SELMA FRANZEN IS NOT GUILTY

She Was Acquitted in District Court at Rugby by Jury Wednesday

Rugby, N. D., Feb. 3.—The jury in the case of Selma Franzen, charged with the killing of the illegitimate child of her brother, brought in a verdict Wednesday of not guilty. The state claimed that Miss Franzen stuffed cotton in the childs {sp} throat and that by such means the child was suffocated. The defense claimed that the death of the child was purely accidental. The evidence showed that the child was left in the care of Miss Franzen by the mother and that on Sunday evening the defendant fed the child and put it to bed. The child was found dead the next morning. No cause for death was visible and after a post mortem examination it was found that the child died from suffocation caused by a piece of cotton in the throat. The love of the defendant for the child showed that she was incapable of causing the death. State's Attorney Shuman and Assistant Attorney General Zuger prosecuted and L. N. Torson and E. R. Sinkler defended.

Grand Forks Evening Times, 2/3/1910