The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-11-26
THE OWNER OF TREPISTOL
Drew's Testimony Makes Ayres Ap-
pear the Man.
ANOTHER THEORY is ALSO HARD HIT
There Was Room Enough Behind AWes' Cham
bar For Man to Have Stood and Ad-
81 mitted Person t, the
Room,
(By the Associated Press.)


A Washington, Nov. 25.-The trial of Mrs.
Lola Ida Bonine for the murder of James
Seymour Ayres, Jr.. at the Kenmore
Hotel last May, began in real earnest to-
day. The preliminary details as to the
finding of the body, the location of the
furniture, ETC.. were all in with the con-
,clusion of the testimony of J. f. Drew,
the capitol policeman who was on the
stand when the court adjourned last
FRIDAY
Baker the man who saw Mrs. Bonine
descend the fire escape; Hopkins, who
roomed over Ayres' and raised the first
outcry; Miss Woolums, who roomed
under Ayres, and Miss Lawless and Miss
Minas, who roomed on each side of him,
testified today The two latter were re-
garded as star witnesses, but they testi-
fled to no facts not developed at the in
guest.
Drew testified that there was room
enough behind the door of Ayres' room
for a man to have been there while the
door was opened to admit another per-
son, a contention which the prosecution
deny, and also that there were empty
cartridges in the slop jar in Ayres' room
before the pistol with which the shoot
ing was done was emptied by OFFICER
Brady after the tragedy This would
tend to establish the theory of the de
fense that the pistol belonged to Ayres.
Mrs. Bonine, throughout the trial today
when witnesses described the cries,
groans and throat gurgling of the dying
man remained absolutely unmoved.
j. Frank Drew, the capitol policeman,
who was on the stand last Friday when
the court adjourned, resumed his testi-
mony. He swore that he had several
times seen the defendant come out of
Ayres' room. The last occasion was
about week before the tragedy. 1t was
at night about 8 o'clock. On cross-ex-
animation he testified that there was
space enough behind the door for per-
was opened to admit another person,
also that there were empty cartridge
shells in the slop jar upon his first visit
to the room, which was before Officer
Brady broke the pistol and took the
shells out. He testified that he had seen
Mrs. Bonine come out of the room OF
several single men, and her demeanor
was in no wise different from that when
he saw her emerge from Ayers room.
Thomas M. Baker an employe of the
Fish Commission who resided in the
building adjoining the Kenmore, was then
called and testified that on the night of
the tragedy he was awakened by the re-
ports of pistol shots. He jumped out of
the bed, went to the window and heard
u voice from above irquiring what was
wrong below. He replied that he had
heard pistol shots. Then, while standing
at his window, he saw figure on the
fire escape just outside of Ayres' window.
The figure walked the length of the fire
escape in his direction and then descend
ed two flights to the floor of the veranda
where it disappeared into a window. 1t
was the figure of small woman. clad
in dark tight fitting clothing. The wo-
man wore no hat, and as he did not hear
the fall of her footsteps he judged she
was in her stocking feet. He described
the manner of her descent, which he
said was very deliberate and without
emotion.
He did not know the defendant at the
time of the tragedy but saw her about
/ o'clock the afternoon of that day. She
was at that time being questioned by
Detective Horne. She was smiling and
he heard her say she knew nothing
about the cause of Ayres' death
Robert p. Hopkins, a clerk in the
War Department, heard three loud re-
ports and looking out saw something
which looked like a skull flying on the
fie escape just outside the window of
Ayre's room.
Emma A. LaWless, who occupied the
room adjoining that in which the trag-
edy occurred showed considerable ner-
vousness as she took the stand. She was
slightly aroused during the night of the
tragedy, but was not awakened. She
formed no idea as to what aroused her
or what time it was.
After the recess Miss Mary e. Minas.
a clerk in the Census Office, who occu-
pied the room next to Ayres' took the
stand. She testified that she was a
friend of Ayres.
And of Mrs. Bonine?" asked the Dis.
trict Attorney.
'Of Mrs. Bonne up to that time" re-
piled the witness.
Continuing Miss Minas testified that
late on the evening of the tragedy she
met Mrs. Boninc and remarked that she
was up late.
Continued on Second Page.)