The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1908-05-19
SCANDAL AIRED.
DivorceSuit ofMaeWoodAgainst
Aged Senator Begun.
LOVING LETTERS READ

Mis-. Wood Declares He Acknowledged
Her As His Wife Before Two Men
In q HoteI-Defendant Was Not In
Court.
New York, May 19.-Mae c. WOOD.
the Omaha girl, who is suing Onl1eo
States Senator Thomas G. Platt for d.
vorce, alleging that the senator lot
mally entered into marriage CONTRACT
with her on Nov 9, 1901, gave testf
monv In the suit The young woman
vas smartly attired and self-possess-
ed. She identified copies OF seVeral
letters which she said were received
by her from Plat They were NANNY
If an affectionate nature, but In sew
eral there were interesting sentences
ON other affairs. In one communlca-
ton was the phrase:
"Your letter has cheered me up SO
that I am almost reconciled to Odells
election" A picture OF the senator
was shown, upon the back OF whlcn
was written ito my little wife, Tell
fnx how this was written, Miss Wooo
said:
well. I was sitting on his lap.
Part of the time he held my hand ana
part of the time 1 held his hand. we
wrote it together. The words llttle
wife were written by him, l think.
Miss Wood said that the senator
came to her room in her hotel with
two men. and that he formally &C
knowledged her as his wife betCSe
these two men.
Senator Plat was not in court.
On cross-examination, Miss Wood
said she is forty-two years old, was
born in Michigan, has been married
and divorced, and has been news
paper reporter, school teacher ana
LAWYER. She last saw the senator 10
speak to him on Aug. Is, 1903.
Counsel for Senator Platt produced
letters alleged to have been written
to Miss Wood by the senator. In one
of these letters the senator asked MISS
Wood why she does not marry MT.
Middleton" and says he would IKE 10
see her married before he "cashes IN.
In another letter the senator TOOK MISS
Wood to task for writing about "oid
.Janeway." He told her that he knew
all about Mrs. Janeway; that MISS
Wood was entirely wrong. and con-
cluded: 81 have no intention OF mar
ryine Mrs. Janeway or any other
woman"
Miss Wood denied that she ever re-
tanned O'Fqaherty & Fulton, OF Rich
Mond, Va, to prepare a case against
Senator Plat, but said she had met
them and talked about the case.
Thereupon Senator Platt's counsel
read a letter from the lawyers to the
senator. in which they declared that
they had been employed by Mss
Wood relative to claim against the
senator. "The matter grows out OF q
pronnissEof marriage made by you 70
her and broken, as shown by your
subsequent marriage to another per-
son." says the letter.
The defense also submitted copy
of the legal petition in the district
court of Douglass county, Nebraska,
entitled, Mae C. Wood VS.. Robert ).
Wynne. William Loeb and j. Martin
Miller, defendants"
On that occasion Miss Wood sought
to recover $35, 900 from the defendants
on the ground that through a conspir-
acy they obtained from her a large
number of letters which she had re-
ceived from Senator Platt, and witch
she proposed to incorpate in a book
which she had planned to issue under
the title. "The Love Letters of Boss
Miss Wood was led to tell of her
visit here on Oct II, 1908, just before
Senator Platt married Mrs. Janeway.
She brought the senator's letters with
her. She was met at the hotel, she
said. by J. Martin Miller, a secret
service man, who, she said, practically
put her under arrest.
Miller, she said, took her down to
the efice of A. H. Hummel, the attor-
ney. the following day. As result
of visits to Hummel's office, she said.
she was compelled to give up the let
ters and papers relating to Senator
Plat, and was also forced to sign a
receipt for $4,000 in settlement of ali
claims against him. She said that she
did not get $4,000, but did get por-
ton of It, just how much she did not
state.