About four years after the murder of the Tremont widow Jeannie E. Barr, a young neighbor was arrested and charged with the crime. The prosecution claimed the accused made confessions to the police and to a former family doctor. The accused claimed that he made no such confessions and that he was held and questioned without benefit of a lawyer. When asked why the doctor would make up such a story, the accused responded that while they were driving around the Tremont area drinking beer in a car, “he tried to get queer with me and I told him no.” There were other factors which led the jury to return a not guilty verdict, not the least of which was that at the time of the crime, the accused had willingly given his fingerprints as well as samples of his hair and blood; there were no positive matches and he was cleared as a possible suspect.
What follows here is a “Table of Contents” for 12 posts chronicling the story of the trial as reported in the Pottsville Republican.
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Neighbor Charged in Tremont Murder
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (1)
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A 1977 Town Obsessed with Murder
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (2)
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Man Charged with Homicide Wants Bail Set
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (3)
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Jury Selection Starts
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (4)
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Jurors Sought “In Street”
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (5)
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Claims Evidence Untrue But Petition Denied
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (6)
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Witnesses Tell of Accused Weeping at Scene
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (7)
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Judge Allows Jury to Hear Testimony
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (8)
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Two Oral Confessions Related at Trial
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (9)
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The Accused Denies Committing Crime or Confessing
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (10)
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Jury Deliberations Begin
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (11)
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The Acquittal
The Murder of Jennie E. Barr – A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981 (12)
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News clippings are from Newspapers.com. The photo of the accused leaving Schuylkill County Court with sheriff’s deputies is from the Pottsville Republican, 3 June 1981.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.