Evening Star Newspaper, November 30, 1926, Page 4

f k 3 — THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, I MRS. HALL REMAINS AN ENIGMA SEVERE TEST ON STAND ss Baffles Prosecutor Seeking to Find RS, HALL PITIFUL 1 FIREONSTAND . Shown Qllinging Desperately | to Last Shred of Belief in Bi.. Unworthy Man. BY DOROTHY DIX. Epecial Dispatch to The S OMERVILLE N. J, November —At the opening of court in the Mall-Milis trial yesterday, Mrs. Hall walked to the wifness stand as many © woman in ages gone by must have walked to the torture chair. Head up, chin out, shoulders squared, eves burning up s with fever, face white wnd set mouth a thin line of grim determination. 86 set wa she, so bound she would show no weakness, you felt that she would pluck her eves out of her head before she would le* them shed a tear, that she would bite her lips off rather than have them tremble, And, indeed, no victim broken on the wheel of the inquisition ever went through a worse ordeal than she endured during the two and a half hours in which Senator Simp- won mercilessly beat upon her heart with every weapon at his command. No Quarter Asked. It was a duel to the death between these two, with given on eith no quarter asked or de. Senator Simp- ing to break down 3 guard with which she has pro- tected her emotions and make her admit_that she had been jealous of Mrs. Milis. He recalled to her her own romance. He reminded her of her Jove for her husband and of how whe had said that he was everything in the world to her and that his death had wiped out everything in her life, and the he twitted her with her husband’s unfaithfulness. e threw her husband's passion for in her face and another woman mocked her for being a poor dupe, or else he accused her of being a Jiar. Never, during the whole exam- , did he cease trying to rouse lousy of the dead woman and ke her confess that she had sus- ted her husband's illicit love af- fair. But nothing that he could do broke through Mrs. Hall's jey calm. Other women whom the tle prosecutor has goaded to tury have screamed back at him, but Mrs. Hall's cultured, re- 1 voice mever changed fined, well bre its even tone. It never took on an edge, it neve ed any emotion whatever unless s a sort of cold contempt, and the expression of her face never ed. That, too, was s blank and inscrutable as a mask. Sticks to Answers. Yes, she had loved her husband. Yes, sh d believed that he loved her. Yes, she had trusted him utterly. No, she had never observed an: chanse in his conduct toward her kind and affec- Tie had been just as he had always tionate to the last a e she had known Mrs. Mills. Yes, she had known that her husband saw a gredt deal of her. No, she had never been in the slightest degree s of Mrs. Mills. Mrs. Mills was v work and she her husband being with her so much was m _due to their interest in church activitie 1d never seen the prayers critten for Mrs. Mills AFTER Weak Place in Her Armor of Self-Control. BY FRANCES NOYES HART. Special Dispatch to The Star. COURTHOUSE, Somerville, N. J., November 30.—When Frances Stevens Hall stepped down from the witness box yesterday, pulling the black fur collar about her throat as though she were cold, she remained as baffling a figure to most of us as she had proved to Senator Simpson. After hours of devastating probing, her remote per- sonality remained perfectly intact; if there is a chink in her armor it has Jescaped the explorations of Simpson’s restless rapler and of our prying eyes. Some curious force has preserved her privacy inviolate from all these vio- lent invasions. At the center of the whirlwind she sits impassive, knowing that even whirlwinds must spend their force. She is in danger of becoming a leg- end, the legend of a rich, powerful, strong-willed Frances Hall, capable of anything because she is incapable of showing us her heart. Already the outlines of that legend are fixed. How can she have a heart? Not once have we seen it on her sleeve! Some of us think that she may be hiding it because it is broken—and things are rarely put up for on. But most of us are sure that that is nonsense. How can it be broken? We never heard it break. Estimate of Witness. Before she moves away from us, turning before our bewildered eyes from lady to legend, let us try to get one clear look at her. Let us dismiss, if possible, this conception of a marble heart moving through marble halls, and try to reconstruct something that may approximate a little more closely to the truth. The woman in the witness box has a face of so serious a pallor that it looks as if she had powdered it with ashes. It is only when we recall atrocities that have appeared as pho- tographs of her that we could call her comely—compared to them, this might well be the face that launched a thousand ships. Leaving the knavish tricks of pho- tography aside, we see a woman who looks every one of her 52 years— heavy features, but stamped with something of authority and