The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-23


was allowed to make an identification Mr..
Jerome made a speech. He said:
-Beeoherer, i want ou TO realize before
you give any testimony here that the pris-
oner at the bar Ia charged with murder
In the first degree. the punishment for
which, In the event OF conviction, IL death.
You must DO absolutely certain of anything
that you say here. Take your own time
before you answer my question. Do you
see here. the woman whom you saw on
Friday nightf'
Miss Burns sat very stiff In her seat and
looked directly at Beecherer, n puzzled
expression or her face. Beecherer looked
at her and then at several other women
In the front part OF the courtroom Then
Il don't see her now
is that she's pointing at Florence Burns.
1T certainly Is not replied Beecherer,
and then he was excused.
DR.. Philip V. X johnson, inferno at the
Hudson street hospital. was called TO
describe the wound which killed Brooks.
He said the course OF the bullet was at an
angle Of as degrees from the top OF the
ekull. He thought II must have paralyzed
Brooks at onco. He found no scorching
OF the hair around the wound, although
the hair away.
Miss Burns listened with a look Of abso-
lutte indifference, and once interrupted
the p~roceedings to complain TO her counsel
dDOut tDb poTbt5tcHt cuOIl5 VI pil'AVkio-
pliers and artists to make pictures Of her.
The artists and photographers were at
once ruled out and the examination con-
tinued.
George. Washington, the Glen Island
Hotel bellboy, who has been In the House
Of Detention for a week. was called and he
told a straight story enough OF hap
pened on the night that Brooks was shot
In the hotel. He took the couple TO o
= on the night in question saS The ne womabn'
Eton jacket. Her clothing was all dark;
At. l0:30. he said, he went to the room and
got an order from the woman for a glass
Of lemon soda and a few matches She
took the soda and the matches through
the door without letting him come In the
room. II was II:s0 o'clock, he said, when
he smelled gas. and tracing II 70 o IL,
found Brooks on the bed unconscious there.
He then went downstairs and reported the
matter to Earl. II was noticed That Wash
ington makes the lime Of his notifying
Earl an hour later than the night clerk
made II in his testimony.
At the order Of Mr.. jerome Washington
took a long look at Miss Burns and then
declared that she was the woman who came
to the hotel with Brooks. Miss Burns
was undisturbed by the Identification.
Mr.. Backus took hold OF. Washington
and in a few minutes had from him an
Burns in the Church street police station,
he had told several detectives, as well as
Assistant District Attorney Krotel. that he
hadn't been close enough 70 the woman
with Brooks In the hotel 70 be sure OF how
she looked. This admission was only
brought out after a multitude Of questions
had been put TO the witness; but i resulted
in a ripple Of applause throughout the
courtroom, which was Immediately sup
pressed by Justice Mayer. IL was the
brst time that there had been any demon
s~tration In the courtroom over any OF the
evidence and II showed a strong sentiment
In favor OF the Young woman.
Other admissions very damaging TO the
testimony brought out on his direct exam
nation we're mad in rapid succession by
Washington, after this. He admitted say
in9 IN the hotel on Saturday morning, a
week ago, that he didn't know whether
Brooks's con panion had light or DARK
hair and that ne wasn't sure that he could
tell her II he saw her again. But the most
evident breakdown made by this, the star
witness for the prosecution came when
Mr.. Backus asked:
Didn't you tell the Assistant District
Attorney on that morning. before you saw
the girl In the s~tationhouse, that o uthought
she was dark?'
sWell. not exactly that, said Washing
ton. Il said that she was not b might
be called exactly a white person.
~Oh, you didY And did you mean thatF'
swell, / didn't think then that she was
what you'd call a white woman.
Ii was plain that Washington meant
that he had regarded Brooks's companion
as either a very light negress or a very
swarthy white person. h effect OF this
testimony was apparent to everybody,
for nothing more white and pink than Miss
Burns could he imagined. Washington
admitted that on top Of these views he had
gone to the station house. knowing he was
10 Identify a woman there, and picked Miss
Burns as the woman who had gone TO the
hotel with Brooks. Miss Burns smiled at
the testimony.
Washington will be cross-examined fur
ther tomorrow. Meanwhile he will stay
in the House Of Detention.
Before an adjournment was taken Mr..
Jerome asked, for purposes OF expedition
that the defence concede two things that
the man who was shot in the Glen Island
Hotel WAS Walter Brooks and that Florence
Burns and Walter Brooks were not man
and wife. Mr.. Backus said he would make
no concessions without first giving the
matter careful consideration.
MIR. Jerome and Mr.. Backus then had a
long private conference, at the end OF which
both men declined to speak. IL was said,
though, tina Mr.. Backus gave the District
Attornev all the details of his alibi.