New-York tribune., 1902-03-19
BROOKS'S FATHER ON STAND
HE AND OTHER WITNESSES TELL
ABOUT THE COMB.
JUSTICE MAYER WANTS MORE LIGHT OK
RECEIVING THE THIRD DECREE
TESTIMONY

Testimony that was regarded by the District
Attorney as important additional evidence that
Florence Burns was in company with Walter
s. Brooks at the Glen Island Hotel. in Cort-
landt-st.. shortly before he was found dying
with a bullet in his brain the night Of Febru-
ery II, presented yesterday afternoon AT
the continuation OF the examination Of MISS
Burns before Justice Mayer. Of the Court of
Special Sessions. II given by Julia Nc
Carthy a colored woman with an Irish name
who was a chambermaid employed in the board
ing house No. 216 West Forty-fourth-st. sew
eral weeks ago. when Miss Burns was a boarder
there. In cleaning Miss Burnss room one day,
she said. she found comb under the bureau
Is this the comb?" asked Assistant District
Attorney Schurman. handing TO her the comb
alleged to have been found in the room where
Brooks shot.
1t is" the witness replied promptly.
When the witness was cross-examined by Fos-
ter /. Baclzus. counsel for Miss Burns however,
she became confused. She the last witness
examined yesterday, and Mr.. Schurman said
the prosecution could finish its in about an
hour on Saturday. In adjourning the examina-
zion 10 that date. Justice Mayer said:
1 am at present inclined 10 take the view that
the alleged conversations with this defendant
ia the police station are inadmissible under the
law. / would like 10 hear arguments on that
uoiut bv counsel She was not informed Of the
crime with which she was charged. According
10 the testimony, she YVES told that she was
charged with a felony. but that term was so
broad that IL likely TO confuse
TREATMENT OF MISS BURNS BY POLICE.
Justice Mayer cited the testimony o. Detec-
tive Reardon tending TO show that there had
been no intention on the part Of the detectives
10 make the defendant believe she was charged
with taking the money Of Brooks. and said there
was testimony TO support the inference that the
girl thought this 10 be the charge against her.
The justice said he would like to have more
light as 10 whether under the circumstances
these conversations should be admitted. Justice
Mayer also directed the attention Of the lawyers
10 the fact that Section 33S of the Code Of
Criminal Procedure provides that a prisoner,
taken into custody, shall be arraigned
before the nearest sitting magistrate. This he
said, had been done in the case of Miss
Burns but she subjected 10 long question
ing by the detectives while she was kept pris-
oner in the police station.
District Attorney Jerome said later that the
questions raised by Justice Mayer had been
settled in 1881, when Police Inspector Byrnes
got a confession from McGloin, the murderer
and used it against him to secure his conyic-
ton Detectives could get evidence from
prisoners, he said. if they told their business in
advance.
T W. Brooks the father Of the man who
killed in the Glen Island Hotel, the first
witness at the examination yesterday. He testi-
fed that he bad heard Miss Burns and his son
taking together when Miss Burns at his
home in Brooklyn. Miss Burns scolded Walter
for not wishing 10 marry her. and said he had
ruined her health The witness said he had
Iold the girl she must leave his house
TESTIMONY OF BROOKS'S FATHER.
The witness wept when he told of finding his
son insensibIe in the hotel
Did you take anything from the room?" Mr..
Schurman asked
Yes a comb was the reply.
He identified the comb in evidence as the one
he had found in the hotel.
What did you do with the comb?'
Il gave il to Officer McGovern, of the New
York Police Department, when he called at my
house"
on examination the witness declared he
never had said he was willing to have his son
marry Florence Burns.
Q.-where did you find that comb? Al found it
o@when did you find that comb? A--When !
had been IN the room about twenty-ihye MINUTES 3
A-No. sir; not until an ambulance had been called
the comb Al did not
Witness admitted he had not seen the comb
Of Florence Burns on her stay at his house. or
anything she wore in her hair. He maintained.
however, that there no mistake about the
comb shown being the one he found in the hotel
room.
PASSING OF COMB FROM HAND TO HAND.
Detective McGovern testified that he gave the
comb which he received from Mr. Brooks to
Detective Sergeant Parker. Parker testified
that ne gave the comb to the District Attorney.
Parker told about aiding in the arrest Of Miss
Burns at her home in Brooklyn. He said she
told him she parted from Brooks early the pre-
vious evening, and let herself into her home
with a latchkey about p. On the way from
Brooklyn TO the police station in Church-st.. he
said. he pulled out his watch, and Miss Burns
looked il and said This is not it."
In the cross-examnation the witness said
Miss Burns had been told, before she was ques-
rloned in the police station, that Walter Brooks
was IN the Hudson Street Hospital, and that
she would be taken there and confronted with
him. The witness admitted that the girls
father had not been allowed TO speak TO her be-
fore she was questioned. In the Burns house.
he said. he had found some letters which had
been handed 20 the District Attorney. The let
fers were produced for examination by Mr..
Backus. but were not read in court They had
been written Miss Burns by Brooks, a1par-
entity.
In his account Of the alleged Identification Of
Miss Burns by the Colored bellboy OF the hotel,
Parker contradcted some OF the testimony pre-
viously given 10y Detective ReardOn.
Detective Reardon was called again and iden
tined note which Miss Burns wrote to Brooks
and left in Brooks's desk early on the day Of
the shooting. II read:
hut want To see you before I 60 | will be in AT
j % q. tomorrow, and trust will lnd you in