distinc- tion that might well impress even the unobservant. She is in black—the black coat with the black fox collar and cufts, the black hat with its round pearl pins and concealing brim, the black frock with its discreet white linen collar and string of pearl The despair of those reporters who seek color for their stories in the cos- tumes worn by the central figure, Mrs. Hall has possibly taken a mildly ironic_satisfaction in furnishing them with little meat for their discourses. She might as well be wearing a uni- form. Characteristically, in this careless and ungloved age, she is sloved. Face of Arresting Mold. There are small bruised shadows under her eyes—her lips are barely distinguished by a more marked pal- lor from the rest of that set coun- tenance—a countenance that might seem simply a pale, full, rather stodgy face, if it were not for something that fixes its uncertain contours into an arresting mold. Her hair is plainly v B sick in the hospital. No, she had never seen any of the letfers that her husband had written to Mrs. Mills, nor had she seen the diary. No—this scornfully—she had never looked o her husband’s shoulder while he writing to Mrs. Mills, she had never read any of the let t d between her hushand s nor the diary until just a before this pres- ent trial comn No, she had not read the newspapers at the time of the murder. gray—her eyes, heavy with fatigue, with disdain, with sleepless nights and unshed tears, are gray, too—until she smiles. When she smiles, her eves are blue. To those of us who find her, for all her cool aloofness, a heartbreaking figure, her smile is the most tragic thing about her. A small, starved, careful little smile, curlously sweet—and yet disquieting. It is as though she were practicing it, experimenting cautiously with an old trick, that was hardly worth the Answer Amazes Courtroom. Then again and again Senator Simp- son would demand of her: “Mrs. Hall, how is it possible that a woman such as you are—a woman of the world, a woman of intelligence—could be in t daily association with your nd o woman he loved, could e could see them in church a looks that passed be- tween them, and not suspect any- thing? in and again Mrs. Hall re- ed aver and over her lover’'s lit- I loved him, I believed in him. I ver had the slightest suspicion that v that you have heard all that you have heard in : now_ that have read these letters and this in which he uims his passion for another woman and tells how he loves her and how he yearns for her, do you still e in him?" sneered ~Senator Simpson nd Mrs. Hall ma de this amazing do. T think there might have Leen some slight thing going on be- :n them, but nothing much.” ACENL o s ot mHe e ADS the courtroom, and every woman-- and nine-tenths of the audience are o feminine persuasion—turned to st man with eyes that were ironic, incredulous, humorous, and that ques! i whether this thing they heard could be true or not Story Is Unshaken. Was it possible there could be s love so great that it was above all sealousy, above all suspicion? Could & woman so love a man that it blind- ed her to his faults. so that she did not even see his weaknesses? Could s wife have a faith in her husband us unquestioning as her faith in God? Werd s s possible, and Lecause e cynical ge of marriages and d it hard to we belleve e But, t or not, as vou can, as you w Hall st to her simple r fuith in her hus. band, and her ignorance of the fact that he loved another woman and was faithless to h. Nor was Simpson able to shake h Mrs. Hall d whose going out for her, but ter loss of hav: 1 the agon: had been be- that she trayed » 1t is no wonder that she el her in hardness to go e task, and that some of ess she could not help but ped through some of her re proua ands to the 1 a man who had been . because if she lost would have nothing ght. 1 {one of the tw . 1 felt that I had never e pitiful sight than this woman. clinging with | st_shred of | effort of reviving. It is only when she looks at Willle that the stiff, gray lips curve easily, and the level gray eyes flower into blue. It is difficult to disentangle the real woman from the figure that legend maukes the controlling force of the political, social and economlc life of New Brunswick. You might well zather that the Carpenders and Stevens are as awe-inspiring forces in that flourishing industrial community as the Borglas, the Medicis, the Tu- dors or the Vanderbilts in their respec- tive home towns. Fables About Her Poise. There is, to the easily impressed, something fabulous in their prestige and power. Those who are not easily impressed swing to the opposite con- clusiorr and yield to unseemly derision at the idea of New Brunswick posses- sing any kind of society at all. They visualize Mrs, Hall as a dowdy figure ina bungalow apron, pattering around the preserve kettle in the Kkitchen, lording it over the hired girl, and com- ing out to rock for a while on the back porch and chat over the fence with the neighbors. We venture to think that one conception 18 as absurd > other. Mrs. Hall is, in the most stringent sense of the word, a_lady. She has that most irrefutable hallmark of breeding, a beautiful voice, low- pitched, well modulated, fastidiously distinguished as to accent. She lives $32,000 to make more livable—a. e in which she has lived for many —its non-committal walls have known her as a girl and as a woman. 