The times., 1901-06-19

Her Opinion OF Hortfmer-The Plain
tIn Unsyveryed by SIX Hours
Cross-Exnminntfon- Evidence of
the Police Court Hearing Revived.
Mrs. Olivia c. Starring. the principal
witness OF the Government in the trial OF
Lewis Francis Mortimer. who is charged
with the larceny of s9000 worth OF dia-
monds from her. continued her evidence
yesterday under crOss-examination. She
was on the witness staad for two hours
and half on Monday and yesterday for
six hours. but did not appear to weary OF
the ordeal. In fact. she appeared to be
ready and anxious at all times 10 discuss
any phase of the subject with Andrew A
Lipscomb. of counsel for the defence. who
is conducting her cross-exanination. At
the hour Of the adjournment OF the co:irt
Mrs. Starring had not concluded her tes-
timony and Will this morning again be
called to the witness stand.
The proceedings were begun at 1890 a.
m, Just after Justice Anderson had con-
cluded his business in the Probate Court
where ne presides every morning Before
this hour. however. the court room
where the trial is In progress was filed
to it's utmost capacity. The attendance
was much greater than on Monday and
no doubt the spectators expected repe-
tition of the war Of words between the
District Attorney and Mr.. Lioseomb
which took place on Monday afts rnoon.
In this. however, they were disappointed.
There were other phases Of the case. how
ever which both interested and amused
the audience. During the afternoon ses-
sion of the court there was an interesting
coIloquy between Mr.. Lipscomb and Mrs.
Starring as TO the proper pronunciation
of certain words. IN tcstifying as to
where she kept certain letters written her
by Mortimer Mrs. Starring stated that
she placed them in a basket in her bath
room. In making this statement she pro-
nounced the words basket" and bath"
very broad, sounding .'bawth'' and "baws-
ket." Mr.. Lipscomb, after repeating the
words as Mrs. Starring had sounded them,
stated that he preferred the good Arneri-
can style of pronouncing them. To this
Mrs Starring replied: Just as you please,
sir"
Again when asked how far she had
gone into her studio before she discovered
that she had been robbed, she replied.
Just three steps" Mr.. Lipscomb then
stated: We'll, 1 suppose you measured
the exact distance. thinking some fool
lawyer would ask you the distance" To
this Mrs. Starring replied Yes and Mr.
Iipscomb said: We'll. that joke is so
old you must have brought it from
Egypt with you
While this was going on it was as
much as Crier Joyce could do to restrain
the audience from laughing aloud.
When the proceedings were begun yes
terday morning the examination again
turned to the relations between Mrs.
Starring and the defendant. The witness
reiterated her statement that she did not
consider Mortimer her social equal. In
contradiction of this the defence offered
letters written by Mrs. Starring to the
defendant on March Is last, in which
she wrote: why did you not arrive for
dinner, my dear friend? 1 waited till {,
and then went lonely to dinner. If you
wish to be my escort to this unique af-
fair at the Goodwins. this Indian fiesta,
you l.lust wire me your wish. or 1 must
engage another to take your place, for
must not risk being out late in that
lonely quarter alone"
This letter bears the headline of the
Hotel Vendome, New York City
Continuing her testimony, Mrs. Starring
stated that she went to the circus with
Mortimer on the evening preceding the
robbery and afterward went to lunch at
the ShOreham. She also stated that she
had a running engagement to go BIZ
cycle riding with Mortimer.
y letter written to Mortimer by Mrs.
Starring on December p. 1900 was read
as follows: You see that cook / had
waiting for me turned out y G, so 1
had to get on with the services of the
coiored boy as best l might until L secured
another cook.
He meantime was robbing me at the
rate of SO per diem by having a key made
to my cash drawer. l only discovered
this when l found a diamond solitaire
ring missing, said Mrs. Starring.
Another letter, the contents of which
is similar to the one above, was offered
by the defence, but on objection by the
Government, on the ground that it was
irrelevant, il was not admitted is evil
dence. In reply to question by Mr..
Mrs Starring stated that she
was robbed while stopping at a hotel in
Atlantic City, in 1895 AT this stage of
the proceedings. Richard P. Evans, of
counsel for the defence, stated to the
court that it was the object of the de-
fendant TO show that Mrs. Starring was
not really robbed. He went on TO say
that testimony would be offered to show
that Mrs. Starring had a mania for be-
ing robbed" that she was prejudiced
against Mortimer, and that the day be-
fore the robbery was alleged to have ia
ken place she had quarrel with the de-
fendant, and said TO him, III fix you,''
to the prisoner
When the court reconvened after recess
Mrs Starring resumed her testimony. In
answer to a question by Mr.. LipScOmb
she declined TO state the name of the
person from whom she purchased or OBJ
tanned the jewelry in question She, how
ever. said that she purchased some of the
gems in London about ten years ago
Others she stated. were presented to her,
but she declined to disclose the name Of
the giver-
After this a great deal of time was
in a cross-questioning of Mrs
Starring relative to the testimony she
gave in the Police Court at the preiimi-
nary hearing. on her return from the
bicycle ride on the afternoon she was
robbed she said Mortimer entered the
house with her. When he discovered the
drawer of the cabinet open she stated
he saw some of his letters to her in one
of the compartments. He took these she
said although she protested against his
so doing. 1t was during this part OF her
testimony that Mrs. Starring stated that
she had other letters written her by Nor
timer which she still retained In some
of these letters, it was stated, Mortimer
had proposed marriage to her Mrs
Starring denied that she quarreled with
the defendant because he took his letters
from her and that she told him it was
to do so. In this connection
she took occasion to say that she did not
think Mortimer was worth while quarrel
ing with on any account