The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-15
SENT TO A SCHOOL FRIEND.
The Lady Tells How 1t Was
Obtained.
SHE TOO ADMIRED THE COLONEL
Breckenridge Was the Star OF
Kentucky Which Insured
His Popularity.

WASHINGTON. March 1.-the fifth day
of the Pollard Breckenridge trial was
devoted by the plaintiffs attorneys to
celebrating the main points already
marked out in their case. No sensational
incidents nor any display of belligerenee
among the legal gentlemen.
Miss Pollard was in court during the
morning, but left when DR.. Belle Buchanan
of Cincinnati began to testify. Most of
the day was occupied by the reading OF
dispositions of the Cincinnati physicians,
and OF one of Miss Polard's school friends.
The testimony of Sister Cecilia was then
resumed. The question at issue was the
competency of the witness TO identify Miss
Pollard as the woman who had been
treated in the asylum in Cincinnati. The
court ruled out various questions to bring
out this point. and the plaintiff took ex-
ception.
Sister Cecilia testified that two or three
ladies In that retreat yelled their faces
when they thought there was danger of
their being recognized by visitors. The
name of Burgoyne. supposed to be that
under which Miss Pollard was known in
the asylum, was unfamiliar to her. The
cross-examination was brief and unimpor-
tant
The deposition by Kate Terry Kane of
Cincinnati, a physician, stated that she
remembered Miss Pollard being in the
house in which Mrs. Kane and Mrs. DR..
Buchanan practiced. as a patient of DR..
Buchanan under the name of Louise
Wilson.
DR.. Buchanan identified Miss Pollard
positively and asked her why she did not
marry the author of her Misfortune. Miss
Pollard answered she could not. He had
ruined her and she loathed him and would
not marry him.
"Are you married or single ?' asked Mr..
StOll, beginning the cross-examinaticn. %
Il have been married." responded the
witness. with good deal OF emphasis on
the verb Il married James S. Scherer in
1874, but afterward secured divorce and
resumed my maiden name"
When Mr.. Stoil went into the degree of
intimacy between DIR. Buchanan and her
partner. DR.. Street. between the years 1881
and 1885, Judge Bradley interposed that
he was carrying that too far. whereat Miss
Pollard turned to fash upon the Kentucky
lawyer a significant smile.
The ss-eXamination of Dr. Buchanan
was completed after the noon recess, the
doctor incliniDg toward sarcasm in her re-
plies.
The affidavit by Mrs. Wesleyan Robert
son, vile OF William F. Robertson, of
Cincinnati. and daughter of DR.. Brown,
president OF the Wesleyan Seminary in
1853 and 1884, was read by Mr.. Carlisle.
The deponeDt had been a student at the
seminary when Madeline Pollard was
there, aud had been given a letter by Miss
Pollard, TO be opened on the night of her
graduation, in June, 1886 She had last
seen this letter when her husband gave Il
to Colonel Breckenridge, without her con-
sent.
Here Mr.. StolI said that he had the let
ter and wanted the court to protect him in
the possession of it. and he intended to
offer il to the witness for iden tificati0n
But yon did not get it honestly" the
witness replied. The letter as identified
by her.
Miss Pollard had told the witness that
her father was.a great admirerso Mr..
Breckinridge's father. and that she herself
admired w. G. P. Breckenridge greatly, as
he was then "the star of Kentucky" a
statement which even at second hand
stirred laugh in the courtroom.
spoken of he- love for Professor Over
man. According to the witness Miss
Pollard was an exceptionally bright and
ladylike girl. smart in her studies, al
though her education in early life had been
neglected.
Il thought Miss Pollard was as pure
minded girl as l ever met," said she
with considerably less experience in the
ways of the world than the average young
woman who came TO college. My first i'm.
pressions were that she had been taken
advantage of, and / always retained them
She spoke of Mr.. Breckenridge as a kind
fatherly old man."
The court adjourned after the reading OF
the letter, which refers TO j. c. Rhodes
offer of marriage, and 10 which be is called
an ''old wretch" 1t has been already
widely published.