1t is now a comfortable’ looking, spa- cious affair of Georgian tendencies— set well back from the streets in grounds occupying the better part of a city block. It is not at all pretentious—dozens spent hous of houses can be seen in any com- fortable community of the same type. The rooms within she designates by old, homely names— the parlor, the study—a far cry from the solarfums, morning rooms and music rooms of the latter day architects. In this house on that September day four life was going on, homely nt and unassuming, as it zoes on in a hundred homes in a hundred towns. Prosaic Eve of Slayings. Peter Tumulty, the decent, rosy- faced old gardener, was banking cel- ery, Mrs. Hall was busy superin- tending the putting up of pears in the big kitchen—Dr. Hall had taken cars from the garage to take some flowers to the h and with him went little 'S Voorhees, his niece, who had come to spend a week with them, and her small friend, Barbara Webb. The Scotch chambermaid was off for the day, but Louise, the pretty, dark-eyed waitress, was still at her post. It was a fine, warm day, and the garden where Frances Hall loved to work looked so lovely in its autumnal glory that one of the young high school pupils had begged for permission to have her picture taken against its tapestries in her new graduating dress. Minna Clark was coming with her to take it—and thither at a little after 5 they came. If we are to accept the prosecutor’s theory, there moved across the sunny lawn between the plain, middle-aged woman and the elated little girl a T oads of England a decrease of income of | ve suffered fizure so dark and sinister that its hadow still falls across our sunshine. If we are to believe the prosecutor, it was death who walked between them in a house on which she has recently | gray-haired lady was filling little jars with spiced fruits to grace Winter suppers. Senator Simpson's presumptions seem to_many persons plausible enough. Eleanor Mills’ letters show that she thought that Minna Clark was aware of their clandestine cor- respondence. They show, too, that Minna, dethroned by reckless and tri- umphant Eleanor from many of her churchly prerogative might well have been somewhat embittered. Development of Theory. The rest, according to Simpson, fol- lowed as the night the day—inevitable and terrible as any Greek tragedy. Minna Clark gives to Frances Hall an intercepted letter, or possibly a packet or them. Having made her move on the board marked out by destiny, she goes her way. It is near- ly supper time—Hall and the two lit- tle girls are back from their errand. In the Hall home the supper is at the unfashionable hour of 6:30. Supper Tranquil Affair. Supper, according to Loulse, to Willie Stevens, to Mrs. Hall, was the same pleasant, tranquil affair as usual, possibly slightly more festive, owing to the presence of the little girl. According to the prosecutor, the dark figure that had entered the house an hour before drew up his chair with the rest of them—he was growing bolder. Supper over, Mr. Hall went up to his study and the others on to the veranda. The dark figure hovered, irresolute for a moment. Which way now? Then a bell rang, and the dif- ficulty was solved. -It rang again, more insistently, and Frances Hall came In from the veranda to answer it. According to her, before a word was spoken at the other end, some- thing arrested her—either Louise’s voice or the click of the receiver be- ing removed from the extension up- stairs. She tells us that she hung up the telephone and went back to the veranda, not hearing even what Mr. Hall said. Louise, however, was not so discreet. We know from her that he said: “Yes—Yes—Yes—That's too bad—Can’t I see you somewhere later>—How about a little after 87" If we believe Simpson, Frances Hall heard not only that, but the hurried, frightened voice at the other end, “Is that you?—Are you alone?—Darling, I'm so frightened—Some one's found our letters! Well, but what can we do?