler College on
the GI Bill of Rights. He got
his law degree from William
Mitchell College of Law in St.
Paul.
Thompson became a protege
moved to Minneapolis, Randall
vowed that wherever the trial
was held he would prosecute
and win a conviction.
Hyram Segcll Chief defense
attorney. Segcll, 41, 6-2 and 170
pounds, is a graduate of the uni
versity of Minnesota and has
been practicing law 15 years. He
was public defender in St. Paul
and worked three years in the
U. S. Attorney's office in Min-neapolis-St.
Paul before going
into private practice.
Judge Rolf Fosseen The !
trial judge. He is a handsome,
graying, broad-shouldered man
who played football in high
nf nnn nf Minnesota's must I st'hl sl"ll has an athletic
famed criminal lawyers, A. I lu"k- Fosseen was with the Fed
.leromc Hoffman. He married i Bureau of Investigation for
Carol and the couple settled I cals. tllcn Practiced law
down in the quiet, well-heeled ! and was municipal judge from
Highland Park section of St. liMB-1'.KO before being appointed
Paul across the Mississippi Riv-' he District Bench,
er from Minneapolis. ; , , Hutched .loh
I'atlicr-lii-l.aw Help ! ? sla'!"B f, Ws; Th'.mp-
Thomnson's father-in-law was I """ "' ' J
Otto Swoboda, plumbing con
tractor reputed to be worth a
Korth
Nuclear Engines
In All Major Ships
On the morning of March 6
the youngsters had gone to
TI I....,
million dollars. Swoboda did his ?;"', " ' "'"'T, Z K
best to get his son-in-law w of ,eP Mrs. Ihomp.
i son had gone back to bed.
The killer apparently had been
AnttAlr fr ,lit,in Hie basement. When
AUUCQlJ 50!M!i- Thompson was alone, as
rr : police figure it, he caught her
in her bedroom. She was a hard
woman to kill.
The killer had planned to
dump her, unconscious, into a
bathtub filled with water to
stage an accidental drowning.
Rill Cjirnl hmtihl fnr Km lifn
WASHINGTON (UPl) -Retir- a ,1,1ii,. r. , ,:'
i.,- v .-.... V....J v..il, . . .7" ' 1111
,fc ouv, .iu, " " ! killer put a German I.uger pis-
Wednesday fervently appealed i ,,,, , u,a( ( wml;m
to Congress to provide (or mi- (,.t, sh(1 ran (,mvnslais am) ,,c
clear propulsion in all major j hor llm, ,,. ,,,. ,,,
warships of the future. : thl, pjsUll lmj bl.()kc Thf n hp
He said this country should slabbed her again and again
stop "hamstringing our new . with a paring knife from the
ships . . with obsolete engines." . kitchen. The blade broke off in
"1 can think of no more in-, her throat,
gent and important plea 1 could , The killer went to the bath
make," Korth said "What you room to wash his hands. Mean
decide here will go lar toward while, Mrs. Thompson staggered
determining the sie and shape barefooted out into the snow
of American soapower tor dee- slip went to a neighbor's house
ades to come." , and gasped for help. The killer
Korth, who resigned effective ' apparently returned to the liv
Nov. 1, made his statements in ! mg room, was terrified to find
a last official appearance oicn-' Mrs Thompson gone, and fled,
ing congressional hearings on I'istul Revraling
the subject before the Joint ; 1'ieees of the German Luger
House-Senate Atomic Commit-1 pistol led to the arrests. Police
lee. He emphasized that he was learned the pistol had been stub
referring to future decisions. He i en from a Minneapolis apart
urged against delay of Defense ment. The burglars were cap
Secretary Robert S. McNama- tilled and said they sold the gun
ra's decision last weekend to to Mastrian and cab driver
build another conventional air-1 Sheldon Morris. Those two men
craft carrier, even though he : were arrested and Anderson was
favored a nuclear powered flat- arrested in Phoenix, Ariz,
top. Morris and Anderson talked.
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