The Washington times., 1902-09-21

solved and Stokes devoted mis- attention
to the business OF the Brooklyn Oil Re-
| finery.
Light and Shade.
II was while he was operating on the
produce and oil exchanges that he first
became acquainted with James Fisk, the
shooting of whom is inseparably con-
nected with the history of New York at
the time. In 1865, when the Brooklyn
Refinery was built, Stokes was at the
height of his social and commercial sue
cesS. He was, and remained to the day
of his death. handsome man of great
culture and refinement. and until the
shooting of Fisk moved in the best cir
cles everywhere.
He completed the Brooklyn refinery
the year 1t was begun. The building of
1t involved him in serious financial en-
tanglements. Through the bursting Of
the Pennsylvania oil bubble and the
burning OF the refinery soon afterward,
bankrupt and subsequently discharged
in bankruptcy.
Stokes on His Feet Again.
Through the assistance of numerous
friends, including, ii is said, Fisk,
Stokes managed to recoup on his losses
and rebuilt the Brooklyn refinery at
cost of $250, 900. Fortune continued to
smile on him. He made extraordinary
sums in the oil business and in Wall
Street He entered into business agree
ments with Fisk, Jay Gould, and others
who were intimately connected with
the management of the Erie Railroad,
and through them perfected a new cor
poration to operate the refinery.
Woman in the Case.
While thus associated with Fisk, Ed
ward S. Stokes was reintroduced TO
Helene Josephine Mansfield, whom he
previously had met in Philadelphia. The
woman. generally known as Josie Mans
field, was remarkably beautiful. She
came originally from California, and had
been the wife of an actor She had Sc
cured divorce from him and was under
the protection of Fisk, who had become
colonel of the Ninth Regiment and whose
operations in Wall Street and princely
manner of entertaining and general sue
cess were the talk of the city.
1t never mas been generally known
whether Stokes and Colonel Fisk quar-
relied first over the attentions of the
ness affairs. The quarrel was calorific.
and Fisk oiled and started every engine
of destruction in his power to ruin
Stokes financially as well as. socially.
The Killing of Fisk.
? Stokes was arrested one evening in
1871. when bail could not be obtained,
on the charge of embezzling $50, 900 from
the oil company. Quarrels and recon-
citations followed in succession. until
Josie Mansfield deserted Fisk for Stokes |
This ended any future reconciliations
Fisk and Stokes entered into extended |
litigation and made charges and counter
Stokes shot Fisk on the stairway of the |
Grand Central Hotel-now the Broadway
Saturday. January 6. 1872 |
Fisk died the next morning Stokes sur. |
himself to the police a few
minutes after the shooting He was |
detained in the Tombs and had three |
trials remarkable for the intense inter-
est which the entire country evinced in
he oAtcome
Stokes Escape.
The first trial ended in a disagree
ment. Several months went by before
the second trial. at which Stokes was
convicted of murder in the first de-
gree. Stokes was sentenced to b.
hanged.
An appeal was taken and another tra
granted. The verdict was manslaughter
IN the third degree. Stokes was SEN
.enced to four years in the penitentiary
Josie Mansfield went TO live abroad. 1t
was upon the meager evidence that the
shooting was done in self -defnese that
Stokes escaped with such brief SEN
ence. He swore he only fired after