—All right, I'll go straight to the farmhouse—I'll get the first Easton avenue car. This is the end of pre- tense, they’'ve forced our hand.” Going Out Short Time. A few minutes later Hall came hur- riedly down, he was going over to the Mills’ to see about that doctor’s bill. He would not be long. The dark figure hesitated, looking after his portly figure hastening through the gathering twilight, and then turned back with a shrug. Mr. Hall was wrong, he would be a long, long time —not eternity itself would see him again on that vine-hung veranda. The figure turned to watch Frances Hall bending her silvering head over a picture puzzle with little Frances Voorhees. It was close to 8 o'clock. From this time on till the moment shortly after 10 when a woman as- tride a mule saw the headlights of a car light up the faces of a gray-haired woman and a man who looked like a negro, even Senator Simpson becomes a trifle vague. ‘What messages did that woman send to bring her brother and her cousin hurrying to her—Henry, fish- ing carefree in Lavalette; Harry, try- ing to forget stocks and bonds at the end of a tiresome day? How much did she tell to Willle, who tells us that before he locked himself in finally for the night with his beloved exiled pipe he came down some time between 8 and 9 to bid good-night to his sister? Saw Her Playing Solitatre. Had she put little Frances to bed then, or did she hold her long past her bedtime, dreading the moment when she must inevitably face the consequences of those ruled and.pen- ciled scraps of paper? We know only that Louise tells us that some time after 9 o'clock she saw her seated in the library, playing solitaire. Louise does not tell us, however, what thoughts were weaving through that head bending in the lamplight over the bright bits of pasteboard. Louise only tells us that she believes that, save for Mrs. Hall, the room was empty. If, behind the player's shoulder, there leaned a dark figure, whispering that solitaire was a poor, dull game, Louise neither saw nor heard him. She went her way tran- quilly upstairs, past the landing. From that time on we are confront- ed with a clear-cut choice. Motives, incentives, theories yleld to action. Either we believe Willie and Mrs. Hall, with their simple recital of bed, locks, sleeplessness and a visit to a church, or we believe Senator Simp- son and Jane Easton, with their ugly tale of darknes; flashing lights, WASHED CLEAN and ALL 10c a Lb. The Service for Large Laundry Bundles 10c a Ib.—every piece washed in soft, sudsey water of even temperature, using soap that is pure. clothes are sized noticeably with Home Laundry pat- ented sizing which is better than starch. turned in 4 days there is an inviting freshness about your work that you will like. Every piece is ironed, but not by hand. work is well done and looks most attractive. plainer body clothes are ready to wear, the fancier ones will need a little touching up. Home has a 20c Family Finish that irons all pieces completely. At 10c a Ib., our All-ironed is an excellent service. 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If she is in any way guilty of the deaths of those two luckless | lovers, she would find it easier, per- haps, to steel herself against the in- tolerable rasp of Simpson’s voice, taunting her endlessly with her love and faith for the faithless love who had betrayed her. ‘“This spotless gen- tleman,” “this loyal, honest soul who filled your life for you,” “this man whose ™ devotion to you, you assure ! us, never wavered —the mocking voice ceases for a moment, and Fran- ces Hall, her eyes gray as ice, assures us evenly that such was indeed the case, If she is keeping something from us, it would be easier for her and easier for us who hear her. Then she might say to herself: “This is ex- plation—this is what I pay for trying to hold by force what I hed lost. By | this I atone for raising no hand or voice to save that woman who has plunged me and mine into a hell deep- er than we will find when we are dead. This I can bear, because, un- Rfl}}lnsly. unwittingly I have earned It s more tolerable to believe her guilty than innocent. If we believe her innocent, we are confronted with a nightmare more unbearable a thou- sand times than those few blood- stained, hideous moments in an Au- tumn fleld. We draw back from the abyss of that belief. A woman loving, safe, secure, protected—and this har- ried, hunted, stony-eyed creature star- ing at us with eyes so tired that she can hardly raise them. Question of Innecence. If we believe her innocent, what shall we think of man and God, who have affected this metamorphosis? What shall we think of a society that has made it possible, a system of jus. tice that has made it possible? = If we believe Frances Hall innocent, we wiil forego thought for a time. We will leash imagination like a wild dog; we will pray that when we sleep at night we may not dream, Murder is monstrous—granted; this Is something more monstrous still. In these days we do not contemplate flaying alive with equanimity. Senator Simpson has not made it easy to belleve her guilty. He has failed to forge the one little link that would have made the whole chain swing together. He has produced not one iota, shred or atom of proof that any word of her husband’s treachery ever reached her. To us, at least, it seems profoundly unlikely that it ever had. There was any amount of gossip, idle as well as industrious, as to the fact that the rector was seeing too much of the little choir singer—but nothing more