The Saint Paul Globe

SHE FAINTED TWICE

MRS. TROMER TOO HYSTERICAL TO GIVE HER EVIDENCE AGAINST VILLERS.

EXCITEMENT IN THE COURT

CLOTHING ON REMAINS IDENTIFIED AS THAT OF THE ALLEGED VICTIM.

THE HIRED MAN ON THE STAND.

Some Damaging Testimony Against the Prisoner Given by One of His Former Employes.

Special to the Globe.

JAMESTOWN, N. D., Jan. 11.—Mrs. P. Tromer, the state's star witness in the Villers murder trial, was on the stand today, but fainted twice and went into hysterics at the morning session. She did not recover until late, and only testified for a few minutes in the afternoon. While reclining in an easy chair, she fainted again and was removed from the court room. The witness positively identified portions of the clothing from the remains as the same she had seen Tromer put on the last night he left home. The suit was new and had never been worn before. She also identified the tie and neckkerchief found on him. There was great excitement in the court room when she fainted.

Villers' hired man in the fall of '94 testified he first heard of Tromer's disappearance from Villers a week after it happened. Villers said he had received a letter from Tromer in Minnesota who wrote that he was coming back in a week or two, and also told the witness that, in passing Tromer's house one night, he heard them quarreling. He said he had heard Mrs. Tromer cry: "Oh. Oh. Kill me, August, or some time I will myself." "I should not be surprised," continued Villers, "if Tromer should come back some night and kill her and throw her in the well." Villers tried to kill Mrs. Tromer himself that way a few days later, for which he was sentenced to the penitentiary.

Mrs. Tromer may testify tomorrow, and, if she is not strong enough, her deposition will be taken. Nearly 1,000 people packed into the court room today, many being farmers in from distant parts of the country.