sinister. Frances Hall, however, is the last woman to whom these tattlers would have come with such careless tales. “Mrs. Hall, we think that Mr, Hall is too zealous in selecting hymns with Eleanor”’—those voices do not ring plausibly in our ears, Had Seen Them Kiss. Eleanor’s sister had seen her sister kiss the rector—had been told that she loved him dearly—Eleanor’s sis- ter would hardly have brought these tidings to the rector’s wife. Barbora, the chambermald, four years before had seen Eleanor slip from the rector’s knee—but we who have seen and heard the impeccable Scotch lassie are moved to grim mirth at the thought of her bringing news of this to her mistress. The schoolgirl who came with Minna Clark on the afternoon of September 14 says that she never left Mrs. Hall with Mrs. Clark alone for a moment and thdt at no time did she give her anything of any kind. How then did these letters, if intercepted, reach her? We also, seeking diligently for an answer, find none, There is no hint in the letters or diary that Hall or Eleanor Mills be- lieved that Mrs. Hall had the most remote knowledge of any kind of their affair, save for one remark of Eleanor's that Mrs, Hall had been rude to her. Everything else bears out the conclusion that she would have been stupefied with surprise at any hint of it. That missing link of evidence is go- ing to destroy the whole chain of Simpson’s reasoning—more than Wil- lie’s touching, absurd geniality—more than Henry's bluff sincerity—more than Frances Hall’s frozen calm. These have been powerful forces to combat—but not so powerful as that small, unforged link. Prosecutor Is Ruthless. In the meantime, before the chain breaks, we will take one more look at the woman pilloried before us—pain- fully, at McCarter’s insistence, raising her lovely voice so that we may share her despairing disdain at the ruthless nature of the prosecutor’s questions. She asks no quarter. Her replies are direct and unequivocal. Some- times they seem touched with the brevity of indifference; not once is a syllable ruled out as unresponsive or irrelevant. She refuses to be involved in explanation or debate; there are the facts, and here are we to draw our conclusions. She does not need our sympathy—she does not want fit. Not once does she look to her lawyers for assistance: not once to the court. Only, time after time, at the round, white, non-committal face of the clock hanging over the courthouse door. When she looks at it her eyes are prayers. Seconds pass, minutes, hours —these, too, says the clock, will pass. What does she see beyond the white face that stares back into herl IRONED Body When re- The Flat Your Linc, 9823 STATE'S OWN WITNESS ATTACKS VERACITY OF MRS. JANE GIBSON (Continued from First Page.) denied the identification of the print was based on an enlargement of the disputed print. “We say that enlargement is not a correct print, but a distortion,” Simp- son told the court. Hartcorn, who had supervised the making of the photograph offered, to- day testified that he found the initials “E. H. 8. apparently those of Ed- lward Schwartz, State expert who testi- fled that the card was in his posses- sion for more than three years, at one corner of the card. On cross-examination Hartcorn said that he also was a certified public accountant, ““You were previously in a circus?” Defense Counsel McCarter asked. “No more than I was a prizefighter in the match of Tunney against Dempsey,” Hartcorn replied. The answer was stricken out over Simpson’s demand that it stand, and the witness finally answered “yes and no” to the question regarding his circus experience. “Did you happen to run across the handwriting of Jane Gibson?” Mc- Carter asked. “No,” the witness replied. Audited Circus Books. Jane Gibson is the State's alleged evewitness to the crime. She is a pa- tient in a Jersey City Hospital and testified in this case from a cot. The defense has charged that she was once a circus rider. ‘The witness sald that he was em- ployed by a circus at intervals in 1918 and 1919 to audit books and examine handwriting, but that he did not travel with the show. ‘While Hartcorn was on the witness stand the diary which Henry Stevens kept in 1922 was handed to the jury. Stevens, on the witness stand had said the diary was devoted principally to the recording of his luck as a sports- man, and the jurors studied it with evident interest. Four lines written in the diary un- der the date of September 14, 1922, played a major part in the cross-exam- ination. It {s under this entry that appears the line: “Art Applegate, one blue, 6 pounds.” Several witnesses called to testify in support of Stevens’ alibi, said that Arthur Applegate, a neighbor of Ste- vens, caught a 6-pound bluefish on the evening of the slaying and that for this reason they remembered that Stevens was in Lavallette. While Hartcorn was called by the prosecu- tion as a handwriting expert and not as a fingerprint expert, McCarter drew from him a statement that he had found no thumb print on the call- ing card found at the scene of the own white face—quiet and sunlight and a blue Itallan sky? A little lizard slipping off a sun-warmed stone into myrtle leaves? Fountains sending sil- ver rockets to the stars? Dark cy- presses, golden light, white oxen mov- ing peaceably down roads that Caesar built? Does she see that the passing hours are leading her to blue seas and bluer skies—to marble warmed to color by centuries of sunlight? Or will marble always mean to her an interminable flight of steps leading to purgatory in a small, crowded, oak- lined room? Ordeal Suddenly Ends. What can she look at again in this world that will bring to her delight, security and peace? She says, ‘" t is 80— You are quite correct, did not telephone’ —"“No"—"No"—*"No,” in her lovely, unfaltering voice. Another voice, suddenly weary and despondent, eays “That’s all"—and she rises unhurrledly, sweeping us with those sleepless, tearless eyes suddenly fllled with a still wonder that we, her enemieg, are still there. And we, who stare back uneasily, stir guiltily in our seats. It is as though, for a brief moment, society and justice, which have brought her to this pass, are on trial for murder before Frances Hall—not Frances Hall on trial for murder before society and Jjustice. GOWNS / Breslan 1300 G ST.N sl and which, the State contends, b:,l"s“the fingerprint of Willie Ste- vens. Character Witness Called. After Hartcorn left the stand the State called its first witness to testify as to the reputation of Mrs. Gibson for truth and veracity. Dr. Walter Madden of Trenton said he had known Mrs. Gibson in Trenton in 1914. The defense contended that as it was 12 years since he had known the woman he could not qualify as a character witness and was upheld by Judge Parker. Dr. J. H. Cooper, the next charac- ter witness, caused a surprise by his first answer as to the reputation of Mrs. Gibson, whom he said he had known for six years. “What is her reputation for truth and veracity, good or bad?” -asked Simpson. “Not so good,” answered the wit- nes Simpson appeared to be astonished by this answer. Dr. Cooper said he had treated Mrs. Gibson during the first investigation of the double slaying. “Have you acquainted yourself at all with her during the last three years?” “Yes,” said the witness, explaining he had been called by Mrs. Gibson to her farmhouse, before this trial be- gan, but not to give her medical at- tention. “I understand you won't vouch for her reputation?” asked Simpson. There was an objection by defense and the court upheld the objection. Simpson seemed puzzled as to how to question the witness, and turned to confer with his associates. “Can’t you say whether her repu- tation is good or bad, flat-footed?” he asked. “Well, I don’t know whether you are trying to hang me, but it looks like that,” said the witness. After he had asked Dr. Cooper if he hadn’t heard what people had said as to Mrs. Gibson’s veracity, Simpson asked again what her reputation was among the people the witness knew. “From what people say to me, I'd say it's about 50-50,” answered the ‘witness. The defense did not cross-examine. The State then recalled Joseph Faurot, one of fits fingerprint ex- perts. Faurot, under Simpson’s question- ing, testified that the enlargement of the disputed fingerprint, whizh: de- fense experts had used in their demon- stration to the jury, had lost in detail, through enlargement, and that certain ridge lines were missing entirely. ““What is the result of that condition on the correctness of the enlargement at a fingerprint?” “It is not an accurate print.” “What would you say with respect to whether you could identify this en- largement as the print on the calling card?” “It would be rather difficult.” Cross-Examination Severe. Faurot was cross-examined at length regarding distortions which he sald he found in the enlargement. He sald these distortions were mainly at the outside edges of the print. “The significant points which the defense experts pointed out as grounds for thelr testimony that this is not the print of Willie Stevens are on the inside ends of these lines, are they not?” McCarter asked, indicating cer- tain lines. “Yes," replied Faurot. “Have you pointed to any distor- tion in the center of this enlarge- ment On redirect examination Faurot contradicted the defense fingerprint expert who testified that enlarge- ments of Willie Stevens' fingerprint and that found on the calling card showed discrepancies, proving they were not the same man's finger. Frederick Drewen, fingerprint ex- pert of the Jersey City police, was called next. He testified that there was lack of detall on the enlargement and also_distortion. The witness said that he could not identify a fingerprint by using the enlargement and added on cross-ex- ATS, SAVE HALF! 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On opening of the court for the aft- ernoon session, the State began call- ing other character witnesses. John A. Hays of New Brunswick sald Mrs. Jane Gibson's veracity was good. Mrs. Christine Scholtz was called next and also testified that the State’s star witness had a good repu- tation. It was the announced intention of Prosecutor Simpson to request a mis- trial at the conclusion of the State's rebuttal testimony. A letter from Gilbert A. Van Dorn, owner of the hotel where the jurors are quartered, and 12 affidavits which Simpson claims to have- obtained in support of the letter, form the basis of the charges. Overheard Talk, He Says. Van Dorn, who claims to have over- heard conversations of the jurors, says in his letter: “Several of the jurors are openly hostile to the State, and have been since the day the trial started. I have heard juror ‘A’ say in my presence, ‘Simpson” is a lying — and I wouldn't believe a word he says.’ This same juror told me and told Longenatto, the court officer with the jury, that ‘Mrs. Gibson is a lying and I would not belleve her on oath. “These remarks were made both before and after Mrs. Gibson testi- fled. Longenatto and I told him she was an honest woman with a good reputation.” Van Dorn also declares that sev- eral of the jurors have objected to Simpson’s importation into Somerset County from Hudson County to con- duct the. State's case; that they “in- tend to show Hudson County, before they get through, that they cannot come here and run things.” “The conversations of the jury are held in their own rooms with the door open,” the letter states. “Fre- quently the jurors named and some of the others discussed the case with unauthorized persons and juror ‘A’ has discussed Mrs. Gibson’s reputation with ‘M." Van Dorn claims the jurors stood 9 to 3 for acquittal before hear- ing the testimony of Mrs. Jane Gib- son, key witness for the State; that they referred to her as “a great liar,” spoke of Simpson in “rotten lan guage’; one of them predicted a ver- dict in 20 minutes, and that they spent some of their earnings ‘“hollering about taxes.” Van Dorn says he signed the letter, but that it was typed by Herbert B Mayer, a reporter for the New York Mirror, the tabloid paper which in stigated reopening of the case after four years, The 12 affidavits, obtained by detec- tives for the prosecution, charge that some of the jurors have slept dur- ing the trial and that others have an- nounced that thelr minds were made up before hearing testimony. Tele- phone calls to friends have been per. mitted the jurors in some instances, it is alleged, and their opinions have been relayed outside their living quar ters. OPENS ANNUAL BAZAAR. Church Aid Society Begins Sale of Christmas Novelties. The Ladies’ Ald Soclety of the Western Presbyterfan Church, Miss Elizabeth Zea, president, opened its an nual Christmas bazaar in the church parlors this afternoon, to be continued tomorrow afterncon and evening from 3 untl 10 o'clock. The proceeds are to go toward the building fund for a new church. Dinner will be served in the church each day be tween the hours of 5 and 7 p.m. Those In charge of various booths of articles for Mrs. Annle Mossburg, assisted by Mrs. Henry Broadbent, Mrs. Mary Allen, Mrs. Wilbur Longfellow and Mrs. Catherine Hungerford; Christ mas cards, seals and accessories Mrs. B. Davis, assisted by Mrs. Mabe! Kelly and Miss Tompkins: candy, Mi: Agnes Thompson and Miss Frances Butterworth; handkerchiefs, Mrs Clyde Conger; dolls, to be in charg: of the young ladies’ class. Mrs. Joseph Reed, Mrs. Fred Ker nard, Mrs. Joseph Butterworth and Miss Lucy McKinn will act as hostesses at the dinner, assisted by « adies group of young Things to meet the Three Modern Demands To meet today's insist- ent demand for Beassy, Consfort, Service we are offering these delight- ful underthings of the finestunadulterated silk, iven petal shades by glyu 100% pure! Fashioned by Paris— Made by Gordon— Priced to please! Let us show you them today! ordon UNDERWEAR Exclusive at Lansburgh & Bro. 7th, 8th and E Streets Lansburgh & Bro. ”~ H OVER help her, to be happy And rest assured it willl For thisamazing New Hoover is more than twice as efficient as former Hoovers—will remove 131 per cent more dirt fromarug,intheordinarycleaningtime! That’s because, while it sweeps and air-cleans, it also BEATS, by means of POSITIVE AGITATION ~the only cleaning method which removes the deeply embedded grit. So this Christmas, give her @ Hoover! Give her the golden hours to be happy. Take away the handicap of inefficient, old-fashioned tools against which she is striving day after day to make home the happy haven both of you want it to be! Remember, too, you'll be eonserving your Christmas cash, for you need pay but $6.25 down—the balance split so' you'll hardly sense it. Won’t you stop at our Demonstration Booth and let us show you? Breslau The Friendly Shop 1309 G St. 51,000,000 in the past 12 months, ‘ most of the loss being dus to the ooel| ol S e where & |l T —